During an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Jan. 26, Vice President JD Vance challenged the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops over its criticism of Donald J. Trump’s immigration-related executive orders. Mr. Vance, who became Catholic in 2019, suggested the bishops “look in the mirror” and examine whether their criticism of the administration was rooted in humanitarian concerns or concerns about their own “bottom line”—referencing the millions of dollars they have received in federal funding for refugee resettlement.
Mr. Vance is not the first Republican official to accuse Catholic aid agencies of skirting the law or misusing government funds. In 2022, four G.O.P. members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Catholic Charities USA demanding the group preserve documents “related to any expenditures submitted for reimbursement from the federal government related to migrants encountered at the southern border.” The lawmakers also warned that the next Congress would continue to investigate C.C.U.S.A. for “potential violations of federal law, and your misuse of taxpayer funds.” Catholic Charities has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
This most recent accusation against the U.S. bishops’ refugee resettlement program has been seen as an especially high-profile blow, given it comes directly from the Catholic vice president of the United States. Cardinal Timothy P. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said on Tuesday that he was “disappointed” by Mr. Vance’s remarks, calling the comments “scurrilous” and “very nasty.”
Mr. Vance’s comments were inaccurate in more than one way. Perhaps most egregious was the vice president’s claim that the U.S.C.C.B. receives “over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants.”
It is no secret that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops receives federal grants to assist in refugee resettlement. In fact, the conference has been a partner in the U.S. government’s resettlement efforts since Congress established the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in 1980. And the U.S.C.C.B. clearly outlines how the funds it receives are spent, describing in their audited financial statements that the government funds must be used for resettling refugees and to provide specialized services to “particularly vulnerable migrants,” namely unaccompanied minors and victims of human trafficking. The U.S.C.C.B. partners with local organizations to aid newly arrived refugees, all of whom have been thoroughly screened and vetted by the U.S. government for months, sometimes years, prior to their arrival. And refugees resettling in the United States are, by definition, not in the United States illegally.
According to the U.S.C.C.B.’s website, in partnership with its affiliates, the U.S.C.C.B. provides resettlement assistance every year to approximately 18 percent of all refugees arriving in the United States. The individuals who are granted refugee status must, in accordance with the definition set by the United Nations, have a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”
After Mr. Vance’s comments, the bishops released a statement clarifying that the federal funds do not in fact cover the entire costs of their refugee resettlement programs, “let alone show a profit,” as Thomas Reese, S.J., noted in a recent column. According to its audited financial statement for 2023, the U.S.C.C.B. received $129.6 million from government contracts and grant revenue to fund their Migration and Refugee Services and Programs, while it spent more than $130.5 million on those programs.
Various agreements between the U.S.C.C.B. and the U.S. government have been established since 1975, and their financial statements outline the several grants the government finances, including the “U.S. Refugee Admissions Program,” which receives the most funding at $40.7 million. Refugees arriving in the United States have many initial needs, including food, clothing, shelter, employment and English-language instruction. Through a “cooperative agreement with the federal government” and partnerships with local agencies, the U.S.C.C.B. program makes sure those basic needs are met and helps to situate these new residents.
The future of this vital work is now uncertain. During his first administration, President Trump slashed refugee admissions to record lows. On the first day of his second term, Mr. Trump indefinitely suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Thousands of refugees who had been vetted and approved to travel to the United States are now stuck in limbo abroad.
In their statement, the U.S. bishops noted that while federal funds were “not sufficient” to cover the costs of their refugee programs, “this remains a work of mercy and ministry of the Church.” That work will continue, whatever the next four years hold, inspired by Christ’s words in Mt 25: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me.”
