Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston laid off more than 20% of its work force this week, amid a White House freeze on federal reimbursements for contracted refugee and migrant resettlement programs.
The Galveston-Houston layoffs, coming in one of the most populous Catholic dioceses in the country, are likely to be replicated in Catholic social service agencies across the country, the U.S. bishops’ conference told bishops Friday.
A spokesperson for Catholic Charities in Houston confirmed 120 layoffs Feb. 8 in a statement to The Pillar — more than 20% of nearly 500 total employees before the layoffs.
“Due to the recent freeze in federal funding, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston made staffing adjustments that allow the agency to continue its mission in providing essential humanitarian services to individuals and families in need. The loss of federal funding is forcing a reduction of 120 staff, primarily in our program that serves refugees,” said Betsy Ballard, the agency’s communications director.
“Catholic Charities has served the community for more than eight decades. Our commitment to our mission remains strong: to serve as people of faith helping people in need achieve self-sufficiency and live with dignity,” Ballard added.
According to the agency’s 2024 annual report, staff members worked to resettled 10,550 refugees between July 2023 and June 2024, while also providing legal services to roughly 7,000 immigrants in the Houston-Galveston archdiocese, in which nearly 5 million people live.
The agency spent almost $59 million on immigration and refugee services in the 2024 fiscal year, much of it seemingly funded by government grants, which constituted more than 80% of the agency's $101 million in revenue.
Some of that grant money — though it is not immediately clear how much — likely came through a large umbrella contract for refugee resettlement administered by the U.S. bishops’ conference, by which money for resettlement is received by the USCCB, and passed on to a national network of agencies, including many diocesan Catholic Charities agencies across the country.
In Houston, annual reports indicate a major budget increase in a relatively short period of years. In the 2020 fiscal year, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston spent $11.9 million on immigration and refugee services — just 20% of its 2024 expenditure in the same category.
And in the 2020 fiscal year, the agency realized $25.5 million total in government grants, compared to $82.2 million in 2024.
Those increases would seem consistent with national trends, in which federal funds to Catholic entities for migration and refugee services increased significantly during the Biden administration, compared to both the Trump and Obama administrations.
The Pillar reported Friday that the U.S. bishops’ conference itself had laid off 50 people Feb. 7, roughly one-third of the total staff members in its migration and refugee services office.
According to a memo sent Friday to bishops — and obtained by The Pillar — the USCCB layoffs came because the federal government had not paid “close to $20 million” in invoices for contracted refugee resettlement work performed in December.
The conference said it had notified “our local Catholic Charities and other subcontracting agencies that there will be a delay in payments until further notice.”
“This will be a burden on them and the people they serve and will result in staff layoffs.”
In the memo, USCCB general secretary Fr. Michael Fuller emphasized that the layoffs portend “difficult questions” regarding the future of the Church’s government-funded work for refugees and other immigrants. Fuller said the “landscape” of that work will “dramatically change.”
The bishops’ conference has been a federal contractor in resettlement programs since 1980. That work came under fire last month, when Vice President JD Vance told a reporter that he believes the U.S. bishops are motivated to speak about immigration policy because of the grant funds they receive from the federal government — and Vance suggested those funds go to resettle “illegal immigrants.”
The bishops’ conference responded with a statement almost immediately, explaining its position, and pushing back on the idea that refugees it helps to resettle are not permitted to be in the United States.
The conflict has been fiercely debated among Catholics.
But the cut off from federal reimbursements seems consistent with broadly applied Trump administration standstills on billions in federal dispersals for existing contracts, programs, and subsidies. The payout freezes are the subject of both litigation and sharp political debate in Washington.
At the same time, the U.S. bishops’ global charitable agency, Catholic Relief Services, is expected to slash its $1.5 billion budget by 50% this year, after the Trump administration effectively shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development, whose grants have constituted about half of the Catholic Relief Services budget.
The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, which includes the nation’s fourth most populous city, has been led since 2006 by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, who has also served a term as president of the U.S. bishops’ conference. On Jan. 26, Austin Bishop Joe Vasquez was appointed to succeed DiNardo — he will be installed as archbishop March 25.
Editor’s Note: This article originally misstated the date of Bishop Vasquez’s installation as March 8. That was the date of his installation in Austin. The Pillar regrets the error.
