The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Jesuit Refugee Service are firing employees and shutting aid centers after President Donald Trump paused their funding.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has announced its refugee services have been shuttered and payments to affiliate organizations have been halted due to their funding spigot being shut off and up to 50 employees laid off, according to the left-wing National Catholic Reporter.
USCCB general secretary Father Michael Fuller recently lamented that the pause in the millions of federal dollars coming their way has caused “confusion both within various agencies and with those who interact with them” and has forced them to stop operations for illegal aliens in the U.S., particularly “unaccompanied children.”
The USCCB claims to be the “largest refugee resettlement agency in the world” and has helped about 18 percent of the incoming illegal aliens to find placement in U.S. communities each year.
The organization counted on a payment of $20 million in federal dollars but has now been told that is on hold pending a 90-day review period for federal funding imposed by the Trump administration.
“Like all other agencies, this has placed the Conference in a difficult situation. The Conference does not have the funds to continue operations in USCCB Refugee Services at the current levels,” the USCCB said. “As such, we must inform our local Catholic Charities and other subcontracting agencies that there will be a delay in payments until further notice. This will be a burden on them and the people they serve and will result in staff layoffs.”
The funding freeze has also affected the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) USA, which announced a “total work stoppage” thanks to the choking off of the federal funding river.
JRS USA uses federal funding to provide food, water, and medicine to areas mostly in Africa, including Chad, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, South Africa, South Sudan, and Uganda, according to the Catholic News Agency.
The organization says the lack of federal tax dollars will affect more than 150,000 refugees in Africa and the Middle East.
JRS USA hoped to receive $18 million in federal funding for the 2025 fiscal year.
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