Cash cow, slaughtered

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The Churches That Oppose Trump on Immigration are Raking in Millions to Bring In Migrants

Robert Spencer:

When Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde lectured President Trump and Vice President Vance about immigration during her sermon at the National Prayer Service on the day after they were inaugurated, leftists hailed Budde for standing on principle and giving the Bad Orange Man a good scolding. As it turns out, however, Budde may have motivations that were a bit more tangible than principle: her Church’s Episcopal Migration Ministry (EMM) rakes in millions from a number of taxpayer-funded entities for bringing the migrants. And the Episcopal Church is by no means alone in this: other Churches that have recently taken principled stance against Trump’s immigration policies are in on the gravy train as well. 

The New York Post reported Friday that Budde’s “sermon to President Trump during an inaugural prayer service, coupled with her church’s advocacy for humanitarian immigration programs, reveals a striking hypocrisy — one that could be seen as self-serving and even a conflict of interest.” This is because in 2023, EMM “earned $53 million from various taxpayer-funded government programs to resettle 3,600 individuals.” If Trump stops the migrant influx and ends the funding for such programs, the Episcopal Church could suddenly be facing a significant shortfall of cash. 

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The Episcopal Church isn’t alone in this hypocrisy. The Post notes that “the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) dwarfs EMM. Forbes reported that USCCB affiliate Catholic Charities USA, which has its hand in all aspects of immigration and seems to get money from every government agency except NASA, received $1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars in 2021. That’s 68 times more than EMM got that year.”

Back in April 2021, Business Insider reported that “the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services is one of nine nonprofit organizations that partner with the US government to meet the needs of refugees who arrive in the country. Those seeking protection from war and repression deserve compassion and assistance, it teaches, citing the ‘mercy of Christ, who himself was a [sic] immigrant and child of refugees.’”

That compassion comes at a price. OSV News reported Friday that “audited financial statements by an outside firm show that the USCCB received about $122.6 million in 2022 and about $129.6 million in 2023 in funding from government agencies for refugee-related services. But the same statements show that the USCCB spent more on those services than the government gave them, meaning the conference did not profit from the grants, according to the conference’s auditors. In 2023, for example, the conference spent $134.2 million for such services.”

And so when the USCCB condemned Trump’s executive orders on immigration, did it have a pecuniary interest in doing so? Vice President Vance, who is a Roman Catholic, thinks so, saying: “I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that 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? We’re going to enforce immigration law. We’re going to protect the American people.”