Andrew Garbarino Corruption & Ethics Billionaires & Big Business New York

Andrew Garbarino Took $37,000 in Free Trips This Year — the Galápagos, Amsterdam, Scotland — From Groups Funded by Oil, Drug and Corporate Money

Newsday found that the Long Island Republican is tied for the third-most privately sponsored trips in the House this year: four trips, nearly a month on the road, with a session at Shell, a lunch with Chevron executives and a meeting with Meta along the way.

MAGA Report Cards · Oct 06, 2026

Andrew Garbarino Took $37,000 in Free Trips This Year — the Galápagos, Amsterdam, Scotland — From Groups Funded by Oil, Drug and Corporate Money — Photo: Newsday

Andrew Garbarino has taken more free trips from outside groups this year than almost anyone else in the House.

Newsday reported on October 5 that the Long Island Republican has accepted four trips paid for by private sponsors since January — nearly a month of travel and more than $37,000 in free plane tickets, hotels, meals and other costs. Three of the trips were overseas.

Out of all 435 members of the House, only two have taken more of these trips this year: California Democrats Jimmy Panetta and Maxine Waters, with five each. Garbarino is tied for third with fellow Republican Chuck Edwards of North Carolina. Newsday built the ranking from the members' own travel filings, sorted by the congressional data service LegiStorm.

Where he went, and who paid

Here is each trip as Newsday laid it out from the filings:

Houston, March 22–24 — $1,680. Paid for by the Climate Solutions Foundation, a group that brings together leaders and corporate and trade executives to talk about climate and energy policy. Newsday says it has received support from the Business Roundtable, a group of big-company CEOs. The schedule included a lunch with Chevron executives and a session with Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
The U.K., Scotland and Ireland, March 24–April 4 — $10,256. Paid for by the Republican Main Street Partnership, which backs Republican lawmakers and has a political action committee funded by a mix of corporate interests and unions. One day in London, four in Scotland and two in Ireland. The meetings included one with Meta representatives. The schedule also included private tours of Edinburgh Castle and Winston Churchill's war rooms, and visits to sites like Westminster Abbey.
Amsterdam, June 13–19 — $16,178. The most expensive trip, paid for by Center Forward, a political advocacy group that Newsday says has gotten money from oil and drug industry sources, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The trip included a session at Shell's Energy Transition Campus, a dinner with Amsterdam's mayor, and a visit to the port of Rotterdam, Europe's largest seaport.
Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, August 7–14 — $9,239. A weeklong trip paid for by the International Conservation Caucus Foundation, which Newsday describes as a nonprofit "with corporate ties" that works to shape conservation laws. It included briefings and tours on wildlife and on fighting drug trafficking, and a meeting with the head of Galápagos National Park.

On top of his own four trips, Newsday found Garbarino also approved 11 more privately sponsored trips for his staff this year.

His office's defense

Garbarino's spokesperson, Annie McCarthy, told Newsday: "These are tightly regulated, non-political opportunities with partners abroad on issues directly before Congress." She added that the trips have to be approved ahead of time by the House Ethics Committee.

She also pointed out that Garbarino chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, and said "engaging with international counterparts is critical to the success of the Committee." The Galápagos trip, she said, covered drug trafficking and national security as well as conservation.

But approval only means the trips are allowed. It doesn't change who is paying. When a group funded by oil and drug-industry money pays $16,000 to take a member of Congress to a Shell campus, or a group backed by the Business Roundtable buys his lunch with Chevron executives, those industries are buying time with him that his constituents on Long Island can't get.

The man running ICE oversight

Garbarino took over the Homeland Security Committee — the committee that oversees ICE — in July 2025. We reported in August that private prison companies, which make money holding ICE detainees, gave him $2,500 total across his first three campaigns, and $30,000 after he got that job.

The trips are the same story told a different way: outside interests lining up to pay for his attention. Newsday found he took seven of these trips last year, more than anyone else in Long Island's delegation, and he has taken four more this year.

The bottom line

Andrew Garbarino accepted four privately sponsored trips this year worth more than $37,000, nearly a month on the road, putting him in a tie for third-most in the entire House. The sponsors include groups funded by oil and drug-industry money and backed by the Business Roundtable, and the trips put him in a session at Shell, at lunch with Chevron executives, and in a meeting with Meta. He also signed off on 11 more sponsored trips for his staff.