An immigrant group behind a major lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship receives millions of dollars in government funding annually, a Washington Examiner analysis of public records has found.
CASA, an organization that helps migrants find work regardless of their legal status, filed the lawsuit alongside the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project and five pregnant noncitizens in January, arguing that Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship is unconstitutional. The pro-immigration group received roughly $5 million in government grants and $7 million in government contracts between July 2022 and June 2023, according to its most recent tax disclosures.
Tax filings from prior years show that CASA has long relied on millions of dollars in government funding to keep its programs running. In a review of federal spending records, the Washington Examiner identified grants from the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Justice, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security funding a variety of programs offered by CASA.
Some of the grants to CASA are even ongoing, per federal records.
HUD, for instance, granted CASA $1.5 million in 2023 as part of its “economic development initiative” program to fund a project that will stretch well into 2031. Grants offered under this program cover a “wide variety of projects such as housing, homelessness prevention, workforce training, public facilities, parks, resilience planning and other critical infrastructure and services,” according to the agency’s website.
CASA provides services such as those to both legal and illegal migrants.
In addition to the grant from HUD, CASA has roughly $2 million worth of ongoing grants from HHS, DOL, and DHS.
The future of grants such as these remains unclear, as the Trump administration has prioritized reining in federal spending, especially on items that could fall under the banner of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Trump administration initially froze all federal grantmaking, though it has since been forced to back down by a federal judge pending litigation.
CASA, however, continued to receive grant funding under the first Trump administration while involved in lawsuits against the federal government. The DOJ, for example, allocated about $850,000 to the organization to assist with its Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation program in October 2017. While receiving funds from the first Trump administration, CASA was involved with legal efforts to block a citizenship question from appearing on the 2020 U.S. Census questionnaire.
Other major grants allocated to CASA included $3 million from the Education Department between 2014 and 2017 to develop new programs or expand existing ones aimed at boosting student performance, $740,000 from the Federal Communications Commission, and just over $1 million from the DOL between 2010 and 2023 to provide health and safety training to workers with low English proficiency.
CASA’s unaudited fiscal 2024 financial statement recorded $8.2 million in government awards, accounting for over one-third of its total revenue. Per its website, CASA also receives funding through the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that funds volunteer work across the country.
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Other organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, alongside Democratic officials, have also mounted legal challenges against Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order.
CASA and the White House did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
