US bishops halt aid partnerships with government due to funding cuts

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) announced on Monday that it is ending a half-century of partnerships with the federal government to serve refugees and children, saying the “heartbreaking” decision follows the Trump administration’s abrupt halt of funding for refugee resettlement.

The break will inevitably result in fewer services than Catholic agencies were able to offer in the past to the needy, the bishops said.

“As a national effort, we simply cannot sustain the work on our own at current levels or in current form,” said US military services archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the USCCB. “We will work to identify alternative means of support for the people the federal government has already admitted to these programs. We ask your prayers for the many staff and refugees impacted.”

The decision means the bishops won’t be renewing existing agreements with the federal government, the bishops said. The announcement did not say how long current agreements were scheduled to last.

Catholic bishops sued Donald Trump’s administration in February over its abrupt halt to the funding of aid provided to newly arrived refugees, saying they are owed millions already allocated by Congress to carry out resettlement aid under an agreement with the federal government.

But a federal judge ruled that he couldn’t order the government to pay money due on a contract, saying a contractual dispute belongs before the court of federal claims. The bishops have appealed that ruling.

Beyond that specific funding dispute is the Trump administration’s halt to all new refugee arrivals. The Catholic bishops oversaw one of 10 national agencies, most of them faith-based, which contracted with the federal government to resettle refugees who come to the US legally after being vetted and approved by the federal government.

Broglio’s announcement didn’t specify what the children’s services program was.

The bishops have overseen Catholic agencies resettling displaced people for a century. In recent decades they had done so in a partnership with the US government, receiving grants that covered much, though not all, of the expenses.

The Trump administration’s “decision to reduce these programs drastically forces us to reconsider the best way to serve the needs of our brothers and sisters seeking safe harbor from violence and persecution”, Broglio said.

Despite Broglio’s asking for prayers for the “many staff and refugees impacted”, the announcement did not specify whether the cuts would lead to any layoffs.

JD Vance, a Catholic convert, accused the bishops conference in January of resettling immigrants who are in the US illegally in order to get millions in federal funding – an apparent reference to the resettlement program, which actually involves legally approved refugees.

The bishops noted that rather than making money on the program, they receive less in federal aid than the programs cost and need to supplement the funding with charitable dollars.

The vice-president followed up his criticisms by appealing to Catholic teaching as justifying immigration restrictions. That drew rejoinders not only from US bishops but an implicit rebuke from Pope Francis, who said Christian charity requires helping those in need, not just those in one’s closest circles.