Washington, D.C., USA – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday for halting funding to a refugee resettlement program......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
The USCCB’s filing joins a series of lawsuits seeking to prevent Trump from ending funding for various government programs and agencies.
The suit relates to the Refugee Act of 1980, under which the USCCB collaborated with the U.S. government to resettle over 930,000 refugees, the lawsuit claims.
Claims of unlawful funding halt
The lawsuit, as reported by the Catholic Herald, states, “For decades, the US government has chosen to admit refugees and outsourced its statutory responsibility to provide those refugees with resettlement assistance to non-profit organizations like USCCB. But now, after refugees have arrived and been placed in USCCB’s care, the government is attempting to pull the rug out from under USCCB’s programs by halting funding.”
The State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration issued a suspension letter for the program shortly after Trump entered office, although the USCCB argues the letter indicated that the department would reimburse the USCCB for its work up to January 24.
Impact and legal arguments
The USCCB lawsuit contends that it has not received reimbursement up to January 24 and that it is illegal for the Trump administration to unilaterally cut off congressionally approved funding.
The funding freeze has forced the USCCB to begin off-rolling 50 employees focused on refugee resettlement.
This lawsuit follows a federal judge’s order compelling the Trump administration to lift its three-week funding freeze on U.S. foreign aid last week.
Judge Amir Ali noted that the administration argued it needed to shut down funding to review each program thoroughly but failed to justify a “blanket suspension” before the review.
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