Lafayette's Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel responded Friday to Gov. Jeff Landry's veto of $1 million that was earmarked for Catholic Charities of Acadiana to operate a homeless shelter. Landry cited the Catholic Church's stance on immigration policy as a reason for the veto.
The $1 million represents the bulk of Catholic Charities' $1.2 million budget for the fiscal year that begins Monday.
Deshotel urged Landry, a Catholic who lives in Acadiana, to reconsider his decision.
"We were very disappointed by that, of course," Deshotel said Thursday in an interview with News15. “[He conflates] the fact that we take care of the homeless and feed the hungry as being that we are aiding and abetting illegal immigration or illegal immigrants, when the large majority of the clients that are served by Catholic Charities of Acadiana are from Acadiana. They’re homeless people here.”
Of the 410 people served by the Catholic Charities shelter last year, 81% were from Acadiana, another 10% were from other parts of Louisiana and 9% were from out of state, the organization reported in a news release this week.
The bishop went on to say that St. Joseph Shelter for Men is the only shelter in Lafayette to help with the homeless out on the street during the cold winter months and south Louisiana's very hot summers.
"The narrative, which I believe is false, is that somehow helping people who are in need is now associated with inviting more illegal immigrants to come into the country. And so, the blame has been put on works across the country, the United States of Catholic Charities when we're not a police department and we don't make the immigration laws. That's the job of the legislature and the national legislature. And they've messed that up so much that now they don't know what to do about it," Deshotel said.
Landry said in a prepared statement that he believes nonprofits have solid private charitable donations and should live within those means — not through taxpayer dollars.
He went on to say: “As you can see from their website, part of Catholic Charities mission is to support the influx of illegal aliens into our country. Taxpayers should never foot the bill for nonprofits who are contributing to the illegal immigration crisis our nation is facing. I don’t believe a majority of the legislators would support this either. I look forward to understanding in greater detail why Catholic Charities needs taxpayer dollars and how they would use that money.”
Catholic Charities does offer immigration services, according to its website. The charity states that it "provides low-cost legal aid services to immigrants, and newcomers to this country, all within the confines of the law. These services allow clients an opportunity to contribute and participate more fully in our communities."
Among the services listed, Catholic Charities helps individuals with adjusting their immigration status, petitions for citizenship and work authorization.
Although the $1 million in state funding would not have been a permanent solution, it would have ensured the shelter survived another year, Kim Boudreaux, executive director of Catholic Charities, said Thursday.
The emergency shelter's operating budget has been unsustainable for about 10 years, Boudreaux said. Federal policies surrounding how to address homelessness have changed, with federal funding largely shifting from emergency shelters to permanent supportive housing. Last year, the shelter received just $25,000 in federal funds.
"We really felt like we were in a cycle of crisis around homelessness and Acadiana," Boudreaux said. "We were putting Band-Aids on things, and we weren't really moving the conversation forward on what are the things that our community needs to get us out of this situation into a much more healthy homeless system that we prevent as many experiences of homelessness as possible."
That is when Boudreaux and other community leaders approached state legislators for temporary funding until they could identify and implement a sustainable, long-term solution. The Acadiana delegation toured the shelter and fought for the funding.
"They saw the need and felt it was important," Boudreaux said. "Our entire Acadiana delegation overwhelmingly fought for this money for us. And we were all surprised by the cut."
Staff writer Megan Wyatt contributed to this report.