Bishops’ Migrant Legal Group Sues Trump Administration For Allegedly Blocking Immigration From 75 Countries

The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) provides legal services to illegal aliens.  It was founding in 1988 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) which still controls it today.  George Soros has been a a major financial backer of CLINIC.

A Catholic legal network and other opponents of the Trump administration’s suspension of immigration from 75 countries are calling into question a key claim the government made in support of that policy.

When it announced the policy in January, the State Department said on social media it would pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries “whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates.”

“The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,” the post said. The State Department called the 75 countries it chose for a suspension “Nationalities at High Risk of U.S. Public Benefits Reliance.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from OSV News about the data behind that claim.

A lawsuit, CLINIC v. Rubio, was filed Feb. 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging that policy by a group of American citizens, immigration nonprofits including the Catholic Legal Immigration Network and other legal organizations.

Opponents of the policy, as well as the lawsuit challenging it, disputed the government’s claim that immigrants from the 75 countries disproportionately use public benefits.

The State Department currently recognizes 197 independent states around the globe, meaning the restriction in effect bars migration from nearly 40% of the world’s countries.

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TAKE ACTION: Contact Bishop Soto, Chairman of CLINIC, at  916-733-0200 or at bishopsoto@scd.org and let him know what you think.