Guest post by Paul Drabik
A recent FOIA request to the City of Chicago from Terry Newsome of Behind Enemy Lines podcast has found a curious relationship between Catholic Charities organization and City of Chicago officials. In an email from February 20, 2024 a Catholic Charities official sent an update to multiple Illinois government and City of Chicago officials including Chicago Public School and Northwestern employees. The email shows multiple graphs detailing the progress of Catholic Charities efforts to house illegals.
According to Illinois.gov the state is funding the asylum seeker program to the tune of $478 million over FY 2023 and 2024. Of course, that money does not just come out of thin air. The recent state budget announced by Governor Pritzker increased the burden of the Illinois taxpayer by $1B. A significant portion of that will be used to address the immigration crisis in Chicago.
Lost in the chaos of the ever-growing immigration crisis is the day-to-day management of an entirely new class of people. Sanctuary cities such as Chicago are having to house, feed, and care for new people from different countries and walks of life on a daily basis. This type of effort is wholly unprecedented and the government infrastructure needed to manage the crisis is not sufficient. Hence the increased taxes and federal government assistance.
However, there needs to be some organizational infrastructure to manage the logistics of such a vast human migratory enterprise. That’s where Catholic Charities enters the scene. As previously reported by Gateway Pundit and Behind Enemy Lines immigrants were being housed all over the city of Chicago in different facilities. Crime has been rampant including evidence of human trafficking. But where do the immigrants go after the temporary stay in these facilities? In the slide provided to Illinois and City of Chicago government officials Catholic Charities boasts of reuniting 4,800 “new arrivals” with family and lists all the facilities housing illegals.
It is curious to note that Catholic Charities would be so involved with local and state governments in assisting with illegal immigrant logistics. More curious still is the next slide where Catholic Charities details data regarding “moveout services” provided for over 8,800 “ASERAP” eligible individuals since July 2023. Further investigation finds that ASERAP is an acronym for Asylum Seeker Emergency Rental Assistance Program. This program partners with landlords across the city to house illegals for up to 6 months. This timeframe has recently been paired back to three months because of the volume of new arrivals. In order to extend their stay, illegals have to obtain a work permit. According to Borderless – a Chicago based pro illegal immigration magazine – the program is a federal government program. On top of the state funds used to support illegals, Chicago has spent $45 million from the program.
A cursory examination of the Catholic Charities immigration page offers a window into the assuredly noble aspirations to assist the federal government in breaking their own laws. Within the challenge of immigration services the organization states:
“Catholic Charities immigration services 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.”
It is good to know that Catholic Charities support the federal government. Apparently the back scratching is reciprocal. According to a Daily Wire investigation into the issue of illegal immigration it is noted that Catholic Charities received a whopping $1.4 BILLION from the federal government in 2021.
Many questions come to mind when viewing the below slide where Catholic Charities notes they’ve helped resettle over 13,000 “new arrivals.” One question might be, are they complicit in the murder of Laken Riley the Georgia college student? As Gateway Pundit previously reported, Catholic Charities had transferred the murderer to a residence agency of theirs known as Covenant House. However, the overarching question regards what is “humane” as it relates to illegal immigration. Charity is nullified when it facilitates illegality at the expense of naturalized citizens. According to a June 2024 NPR article housing prices are up 47% since early 2020. A Yahoo Finance article shows food prices up 25.8% since 2020. These numbers are unsustainable and hurt the lower classes more than anyone.
It’s no wonder that landlords might be working so cooperatively with the State of Illinois to temporarily house thousands of illegal immigrants. In January of 2024 Public Act 102-0232 went into effect. According to the law, anyone refusing to engage in a real estate transaction or loan services due to “immigration status,” is committing a civil rights violation. Not only does Illinois see fit to care for illegal immigrants at the expense of the taxpayer, they will also use State power to legislate their way into property management.
In summary, billions of dollars are being siphoned from legal citizens to bring in a new class of citizen that the government will paternalize in order to get the votes they desire. Pseudo-religious organizations will collude and extort taxpayer money from the federal government in order to make your communities less safe, your food is more expensive, and price you into a renter class as they grow government endlessly. All of this has accelerated under the Biden administration since 2020. Government subsidies for private corporations are often lamented. The question becomes, which charitable donation is worse? Corporate or religious?
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