WASHINGTON – On Thursday, a federal judge declined to stop the Trump administration’s sudden termination of funding for the country’s biggest private refugee resettlement program, dealing a blow to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Judge Trevor McFadden dismissed the bishops’ plea for a temporary restraining order that would have reinstated the funding, though he described his decision as “very provisional.”
McFadden, a Trump appointee in 2017, further directed both parties to engage in mediation with a federal magistrate judge in the upcoming week.
“A temporary restraining order is an extraordinary remedy that should be granted sparingly,” he said.
The bishops are asking him to prohibit the U.S. State Department from enforcing a Jan. 24 suspension of millions of dollars in aid, saying it has affected nearly 7,000 newly arrived refugees.
The bishops say that withholding millions in resettlement costs violates various laws as well as the constitutional provision giving the power of the purse to Congress, which already approved the funding.
The conference’s Migration and Refugee Services has sent layoff notices to more than half its staff with additional cuts expected. It’s one of 10 national agencies, most of them faith-based, sent scrambling after the State Department informed them Jan. 24 of an immediate suspension of funding pending a review of foreign-aid programs.
The administration has said the country cannot welcome additional refugees and the spending halt will allow it to align funding with the president’s priorities.
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