Illegal is Illegal—And No, Your Church Isn’t a Refugee Motel
2025
Principal Storyteller and Analyst:
Paul Grant Truesdell, J.D., AIF, CLU, ChFC, RFC
Founder & CEO of The Truesdell Companies
The Truesdell Professional Building
200 NW 52nd Avenue
Ocala, Florida 34482
352-612-1000 - Local
212-433-2525 - New York
Truesdell Wealth, Inc.
https://truesdellwealth.com
The Truesdell Companies
https://truesdell.net
The Truesdell Companies was a proud sponsor of the Eirinn Abu benefit concert for Tunnel to Towers, on February 28th at the Circle Square arena in Ocala, Florida. For more information, visit: https://eirinnabu.com or https://eirinnabu.com/event/5760795/695871447/eirinn-abu-and-tunnel-to-towers-foundation-concert
Events
Essential Florida Estate Documents
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Stonewater – Stone Creek - Ocala
April 25 – 6:30 pm
Reservations Required - Call or Text: 352-612-1000
Retirement Income: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
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Stonewater – Stone Creek - Ocala
March 9 – 6:30 pm
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Single or With Dependent Spouse
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May 16 – 6:30 pm
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The Truesdell Military Procurement Portfolio
Casual Conversations
May 23 – 6:30 pm
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June & July – A Financial Series in Oak Run – Ocala, Florida
Disclaimer
You are listening to the Paul Truesdell Podcast, sponsored by Truesdell Wealth and the other Truesdell Companies. Note. Due to our extensive holdings and our clients, always assume that we have a position in all companies discussed and that a conflict of interest exists. The information presented is provided for entertainment and informational purposes only. Truesdell Wealth is a Registered Investment Advisor.
Rough Notes
Title: “Illegal is Illegal—And No, Your Church Isn’t a Refugee Motel”
Let’s get something straight right out of the gate. If you walk into a restaurant through the back door, ignore the hostess, seat yourself at a reserved table, and start eating food off someone else’s plate—you’re not a guest. You’re a trespasser. So why is it so hard to apply the same logic to national borders?
We’re told we have to be compassionate. Okay. Fine. I can do compassion. But compassion without law is chaos. And chaos, my friends, is expensive.
Now I read a piece recently—solid stuff—about Donald Trump notching a win against what’s called the “Immigration Industrial Complex.” Sounds like something out of a dystopian sci-fi novel, right? But no, it’s real. It’s a bloated network of tax-funded non-governmental organizations—NGOs—who’ve been raking in government contracts to act as travel agents for illegal aliens.
And here’s the kicker: A whole lot of those contracts were going to *religious* groups. You know, the ones who pass the collection plate on Sunday and then spend Monday cashing government checks.
Let’s talk about the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops—USCCB. They just announced they’re not renewing their contracts with the federal government for children’s services and refugee support. Sounds noble, right? Cue the violin.
But don’t be fooled. They didn’t suddenly grow a backbone or rediscover the Gospel. They got cut off. The Trump administration froze their federal funding. And once the gravy train stopped running, they pulled out of the station and tried to spin it like a martyrdom story.
And just how dependent were they on your tax dollars? Buckle up. In 2022, Catholic Charities USA took in $1.4 billion—*billion*—in government support. That’s more than they raised in private donations. In fact, the bishops were getting over 95% of their program funding from Uncle Sam.
I’ve got to ask—where in the New Testament does it say, “Blessed are the NGOs, for they shall inherit federal contracts”?
Now look, I don’t blame folks for wanting a better life. I really don’t. If I lived in a country run by a drug cartel or a communist regime or both, I’d be hiking toward the border too. But we are a nation of laws—or at least we used to be before law became optional and feelings became policy.
This country *welcomes* legal immigrants. We always have. But when illegal becomes just another lifestyle choice—like veganism or CrossFit—we’ve got a problem. And no, putting the word “undocumented” in front of it doesn’t magically make it moral. That’s like calling a bank robber an “unauthorized funds extractor.”
Now back to our friends in the clergy. When pressed, the executive director of the bishops’ migration program admitted they couldn’t survive without the taxpayers. Let me repeat that—they said, and I quote, “You can’t replace the generosity of the taxpayer.” Translation: if we can’t spend *your* money, we don’t want to do it at all.
So here’s a question for every pastor, priest, or pope-in-waiting who lectures us on open borders—how many migrants are you personally housing in your church basement tonight? I’ll wait.
See, it’s easy to moralize when someone else foots the bill. Kind of like the neighbor who invites the whole block to *your* house for Thanksgiving.
And the Pope? Well, he just passed away. May he rest in peace. But maybe—just maybe—his successor will reconsider the Church’s cozy relationship with border blurring. Because last I checked, “render unto Caesar” didn’t mean open the floodgates and let Caesar pick up the housing tab.
