Church continues to walk with refugees despite federal roadblocks

Catholic Charities offices in Indiana are continuing to serve hundreds of newly arrived legal refugees amid the chaos and confusion triggered by the Trump administration’s abrupt halt of funding for a resettlement program the U.S. government had sponsored for decades. 
 
Through an executive order on day one of his second term, President Donald Trump paused all federal funding for domestic and international foreign aid. A month later, the administration cancelled the reception and placement contract for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), which had been managed for years through the State Department with local implementation by longstanding partners including Catholic Charities offices nationwide.  
 
“It left all resettlement agencies in the lurch,” said Gabrielle Neal, service line director for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, who has been involved in refugee resettlement efforts for 16 years. “So we have had to pivot and transition quickly because we felt we had a moral and legal responsibility to continue to serve these clients who are already here. These are individuals who were welcomed by the federal government. They put their trust in our government, and they are legally allowed to be here.”
 
For Catholic Charities in Indianapolis, this year would have marked the 50^th anniversary of the agency’s involvement in refugee resettlement – even predating the Refugee Act of 1980, signed into law by President Jimmy Carter. That policy established a permanent and systematic procedure for admitting refugees to the United States and created the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement – all of which now hangs in the balance. 
 
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), one of 10 organizations the federal government has historically partnered with in refugee resettlement, filed a lawsuit Feb. 18 challenging what it called “the government’s unlawful suspension of funding for its refugee admissions program.” 
 
“For decades, the USCCB has partnered with the U.S. government and locally based Catholic partners to help nearly a million individuals find safety and build their lives in the United States,” the bishops stated in a press release. “The unilateral and unexplained decision of the government to suspend this program will have devastating impacts on refugees, making it harder for them to establish themselves in their new home.”
 
The USCCB statement also noted that the refugees in the program “have undergone special screening and vetting procedures by the U.S. government and are fleeing hardship and persecution in their home countries to resettle in the United States.”
 
“We are urging the government to uphold its legal and moral obligations to refugees and to restore the necessary funding to ensure that faith-based and community organizations can continue this vital work that reflects our nation’s values of compassion, justice and hospitality.” 
 
But a week after the legal challenge, the Trump administration cancelled its contracts with the USCCB pertaining to refugee resettlement. This action had an immediate effect on Catholic Charities offices nationwide, which for decades had been the recipients of those federal funds via the USCCB to perform the local work of resettling refugees. 
 
In Indiana, Catholic Charities staff members in both the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend are carrying on this work to the best of their ability despite the current challenges, which have forced cuts in their personnel. 
 
Neal said that Catholic Charities Indianapolis has turned to other funding streams to provide basic case management for the refugee resettlement program – a program that she says has had a remarkable record of success. 
 
The core of the now de-funded federal initiative is an intensive 90-day program in which partner agencies like Catholic Charities help newly arrived refugees acclimate to life in the United States and quickly become independent. 
 
“The services we provide are comprehensive, and it is mind-blowing how self-sufficient somebody can become who may not have a grasp of the culture or the language but then turn around and even in a year’s time open their own business,” Neal said. “It’s truly inspiring what these humans can do.”
 
Dan Florin, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, points to the number of staff members and volunteers involved in refugee resettlement who are former refugees themselves. They want to give back, he said, because of their immense gratitude for the hospitality and help they received from day one of their arrival.  
 
“We literally pick them up at the airport, and we are their lifeline for those first 90 days,” Florin said. “We find them safe, clean, affordable housing, and we provide all their basic needs in those first three months. It’s an extremely intensive program that depends fully on our staff and volunteers.”
 
His Catholic Charities staff has now been cut by 20 percent because of the recent developments at the federal level – a devastating setback for the northern Indiana agency that has been providing refugee resettlement services since the Vietnam War. 
 
“From a morale standpoint, it has been very challenging,” said Florin, who has served in his role for three years. “We have an amazing team, and I do hope and pray things change and we can bring everyone back into the Catholic Charities family.” 
 
“For our clients, the refugees who are already here, there is a lot of confusion,” he continued. “But our commitment and our mission and our other contracts have us continuing to support them in those first 90 days.”
 
Between Fort Wayne and South Bend, Florin said that his Catholic Charities office is currently supporting nearly 1,000 active refugee clients – about 100 of whom arrived in this fiscal year before the federal cuts. 
 
Like Neal, Florin points to the decades-long track record and success rate of the resettlement program. 
 
“By day 90, you’re in housing, the kids are in school, everyone is in English as a second language (classes), and you’re well on your path to economic self-sufficiency,” he said. “It requires a complete wraparound of services and love and compassion around those people.” 
 
Florin said that his office is still trying to come to terms with the dramatic changes of the past two months. 
 
“We were all shocked at the abruptness with which the (reception and placement) contract was terminated,” he said. “We’d expected a reduction in the numbers of new arrivals, because that’s what happened during Trump’s first administration. We were prepared for that. But we were not prepared for a complete shutdown of new arrivals.” 
 
Florin has spoken extensively with the press in South Bend and Fort Wayne in recent weeks, emphasizing the longstanding partnership that the federal government has had with Catholic Charities and other agencies and the positive outcomes that have resulted.  
 
“I want people to know that people who come to America through the U.S. refugee admission program are typically coming from refugee camps,” he said. “They’ve been screened multiple times from a health standpoint and a security standpoint. This program has been around since 1980 when Congress set it up, and when you objectively look at its success measures, with people achieving economic self-sufficiency and thriving in their communities, the data support this program.
 
“These are people coming to America through a legal pathway towards permanent residency and then citizenship. They’re under the care of an accredited refugee resettlement agency like ours, accountable to make sure they stay on track. And we steward them.”
 
In their latest podcast, leaders of the Indiana Catholic Conference (ICC) focus on the federal cuts to the refugee program and foreign aid, emphasizing that solidarity with the vulnerable and love of neighbor are at the core of Catholic social teaching. 
 
“We hear a lot in our national narrative now about this tension between the interests of Americans versus the interests of the rest of the world,” said Alexander Mingus, executive director of the ICC, the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Indiana. “What does the Church say about this? I can’t find anything that says that a nation has a responsibility only to its own people. What I find is a conversation about solidarity.” 
 
For Neal at Catholic Charities of Indianapolis, which has served more than 20,000 refugees in the last five decades, the local mission is clear despite the uncertainties at the national level. 
 
“We have a moral obligation to serve the most vulnerable,” she said. “It’s taking time to figure out this newness. But what I’ve been trying to keep in mind these last weeks is that I have to be like the very people this program serves. Not one of them ever gave up hope. 
 
“I can’t be fearful. I just have to keep walking and stay on the right road.” 
 
To follow priority issues and legislation of the ICC, visit www.indianacc.org. This website includes access to ICAN, the Indiana Catholic Action Network, which offers the Church’s position on key issues. Those who sign up for ICAN receive alerts on legislation moving forward and ways to contact their elected representatives.