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The gift money, which will be spread over three years beginning in 2009, will support programs across the state and bolster a long-planned employment center in Langley Park that could open as early as October. It is the biggest corporate donation the immigrant advocacy group has ever received.

Casa also has lent its support to The National Immigrant Bond Fund by hosting its campaign launch. The Massachusetts-based fund is aimed at helping detained immigrants nationwide post bail by providing matching funds. Getting out of jail significantly increases a detainee's chance of obtaining a lawyer, reunites them with family and gives them time to explore legal options, said Bob Hildreth, a Boston financier and founder of the fund.

In the meantime, Casa is developing plans for its Langley Park employment center.

The center will provide ESOL training, financial literacy education, citizen preparation courses, help in developing minority-owned cooperatives and social services.

It will be the first day-laborer center to include an in-house "vocational training lab," a key to moving the mostly immigrant workers into more highly skilled jobs.

Casa runs four other day-laborer centers in Maryland — in Silver Spring, Wheaton, Derwood and Baltimore City — largely with government grants.

About 45 percent of Casa's annual $6.3 million budget comes from government sources, said Jennifer Freedman, Casa's director of development: Montgomery and Prince George's counties, the cities of Takoma Park and Baltimore, and the state and federal governments.

Many of those grants began to shrink last year, and Casa has put more emphasis on boosting private donations.

"Casa believes very strongly in leveraging public funding to attract private funding," Freedman said. "We can't do it without the public money and we can't do it without private funding."

Two weeks ago, the Ford Foundation gave Casa $400,000 for community organizing and for the Prince George's day-laborer center.

Already a lightning rod for criticism from those who oppose funding for illegal immigrants, Casa is being reproached for accepting money from the controversial Venezuelan government.

Brad Botwin, director of the anti-illegal immigrant group Help Save Maryland, sees the grant as part of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's systematic effort to "embarrass the United States."

"This really raises the ante on ‘Who is Casa and what are they trying to do?' This really puts them in a different league," he said. "Everyone knows what Chavez is up to with this stuff. … Bottom line is you have a third-world dictator sending money up here trying to make us look bad, that we're not taking care of our poor people. …

"To me, this is seed money to help Gustavo [Torres, Casa's executive director] cause more trouble in Maryland."

Torres said his trip in November to Venezuela was "totally unrelated" to the Citgo grant. His presentation at the Third Venezuela International Book Fair — which had the theme "The United States: A possible revolution" — focused on registering immigrants to vote. He pointed out that he has spoken — by invitation — at conferences in four European countries, and is slated to travel to China in October.

"They want to know how we develop relationships with the local and state governments and how the workers' centers operate," Torres said. "… I know this is polemic for some people, but the donation from Citgo is part of Casa's very aggressive efforts with corporations … because we know the challenge we are facing with governments of Montgomery County, Prince George's and Maryland, the crisis they are facing financially."

While the Venezuelan contribution helps support Casa's programming, the advocacy group is also lending its help to the National Immigrant Bond Fund, a program that combats what Torres called another "crisis" within the immigrant community.

For many, not posting bond means being sent back to their home countries in a matter of days or across state lines without their families being notified, said Hildreth, the fund's founder. Casa will administer the funds locally and organize immigrants to raise more money for those detained.

The program already has about $200,000 and has set its goal on raising another $300,000 Hildreth said.

Hildreth started the fund in response to an immigrant raid in New Bedford, Mass., in spring 2007. After the multimillionaire posted more than $200,000 in bonds for 40 people, he and other philanthropists decided to pilot the same program in Annapolis and Providence, R.I.

It was put to the test June 30 in Annapolis when 46 immigrants working in a paint factory were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Casa called on Hildreth's group for help. In total, $100,000 was raised to post bond for 10 of the detained workers, according to Torres.

The fund has helped about 100 detained immigrants to date, Hildreth said. He said bonds can range from $1,500 to $38,000.

Eduardo Delgado was one of those detained in the Annapolis raid. He told those gathered at Casa that he and others detained were told they did not have any rights, including access to a lawyer. When his wife and Casa came to him with news about the bond fund, "It felt like a dream," he said in Spanish.

Delgado's case is currently going through the legal process.

But Botwin of Help Save Maryland said the fund will fill the court system with immigrants who shouldn't be here in the first place. Casa's association with the fund only furthers the group's reputation as an illegal immigrant group, he said.

"I can't think of the last time Casa did something positive for the citizens of Maryland," Botwin said.

Still, Torres said until "humane" immigration legislation is passed, the bond fund is the best answer to give immigrants their rights.