Let’s not forget the Biden administration's part in all this. They’ve been chartering flights for “parolees” from countries like Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—people who haven’t gone through the legal process but were given a golden ticket to settle here anyway. They’re not vetted. They’re not documented. They’re not processed the way the law prescribes. But hey, as long as they say the magic word—“asylum”—they get a plane ride and a phone with GPS tracking they never actually turn back in.
And if you think any of this is about compassion, ask the mayors of New York, Chicago, or D.C. Even the sanctuary city folks are now screaming, “Whoa, whoa, whoa—this isn’t what we meant!”
Why? Because they’re realizing what every border town already knew: You can’t absorb millions of people without infrastructure, planning, or consent. Try doing that in your HOA. You’ll have Karen on line one before the welcome mat even hits the porch.
Now let’s be clear. There *is* a place for humanitarian aid. If someone’s escaping violence or trafficking, we should help—but we should do it with *rules*. The moment compassion becomes coercion—when you're *forced* to fund programs you didn’t vote for—it stops being charity and starts being theft.
And it’s theft from the people who play by the rules. The citizen who pays their taxes. The retiree on a fixed income. The single mom working two jobs. The veteran who waits three months for a VA appointment while a parolee gets free housing and a new iPhone.
And let’s call out the hypocrisy here. We’ve got a government that froze checks to American farmers but cut billion-dollar contracts for Catholic Charities to bus and house illegal migrants in 433 out of 435 congressional districts. That’s not immigration. That’s occupation—courtesy of your checkbook.
So here’s what I propose for every NGO that wants to keep doing this work: Raise your own funds. Set up a GoFundMe. Knock on doors. Pass the plate. But don’t use my tax dollars to push an agenda I didn’t sign up for. And don’t come crying when the federal teat dries up. If your mission’s that noble, people will support it voluntarily.
And to my fellow Americans of faith—be it Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, whatever—ask yourself this: If your church is pushing policies that break the law, cost taxpayers billions, and undermine national sovereignty, maybe it’s time for a new sermon. One with a little more truth and a lot less grant-writing.
Because if the mission of your church depends on federal funding, it’s not a church anymore. It’s a contractor.
So here’s the bottom line, folks: Illegal immigration is illegal. The end. Full stop. You don’t need a theology degree, a law degree, or a PhD in bureaucratic nonsense to understand that. And if we don’t fix this now—if we don’t draw a line in the sand—we’re going to wake up one day and realize that our laws don’t mean anything, our borders are symbolic, and our country has quietly slipped out the back door while the NGOs handed out plane tickets at the front.
Let’s hope that day isn’t today.
Principal Storyteller and Analyst:
Paul Grant Truesdell, J.D., AIF, CLU, ChFC, RFC
Founder & CEO of The Truesdell Companies
The Truesdell Professional Building
200 NW 52nd Avenue
Ocala, Florida 34482
352-612-1000 - Local
212-433-2525 - New York
Truesdell Wealth, Inc.
https://truesdellwealth.com
The Truesdell Companies
https://truesdell.net
The Truesdell Companies was a proud sponsor of the Eirinn Abu benefit concert for Tunnel to Towers, on February 28th at the Circle Square arena in Ocala, Florida. For more information, visit: https://eirinnabu.com or https://eirinnabu.com/event/5760795/695871447/eirinn-abu-and-tunnel-to-towers-foundation-concert
Events
Essential Florida Estate Documents
Casual Conversations
Stonewater – Stone Creek - Ocala
April 25 – 6:30 pm
Reservations Required - Call or Text: 352-612-1000
Retirement Income: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
Casual Conversations
Stonewater – Stone Creek - Ocala
March 9 – 6:30 pm
Reservations Required - Call or Text: 352-612-1000
Single or With Dependent Spouse
Casual Conversations
May 16 – 6:30 pm
Reservations Required - Call or Text: 352-612-1000
The Truesdell Military Procurement Portfolio
Casual Conversations
May 23 – 6:30 pm
Reservations Required - Call or Text: 352-612-1000
June & July – A Financial Series in Oak Run – Ocala, Florida
Disclaimer
You are listening to the Paul Truesdell Podcast, sponsored by Truesdell Wealth and the other Truesdell Companies. Note. Due to our extensive holdings and our clients, always assume that we have a position in all companies discussed and that a conflict of interest exists. The information presented is provided for entertainment and informational purposes only. Truesdell Wealth is a Registered Investment Advisor.
Rough Notes
Title: “Illegal is Illegal—And No, Your Church Isn’t a Refugee Motel”
Let’s get something straight right out of the gate. If you walk into a restaurant through the back door, ignore the hostess, seat yourself at a reserved table, and start eating food off someone else’s plate—you’re not a guest. You’re a trespasser. So why is it so hard to apply the same logic to national borders?
We’re told we have to be compassionate. Okay. Fine. I can do compassion. But compassion without law is chaos. And chaos, my friends, is expensive.
Now I read a piece recently—solid stuff—about Donald Trump notching a win against what’s called the “Immigration Industrial Complex.” Sounds like something out of a dystopian sci-fi novel, right? But no, it’s real. It’s a bloated network of tax-funded non-governmental organizations—NGOs—who’ve been raking in government contracts to act as travel agents for illegal aliens.
