The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision to halt funding for refugee resettlement.
According to USCCB, the move to suspend funding for the program violates congressional appropriations.
“On January 24, 2025, without prior notice, the State Department suspended funding for refugee resettlement nationwide by issuing suspension letters to its resettlement partners (the ‘Refugee Funding Suspension’),” the lawsuit says. “USCCB received a cursory, two-page letter from PRM notifying the organization that its cooperative agreements were immediately suspended.”
“As a direct result of the suspension, USCCB has millions of dollars in pending, unpaid reimbursements for services already rendered to refugees and is accruing millions more each week—with no indication that any future reimbursements will be paid or that the program will ever resume,” the filing adds. “USCCB has already been forced to initiate layoffs for fifty employees. It faces irreparable damage to its longstanding refugee resettlement programs and its reputation and relationship with its subrecipients and the refugee populations it serves.”
Suspending the funding is “unlawful,” USCCB asserts, arguing that it “undermines the Constitution’s separation of powers.” The organization goes on to call the suspension “arbitrary and capricious.”
On January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to realign the refugee admissions program. “Over the last 4 years, the United States has been inundated with record levels of migration, including through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Cities and small towns alike, from Charleroi, Pennsylvania, and Springfield, Ohio, to Whitewater, Wisconsin, have seen significant influxes of migrants,” the order said.
“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees,” Trump’s order read. “This order suspends the USRAP until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”
