By Catholics for Catholics
The effort among some Catholics to oppose President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration is getting what looks like a new PR (public relations) firm.
The Hope Border Institute (HOPE), a Catholic non-profit that focuses its work on “justice at the US-Mexico border,” announced that it is partnering with the left-wing Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) to form the Catholic IMMpact initiative.
According to a report from ETWN, HOPE and CMS “will support religious communities in public messaging on behalf of immigrants and refugees, including press events, statements, and talking points. They also plan to assist communities with research on the profiles of immigrants and refugees in their location, as well as the fiscal and social costs of a mass deportation campaign.”
Dylan Corbett, the executive director of HOPE, named the USCCB and Catholic Charities as organizations they are proud to work with on the issue of immigration.
The Catholic IMMpact initiative is conducting regional meetings with diocesan leaders and has events planned for Phoenix in March and Detroit in May.
Critics point out that this latest effort is yet another Catholic project that may exacerbate the illegal immigration problem, or at the very least, ignores the problems that result from illegal immigration. A 2025 report from “City Journal” pointed out that various Catholic Charities entities burgeoned while the border crisis worsened during the Biden administration, and that President Trump’s crackdown may now present an “existential crisis:”
The growth has been especially noticeable in border states, where the Biden administration released many of its parolees to local groups. Catholic Charities Dallas recorded $188 million in revenues from 2021 to 2024, compared with just $64 million over the previous four years. Similarly, Catholic Charities San Diego saw its local revenues rocket to $70 million in 2023, up from $12 million in 2020, with $64.9 million of that money in the form of government grants. In Phoenix, meantime, Catholic Charities recorded nearly $47 million in revenues in 2023, up from $33 million in 2019. Nearly 80 percent was in government money. Because taxpayers increasingly support these swelling budgets, the organizations have attracted more criticism.
Groups like Catholic Charities have become dependent on government funding, and many branches openly campaign for laxer immigration policies: Catholic Charities of Trenton, New Jersey advocated for the state to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and even hosted a “March for Licenses” around the city.
Vice President JD Vance, a convert to Catholicism, certainly shares the view that the close relationship between pro-immigration policies and Catholic relief organizations needs to be scrutinized. In a “Face the Nation” interview last year, Vance criticized the USCCB, asking if “when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?”
Historically, the USCCB has acted as a conduit of federal funds to groups like Catholic Charities.
Border czar Tom Homan, another fellow Catholic and recent recipient of the Protector of America Award from Catholics For Catholics, has publicly expressed a desire to meet with USCCB leaders to discuss the reality of illegal immigration, “saying let me show you why illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.”
The Catechism teaches that while immigrants, of course, should be treated with respect and dignity, political authorities also have the right to subject immigration policy “to various juridical conditions.” The Church can help the migrant, but it cannot do so at the unjust expense of the citizen. The rights of citizens cannot be ignored when the reality is that an insecure border leads to negatives like increased drug overdose deaths, increased rates of human trafficking, and the abuse of children.
Catholics For Catholics published a book written by Christopher Manion last year exposing the perilous link between Catholic NGOs and illegal immigration. “Charity For Sale” is a riveting account of how the Catholic Church in America became so deeply involved in government grants that it choked itself off from its primary mission of saving souls and leading people to Christ. The book can be purchased here.
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