CNA Staff, Feb 21, 2025 / 13:40 pm (CNA).
A federal judge has denied a request from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to block a federal funding freeze that the bishops say will greatly harm refugee aid efforts in the United States.
The USCCB sued the Trump administration earlier this week over what the bishops said was an unlawful suspension of funding for refugee resettlement and aid programs. The suspension came via one of several executive orders President Donald Trump issued shortly after taking office.
The results of the suspension have been “devastating,” the bishops said, with the prelates reporting “millions of dollars in pending, unpaid reimbursements for services already rendered to refugees” along with “millions more each week.”
In their suit the bishops had asked for a temporary restraining order against the White House. In a decision on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden denied that request.
McFadden in the decision said restraining orders are “an extraordinary remedy.” Courts only grant them, he said, when plaintiffs show “likely success on the merits, likely irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, a balance of the equities in its favor, and accord with the public interest.”
“The court finds that plaintiff has not made the requisite showing and will thus deny plaintiff’s motion to the extent that it requests a temporary restraining order,” McFadden ruled.
The bishops had requested a “preliminary injunction” in addition to the restraining order. In his ruling McFadden said the court would set “an expedited schedule for additional briefing” to consider the injunction request, though the order did not say when the next briefing would occur.
The U.S. bishops have been warning for several weeks on the potential fallout surrounding the Trump funding freeze, which has impacted numerous programs both domestically and internationally.
In January they asked Catholics to reach out to their members of Congress and request the resumption of foreign aid funding following the White House’s freeze.
The pause “will be detrimental to millions of our sisters and brothers who need access to lifesaving humanitarian, health, and development assistance,” the bishops said at the time.
Earlier this week, following the filing of the lawsuit, USCCB spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi said the bishops have for years partnered with the U.S. government and “helped nearly a million individuals find safety and build their lives in the United States.”
“We are urging the government to uphold its legal and moral obligations to refugees and to restore the necessary funding to ensure that faith-based and community organizations can continue this vital work that reflects our nation’s values of compassion, justice, and hospitality,” she said.
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“We are urging the government to uphold its legal and moral obligations to refugees…”
The government has no legal or moral “obligation” to refugees, and the bishops have no moral or legal standing to be dictating how money should be spent. There’s a new sheriff in town folks, so get used to it. The progressive gravy train has ended.
I tend to agree with you, as cold-hearted as it sounds.
There are plenty of fabulously wealthy Catholics, including quite a few entertainment and sports professionals, as well as wealthy Catholic business owners, who could make up that loss of government funding by donating their millions in spare change (and they will still have lots of money left) to agencies that help assimilate legitimate immigrants into the U.S.A. There are also plenty of Catholics like me who could offer up my little luxuries (e.g., candy bars, dinners out, etc.) and donate the money to the Catholic Church for helping immigrants. (I think that if we combine all the “little luxuries” that many of us indulge in, it would amount to millions of dollars!)
We need to Be the Church and stop expecting the federal government to do the work that God intends for US to do!
Anyone who voted for Donald Trump for President (and I am one of them!) should never have expected him to spend American taxpayers’ money on immigrants. There are too many needs that U.S. citizens have that our tax money can should be spent on. I think it’s appropriate that federal monies be spent on border control officers and their needs to do that job. The money to help the immigrants who want to become American citizens should come from private sources, especially churches! As long as the government continues to pay for what our churches and secular charities should be funding, we don’t have to lift a finger (or open our purses and wallets) to help the immigrants!
Finally, tax money is often wasted on various bureaucratic stuff and very little of it ends up helping what it’s supposed to help. Church donations will have much less overhead and most of the money will end up directly helping immigrants. In addition, Christians are likely to start getting personally involved, which is a blessing to the immigrants and to the Christian who steps up instead of expecting the government to step up.