Trump Administration Cancels $11M for Catholic Charity in Miami

President Donald Trump’s administration has cancelled $11 million in funding for a Catholic charity that’s helped resettle about 14,000 Cuban children in South Florida over 60 years, according to the Archdiocese of Miami.

News of the cancellation comes amid a feud between Trump and Pope Leo XIV, which has led to criticism from clergy around the world, including Archbishop Thomas Wenski (leader of the Archdiocese of Miami). However, Wenski said during a Thursday press conference that the cancelled funds for Catholic Charities in Miami were unrelated to the dustup. Instead, he alleged, the funding was cut because Republican officials came to believe Catholic Charities wasn’t just helping house and find homes for refugees, but also allowing those involved in drug smuggling to get into the country. He called the decision a matter of politics.

“We’ve asked the governing authorities to reconsider and reverse this decision to serve the best interest of the children,” Wenski said at the news conference.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement has paid Catholic Charities in Miami for years to house immigrant children entering the U.S. without parents. The charity played a massive role in the U.S. State Department’s “Operation Pedro Pan,” a clandestine immigration initiative that brought more than 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban minors into the U.S. during the rule of Fidel Castro.

The Department of Health and Human Services has said the daily population of unaccompanied migrant children in the agency’s care has decreased significantly, dropping to 1,900 under the Trump administration compared to a peak of 22,000 under the Biden administration, according to reporting by Miami Herald.

“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 Health and Human Services’ press secretary, told the Herald. 

The loss of funding drew criticism from some politicians, like Florida State Sen. Ileana Garcia, who accused White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller of being behind the move. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), she wrote that he “has been fixated on the issue of unaccompanied minors for a long time. This situation presented an ideal opportunity for him. His obsession began during the first Trump administration when he was merely a speechwriter, yet he made daily calls to DHS. He’s relentlessly pursued this narrative, data at hospitals, birthright, even reaching out to agencies like DCF, the creeper is always seeking ways to shape the conversation around unaccompanied minors.

“His motivation isn’t about whether these children are trafficked or not; he simply does not want them in the UNITED STATES. In his mind, much like Hitlers, he believes he’s shaping the ideal American #Grooming His contempt for non-white individuals reveals his true character.”

Responding to an inquiry from New Times, White House spokesman Kush Desai shared an X post in which he wrote, “Our historically secure border means fewer border crossings. This is good stewardship of taxpayer dollars made possible by commonsense border policies that keep the American people safe and protect our sovereignty.”

The sparring match between the president and pope began after Pope Leo XIV made one too many comments about God not choosing sides in war and frowning upon those who use his name to justify violence, something Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has been wont to do. Clearly unhappy with another world leader daring to question his attacks on another country, Trump responded on Truth Social (the social media site he founded).

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump wrote in the post about a man whose office is dedicated to peace. “He talks about ‘fear’ of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart. I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t! I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country.”

In the days that have followed, local clergy, including Palm Beach Diocese Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodriguez Perez and Archbishop Wenski, chimed in supporting the pope.

In a Monday interview with The Miami Herald, Wenski said, “The pope doesn’t have to please anybody except the Lord,” adding that some people “will be upset” and others “will applaud what he says,” but that Pope Leo is not looking for reactions one way or another. “As religious leaders we should be political but not partisan,” Wenski said. “Politics is about how we organize society … and the church has something to say about that. What ways we can organize society that will increase human flourishing?”

Clarification: This story has been updated to make clear that the Archdiocese of Miami said the cancellation was unrelated to the president’s feud with the pope.