The United States Department of State has canceled two multi -million dollar resettlement contracts with the United States Catholic Bishop Conference (USCCB), a measure that occurs while the bishops themselves are demanding the administration of Donald Trump for an important freezing of funds.
Of the “Termination Notice” letters of February 26 From the comptroller of the State Department, Joseph Kouba, informed the Associated General Secretary of the USCCB, Anthony Granado, that two agreements of fiscal year 2025 for the resettlement of refugees, including a program known as “enduring welcomo” (lasting welcome), were “finished immediately” because “they no longer effect the priorities of the agency”.
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The USCB was ordered to “stop all work” in the programs “and not incur new costs” and “cancel as many pending obligations as possible.”
The United States Department of Defense Describe the Enduring Welcoma program as “the long -term resettlement program of the US government”, which recessures Afghan allies and their families in the United States.
2024 records show That the canceled programs included two subsidies separated by a total of approximately 27 million dollars for refugee resettlement. Subsidies had to cover a period from October 2024 to September 2025.
The president of the USCCB, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, said in A December 2024 letter to the members of Congress that American bishops have “constantly expressed their support for people who risked their lives and the lives of their relatives to help the US mission and US personnel in Afghanistan”, even through enduring welcomo.
The State Department published the letter as part of a judicial presentation related to The demand for the USCCB against the agencypresented last month so the bishops said it was the illegal suspension of the financing of refugee programs in the United States.
The Trump administration ordered the suspension of financing as part of a series of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump when assuming the position. Dozens of states, groups and non -profit organizations have sued the Trump administration for financing cuts, arguing that the government exceeded its authority by canceling subsidies and humanitarian awards.
In its demand last month, the USCCB said that it has worked with the Office of Population, refugees and migration of the United States Department of State for “almost half a century” and that the office had committed “around 65 million dollars in federal funds” for the USCCB and its affiliates for refugee services in fiscal year 2025.
In recent years, the USCCB has received more than $ 100 million annually from the federal government to support migration and refugees services.
The American bishops had filed their claim in a United States District Court, but in its presentation last week the State Department said that with the official cancellation of the contract, the issue is now a “contractual dispute” that must be addressed by the Federal Claims Court.
The district court authority on the case is now “clearly absent,” said the department, since “the agreements of the parties are no longer in force.”
The USCCB did not respond immediately to a comment request on Tuesday morning. However, in a presentation on Monday, the bishops argued that the lawsuit “must remain in the District Court” because the Federal Claims Court “cannot provide the most important reparation for the USCCB.”
The termination of the contract, the bishops said in Monday’s presentation, was “causing irreparable damage to the USCCB, frustrating the mission of the conference to help refugees assigned to it.”
“There is no doubt that without the funds that the Government promised when it assigned refugees to the USCCB, the USCCB will not be able to continue providing essential food, accommodation and training to the thousands of refugees recently arrived under their care,” the bishops said.
“Every day that passes with the illegal termination in force is another day in which the USCCB cannot fulfill its mission of following the model of Jesus Christ and serving these poor and vulnerable neighbors,” they argued.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Daniel Payne
Daniel Payne is a senior editor of Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.