...
By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski has urged President Donald Trump to reconsider a decision to cut an $11 million contract with the Catholic Charities of the city’s Archdiocese, which offers shelter and care to migrant children entering the United States alone.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has paid Catholic Charities for numerous years to house immigrant children entering the U.S. without adult supervision. The federal government contacted the charity about the cancellation in late March, according to The Miami Herald.
"Why this funding was cut off is a mystery to us, but I can say it's not because of the recent dustup between the Pope and President [Donald] Trump," Wenski said on Thursday. "You don't cross several borders, if you're 10 or 12-years-old, without being exposed and suffering trauma."
Read More on News
The HHS said that the cancellation was motivated by a falling number of migrant children entering the country without parents or adult supervisors. In a statement to Newsweek, HHS said the daily population of unaccompanied alien children in ORR care was significantly lower at 1,900 than the peak of 22,000 children during the Biden administration.
"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," Emily G. Hillard, the HHS press secretary, told Newsweek. She did not comment specifically on the case of the Miami nonprofit.
Newsweek contacted the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami for comment by email on Thursday morning.
...
Meanwhile, the progressive legal advocacy group Democracy Forward has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking records of the Trump administration's decision. The organization has been involved in numerous legal challenges against the Trump administration.
"The idea that federal officials would yank millions of dollars from an organization caring for children because of the president's self-inflicted messaging disagreement with the Pope should alarm anyone who believes in democracy, the rule of law, religious liberty, and basic accountability in government," said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward.
"If this decision was driven by retaliation or ideology instead of law and facts, that is a profound abuse of power, and we intend to get the answers."
The abrupt severing of the White House's long-term support to the nonprofit comes amid an ongoing feud between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV, and could further sour relations with the Catholic community at a sensitive time.
Responding to Leo's repeated criticism of the Iran war, Trump bashed the pope on Sunday in a social media post in which he called him "weak" on crime and "terrible" for foreign policy, urging him to "get his act together as Pope."
How Has Miami’s Archdiocese and Community Responded?
Commenting on the contract cancellation, Wenski told The Miami Herald: "The U.S. government has abruptly decided to end more than 60 years of relationship with Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Miami. The Archdiocese of Miami’s services for unaccompanied minors have been recognized for their excellence and have served as a model for other agencies throughout the country."
He added: "Our track record in serving this vulnerable population is unmatched. 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."
While acknowledging that the number of migrant children entering the U.S. without adult supervision had diminished in recent years and that "some programs may be scaled back," Wenski said that "it is baffling that the U.S. government would shut down a program that it would be hard-pressed to replicate at the level of competence."
Father Federico Capdepom, who retired in 2016 after 33 years of priesthood in the Archdiocese of Miami, told CBS News Miami: "I feel very sad. Disappointed... the children that we've helped for so many, many years—to abruptly cancel $11 million, I believe, of help for migrants, I think it's totally unacceptable."
A parishioner interviewed by the news channel called the cancellation "disgraceful."
Where Does This Leave Miami**’s** Catholic Charities?
It remains unclear whether the children still in the care of the Miami nonprofit will need to be relocated and where they would be sent should it shut down.
Catholic Charities CEO Peter Routsis-Arroyo said on Thursday that "Catholic Charities will go on. The Catholic Church certainly will go on. Who loses? The children lose."
The U.S. government has been funding Miami's Catholic Charities since Operation Pedro Pan, when thousands of unaccompanied children were moved from Cuba to Miami in the early 1960s to avoid Communist indoctrination.
"Catholic Charities and the Church took in over 14,000 unaccompanied minors fleeing Cuba. Those parents entrusted their children with Catholic Charities and the Church," said Routsis-Arroyo on Thursday, according to WSVN 7News Miami.
Update 4/16/26, 9:39 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
Update 4/17/26, 10:15 a.m. ET: This story and headline were updated with additional information.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines