By: Fred Lucas, The Daily Signal
An advocacy group based in Northeastern Mexico that lobbies U.S. lawmakers has distributed and posted flyers encouraging illegal immigrants to vote for President Joe Biden in the 2024 election, according to The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project.
Translated from Spanish, the Oversight Project notes, the flyers posted by the organization Resource Center Matamoros say: “Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States. We need another four years of his term to stay open.” (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news and commentary outlet.)
Resource Center Matamoros describes itself as “a leading non-governmental organization providing trauma-informed care.”
The pro-Biden flyers, discovered by the news site Muckraker and shared with the Oversight Project, were found throughout Resource Center Matamoros in Tamaulipas, Mexico, including on the walls of portable toilets, a video shows. It’s not clear whether RCM authorized the flyers, whether any action was taken to address their presence at the shelter for migrants, or who posted the flyers.
The city of Matamoros, located in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, borders Brownsville, Texas, where Biden spoke in February about the crisis of illegal immigration at the southern border.
Federal law bans foreign nationals, or non-U.S. citizens, from voting in federal elections.
On Friday, former President Donald Trump endorsed proposed legislation by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., that would require proof of citizenship to vote in U.S. elections.
Resource Center Matamoras describes itself as a six-unit office complex that is “the home for HIAS, which is providing legal assistance and assistance with obtaining formal documents for job search and integration into the city of Matamoros as they wait to access the asylum process in the U.S.”
HIAS, founded more than 100 years ago to help Jews fleeing persecution in Europe, originally stood for Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a Biden appointee who recently was impeached by the House for not enforcing border laws, is a former board member of HIAS.
The website of Resource Center Matamoras says its founder and executive director, Gaby Zavala, partnered with Mike Benavides of the community organization Team Brownsville in November 2023 to brief members of Congress about the humanitarian crisis at the Mexico-Texas border.
Zavala previously was an organizer for La Union del Pueblo Entero, or LUPE, a group founded by the late labor leader Cesar Chavez, who was an opponent of illegal immigration. LUPE is listed among partners of the George Soros-backed Open Society Institute.
Resource Center Matamoras also has ties to Angry Tias & Abuelas, a left-leaning organization that says it is dedicated to helping illegal aliens at the southwest border enter the United States.
Mayorkas has met with leaders of both LUPE and Angry Tias & Abuelas, according to documents obtained by Judicial Watch, a government watchdog.
The website of Resource Center Matamoras also touts close ties with the Mexican government, saying: “As a leading non-governmental organization providing trauma-informed care, RCM has established relationships with all levels of the Mexican government to advocate for health, wellness and dignity for refugees.”
Among listed services: “Providing lobbying and advocacy to Mexican and U.S. government officials on behalf of the asylum seekers in Matamoros.”
