US Catholic bishops sue Trump over funding freeze for refugees

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for freezing federal funding earmarked for resettling and supporting refugees in the US.

This federal funding has enabled the Church to help “nearly a million individuals find safety and build their lives in the United States,” US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi told The Washington Post.

“We are urging the government to uphold its legal and moral obligations to refugees and to restore the necessary funding,” she added.

This, she said, would “ensure that faith-based and community organizations can continue this vital work that reflects our nation’s values of compassion, justice and hospitality.”

The funding freeze not only affects future USCCB financing, but also reimbursement for past expenditure – money that had been approved by Congress.

“The conference suddenly finds itself unable to sustain its work to care for the thousands of refugees who were assigned to the care of the USCCB by the government after being granted legal status,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio, USCCB president told CNN.

The USCCB’s lawsuit points out that “it spends more on refugee resettlement each year than it receives in funding from the federal government.”

It goes on to say that, despite this, “it cannot sustain its programs without the millions in federal funding that provide the foundation of this private-public partnership.”

The funding freeze violates the federal Administrative Procedure Act, which oversees how federal agencies administer rules and processes, according to the lawsuit.

Trump’s executive order also violates the separation of powers of the three separate but equal branches of government, under the US Constitution, the lawsuit says.

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