For fiscal 2025, the federal government has allocated $65 million to the USCCB “for the immediate physical needs and integration of refugees into their new communities,” but on Jan. 24 the Trump administration halted its payments to the USCCB. The conference now faces $13 million of unpaid reimbursements and owes $11.6 million to its “subrecipients that it is unable to reimburse.” 

There are currently more than 6,700 asylum-seekers in their 90-day transitional period delegated to USCCB’s care.

“After refugees have already arrived and been placed in USCCB’s care, the government is attempting to pull the rug out from under USCCB’s programs by halting funding,” the lawsuit stated, according to a copy obtained by the Washington Post. 

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, named the State Department, the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and the Department of Health and Human Services as defendants. 

The financial assistance was revoked following a Jan. 24 State Department letter that immediately suspended funding for foreign-aid programs until a review was completed; however, USCCB provides domestic assistance to asylum seekers. 

“The conference suddenly finds itself unable to sustain its work to care for the thousands of refugees who were welcomed into our country and assigned to the care of the USCCB by the government after being granted legal status,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the USCCB, told the Associated Press. 

The loss in funding comes after Vice President JD Vance accused USCCB of profiting from the federal government’s funds to aid asylum seekers. 

“I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?” Vance said on Face the Nation on Jan. 26. 

However, the lawsuit asserted that USCCB actually spends more in funding than it receives from the federal government to assist asylum-seekers. 

“USCCB spends more on refugee resettlement each year than it receives in funding from the federal government, but it cannot sustain its programs without the millions in federal funding that provide the foundation of this private-public partnership,” the lawsuit says.

The Washington Examiner found that in 2023 USCCB received over $129 million in funds from government tracks to help refugees and unaccompanied migrant children. However, the organization spent more than $130.5 million, leaving it in the red when it comes to spending on asylum-seekers. 

While USCCB ended 2023 with a $35.3 million increase in net assets, a majority of these funds come with “donor restrictions” meaning that they are earmarked for a specific purpose. 
The lawsuit follows another one filed against the Trump administration last week by 27 religious organizations accusing the Trump administration of violating its First Amendment rights by conducting immigration raids near places of worship.