For nearly a decade, Catholic Charities of East Tennessee has relied on federal funding to provide legal aid to victims of elder abuse, domestic violence and child sexual and physical abuse.
But, earlier this summer, the Knoxville nonprofit was put on notice by the Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs: Catholic Charities could no longer receive public crime victim funding if the crime victims being served were also immigrants.
When agency staff inquired about a new federal grant notice that could sustain their ongoing work with children victimized by physical abuse, sexual abuse, human trafficking and other crimes, they got a similar answer.
“The response we got was that the goal is to serve American children only. American citizen children,” Alessandra Ceccarelli-Masters, the agency’s immigration services manager, said.
It was a blow for the agency, which aids crime victims regardless of immigration status in three dozen East Tennessee counties.