It appears immigrant children have become collateral in the Trump administration’s depraved crusade against Catholic leaders.
Amid the White House’s ongoing political attacks on Pope Leo XIV after he rebuked the president’s deadly and economically destructive war with Iran, the administration has canceled an $11 million contract it had with Catholic Charities, a faith-based nonprofit that helps unaccompanied migrant children.
CBS News Miami reported on how the move could affect the Catholic Charities branch in Miami:
The Trump administration has canceled an $11 million federal contract that helps shelter and care for migrant children who enter the United States without a parent or legal guardian — putting a decades-long program in South Florida at risk of shutting down within months.
The decision affects Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, which has provided services to unaccompanied minors for more than 60 years. Church officials say the sudden loss of funding could force the organization to end its operations tied to migrant children within three months.
It’s not the first time the Trump administration has stripped funding from Catholic charities. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had to sue the Trump administration to pry loose funding the group had been authorized to receive for refugee resettlement. The administration also devastated Catholic Relief Services, a nonprofit that helps administer foreign aid, and precipitated massive cuts and layoffs at the organization with its gutting of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The Trump administration’s crusade against Catholic leaders — particularly those calling for humanity in American politics — has been going on for a while. Last year, shortly after Trump’s second inauguration, Vice President JD Vance — a Catholic convert — suggested Catholic organizations that have received money to help resettle immigrants in the U.S. might actually be doing so for the money, not out of religious conviction.
“Are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?” Vance said of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Trump’s so-called border czar Tom Homan, who is also Catholic, and Vance have been the most prominent Catholics in the administration to effectively throw their support behind the president’s attacks on the pope. This week, Vance publicly warned Pope Leo to “be careful when talking about matters of theology,” while Homan bemoaned Catholic leaders who have expressed sympathy for immigrants caught up in Trump’s racist crackdown.
In an appearance on Newsmax, Homan said church leaders should “sit down and let me educate them” on immigration matters and rebuked their outspokenness.
“I’ve spent my whole life in the Catholic Church,” he said. “But I’m disappointed that they want to weigh in on political issues like this.”
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.