Catholic Charities draws fire over video coaching illegal migrants on how to duck ICE

A Catholic charity that receives billions in government funding has stirred controversy for a video teaching migrants in the country illegally how to get evade US immigration law.

In the video, distributed by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s Refugee & Immigration Services Program, immigration attorney Barbara Graham outlines step-by-step instructions for how migrants can thwart authorities conducting lawful investigations at their workplace.

“Do not panic, and do not run away. If you are frightened and feel like you need to leave, you can calmly walk toward the exit,” Graham advised.

“If you are stopped, you may ask if you are free to leave. If the officer says no, do not try to exit the building. If you are questioned you may tell them you want to remain silent,” she continued.

She further suggested that illegal immigrants should stonewall authorities, by refusing to answer questions including where they were born or how they got into the US.

According to a ProPublica audit of Virginia-based Catholic Charities USA’s finances, the 114-year-old organization took in just shy of $2 million in federal grants in 2021.

In 2010, the group’s scores of local affiliates were taking in a total of nearly $2.9 billion annually from the government — representing about 62% of its $4.67 billion annual revenue, the New York Times wrote at the time.

On its own website, Catholic Charities USA describes its “challenge” as to “support the federal government’s right and duty to regulate our borders while also calling for bipartisan, effective, humane reforms to our country’s broken immigration system.”

The organization said 638,000 people have received immigration help from one of the group’s 119 affiliates.

In the legal advice video, Graham offered the tip that illegal immigrants being questioned by authorities can simply “refuse to show identify documents,” refuse to say what country they are from and refuse to sign any paperwork without first demanding a pro-bono attorney.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) called for Catholic Charities USA to be defunded in a post on X in which he flagged DOGE, or Trump’s newly minted Department of Government Efficiency.

In a follow-up statement to The Post, Burchett hit out at the charitable org for playing politics on the immigrant crisis.

“These nongovernmental organizations and Catholic charities have pushed a mind-blowing number of illegals into our country over the past four years. It’s happening on both sides of the border. They’re using your tax dollars, and they’re not doing anybody any favors,” he said.

He added: “Our priority should be finding the 300,000+ kids these NGOs and Catholic charities lost, not giving legal advice to people who broke the law and are inside the US illegally.”

Burchett was referring to the 300,000 migrant children who came into the US during the Biden administration and were released to sponsors with no immigration appointments — meaning the Department of Homeland Security has no way of tracking them.

Catholic Charities USA isn’t the only Catholic group to run afoul of the Trump administration’s immigration policies in recent days.

Speaking on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” in his first interview since becoming vice president, JD Vance questioned the motives of US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) — the “largest refugee resettlement agency in the world” — which has “condemned” President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants.

“I think the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has, frankly, not been a good partner in commonsense immigration enforcement that the American people voted for, and I hope, again, as a devout Catholic, that they’ll do better,” Vance told host Margaret Brennan.

“I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?” he asked pointedly.

“We’re going to enforce immigration law. We’re going to protect the American people,” he vowed.

According to audited financial statements reviewed by America magazine, USCCB received around $122.6 million in 2022 and about $129.6 million in 2023 for refugee-related service.

The organization boasts that its Migration and Refugee Services department is responsible for resettling approximately 18% of the refugees who enter the US each year.

President Trump — and his no-nonsense border czar Tom Homan — have pledged to curb illegal immigration, which went on virtually unchecked under the Biden administration’s open-border policy that saw some 8 million migrants stream into the country over four years.

In the week since President Trump’s second inauguration, federal immigration agents have been rounding up hundreds of migrant criminals across the country on a daily basis, currently averaging 433 arrests per day.

On Sunday alone, ICE made 956 arrests nationwide, including arrests of violent criminals in Seattle, Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles and New Orleans.