Catholic Charity Uses Taxpayers’ Money for Migrants’ Flights

A Catholic charity in Texas is refuting claims by US lawmakers on both sides of the aisle that emergency funds are being misused to buy plane tickets for migrants.

Catholic Charities of San Antonio, just over 150 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, came under scrutiny last week by two South Texas members of Congress, Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, and Rep. Monica De La Cruz , a Republican. who accused the organization of using taxpayer dollars tied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to airlift asylum seekers to other locations.

Jose Antonio Fernandez, CEO of the San Antonio-based archdiocese, said Catholic News Agency (CNA) that his nonprofit has offered air transportation to migrants, but claims it falls within FEMA rules related to the Emergency Food and Shelter Program.

Such transportation has not been offered since late last year, he added.

“The money was given to us to provide food, clothing and all these activities, including transportation,” said Fernandez, CEO of the archdiocese since 2013. “It is not my interpretation, it is a fact; many companies in the US offer transportation because it is allowed. If you contact FEMA, they will tell you that you can indeed provide transportation.”

Newsweek contacted Catholic Charities and FEMA via email for comment.

Both lawmakers have said this before Border report that FEMA funds are intended to reimburse nonprofits and municipalities for food, shelter and humanitarian expenses — not the air transportation that politicians claim the charity uses to lure illegal migrants to San Antonio because they know they are somewhere else can travel while their asylum procedure is being assessed by federal authorities.

Part of the reason migrants want to come to the city, Cuellar says, is because of such transportation. He said he spoke with the Holding Institute, a nonprofit in his hometown of Laredo that provides humanitarian care and shelter to migrants legally released by the Department of Homeland Security, and who referred to free rides.

But the money associated with the nonprofit, which he helped launch in 2015, was never intended to pay for long-distance transportation and should be used for emergencies or within the nonprofit’s city, he argued.

“When I started this program, I said it would only be used for food and shelter, maybe for transportation within a city, but not to send them there,” said Cuellar, who co-founded a House of Representatives last month with 26 members. Democrat Border Security Task Force. “The family or someone else should pay for that, not taxpayers’ money.”

A spokeswoman for Catholic Charities of San Antonio said Border report that the nonprofit is eligible to receive $10.8 million in additional funding through the FEMA Shelter and Services Program for its MRS Centro de Bienvenida temporary shelter, which has provided humanitarian assistance and served more than 305,000 people since September 2022.

De La Cruz said money is not intended to subsidize illegal migrants and give them free transportation anywhere.

“They misused funds and sent these illegal immigrants to their destination of choice with taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” she said. “This is simply unacceptable.”

Newsweek I reached out to both lawmakers by phone and email for comment.