Ah, the sweet smell of sanctimony mixed with federal cash. Nothing quite says “moral authority” like a bishop wagging a righteous finger at President Trump while quietly raking in millions of taxpayer dollars to fund a migrant resettlement operation. And now, with a little sunlight shining on the financials, it turns out that Bishop Mariann Budde’s sermon wasn’t just a plea for “compassion”—it was a sales pitch.
Let’s get one thing straight: The Episcopal Church isn’t just passing around the collection plate for charity here. Their federal contracting arm, Episcopal Migration Ministry (EMM), scooped up a cool $53 million in 2023 alone to resettle migrants across the U.S. That’s our money, by the way—American taxpayer dollars, funneled straight into a resettlement pipeline that, conveniently, keeps growing year after year. And what a business model! According to a 2012 Government Accountability Office report, these programs have every incentive to keep the numbers high—because the more migrants they resettle, the more federal cash they get.
This. Is. Ridiculous. $255.5M to Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM). pic.twitter.com/Ma8U2dXu1S
— MarciJoy (@msmarcijoy) February 2, 2025
And yet, despite all that, Bishop Budde took it upon herself to scold Trump during a prayer service, sermonizing about how his administration’s immigration policies were making people “scared.” Apparently, it didn’t occur to her that a temporary pause on these programs might have had something to do with the fact that they were being evaluated for abuse. When a program depends on a constant influx of migrants to justify its existence (and its funding), it raises a few questions. Like, is this about humanitarian aid, or is it about keeping the cash flow going?
Of course, it gets even better when you start looking at how this operation is structured. Since EMM itself has limited lobbying power, the Episcopal Church—a completely separate legal entity—steps in to do the heavy lifting in Washington. Clever, isn’t it? While EMM collects the checks, the Church gets to play the noble advocate, pushing for more taxpayer-funded programs that just so happen to benefit EMM’s bottom line.
Bishop Mariann Budde’s Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) collected $53 million from Govt programs in 2023 for “Immigrant Resettlement”. pic.twitter.com/Oa5FjSPuje
— KBg20811_1776 (@KBg20811) February 3, 2025
Then there’s the Preferred Communities program, an Obama-era initiative that takes things to the next level. This program provides extra funding—on top of standard resettlement dollars—for specific groups, including LGBTQ refugees, survivors of torture, and those with severe medical conditions. The idea, of course, is that these groups require additional resources. But what’s really happening is a carve-out that allows certain resettlement organizations to double-dip into federal funds while marketing themselves as uniquely positioned to help “vulnerable populations.”
And let’s talk about that “Matching Grant” program, which sounds nice and equitable until you realize that for every dime the Episcopal Church puts in, the federal government (read: taxpayers) throws in a dollar. That’s not a match—that’s a subsidy. And then there’s the International Organization for Migration, another taxpayer-funded entity that lends money to refugees for travel costs—except here’s the kicker: The Episcopal Church pockets 25% of the money when those loans are repaid. So much for selfless charity.
This isn’t about faith, compassion, or even immigration policy—it’s about money. The Episcopal Church has found itself a highly profitable business model under the guise of humanitarian work, and the last thing they want is for anyone—especially Trump—to come in and disrupt it. So Bishop Budde can moralize all she wants, but the numbers tell the real story. This isn’t a ministry; it’s an industry. And business is booming.
