The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has sued the Trump Administration over the suspension of funding of refugee resettlement assistance. Source: OSV News.
In the lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday, the bishops called this suspension “unlawful and harmful to newly arrived refugees”.
A USCCB spokesperson said the lawsuit urges the Government “to uphold its legal and moral obligations” to refugees and to restore the funding needed to ensure that faith-based and community organisations can continue their work with refugees.
The USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services is one of 10 national resettlement agencies that work with the US Refugee Admissions Program, which was established by Congress in 1980, formalising the process by which refugees are legally resettled in the US.
USRAP was suspended through an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on January 20 and is being evaluated to see whether refugee resettlement “is in the national interest”.
The State Department issued suspension notices to domestic resettlement agencies, including the USCCB, on January 24, which has impacted resettlement agencies’ ability to carry out services for refugees.
According to AP’s reporting on the lawsuit, the USCCB’s president, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the US Archdiocese for the Military Services, said that “the conference suddenly finds itself unable to sustain its work to care for the thousands of refugees who were welcomed into our country and assigned to the care of the USCCB by the government after being granted legal status.”
Chieko Noguchi, USCCB spokesperson, said the lawsuit filed by the USCCB “challenges the suspension of the funding for refugee assistance we have run for decades”.
“Throughout this long-time partnership with the US government, the USCCB has helped nearly a million individuals find safety and build their lives in the United States,” Ms Noguchi said.
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Bishops sue Trump Administration, say halting refugee resettlement funds will cause harm (By Maria-Pia Negro Chin, OSV News)
