It sounds like something out of a Kafkaesque play – and yet it's the reality along the southern border of the United States: The same Trump administration that publicly shames humanitarian helpers and accuses them of aiding smuggling simultaneously hands them migrants for temporary shelter. The state threatens imprisonment – and at the same time asks for help. Welcome to the schizophrenic logic of a migration policy based not on order, but on intimidation and ideological harshness.
The situation escalated on March 11, 2025, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency – a sub-agency of the Department of Homeland Security – sent letters to non-governmental organizations along the border. In those letters, it expressed "significant concerns" that providing food, shelter, and transportation to migrants might violate anti-smuggling laws. The message was clear: anyone who helps may be committing a crime. Organizations like Catholic Charities in Laredo, the Holding Institute, or Annunciation House in El Paso were criminalized and relied upon in the same breath.
Rebecca Solloa, director of Catholic Charities, told the AP, "It was pretty scary. I’m not going to lie." Because while FEMA threatens investigations, ICE – also part of the Department of Homeland Security – delivers migrants day after day to those very same facilities. Catholic Charities alone, after receiving the letter, took in eight to ten people per day – until funds were depleted on April 25 and the facility was forced to shut down. "We had hoped for up to 7 million dollars in FEMA aid," said Solloa. "We received nothing. Instead, we had to close with nearly a million dollars in losses."
At the Holding Institute in Laredo, the situation is similarly grim. Methodist pastor Michael Smith speaks of a "frightening letter" and a "dilemma" that really shouldn't be one. "There are some things that are just right to do." And so the institute continues to take in families from ICE detention centers in Karnes City and Dilley – including people from Russia, Iran, Papua New Guinea, and China. El Paso's Annunciation House also continues to receive migrants from Honduras and Venezuela.
But it is survival on borrowed time. The Holding Institute has reduced its staff from 45 to seven. To cut costs, meals are now served without protein. In Phoenix, the International Rescue Committee continues to provide assistance – even though people from the severely overcrowded Krome detention center in Miami are arriving – but the foundation is crumbling.
The Contradictions of a System
This story is a lesson in the moral decay of U.S. immigration policy under Donald Trump. A state that should alleviate hardship criminalizes helpers. A president who preaches Christian values lets church-based organizations bleed out financially. And a system that claims to stand for law and order ignores the chaos it has created itself.
ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, continues to act in contradictory ways – on the one hand asking NGOs to shelter people, and on the other having FEMA accuse those very NGOs of potentially committing crimes by doing so. Solloa calls it a "contradiction" that is almost unbearable. The situation is also a direct attack on the idea that compassion might have a place within state structures. The Trump administration is trying to dismantle a decades-old balance between authorities and civil society. Under Joe Biden, ICE and NGOs worked closely together – even if that cooperation had its own dark sides, such as mass releases at bus stations.
Now, that fragile arrangement has given way to a politics of suspicion. And yet – ICE is often forced to release people, due to a lack of diplomatic return agreements, logistical obstacles, or court orders for release. Families with children may only be held for a maximum of 20 days, according to a long-standing court ruling. Trump wants to overturn that ruling.
The Numbers Say It All
Between February and April 2025, Border Patrol released only seven migrants with a notice to appear – compared to over 130,000 during the same period the previous year under Biden. But these figures omit ICE's role – because ICE's releases are not publicly documented. Anyone thinking this is intentional opacity might not be wrong.
The Perfidious Game of Fear
FEMA has suspended payments to dozens of facilities nationwide. In return, it demands detailed reports of services provided – and sworn declarations from leadership that they have no knowledge of any violations of smuggling laws. The message: any act of help can become a trap.
In this atmosphere of fear and control, the previously close collaboration between NGOs and the government becomes visible. Solloa puts it plainly – "We’ve always had a good relationship with our federal partners. But at some point, you have to say – I don’t have any more money. Our agency is hurting. I’m sorry – we can’t do this anymore."
What remains is a broken system that persecutes its helpers, betrays its principles, and sells off its humanity. The Trump administration hasn’t just perfected the legal infrastructure of exclusion – it has also destroyed the moral compass of institutions that once stood as a bulwark against state coldness.
Those who help migrants now stand caught between the lines.
The question is no longer whether the system is broken.
The question is – was it ever built to be just?
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