Catholic Charities Got $690M for Migrant Kids. Now 31,000 Are Missing.

A federal resettlement network received hundreds of millions in taxpayer money while internal controls failed and children vanished into the system.

Between 2009 and 2024, Catholic nonprofit organizations received $690 million in federal funding to care for unaccompanied migrant children. During the same period, over 31,000 children ended up with missing or invalid sponsor addresses. Now, as a House investigation probes 200+ nonprofit groups, internal audit failures and explosive revenue growth raise questions about where the money went—and where the children are.

The numbers tell a troubling story. Under the Biden administration, more than 500,000 unaccompanied children crossed the border. Catholic Charities and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops became major players in placing these children with sponsors. But whistleblowers and auditors are painting a different picture than the humanitarian mission these groups advertise.

When Money Flows, Controls Fail

The two Catholic affiliates that received the most federal money for unaccompanied children both showed up with audit deficiencies in fiscal year 2024. Commonwealth Catholic Charities in Virginia pulled in $11.9 million. Catholic Charities of Dallas received $8.5 million. Both had internal control problems noted in federal audits.

This pattern appears across the network. Catholic Charities of Galveston-Houston relied on the unaccompanied child program for 87% of its total federal funding. When a single program becomes that dominant in an organization's budget, it creates pressure to keep children moving through the system—whether or not proper vetting happens.

Between 2020 and 2022, some resettlement agencies saw explosive growth that outpaced any reasonable expansion of legitimate services. Church World Service's revenue jumped 123% in just two years. HIAS, another resettlement agency, grew 56%. Episcopal Migration Ministries became 99.5% federally funded—essentially a government contractor with a nonprofit label.

The Whistleblower's Warning

Tara Lee Rodas worked inside the Department of Health and Human Services during the surge. She didn't mince words when she testified before Congress: "We have delivered these unaccompanied children to criminals, traffickers, and members of transnational criminal organizations, who are using the UC Program as a white glove delivery service of children."

During the Trump administration, over 400 sponsors were arrested. That's 400 people who passed through the system that was supposed to protect children. The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General found that HHS failed to properly monitor children after placement. Once they left government custody and entered sponsor homes, many disappeared from any meaningful oversight.

Now Robert F. Kennedy Jr., serving in the Trump administration, says his team is trying to locate 300,000 missing minors who went through the system. Whether that number proves accurate or not, even a fraction of it represents a massive child safety failure.

Following the Money

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops distributed $81.7 million in subawards for unaccompanied children programs. That money flowed to 65+ affiliate offices nationwide, with the heaviest concentrations in Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and California.

Catholic Charities USA, the umbrella organization with 168 member agencies, operates as a network. CEO Kerry Alys Robinson oversees an operation pulling in over $100 million annually in federal funding. But the structure makes accountability difficult. Each affiliate operates semi-independently while sharing the Catholic Charities brand.

When the House investigation heated up in 2025, the USCCB's response was telling. They didn't just cooperate. They sued for $24.3 million in unpaid reimbursements, laid off roughly one-third of their Migration and Refugee Services staff, and terminated their cooperative agreements with the federal government entirely.

That's not the behavior of an organization confident in its record.

The Network Nobody Watches

The resettlement system works like this: The federal government contracts with nine major agencies, including Catholic Charities and USCCB. Those agencies then subcontract with hundreds of local affiliates. Money flows down through multiple layers. Children move through the same chain in reverse—from border facilities to ORR custody to affiliate placement to sponsor homes.

At each step, there's supposed to be oversight. Background checks. Home studies. Follow-up visits. But the DHS Inspector General found those safeguards failing systemwide. When you're processing 500,000 children in four years, the pressure to move cases creates shortcuts.

And when 87% of an organization's budget depends on one federal program, there's enormous incentive to keep the pipeline flowing.

What This Means

This investigation reveals a federal funding system that created perverse incentives. Nonprofit agencies that were supposed to protect vulnerable children instead became financially dependent on processing them quickly. When your organizational survival depends on federal contracts, the mission shifts from "protecting children" to "processing cases."

The $690 million that flowed to Catholic organizations represents just one piece of a much larger resettlement network. Similar patterns appear across other religious and secular agencies receiving billions in taxpayer money with minimal accountability.

Until someone can account for the 31,000 children with invalid addresses—and the potentially hundreds of thousands more who vanished into sponsor homes without proper follow-up—this system remains a child trafficking pipeline with a humanitarian label.

The House investigation continues. But congressional hearings won't find missing children. That requires something the system has lacked from the start: real accountability for every dollar and every child.

Investigation conducted using OSINT tools, federal audit databases, congressional testimony records, and analysis of 1,429 USCCB subaward transactions. Data sources include HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement records, DHS Inspector General reports, and nonprofit financial disclosures.