Hundreds of employees at two Houston-area charities are being laid off now that the Trump administration has blocked payments to programs providing services to illegal aliens.
Both Catholic Charities and YMCA in Houston have laid off hundreds of employees that were providing services to illegal aliens paroled into the country by the Biden administration.
The layoffs followed President Donald Trump’s order of a 90-day pause to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to determine if it was detrimental to the interests of the United States.
The Biden administration had been spending billions of dollars funding non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help illegal aliens with rent, food, legal services, and medical care through cash assistance and federally funded programs operated by the NGOs.
According to federal records, the Houston chapter of Catholic Charities received $11.1 million in federal taxpayer dollars in 2024.
“I, like many, knew that Catholic Charities among other NGOs were being funded by our own tax dollars. The issue is that they functioned to aid and abet the movement of illegals into our state and country,” retired ICE agent Victor Avila told Texas Scorecard.
Critics have argued that cash handouts to illegal aliens served as an incentive for more illegal aliens to migrate to the United States and that NGOs were benefiting financially by providing benefits to illegal aliens not available to Americans.
“I personally witnessed Catholic Charities refuse service to four homeless US citizens (one was a Veteran) in McAllen, Tx. The American people are fed up with the misuse of our money, especially when it goes to foreign nationals and countries,” continued Avila.
In South Texas, San Antonio-based border NGO RAICES announced it was laying off 61 employees that provided services for illegal aliens.
“The stop-work orders and funding obstruction at the hands of the callous Trump administration decimated the refugee resettlement programs operated by RAICES and other agencies nationwide,” wrote Faisal Al-Juburi, Chief External Affairs Officer at RAICES.
Texas Scorecard reached out to Catholic Charities, YMCA International, and CWS for comments but did not receive responses before publication.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, 481,000 illegal aliens live in Harris County.
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