EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Migrant services nonprofits are resorting to donations and litigation as federal funding cuts force them to furlough workers and find alternative sources of funding.
The cuts come as the Trump administration prioritizes border security and deportations over asylum. The tactic has dramatically cut down on new arrivals at the Southwest border but leaves millions of people with cases pending in U.S. immigration court in need of legal assistance.
“We’ve had a significant amount of money cut to the organization. We have a $7.5 million budget, and we’ve lost $5 million in funding,” said Melissa Lopez, executive director of Estrella del Paso. “That’s a huge amount of money from private donors to be able to make up. We are doing our best to find alternatives. We did file several federal lawsuits related to the suspension of the services.”
The El Paso-based organization, which provides legal representation and “Know your rights” presentations to migrants in court, furloughed 30 workers.
They aren’t alone, as migrant nonprofits not just on the Southwest border but all over the country lost federal funding “seemingly overnight” this year, said the Rev. Mark J. Seitz, chair of the U.S. Conference of Bishops Committee on Migration and bishop of El Paso.
In El Paso, five church-run migrant shelters have closed in the past two months, he said.
“Most of our organizations who were receiving some kind of government assistance in order to do their work are now cut off, unable to pay salaries,” Seitz said.
That doesn’t just translate to lawyers or social workers not getting a paycheck, but also to migrants with legitimate asylum claims or with cause to avoid deportation having to navigate alone an immigration system Lopez says can be as complicated as the U.S. Tax Code.
“I have 18 years of experience, and I can tell you (the migrants) don’t know the law. If it was easy for people to come to the United States, we wouldn’t be dealing with the situation we are now,” Lopez said.
Donations and litigation coming
In what may be a sign of things to come amid federal cuts, the Catholic Diocese of El Paso on Monday gave Estrella del Paso (Star of the Pass) a $25,000 grant. The money comes from the Border Refugee Assistance Fund, an online and mail-in fundraiser organized by the diocese and its Hope Border Institute.
Seitz invited Catholics, Christians and people of conscience to consider that migrants have come to the U.S. out of need or fear for their lives and to contribute to the fund. A review of the GoFundMe online platform shows the fund had raised $159,943 as of Monday.
“We hope to provide a place where people in our country can turn to. We as Christians have a responsibility to help people who are being left with no place to turn to right now,” the bishop said.
Pleas from advocates and protests against the Trump administration’s immigration policies from activists are on the rise, as evidenced by marches on May 1 and May 3 in many U.S. cities.
GOP activists in El Paso responded to those marches by pointing out migrants who cut barriers or jumped over the border wall broke the law and must answer for it. They were gatherings “of people who are being paid to pretend to protect,” El Paso County Republican Chairman Michael Aboud told KTSM.
$1,000 to self deport ‘not enough,’ advocates say
Lopez said her organization a few weeks ago sued the Trump administration over cuts to legal assistance for undocumented children, and that recently some of that money was restored. She said more litigation will be forthcoming, though she would prefer Congress take action to restore asylum.
She and Seitz also opined the Trump administration’s announcement to pay $1,000 to migrants who self deport through the CBP Home app would neither make up for the costs they incurred coming to the U.S. nor guarantee they would be admitted lawfully on a future date.
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