IT’S WORKING: Catholic Charities Agencies Halt Refugee Programs

“A new reality” is how Anita Hassell describes it.

Catholic Charities in the St. Augustine Diocese in Florida has been operating in a difficult environment since Jan. 24, when the Trump administration froze all federal spending on foreign aid and refugee resettlement.

“Basically, this really happened overnight, as soon as the executive order was issued,” said Hassell, the CEO and diocesan director of Catholic Charities Bureau for the St. Augustine Diocese.

With the government not paying the $1.2 million that her agency is still owed for refugee resettlement expenses, Hassell said she had “no choice” but to lay off 26 employees in February. And with the U.S. State Department notifying the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Feb. 26 that it was canceling its contracts to resettle refugees, Hassell said she has since had to lay off the remaining 10 employees in the agency’s refugee resettlement program.

“As of the end of March, we’re completely closing the program down,” Hassell said.

Catholic Charities agencies across the country in recent weeks have taken similar measures. Due to the frozen federal funding, at least a dozen agencies from Florida to California since late January have laid off hundreds of employees. Some have begun to wind down their refugee resettlement programs even as they still try to provide services for those who need assistance paying for rent and groceries.

“The abrupt termination of some government contracts and ongoing speculation about the status of other government funding has created a broad sense of uncertainty among faith-based social services providers,” said Kevin Brennan, vice president for media relations and executive communications at Catholic Charities USA.

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