More than 80 employees at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami are set to lose their jobs after the Trump administration terminated an $11 million federal contract that funded a long-running shelter for unaccompanied migrant children.
The layoffs stem from the closure of the Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh Children's Village, a Miami-Dade facility that has housed minors arriving in the United States without parents or legal guardians. The job cuts, detailed in a filing under the Florida Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act reported by the Miami New Times, are expected to take effect May 31, 2026.
The filing shows that the layoffs impact the entire staff of the children's village. Positions include 46 youth care workers, 11 case managers, six clinicians, and five traveling youth care workers, along with additional administrative and support personnel.
In a letter to employees cited in the filing, Catholic Charities said the decision was triggered by the termination of funding from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which operates under the Administration for Children and Families within the Department of Health and Human Services.
"As you know, the Administration for Children and Families' Office of Refugee Resettlement terminated its funding contract with the agency," the letter states. "Due to these unforeseen circumstances, the funding for the program was terminated, and the agency has made the difficult decision to close the Msgr. Bryan Walsh Children's Village."
The organization added that the layoffs would be permanent.
The funding cut ends a decades-long relationship between the federal government and Catholic Charities in Miami. The archdiocese says its work with unaccompanied minors dates back to Operation Pedro Pan in the early 1960s, when thousands of Cuban children were resettled in the United States. Since then, the program has operated continuously, becoming one of the longest-running facilities of its kind in the country.
Archbishop Thomas Wenski criticized the decision earlier this month, warning that the closure would have immediate consequences for vulnerable children.
"It is baffling that the U.S. government would shut down a program that would be hard-pressed to replicate at the level of competence and excellence that Catholic Charities has achieved," Wenski said in a statement.
Peter Routsis-Arroyo, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, said the agency received little warning before the contract was terminated.
"We were negotiating a new budget right up to the time of the cancellation letter," he said. "We were even approved for staff hiring the week before notification arrived."
Federal officials have defended the move as part of a broader shift in immigration enforcement and child placement policy. According to statements reported by Catholic media outlets, the Department of Health and Human Services said the Office of Refugee Resettlement is closing or consolidating facilities it considers underused.
"ORR is closing and consolidating unused facilities as the Trump Administration continues efforts to stop illegal entry and the smuggling and trafficking of unaccompanied alien children," an HHS spokesperson said.
The agency also noted that the number of unaccompanied minors in federal custody has declined significantly compared to previous years, reducing the need for large shelter networks.
Local leaders, including South Florida Republican members of Congress María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez, urged federal officials to reconsider the decision, citing the region's long role as a gateway for humanitarian migration.
"South Florida has always been the frontline of humanitarian migration in our hemisphere," they wrote, adding that Catholic Charities provides "trained staff, proven infrastructure, and decades of expertise."
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