Virginia’s two Democratic senators have requested federal funding totaling $1.5 million for CASA Inc., a nonprofit organization that specializes in helping illegal migrants find work and advocating for looser immigration laws.
Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner each disclosed requests for $1.5 million in public funds to support CASA in disclosures filed on May 15. CASA maintains a program that connects employers with prospective employees in the D.C. metropolitan area regardless of their immigration status, according to press reports and the organization’s website. Kaine and Warner’s funding requests indicate that they are seeking to help CASA expand its “capacity for workforce development,” indicating that the funds could go toward the nonprofit’s migrant work placement programs.
CASA work isn’t limited to helping illegal immigrants find work. Pro-migration activism constitutes another pillar of its operations.
The organization’s 2025-2029 strategic plan claims that “White Christian Nationalism poses a grave threat to all of us” and that the ideology has “insinuated itself into the very fabric of the Republican Party’s leadership and permeates political discourse in the United States.” To remedy this, CASA has committed itself to “organize” and “resist” in response to Trump administration policies it views as undermining migrant rights. Indeed, CASA’s website contains myriad photos of its activists staging protests.
On its “community organizing” page, CASA cites securing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants and “challenging unjust immigration enforcement policies” as its priorities. CASA was also listed as a co-plaintiff on a recent lawsuit against the Trump administration’s effort to end birthright citizenship.
“Senator Warner requested funding for at least 17 separate workforce development projects this year, reflecting his long-standing support for programs that help Virginians who want to work, regardless of their backgrounds, gain the skills needed to contribute to the economy and support their families,” a spokeswoman for Warner told the Washington Examiner.
Tax records show that CASA has long relied on millions of dollars in federal grants to keep its operations running — funding that could dry up, given the Trump administration’s more ideological approach to grantmaking.
“By law, the people who are in the country illegally are barred from holding jobs in the United States,” Federation for American Immigration Reform media director Ira Mehlman told the Washington Examiner. “You have two senators who are trying to help people who are legally barred from working in this country to work in this country.”
Warner is up for re-election in 2026, with some observers seeing potential opportunities for Republicans in the reliably blue Virginia. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), who has consistently maintained a high approval rating but is barred from running for a second consecutive gubernatorial term, is seen as a prospective frontrunner for the Senate seat. Republicans are increasingly optimistic about their position in Virginia after President Donald Trump reduced the Democrat’s margin of victory there from 10.2 points in 2020 to 5.8 points in 2024.
In April 2021, Senate Appropriations Chair Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced the return of earmarks through the Congressionally Directed Spending process — a system that allows senators to request funds for specific projects in their states often administered by municipalities, universities, and nonprofit organizations. Since then, senators such as Warner and Kaine have been required to publicly disclose their requests for spending items in upcoming appropriation bills.
Warner and Kaine aren’t the only Democratic senators requesting federal funds to support organizations known for assisting illegal migrants.
Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) have requested $2 million and $500,000, respectively, in funding for the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles — a group that helped organize the recent violent anti-immigration enforcement demonstrations in California and has called to “abolish” Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), meanwhile, has asked for $600,000 in public funding for the Chinese-American Planning Council, according to the Washington Free Beacon. CPC is facing a probe from congressional Republicans over allegations that it used federal funds to “facilitate illegal immigration” following the release of a video showing the organization’s chief policy officer advising a group of illegal aliens on how to avoid being detained by ICE.
Kaine’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Editor’s note: A Warner spokesperson reached out to the Washington Examiner after publication to clarify that the requests on the two Virginia senators’ disclosures represented a single request, not separate requests. This was not disclosed on the request forms themselves.
