Over the past several months, numerous prominent Catholic bishops in the U.S. have been stridently critical of President Donald Trump’s proposed immigration policies and his plans for mass deportations. This episcopal outrage may have less to do with the Catholic Church’s age-old teachings on immigration and more to do with lucrative government contracts paid to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for “refugee resettlement services.” A recent move from the White House, however, may expose the real motivation behind the bishops’ immigration activism.

Which of the bishops ... will drive down to the southern border himself to pick up border-crossers and put them up in hotel rooms.
Late last week, the U.S. State Department terminated USCCB “refugee resettlement” contracts, according to a report from The Pillar, telling the bishops in a letter that the well-funded program “no longer effectuates agency priorities.” The decision represents a substantial blow to the USCCB. Since 1980, the bishops’ organization has been paid to handle such refugee and immigrant “services,” netting a substantial paycheck. In fact, the vast majority of the USCCB’s operating budget comes from taxpayer funds funneled through such refugee and immigrant “services.”
Up until 2015, the USCCB and its affiliate organizations, like Catholic Charities, have collected over $2 billion in government funds for refugee and immigrant “services.” Just in the past four years, under then-president Joe Biden, the USCCB was paid nearly $635 million for these “services,” and Catholic Charities was paid a staggering $1.7 billion. Trump’s first administration, meanwhile, awarded the USCCB less than $215 million in government contracts and Catholic Charities a paltry $130 million.
It’s more than possible that many U.S. bishops spoke out against Trump’s immigration agenda — both while he was campaigning and after his historic election — out of fear that their funding would once again shrivel and shrink unde...