The Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security was set to give nearly $300,000 to an organization that provides legal services to aliens subject to deportation. Now, the Trump administration has frozen its funding.
Catholic Migration Services (CMS), a New York-based non-profit organization, was slated to receive over $293,000 from the Department of Homeland Security to provide naturalization services for immigrants. The grant term began under the Biden administration on November 22nd, 2024, and was scheduled to continue until September 2026.
The organization provides a wealth of services beyond just naturalization, however, and even offers free deportation defense to foreign nationals who have an order of removal. These services are part of the group’s effort to “advance equality and social justice in a changing and diverse population.”
“We provide free legal services, tenant organizing services and community legal education to low-income New Yorkers regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, or immigration status,” Catholic Migration Services says, before specifying that it provides deportation defense services to foreign aliens who have a removal order against them. “Our Immigration Unit is comprised of four legal teams: Removal Defense, Affirmative, Naturalization, and the Pro Se Plus Project.”
Now the organization says that the federal funding has been frozen.
“CMS previously shared federal funding with other nonprofits to help lawful permanent residents become citizens. However, the Department of Homeland Security has recently frozen this program,” the organization told The Daily Wire. “In addition to offering various civil legal services to low-income New Yorkers, CMS also assists immigrants who have valid legal claims in removal proceedings.”
The freeze is part of a wider effort from the Trump administration to halt funding to non-profits that encourage mass immigration into the United States, including religiously-affiliated refugee resettlement agencies.
Catholic Migration Services states on its website that the organization offers “deportation defense” before adding that its offerings are intended to “help immigrants in deportation/removal proceedings represent themselves in Immigration Court and provide assistance with applications for asylum, employment authorization, immigration court motions, and other items.”
The Pro Se Plus Project, a joint effort of Catholic Migration Servicesus and two other organizations, similarly states that it provides deportation defense to aliens who are subject to removal. “We help people avoid exploitation, in absentia removal orders, missed deadlines and notario fraud,” the site reads, referencing removal orders that are issued by immigration judges when a non-citizen fails to appear for an immigration hearing.
CMS has also come out against the Trump administration’s efforts to enforce federal immigration law, accusing the president of launching an “assault on immigrant communities” through his “threats of mass deportation and xenophobic rhetoric that has instilled deep fear in immigrant communities.”
The group is far from the only far-left organization that has received DHS funding despite advocating for illegal aliens, however. The Biden administration also gave $1.2 million to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a radical organization that works to “dismantle the U.S. immigration enforcement system,” The Daily Wire previously revealed.
The organization was part of a broader coalition of non-profits that sought to naturalize citizens and mobilize them as voters to “sway the outcome of national, state, and local elections.”
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[[{“value”:”
The Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security was set to give nearly $300,000 to an organization that provides legal services to aliens subject to deportation. Now, the Trump administration has frozen its funding.
Catholic Migration Services (CMS), a New York-based non-profit organization, was slated to receive over $293,000 from the Department of Homeland Security to provide naturalization services for immigrants. The grant term began under the Biden administration on November 22nd, 2024, and was scheduled to continue until September 2026.
The organization provides a wealth of services beyond just naturalization, however, and even offers free deportation defense to foreign nationals who have an order of removal. These services are part of the group’s effort to “advance equality and social justice in a changing and diverse population.”
“We provide free legal services, tenant organizing services and community legal education to low-income New Yorkers regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, or immigration status,” Catholic Migration Services says, before specifying that it provides deportation defense services to foreign aliens who have a removal order against them. “Our Immigration Unit is comprised of four legal teams: Removal Defense, Affirmative, Naturalization, and the Pro Se Plus Project.”
Now the organization says that the federal funding has been frozen.
“CMS previously shared federal funding with other nonprofits to help lawful permanent residents become citizens. However, the Department of Homeland Security has recently frozen this program,” the organization told The Daily Wire. “In addition to offering various civil legal services to low-income New Yorkers, CMS also assists immigrants who have valid legal claims in removal proceedings.”
The freeze is part of a wider effort from the Trump administration to halt funding to non-profits that encourage mass immigration into the United States, including religiously-affiliated refugee resettlement agencies.
Catholic Migration Services states on its website that the organization offers “deportation defense” before adding that its offerings are intended to “help immigrants in deportation/removal proceedings represent themselves in Immigration Court and provide assistance with applications for asylum, employment authorization, immigration court motions, and other items.”
The Pro Se Plus Project, a joint effort of Catholic Migration Servicesus and two other organizations, similarly states that it provides deportation defense to aliens who are subject to removal. “We help people avoid exploitation, in absentia removal orders, missed deadlines and notario fraud,” the site reads, referencing removal orders that are issued by immigration judges when a non-citizen fails to appear for an immigration hearing.
CMS has also come out against the Trump administration’s efforts to enforce federal immigration law, accusing the president of launching an “assault on immigrant communities” through his “threats of mass deportation and xenophobic rhetoric that has instilled deep fear in immigrant communities.”
The group is far from the only far-left organization that has received DHS funding despite advocating for illegal aliens, however. The Biden administration also gave $1.2 million to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a radical organization that works to “dismantle the U.S. immigration enforcement system,” The Daily Wire previously revealed.
The organization was part of a broader coalition of non-profits that sought to naturalize citizens and mobilize them as voters to “sway the outcome of national, state, and local elections.”
“}]]
