Trump administration cancels $11M contract for Catholic Charities in Miami
The White House has moved to cancel a major contract with Catholic Charities, a nonprofit that’s become a political pawn in the ongoing dust-up between President Donald Trump and the Pope.
The Archdiocese of Miami said on Tuesday that the White House has canceled an $11 million contract with the nonprofit that supports migrant children who enter the U.S. on their own, the Miami Herald reported.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, has for the last several years paid Catholic Charities in the southern Florida city to house these children. The Herald described the operation as “the equivalent of a federally funded foster care system” that’s separate from state agencies that watch over abused and neglected children.
The outlet reported that the federal government first discussed the funding decision with Catholic Charities starting in late March. Archbishop Thomas Wenski said the White House has effectively ended what was a decades-long relationship with the church.
“Our track record in serving this vulnerable population is unmatched,” Wenski said in a written statement given to the Herald. “Yet, the Archdiocese of Miami’s Catholic Charities’ services for unaccompanied minors has been stripped of funding and will be forced to shut down within three months.”
Why did Trump cut funding to Catholic Charities?
Officials with the HHS said the number of children the nonprofit cares for has dropped dramatically since its peak during former President Joe Biden’s presidency, from 22,000 to 1,900.
“ORR is closing and consolidating unused facilities as the Trump Administration continues efforts to stop illegal entry and the smuggling and trafficking of unaccompanied alien children,” HHS press secretary Emily G. Hillard told the Herald.
While Wenski did acknowledge the decrease, he said it was “baffling” that the White House would shut down such a successful program. Catholic Charities in Miami still takes care of children, and there was no word on where those children may go when the nonprofit closes, the Herald reported.
If the church does need to relocate children, foster care officials said it would be a large project. Finding approved and qualified guardians could take months. Citrus Family Care Network Director Esther Jacobo, a social service provider in Miami, said it can take up to half a year to get another similar program operational.
“You have to recruit people – and not everyone is suited to be a foster parent,” Jacobo told the Herald. “They have to be appropriately trained. That takes time. There’s a licensing process that happens. Everybody has to make sure that children are safe and in appropriate placements. That takes a very long time.”
Trump’s papal problem
Since last week, Trump has been in a feud with Pope Leo XIV after the pope criticized Trump’s post that said a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran didn’t agree to a ceasefire deal.
“Today, as we all know, there was this threat against all the people of Iran. This is truly unacceptable,” the pope said.
Trump attacked Leo for his comment, saying he was “WEAK on crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” in another post on Truth Social. Trump also posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ shortly after his comments. The post received enough backlash that he later took it down.
Leo responded to the comments but said he didn’t want to “enter the debate.”
“The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” he said. “I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do.”
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