And here’s the kicker: A whole lot of those contracts were going to *religious* groups. You know, the ones who pass the collection plate on Sunday and then spend Monday cashing government checks.
Let’s talk about the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops—USCCB. They just announced they’re not renewing their contracts with the federal government for children’s services and refugee support. Sounds noble, right? Cue the violin.
But don’t be fooled. They didn’t suddenly grow a backbone or rediscover the Gospel. They got cut off. The Trump administration froze their federal funding. And once the gravy train stopped running, they pulled out of the station and tried to spin it like a martyrdom story.
And just how dependent were they on your tax dollars? Buckle up. In 2022, Catholic Charities USA took in $1.4 billion—*billion*—in government support. That’s more than they raised in private donations. In fact, the bishops were getting over 95% of their program funding from Uncle Sam.
I’ve got to ask—where in the New Testament does it say, “Blessed are the NGOs, for they shall inherit federal contracts”?
Now look, I don’t blame folks for wanting a better life. I really don’t. If I lived in a country run by a drug cartel or a communist regime or both, I’d be hiking toward the border too. But we are a nation of laws—or at least we used to be before law became optional and feelings became policy.
This country *welcomes* legal immigrants. We always have. But when illegal becomes just another lifestyle choice—like veganism or CrossFit—we’ve got a problem. And no, putting the word “undocumented” in front of it doesn’t magically make it moral. That’s like calling a bank robber an “unauthorized funds extractor.”
Now back to our friends in the clergy. When pressed, the executive director of the bishops’ migration program admitted they couldn’t survive without the taxpayers. Let me repeat that—they said, and I quote, “You can’t replace the generosity of the taxpayer.” Translation: if we can’t spend *your* money, we don’t want to do it at all.
So here’s a question for every pastor, priest, or pope-in-waiting who lectures us on open borders—how many migrants are you personally housing in your church basement tonight? I’ll wait.
See, it’s easy to moralize when someone else foots the bill. Kind of like the neighbor who invites the whole block to *your* house for Thanksgiving.
And the Pope? Well, he just passed away. May he rest in peace. But maybe—just maybe—his successor will reconsider the Church’s cozy relationship with border blurring. Because last I checked, “render unto Caesar” didn’t mean open the floodgates and let Caesar pick up the housing tab.
Let’s not forget the Biden administration's part in all this. They’ve been chartering flights for “parolees” from countries like Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—people who haven’t gone through the legal process but were given a golden ticket to settle here anyway. They’re not vetted. They’re not documented. They’re not processed the way the law prescribes. But hey, as long as they say the magic word—“asylum”—they get a plane ride and a phone with GPS tracking they never actually turn back in.
And if you think any of this is about compassion, ask the mayors of New York, Chicago, or D.C. Even the sanctuary city folks are now screaming, “Whoa, whoa, whoa—this isn’t what we meant!”
Why? Because they’re realizing what every border town already knew: You can’t absorb millions of people without infrastructure, planning, or consent. Try doing that in your HOA. You’ll have Karen on line one before the welcome mat even hits the porch.
Now let’s be clear. There *is* a place for humanitarian aid. If someone’s escaping violence or trafficking, we should help—but we should do it with *rules*. The moment compassion becomes coercion—when you're *forced* to fund programs you didn’t vote for—it stops being charity and starts being theft.
And it’s theft from the people who play by the rules. The citizen who pays their taxes. The retiree on a fixed income. The single mom working two jobs. The veteran who waits three months for a VA appointment while a parolee gets free housing and a new iPhone.
And let’s call out the hypocrisy here. We’ve got a government that froze checks to American farmers but cut billion-dollar contracts for Catholic Charities to bus and house illegal migrants in 433 out of 435 congressional districts. That’s not immigration. That’s occupation—courtesy of your checkbook.
So here’s what I propose for every NGO that wants to keep doing this work: Raise your own funds. Set up a GoFundMe. Knock on doors. Pass the plate. But don’t use my tax dollars to push an agenda I didn’t sign up for. And don’t come crying when the federal teat dries up. If your mission’s that noble, people will support it voluntarily.
And to my fellow Americans of faith—be it Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, whatever—ask yourself this: If your church is pushing policies that break the law, cost taxpayers billions, and undermine national sovereignty, maybe it’s time for a new sermon. One with a little more truth and a lot less grant-writing.
Because if the mission of your church depends on federal funding, it’s not a church anymore. It’s a contractor.
So here’s the bottom line, folks: Illegal immigration is illegal. The end. Full stop. You don’t need a theology degree, a law degree, or a PhD in bureaucratic nonsense to understand that. And if we don’t fix this now—if we don’t draw a line in the sand—we’re going to wake up one day and realize that our laws don’t mean anything, our borders are symbolic, and our country has quietly slipped out the back door while the NGOs handed out plane tickets at the front.
Let’s hope that day isn’t today.