The bishops’ legal brief called the Trump administration’s action ‘unlawful’ because the funding cut off had already been appropriated by Congress.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on 18 February seeking a temporary restraining order on the White House’s abrupt halt to funding for the bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services programme.

By the end of the week, Judge Trevor McFadden of the US District Court for the District of Columbia had denied the bishops’ motion for a restraining order, but agreed to set a hearing for the bishops’ request for a preliminary injunction against the White House cuts.

Announcing the suit, the conference spokesperson Chieko Noguchi said: “The lawsuit filed yesterday by the USCCB challenges the federal government’s suspension of funding for the refugee assistance programmes we have run for decades. Throughout this long-time partnership with the US government, the USCCB has helped nearly a million individuals find safety and build their lives 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 organisations can continue this vital work that reflects our nation’s values of compassion, justice, and hospitality.”

The legal brief called the Trump administration’s action “unlawful” because the funding cut off had already been appropriated by Congress and the president does not have authority to impound such funds.

Trump issued the executive order 24 January, affecting several faith-based agencies that work with refugees and migrants. It was one of dozens of executive orders of questionable legality that caused chaos in the federal government and prompted a host of lawsuits. It is unclear why the bishops took so long to file suit. They announced the layoff of 50 staffers in the migrants and refugees’ office on 7 February to cope with the loss of funds.

McFadden ruled that in order to get the restraining order, which would have effectively restored the funding, the USCCB needed to demonstrate “likely success on the merits, likely irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, a balance of the equities in its favour, and accord with the public interest”. He ruled that they failed to make such a showing but did not indicate which of the four criteria they failed to meet.

Meanwhile, Catholic agencies along the southern border reported that most shelters for migrants were empty. A few years ago, some shelters would help as many as a thousand migrants seeking asylum in the US each day. In January, the Trump administration effectively stopped allowing asylum seekers into the country.

Congress began work on a budget proposal to fund the massive tax cuts Trump promised for corporations and wealthy Americans, requiring cuts to the budget elsewhere.

The Catholic Health Association (CHA) also urged Congress and the Trump administration to avoid making significant cuts in Medicaid, the joint federal-state programme that provides health insurance to the poor.

Mercy Sister Mary Haddad, president and chief executive of the CHA, said: “These cuts would have devastating consequences, particularly for those in small towns and rural communities, where Medicaid is often the primary source of health care coverage.”

Significant cuts in Medicaid would also wreak havoc on nursing homes. Medicare, which provides health insurance to the elderly, only covers nursing home care for six months before patients must apply for Medicaid. The Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, expanded Medicaid to help more people qualify for its coverage.

Humanitarian agencies around the world meanwhile reported the damaging effects of the cuts to the US foreign aid budget and the effective closure of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

“It is devastating on all levels, from the church to the community,” said Gabriel Njiru, director of Caritas in Kenya’s Diocese of Garissa in Kenya. “The stop order came without any notice and we could not continue the work with the communities.”

A small water project for a community for domestic use as well as enabling them to run a small irrigation scheme has had to stop. “The people on the ground had to pack and go home,” he said.

Pascalia Sergon, the development and programmes officer for the African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN), said: “The feeling expressed is that of alarm, confusion, feeling stuck, panic and desperation.”

AJAN is based at 21 centres in 17 countries across the continent. “The new policy on funding has broken the cycle where organisations or government institutions were fully funded by USAID,” said Sergon. “The big concern is where will all these people go” she added. “Where will AJAN refer them to? Where will other services be procured from?”

Most recipients of HIV/AIDS treatment are from poor backgrounds and have few alternatives. The network warned of long-term effects such as more cases of deaths due to lack of antiretroviral drugs, increase of infections across the generations, more AIDS orphans, and a spike in poverty.

Africa was the largest regional recipient of foreign aid from the US, averaging around $8 billion annually over the past decade. The agency provided assistance to 130 countries in 2023, with five out of the 10 biggest recipients in the world being in Africa: Ethiopia, Congo, South Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria.

The secretary general of Caritas Internationalis Alistair Dutton has emphasised that for over six decades USAID has been a vital partner of Caritas and the Church globally. He called on governments, international agencies, and stakeholders, “to speak out and strongly urge the US administration to reverse these dangerous measures”.