The Trump administration has ended an $11 million federal contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami that provided shelter and care for unaccompanied migrant children, cutting off a partnership with the Catholic Church that began more than 60 years ago.
The Department of Health and Human Services, through its Office of Refugee Resettlement, notified the charity that the award expired as of March 31. Federal spending data shows Catholic Charities received $11 million from HHS in fiscal year 2025 for the unaccompanied children program. The final decision to not renew the grant was made on February 16, according to HHS.
Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski addressed the cancellation in an April 15 op-ed in the Miami Herald. “For more than 60 years, 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,” Wenski wrote. “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.”
“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 and excellence that Catholic Charities has achieved if and when future waves of unaccompanied minors reach our shores,” he wrote.
HHS press secretary Emily G. Hilliard said the move reflects a steep decline in the number of unaccompanied children in federal custody. “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,” Hilliard said. She added that the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border was now “significantly lower” than it was under the Biden administration.
Data cited by the administration shows the daily population of unaccompanied migrant children in ORR care fell from a peak of about 22,000 under former President Joe Biden to roughly 1,900 currently. The White House said 49 grants to charities were not renewed because of the decrease, and only two were Catholic charities.
The funding cut comes amid public clashes between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV. Trump criticized the Pope after Leo called for an end to the war in Iran, with reports that Trump tagged the pontiff “weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy.” Archbishop Wenski defended the Pope, saying he “doesn’t have to please anybody except the Lord.”
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami has run the federally funded program since 1960, beginning with Operation Pedro Pan, which sheltered more than 14,000 Cuban children sent to the United States without parents. The organization said the abrupt end jeopardizes services for children currently in its care, including an 81-bed facility in Cutler Bay, foster placements, and family reunification work. Without new funding, officials warned, services would not last the rest of the year.
