(LifeSiteNews) — Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk drew attention this week to the vast sums of taxpayer money the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has received in recent years through federal grants for resettling migrants within the United States.
On Monday, Musk remarked, “Wow” to analysis of the USCCB’s audit for fiscal year 2024 by Effort News founder Brian Chau, who found the conference reported “revenue of $180.4M from government contracts and grants, 81.8% of USCCB’s revenue, all of which is from Migration and Refugee Services.”
“Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) make up the vast majority of USCCB operating expenses. MRS pays for $13.4M out of $36.6M in USCCB salaries, taxes, and benefits, or roughly 36.6% of all STBs.”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 10, 2026
Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) make up the vast majority of USCCB operating expenses. MRS pays for $13.4M out of $36.6M in USCCB salaries, taxes, and benefits, or roughly 36.6% of all STBs. pic.twitter.com/8oO5daUF5X
— Brian Chau (@brianchau57) August 10, 2026
“The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is almost entirely funded by government refugee resettlement grants. It’s over 80% of their revenue,” another X user reacted in the post that caught Musk’s eye.
Holy Apostles College and Seminary theology professor Father Matthew P. Schneider (who previously defended the abortion-tainted COVID-19 vaccines) objected that the program in question has since been canceled and that the funds did not cover all aspects of the bishops’ refugee program or other works, to which the Leonine Institute responded, “Surely, it’s at least worth a passing comment that this *was* the case for quite some time. It’s reasonable to point out that fully 80% of the USCCB’s revenue was at least promised by migration grants, given how vocal the bishops are about importing as many people into the US as possible.”
Surely it’s at least worth a passing comment that this *was* the case for quite some time. It’s reasonable to point out that fully 80% of the USCCB’s revenue was at least promised by migration grants, given how vocal the bishops are about importing as many people into the US as…
— Leonine Institute (@leoinstituteCST) August 10, 2026
The debate came amid ongoing controversy over how to handle illegal immigration. President Donald Trump was returned to office in 2024 in large part thanks to widespread anger at his predecessor Joe Biden’s lax border policies. Trump returned to office and set U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to work on an aggressive “mass deportation” campaign to collect and remove illegals currently in the country. But ICE’s tactics, particularly in the left-wing city of Minneapolis, garnered widespread scrutiny, especially after two shooting deaths of protesters in altercations with agents. In response, Trump tapped Tom Homan to take over the Minneapolis operation, replacing Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino.
But left-wing opposition to immigration enforcement long predates, and runs far deeper than, simple qualms about specific enforcement actions. As LifeSiteNews covered at the time, as of February 2025, the USCCB and Catholic Charities received $449 million in federal funds for helping resettle unaccompanied migrant children (that month, the USCCB tried to sue the Trump administration to prevent the funding’s cancellation).
These financial incentives correlate with a heavy bias in favor of letting illegal migrants stay in the United States. In February, the USCCB filed an amicus brief claiming it would “deny the dignity of the human person and harm innocent children” to stop recognizing children of illegals born in America as automatic U.S. citizens. Last year, it elected as its new vice president Texas Bishop Daniel Flores, who has called mass deportations “formal cooperation in intrinsic evil,” comparable with “driving someone to an abortion clinic.”
In March, Bishop Robert Barron called out the more liberal among his fellow Catholics for their “demonization” of immigration hawks.
“We can’t simply fall for the simplistic view that an open border is humanitarian, that an open border is kind to the stranger,” he said. “An open border also produces enormous moral problems. … It’s not just, well, the bad guy, Republicans, who want to enforce immigration laws. It’s Republicans for very good moral reasons who want to enforce immigration law.”