Catholic Charities Starting To Show Effects Of Trump Cutbacks
This story gives an indication of the effect Trump administration cutbacks have had on Catholic Charities, at least in Columbia, MO:
The Central and Northern Missouri chapter of Catholic Charities will end its resettlement program March 31.
In an email to supporters, Executive Director Litz Main said the nonprofit had to end the program due to the lack of federal funding.
“We deeply appreciate your partnership and shared commitment to serving those in need,” Main said in the email. “As we navigate this transition, we welcome opportunities to collaborate in new ways to continue supporting refugee families in our region.”
The cuts come from a federal level, after President Donald Trump suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and halted all funding for agencies that support refugees. Although the executive order was blocked by a federal judge in February, local resettlement programs still face a lack of federal funds. There is no indication when the program will resume, and the case is expected to face an appeal from the Trump administration.
Media coverage of this Missouri issue appears to be limited to simply repeating the wording of a press release from Catholic Charities, which oddly makes no mention of any specific amount Catholic Charities will lose from the discountinued federal funding. The question I've aksed in my earlier post linked above is why the specific amounts given to individual Catholic Charities refugee programs in cities like Fort Worth and Louisville alone are in the hundreds of millions, when "official" estimates of total federal grants to the US Bishops are only about $100 million.The Missouri Catholic Charities press release repeated without any question by local media concludes,
City of Refuge, a refugee-focused nonprofit in Columbia, said in an email to its supporters Tuesday that one of the largest federal grants it receives will no longer be given to nonprofits. The funding will end Sept. 30. City of Refuge was not available for comment.
However, City of Refuge sent an e-amil to supporters that said,
Meanwhile, I received communication over the weekend that one of our largest federal grants can no longer be allocated to non-profit organizations (you can read the policy letter here). The good news is that we have a little bit of time – we aren’t losing the funding today. The bad news is that the deficit amounts to that $50,000/month I forewarned you about.
$50,000 a month amounts to $600,000 a year. How this relates to any total amount of funding from the federal government to the Central and Northern Missouri chapter of Catholic Charities is impossible to say, but $600,000 a year alone is probably eaten up by salaries and administrative costs of staff. Whatever crisis the interrulption of federal funds to Catholic Charities is causing, it seems to me that the bishops need to be more transparent and accountable on how this money has been spent.In addition, the USCCB page on Catholic Social Teaching on Immigration and the Movement of Peoples makes the point:
Because there seems to be no end to poverty, war, and misery in the world, developed nations will continue to experience pressure from many peoples who desire to resettle in their lands. Catholic social teaching is realistic: While people have the right to move, no country has the duty to receive so many immigrants that its social and economic life are jeopardized.
For this reason, Catholics should not view the work of the federal government and its immigration control as negative or evil. Those who work to enforce our nation's immigration laws often do so out of a sense of loyalty to the common good and compassion for poor people seeking a better life. In an ideal world, there would be no need for immigration control. The Church recognizes that this ideal world has not yet been achieved.
There can be little question that the social and economic lives of many Western countries, including the US, have been jeapordized by the current waves of migration. The 2024 US presidential election was decided n large part on this particular question. A difficulty I see is that up to now, Catholic Charities has enabled levels of resettlement in relatively small communities like Springfield, OH and Charleroi, PA that seriously impact their social and economic life.In addition, the USCCB page on Catholic social teaching says, "Undocumented persons are particularly vulnerable to exploitation by employers, and they are not able to complain because of the fear of discovery and deportation." Yet numerous examples of Catholic Charities resettlement programs show that these enable sweatshop employers and slumlords by promoting an overall resettlement "package" that includes exploitive working conditions and substandard housing.
Leaving aside the fear of discovery and deportation, the migrants are also kept in such conditions by the fact that they don't speak English, aren't familiar with US life, are unemployable without detailed translation and transportation services, and can't easily leave their enclaves to seek out other opportunities. Isn't Catholic Charities enabling this situation by cooperating with the slumlords by paying the migrants' rent and the sweatshop employers by effectively endorsing the labor contractors and, at least in some cases, subsidizing the sweatshop wages?
In fact, it's hard to avoid thinking that Catholic Charities has found a highly profitable niche enabling programs that promote levels of migration that are unsustainable because they in fact jeapodize US economic and social life, while at the same time tacitly endorsing the explolitation of these same migrants. At some point, the US bishops are going to have to confront this and deal with it.
