Migrant nonprofits across the U.S. are in crisis mode after the Trump administration cut off federal funding that had kept them afloat for years. Many of these groups, which provide housing, food, legal services, and transportation for illegal aliens, are now scrambling to raise money from donors—and some are even suing to get their taxpayer cash reinstated.

One of the hardest-hit groups is Estrella del Paso in El Paso, Texas. Executive Director Melissa Lopez revealed that her organization had a $7.5 million budget for 2025, but lost $5 million overnight due to federal defunding. “We’ve had a significant amount of money cut to the organization,” Lopez told local news. “That’s a huge amount of money from private donors to be able to make up.”

The organization, like many others, was almost entirely supported by taxpayer dollars during the Biden years. Now, as those subsidies dry up, their survival depends on donations and legal challenges. Lopez confirmed her group has already filed multiple lawsuits against the Trump administration in an effort to restore the funding flow.

Faith-based organizations are also feeling the sting. Rev. Mark J. Seitz, Bishop of El Paso and head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) migration committee, expressed alarm over the cuts. “Most of our organizations who were receiving some kind of government assistance… are now cut off, unable to pay salaries,” Seitz said.

The Diocese of El Paso’s Border Refugee Assistance Fund has launched a GoFundMe campaign to compensate for the losses. So far, it has raised around $160,000—just a fraction of what the organizations were accustomed to receiving from Washington.

Bishop Seitz urged fellow Catholics to chip in, calling it a Christian duty. “We hope to provide a place where people in our country can turn to,” he said. “We as Christians have a responsibility to help people who are being left with no place to turn to right now.”

Despite the appeals for charity, some groups aren’t relying solely on goodwill. The USCCB filed a lawsuit in February to challenge Trump’s order and restart the flow of federal money. The bishops have long been major recipients of government funds through USAID and refugee resettlement programs—money they’ve used to transport and place thousands of illegal aliens across the country.

The Trump administration’s cuts come as part of a broader effort to dismantle the massive nonprofit network built under the Biden and Obama administrations to support migrants who entered the country illegally. President Trump’s agencies argue that taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize services for people who broke immigration law.

Critics of the former funding model say it created a sprawling “migrant industrial complex,” where NGOs made fortunes off government contracts while fueling the border crisis. Supporters of the cuts argue that returning to a merit-based and lawful immigration system means halting the incentives that encourage mass illegal migration.

Some nonprofits are already shutting down programs, laying off workers, and turning away people at the border. The Jesuit Refugee Service, for example, has reportedly scaled back its outreach efforts after losing a large portion of its federal support.

As the lawsuits make their way through the courts, the funding freeze continues—and so does the political war over who pays for the crisis at the southern border. The Trump administration shows no signs of reversing course.

With billions once funneled to migrant NGOs now cut off, and the federal spigot shut tight, one thing is clear: the taxpayer-funded era of open-border advocacy may finally be drying up.