Trump Admin Canceling Funding to NGOs Involved in Illegal Immigration, Noem Says

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem speaks to staff for the first time at Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters in Washington on Jan. 28, 2025. Manuel Balce Ceneta/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Wednesday that the Trump administration will cancel funding to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that facilitate illegal immigration.

The comment was made as federal immigration officials ramp up enforcement efforts across the United States and in major cities.

Noem said that the administration “has stopped all grant funding that’s being abused by NGOs that’s being used to facilitate illegal immigration” into the United States.

“Many of these NGOs actually have infrastructure and operations set up in Mexico, on that side of the border, and are telling those illegal immigrants to come to them, and they will get them across the border,” Noem said in an interview on the Fox News Channel’s “Will Cain Show.”

Those NGOs, she said, are “not just operating in the United States, they’re operating outside the United States to help make it easier for those who want to break our laws.”

The Trump administration will freeze funding to those groups and determine whether those funds were going to causes aligned with the White House’s policies, she said. A review will be carried out, and before then, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will not spend more to help “the destruction of this country,” she added.

“When somebody said NGO to me, I thought that [was] a nonprofit telling somebody about Jesus or spreading faith and salvation,” Noem said. “Then I realized over the years, it’s been perverted into this shadow government.”

Noem, who was confirmed as DHS secretary over the weekend, posted a video and photos of her near a New York City immigration enforcement operation on X early Tuesday, highlighting the arrest of a suspect and saying the Trump administration was “making our streets safe.”

The Trump administration has stepped up immigration arrests in recent days with about 1,000–1,200 arrests per day, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in updates posted on social media. The daily average in fiscal year 2024 was 311.

Trump has issued an array of executive orders to crack down on illegal immigration after taking office on Jan. 20, including actions aimed at deporting record numbers of illegal immigrants from the United States. Trump says urgent action is needed after millions illegally entered during the Biden administration, while critics say Trump could hurt businesses and separate families.

Meanwhile, the Office of Management and Budget earlier this week issued an order to freeze federal grants and funding before that memo was rescinded later. That order had impacted funding to certain NGOs, including a Catholic charities organization that provides services to illegal immigrants and poorer Americans.

In a statement, Catholic Charities USA head Kerry Alys Robinson called on the Trump administration to reconsider the funding freeze because it has been providing “vital services” such as access to health care, housing, food, and more.

Noem also said in the Fox News interview that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now working to find ways to convince other nations to accept the return of their nationals.

“I was talking to him on the phone at 1 o'clock in the morning, and he was up and still discussing negotiations with other countries,” she said. “And the president, clearly, will exercise all the authority and power that he has to make these countries take them back.”

Reuters contributed to this report.