Catholic bishops defend ‘long-time partnership with the federal government to serve refugees’

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) defended its decades-long partnership with the federal government to provide services to refugees in the wake of Vice President JD Vance’s comments Sunday that challenged the notion that refugees are all well-vetted prior to being allowed to enter the country.

The USCCB released a statement on Sunday regarding its “Work with the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.”

“Faithful to the teaching of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church has a long history of serving refugees,” the statement read. “In 1980, the bishops of the United States began partnering with the federal government to carry out this service when Congress created the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP).” 

“Every person resettled through USRAP is vetted and approved for the program by the federal government while outside of the United States,” the bishops added. “In our agreements with the government, the USCCB receives funds to do this work; however, these funds are not sufficient to cover the entire cost of these programs. Nonetheless, this remains a work of mercy and ministry of the Church.”

Immediately after his inauguration, President Donald Trump launched a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration that included suspending funds to organizations that provide services to illegal immigrants. 

Among the organizations whose U.S. taxpayer funding was suspended as a result of the Trump administration’s executive orders to reclaim the nation’s boundaries and end illegal immigration is the Refugee Council USA (RCUSA), which self-describes as “the only national coalition devoted to forcibly displaced people in the United States.”

The USCCB is listed as a “participating member” of RCUSA. Among the coalition’s “guiding principles” are “constituent leadership,” i.e., a belief that “forcibly displaced” people “have a critical voice and role to play as leaders, experts, advocates, and everyday citizens,” and “equity.”

“As a coalition of humanitarian organizations, we believe we have an opportunity and responsibility to embed equity in all that we do,” RCUSA states.

In response to the Trump administration’s policies, RCUSA Executive Director John Slocum referred to the funding freeze as “unfathomably cruel” and urged Trump to return to the previous status quo, CBS News reported Saturday.

“This unprecedented decision undermines our moral and legal obligations to those we promised to protect – and to the communities who welcome them,” Slocum said. “These core services serve as a lifeline for resettled refugees and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders who assisted the U.S. mission.”

Reuters also reported on Saturday, “Outgoing President Joe Biden ramped up refugee admissions during his tenure, accepting 100,000 in fiscal-year 2024 and on pace for more this year.”

“Another 100,000 refugees abroad had been fully vetted and ready to travel to the U.S. as of mid-January, a senior Biden administration official told Reuters last week,” the Reuters report added.

Vance addressed Sunday of CBS’ Face the Nation hostess Margaret Brennan’s claim of a thorough vetting procedure for refugees already being in place.  

“Refugee screening takes 18 to 24 months to go through,” she argued. “They are heavily vetted.”

“Well, Margaret, I don’t agree that all these immigrants, or all these refugees, have been properly vetted,” Vance countered. “In fact, we know that there are cases of people who allegedly were properly vetted and then were literally planning terrorist attacks in our country. That happened during the campaign if you may remember. So clearly, not all of these foreign nationals have been properly vetted.”

“These people are vetted,” Brennan insisted, but Vance remained resolute.

“Just like the guy who planned a terrorist attack in Oklahoma a few months ago? He was allegedly properly vetted, and many people in the media and the Democratic Party said that he was properly vetted,” Vance pointed out. “Clearly he wasn’t.”

“I don’t want my children to share a neighborhood with people who are not properly vetted, and because I don’t want it for my kids, I’m not going to force any other American citizens’ kids to do that either,” the vice president affirmed.

Bishop Joseph Strickland posted to X Sunday that presenting the Gospel as a call to a nation “to allow chaos” is “truly absurd.” 

“Yes we welcome the immigrant but it is the right and duty of a nation to regulate immigration,” Strickland wrote. “Politics has interfered with fulfilling this responsibility properly, we must support establishing an immigration system that supports individuals and families and respects the laws of the nation.”