Miami – “We ask the US government to reconsider canceling an $11 million federal contract Catholic charity“Given the immediate and long-term impact on services to unaccompanied minors and the broader humanitarian mission of the archdiocese,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami said in a press conference on April 15.
For decades, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami has partnered with the federal government to serve vulnerable children and families. The sudden termination of this contract has ended a relationship of more than 65 years. operation pedro panWhich resettled approximately 14,000 Cuban children fleeing the Castro regime to the United States.
Wensky calls for review of decision to cut funding unaccompanied minor program Catholic Charities.
He said, “It is shocking that the U.S. government would shut down a program that would be difficult to replicate at the level of capacity and excellence achieved by Catholic Charities if future waves of unaccompanied minors reach our shores.”
The US government oversees the care of unaccompanied minors and partners with organizations such as Catholic Charities to provide services.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has long funded Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami through the Unaccompanied Minors Program since 1960 to provide shelter and services to thousands of unaccompanied minors.
Federal spending data shows Catholic Charities received $11 million from HHS in fiscal year 2025, but the award expired March 31. The sudden termination will force the organization to discontinue services within three months.
The decision comes as President Donald Trump has publicly criticized Pope Leo XIV. However, Wenski said the funding decision is unrelated to those tensions.
Messenger. Brian O. The Walsh Children’s Village, formerly known as Boys Town – established during the Pedro Pan exodus in the early 1960s – today houses 81 children.
Wenski said, “Our track record in serving this vulnerable population is unmatched. Yet Catholic Charities’ services for unaccompanied minors have been stripped of funding and will be forced to close within three months.”
Florida Representatives Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez, both Republicans, also issued a letter to ORR urging the agency to reconsider.
“South Florida has always been the front line of human migration in our hemisphere,” the April 3 letter said. He also warned about possible future migration from Cuba and Haiti.
He wrote, “Catholic Charities offers what cannot be readily replaced: trained staff, proven infrastructure and decades of expertise.” “Losing this capability now will make future response efforts more expensive, slower and less effective.”
Today’s crisis is personal for those who lived it
Javier Llorens, first vice president of the Pedro Pan board of directors, arrived in the United States in 1962 as part of Operation Pedro Pan, several years before his parents could join him. He spent five years in shelters run by the Catholic Welfare Bureau, the predecessor of Catholic Charities.
“It wasn’t just shelter — it was care, education and formation,” said Lorens, now a dentist. “That model showed how to properly care for refugee children.”
Now with cuts to federal funding for programs serving unaccompanied minors, Lorenz warned that today’s children are at risk of losing that support.
“I think the budget can be evaluated,” he said. “But what matters is the care of the children. Without that, they are left without help and without support to integrate into this country.”
Graciela Enrique, director of the Pedro Pan Board of Directors, shared a similar experience. She arrived in the United States from Cuba with her sister in 1961 and spent several months in the program before reuniting with her parents.
“The care we received was extraordinary,” said Enrich, a professor at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami. “We were placed with a wonderful foster family and supported us during a very difficult time.”
Both say the program changed their lives – and fear others may now miss out on that opportunity.
“We have to get the government’s attention,” Lawrence said. “They’re making a mistake. We just want to help the kids.”
Contract funded care for unaccompanied migrant children
Recently, Msgr. Brian O. Five children were living at the Walsh Children’s Village shelter.
Four minors were transferred to a new centre, and the last is expected to be reunited with his family. After that, the facility will no longer house children.
Peter Rautsis-Arroyo, executive director of Catholic Charities, said similar programs across the country are also being affected.
“The programs with funding that began April 1 will continue. We are currently seeking a 90-day no-cost extension to provide proper notice to employees, severance pay, and the transfer of 1960s cases, which has not yet been officially approved. We may request additional extensions if needed.”
Rautsis-Arroyo said the organization received no warning.
“We were negotiating a new budget at the time of the cancellation letter. We had also been given approval for the appointment of staff a week before the notification came,” he said.
She said the administration of the Office of Children and Families of Refugee Resettlement informed her by email on March 24 that her application had not been selected for funding.
“It looks like we scored very well but we weren’t given bonus points,” he said.
Catholic Charities has no alternative funding to continue the program.
“The children are sent to us by ORR. Without the contract, ORR would not send children to us,” Rautsis-Arroyo said.
The Unaccompanied Minors Program has operated continuously since 1960, making it the longest-running facility of its kind in the country. Currently contracts are awarded every three years.
Rautsis-Arroyo said no other agency has provided this level of care for more than 65 years, beginning with Operation Pedro Pan. Messenger. Brian O. Walsh Children’s Village was specifically designed, in collaboration with ORR, to provide optimal care for unaccompanied minors.
He said, “If funding is not restored, we will have to transition to other residential programs. Once we do that, ORR will lose our ability to serve this population.”
The current federal process does not allow appeals, the only options being retrial or legal action.
this story was first published Reprinted here by Florida Catholic and with permission.
