EXC: Trump Administration Hands Millions to Refugee Admission Groups

nataliegwinters.substack.com
Including millions to fraud-plagued Minnesota…

The Trump administration is quietly authorizing millions of dollars in refugee resettlement funding, including to organizations operating at the center of the illegal immigration crisis.

According to Federal Register notices published on September 22, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement intends to award nearly seven million dollars in replacement grants to two nonprofit organizations involved in refugee case management and integration services. One of those awards directs more than two and a half million dollars to a St. Paul based organization operating in Minnesota, the focal point of the Somali fraud investigations.

The ORR states that it intends to issue a replacement award in the amount of up to $2,556,173 to Community Sponsorship Hub in St. Paul, Minnesota. The notice explains that the organization will “provide intensive case management services to eligible populations” through the ORR’s “Preferred Communities” program.

Set to run from September 30, 2025 to September 29, 2026, the grant can be read in full here:

Community Sponsorship Hub, which has partnered with the Biden-era State Department, works to increase the number of refugees in the U.S. and ensure they feel “welcomed” and “protected.” It was originally started as part of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

The organization openly admits throughout their website that they’re working to block the Trump administration’s overhaul of refugee admissions, with one example below:

Advisory board members include Gregory Maniatis, the program director of the International Migration Initiative at Open Society Foundations.

The project boasts about having “40 community sponsorship programs in the United States and is projected to expand community sponsorship opportunities to approximately 90 communities over the next two years.”

The second Federal Register notice issued the same day announces ORR’s intent to award up to $4,500,000 to Catholic Charities USA, one of the largest refugee resettlement and social service organizations in the country. The award is designated for intensive case management services under the Preferred Communities program and continues Catholic Charities’ longstanding role as a federal partner in refugee resettlement.

Catholic Charities has increasingly drawn criticism from lawmakers and immigration enforcement advocates who argue that the organization functions as part of a broader pro migration infrastructure. Those critics contend that by providing extensive settlement services and publicly opposing restrictive immigration policies, Catholic Charities effectively supports mass migration, even when operating within formal legal frameworks.

The progressive group has openly admitted it “strongly opposed” President Trump’s restrictions on asylum access implemented in 2020 and has solicited donations, 100% of which would go toward supporting immigrants at the American border.

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Together, the two grants illustrate a growing disconnect between enforcement focused rhetoric and administrative reality. While the Trump administration has emphasized fraud investigations and tighter controls in public statements, the federal government is simultaneously reinforcing the refugee resettlement infrastructure with millions in new funding.