USCCB spokesperson Chieko Noguchi confirmed to RNS that they also “received notice from the State Department that they are terminating two of the cooperative agreements that fund much of the work we do in our Migration and Refugee Services department.”
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The letters come as the government is involved in two separate lawsuits over the president’s decision to freeze the refugee program via an executive order signed his first day in office. On Wednesday, Church World Service, HIAS and Lutheran Community Services Northwest won a victory over the Trump administration in their lawsuit, known as Pacito v. Trump, with a federal judge blocking the president’s order and calling Trump’s actions a “nullification of congressional will.”
According to The Associated Press, the judge argued from the bench that the president does not have “limitless” authority over refugee admissions, noting the law establishing the program was passed by Congress.
Even so, the Trump administration appears to be using the termination notices to their legal advantage. On Thursday, the federal government filed a motion in a separate case brought by the USCCB that cited the termination notices, saying the cancellation of grant agreements “leaves open only a question of unpaid money under the cooperative agreements, and, to the extent Plaintiff disputes any reimbursement, the dispute needs to be brought in the Court of Federal Claims.”
Refugee agencies are not backing down, however. In a Thursday filing, lawyers for the religious groups in Pacito v. Trump referred to the termination notices as “the latest iteration of the Defendants’ unlawful attempt to dismantle the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.”
The USCCB took a similar tack in its own case.
“The government’s termination only confirms the need for preliminary injunctive relief,” read a Thursday filing from USCCB’s lawyers.
In a statement to RNS, USCCB spokesperson Chieko Noguchi said that during a hearing on Friday, the judge in the case requested additional briefing in response to the State Department letters.
“We are preparing the requested briefing, which will be filed with the court next week,” Noguchi said.
Since Trump froze the refugee program shortly after taking office, faith-based refugee organizations have reported widespread layoffs and furloughs of staff, hoping to use what funds they have left to serve recently arrived refugees who are still under their care. Refugee groups attribute the swift nature of the layoffs to the sudden freezing of funds for their work — including, according to some agencies, a refusal by the Trump administration to reimburse the groups for work done before the president took office.
