Taxpayers Spent Over $1 Billion On Migrant Pipeline   

For years, loads of cash, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers, have bolstered migrant resettlement services, often administered by faith-based nonprofits. In fiscal year 2024 alone, the U.S. government spent more than $2.7 billion on “refugee and entrant assistance” programs, and more than $1 billion went to nonprofits connected to four major Christian denominations: Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, and the United Methodist Church.

That staggering number only skims the surface of the complicated funding web supporting immigration through multiple federal offices, with contracts and grants given to state and local governments as well as secular and faith-based nonprofits, including other denominations not mentioned here.

Normally, religious nonprofits rely on donors who expect to see their money used to solve social ills. But when an increase in the problem (in this case, more refugees in need of financial and other assistance) means more government cash, “charities” are incentivized to show a need for more taxpayer funds by keeping the problem unsolved. Data from usaspending.gov shows the problem has gotten worse. Most nonprofits serving immigrants saw year-over-year increases in funding during President Joe Biden’s term. This is something donors would not tolerate. The government should let taxpayers decide whether they want to continue supporting a nonprofit infrastructure that places migrants around the United States.

President Donald Trump is changing the immigration landscape, cutting funding from these programs and sending illegal aliens back to their home countries. He aims to stamp out criminal coyote networks that sneak thousands of unvetted illegal aliens into the United States, and to hobble the deadly drug cartels that supply U.S. addiction.

Attracting Immigration

You would think Christian groups working with the immigrant population would be elated Trump is trying to end illegal immigration, but instead, they are resisting it and issuing angry statements.

Immigration attorney Barbara Graham of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s Refugee & Immigration Services recently released a video offering advice for how migrants can slow officials investigating their workplace.

The Catholic Bishops in Michigan wrote a statement in opposition of Trump’s immigration reforms in which they called for protection of illegal aliens.

“We urge our elected officials to support policies that keep immigrant and undocumented families safe and united, and to protect those who arrived as children,” the statement said.

Catholic Charities Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas was awarded $376 million in 2024 for refugee services and unaccompanied minors. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston received $11.1 million for the same work.

In Kentucky, home to some of the lowest income Appalachian counties in the U.S., Catholic Charities of Louisville received over $180 million through a series of nine grants to be used for refugee services in 2024, including the Refugee Cash and Medical Assistance programs; classes to expanding citizenship for Kentucky’s legal permanent residents by funding citizenship classes; and the Wilson-Fish Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which gives welfare money to refugees in a “customized, culturally, and linguistically appropriate” way.

These are just a few of the Catholic Charities grants; there are millions more dollars in many local contracts.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service received $340.5 million in federal funding in 2024, and much more over the years.

The nonprofit changed its name last year to Global Refuge and is led by a politically connected President and CEO, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah. She previously worked for former President Barack Obama, and in the White House and as policy director for former First Lady Michelle Obama, and at the State Department as senior advisor under then-Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

Global Refuge has numerous government contracts and grants providing services for unaccompanied minors and refugees.

“Refugees rely on resettlement services for essential support such as housing, food, English classes, and job placement,” a Global Refuge statement said last week denouncing Trump’s policy and funding changes. “These services are integral to helping families achieve self-sufficiency and become contributing members of their communities.”

Global Refuge’s funding caught the attention of Gen. Michael Flynn this week, who posted some grant funding numbers on social media.  

“There are MANY more organizations cashing in on our hard-earned money,” Flynn posted. “These entities are receiving huge sums, which raise serious questions about how taxpayer funds are being spent and who’s benefiting.”

Global Refuge responded with a statement on “misinformation” about their work, condemning “the false accusations” against its “humanitarian work.”

Global Refuge says its “network of providers” is ready to assist the Trump administration in welcoming families who need to resettle in our country.

The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA was awarded $59.7 million in 2024 for refugee and entrant assistance and unaccompanied minors. Knowing this, it makes sense that Episcopal Bishop, Mariann Edgar Budde used her recent time in the pulpit in front of Trump to advocate for immigrant programs, as The Federalist previously reported.

The Board of Childcare of the United Methodist Church was awarded $36.4 million in 2024 to administer refugee and unaccompanied children programs, providing long term shelter or arranging foster care. The Immigration Law & Justice Network, funded through United Methodist Committee on Relief, provides legal help for immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers. It put out a Jan. 21statement saying Trump’s policies “vilify immigrants.”

“We know these violent, racist policies violate U.S. law, but it’s more than that. They dehumanize people in such a way that desensitizes us to their pain, the brutality inflicted upon them, and the worthiness of their very lives,” the statement said.

Notice the pattern: those who receive big bucks complain the loudest.

Eliminate The Incentive

Coyotes charge enormous fees to bring people on a treacherous, and lawless journey into the U.S. that can include rape, theft, thirst, hunger, and sometimes injury or death. Children are separated from their parents and at the mercy of strangers. Often the journey ends with the alien becoming a trafficking victim, working in plain sight in communities across the country.

Why do they risk it? Because life looks easier in the U.S. thanks to programs administered through these nonprofits.

A Catholic Charities document out of Maine shows refugees receive $900 upon arrival to be spent anyway needed; then cash assistance for eight months, or they could be eligible for TANF for five years, with an opportunity to extend from there.

They also get medical assistance, and access to food and housing, vocational training, trauma therapy, and in some cases, help accessing land for farming or financial assistance to help start home childcare businesses.

Rather than fleeing danger in their home countries, many are surely enticed to the U.S. by benefits unheard of in their countries. It has spawned an evil migration network.

Christians should look on this crime-ridden system with disgust, not align with the pipeline that keeps it going. If we stop making America so attractive, would-be immigrants won’t risk the dangerous journey to come here illegally.

The Trump administration is trying to end the crime and entitlements connected to unfettered immigration. Churches should support that, because it is what’s best for people.  

Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.