The Trump administration has abruptly canceled a multimillion-dollar contract with a Catholic charity that houses and cares for migrant children amid the president’s feud with Pope Leo XIV.
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami has helped provide vital services to unaccompanied minors for more than 60 years, but could now shut down within a matter of months after the administration canceled an $11 million federal contract.
The decision comes amid tensions between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo, the leader of the Catholic Church, over issues such as migration and the war in Iran. Trump has launched a series of attacks against the American-born pontiff, including suggesting Leo was “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” The 79-year-old president also received intense criticism after he shared an image depicting himself as Jesus Christ on social media.
Writing for the Miami Herald, Thomas Wenski, archbishop of Miami, said it is “baffling” that the government would want to shut down a service that has helped thousands of children who entered the U.S. without parents or guardians since the 1960s.
“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.”
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, has had an arrangement for years for Catholic Charities to house immigrant children. The government reached out to the charity in March about the proposed cancellation of funding, the Miami Herald reported.
A spokesperson for the department said the decision was because the number of unaccompanied migrant children in the agency’s care was “significantly lower,” at 1,900 under the Trump administration, compared to a peak of around 22,000 under the Biden administration.
Wenski said that while the charity is dealing with fewer migrant children, the archbishop still believes 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” shown by the church.
It is unclear what will happen to the children currently in the care of Catholic Charities if the Miami-based organization closes.
Robert Latham, associate director of the Children and Youth Law Clinic at the University of Miami Law School, said that it may be “incredibly psychologically harmful” for the children, who have already been through so much, to be relocated.
“For little kids, moving repeatedly creates bonding issues and destroys the sense of both self and community. They don’t know who they are and where they will be [from day to day,]” Latham told the Herald.
Trump has repeatedly doubled down on his attacks against Pope Leo and refused to apologize because he says the pontiff “said things that are wrong.” The president deleted the AI-generated image of himself as Jesus healing a man after claiming that he thought the image depicted him as a doctor.
The Daily Beast has contacted Catholic Charities, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the White House for comment.
