Top photo caption: A closer look at the mural for Wenski Groves in Miami, created by artist Erni Vales, yields words like ‘Hope,’ ‘Joy’ and more to inspire residents of the Catholic Charities-run affordable housing complex, which was blessed April 26, 2024. Catholic Charities’ Wenski Groves includes 30 apartments, 20 efficiencies, and 10 single bedroom spaces. OSV News photo/Cristina Cabrera Jarro, The Florida Catholic
By Gina Christian, OSV News
OSV News – The Trump administration has canceled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami for sheltering unaccompanied migrant children, leaving just three months to place an unspecified number of children.
The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement advised the agency of the funding termination in late March, the Miami Herald reported April 15.
The move comes amid the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown on immigration, which saw the abrupt end in 2025 of a decades-long partnership with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for refugee resettlement.
OSV News is awaiting a response to its request for comment from the Archdiocese of Miami, and for clarification of the exact number of children affected by the contract cancellation.
According to the Miami Herald, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement had contracted with Catholic Charities for several years to shelter migrant children entering the country without parents or supervising adults.
The agency provided what the newspaper called “the equivalent of a federally funded foster care system” parallel to that operated by state agencies.
Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami had declined direct comment to the newspaper, but his office instead provided a statement the archbishop had written for the Miami Herald’s editorial board.
In that statement, the archbishop said, “The U.S. government has abruptly decided to end more than 60 years of relationship with Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Miami.”
He added that “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.”
“Our track record in serving this vulnerable population is unmatched,” said Archbishop Wenski in his statement. “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.”
Emily G. Hilliard, press secretary for HHS, told the Miami Herald that “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.”
HHS also told the outlet that the population of unaccompanied children cared for by Catholic Charities was “significantly lower” under the Trump administration – 1,900 as compared to a peak of 22,000 under President Joe Biden.
Archbishop Wenski said in his statement to the Miami Herald that although the number of unaccompanied minors had declined and that “some programs may be scaled back” or closed outright, “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 Catholic Charities.
He pointed to the program’s ability to provide a range of resources, including supportive services, “given the trauma that many of these children have endured before arriving in the U.S.”
The archbishop also noted the historic partnership between Catholic Charities and the federal government, particularly in regard to Operation Pedro Pan, which in the early 1960s saw 110 Catholic Charities agencies throughout the nation shelter thousands of children from Cuba, in collaboration with the U.S. State Department.
Between 1960 and 1964, some 7,000 of the 14,000 Cuban children who entered the U.S. were temporarily housed by Catholic Charities under the “Cuban Children’s Program.”
“The positive impact of this cooperation between the federal government and Catholic Charities can be readily seen in the lives of former Pedro Pan children who, through this intervention, grew up to be successful members of our communities,” Wenski wrote.
He noted that among the alumni of the program are professionals, clergy and political leaders – including former U.S. Republican Sen. Melquiades (Mel) Martinez.
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina
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