The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) provides legal services to illegal aliens. It was founding in 1988 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) which still controls it today. George Soros has been a a major financial backer of CLINIC.
Here’s a portion of the CLINIC press release:
The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), condemns in the strongest terms the Trump administration’s revocation of the Biden administration’s extension of temporary legal protections for more than 600,000 Venezuelans seeking safety in the United States.
“This decision is a betrayal of our nation’s moral and legal obligations to protect those fleeing violence and persecution,” said Anna Gallagher, executive director of CLINIC. “Stripping temporary legal protections from Venezuelans not only exposes a very vulnerable population to deportation but also contradicts our core values as a nation rooted in values of justice and protecting the oppressed. Catholic social teaching calls us to uphold the sacred dignity of every human being, to welcome the stranger, and to care for those in need. This action is a direct affront to those principles.”
A review of the CLINIC’s 2023 federal 990 reveals some interesting facts:
- Their stated mission is: “To embrace the gospel value of welcoming the stranger by promoting the dignity and protecting the rights of immigrants in partnership with a dedicated network of catholic and community legal immigration programs.“
- The majority of the Board of Directors are bishops, including Michael Fuller, Thomas Wenski, Roy Campbell, Nicholas Dimarzio, Mark Seitz, Jacques Fabre-Jeune, Gregory Hartmayer, Gerald Kicanas, George Thomas and Eusebio Elizondo.
- Revenue were over $16 million, more than 2.5 times the amount in the previous year.
- $5.8 million (36% of revenues) was devoted to paying salaries and wages.
- 95 grants were received from other non-profits (including 14 Catholic Charities agencies), totaling over $7 million, a five-fold increase from the prior year. While there were no federal grants in 2023, CLINIC has received over $4.8 million from the federal government between 2009 and 2022.
Influence Watch reports some additional interesting facts:
- Among the major donors to CLINIC is far-left billionaire George Soros and his foundations. Soros has donated large sums of money to nominally Catholic groups that attack church doctrine, among them the pro-abortion group Catholics for Choice. 3
- From 2000-2014 Soros has donated over $1.4 million to CLINIC. 3 In 2015, Soros’s Foundation to Promote Open Society gave $970,000 to CLINIC. 14
- It has also received support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, receiving $1.5 million since 2006. 15 Other financial supporters of CLINIC include the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and Unbound Philanthropy.
- CLINIC has given grants to a number of left-wing groups, including the AFL-CIO, Asian Americans Advancing Justice -LA, Farmworker Justice, Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Service Employees International Union, and United We Dream Network.
QUESTIONS:
- Why are Catholic bishops accepting financial contributions from a Marxist, anti-Catholic atheist like George Soros?
- Why do bishops need their own migrant legal services?