Trump administration pays $47 million to Texas Catholic charity amid funding lawsuit

CNA Staff, Mar 18, 2025 / 12:05 pm

The Trump administration has paid out $47 million in grants to a Texas Catholic Charities group amid ongoing lawsuits over frozen federal funds.

Catholic Charities Fort Worth earlier this month sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over the freezing of tens of millions of dollars in federal grants for refugee services in the state.

The federal government had said last week that it was conducting a “program integrity review” of Catholic Charities Fort Worth. On Friday the government said the review had been completed.

In a Monday “joint status report,” both the charity group and the federal government said Catholic Charities Fort Worth had filed $47,426,180.17 in “advance payment requests.” The government authorized the payments on Monday, the filing said.

Catholic Charities Fort Worth confirmed in the filing that the deposit had been posted in its account. On Monday the charity group requested nearly $270,000 more in funds, the filing said.

A further joint status report will be filed on Wednesday, according to the document.

On its website, Catholic Charities Fort Worth says it offers legal defense for immigrants facing removal from the U.S. as well as application assistance and consultations.

The Catholic charity group’s blocked funds were among the billions of dollars frozen by broad executive orders issued by President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in January.

The funding freeze touched off a series of lawsuits from nonprofits and aid groups that say the White House engaged in an overreach of its executive power in ending large amounts of federal payouts.

The funding freezes have affected numerous Catholic groups. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sued the Trump administration in February over what the bishops said was an unlawful suspension of funding for refugee programs in the United States.

The State Department earlier this month canceled two multimillion-dollar refugee resettlement contracts with the USCCB, directing the bishops to “stop all work on the program[s] and not incur any new costs” and “cancel as many outstanding obligations as possible.”

The bishops have continued to contest the matter in federal court.

Multiple Catholic charity groups, meanwhile, have announced layoffs related to the funding freezes.