{"id":78075,"date":"2025-07-20T13:25:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T13:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/78075\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T13:25:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T13:25:25","slug":"catholic-charities-fort-worth-to-continue-refugee-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/78075\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Charities Fort Worth to continue refugee efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n \"Amira
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

By Amira Abuzeid<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Houston, Texas, Jul 18, 2025 \/
\n 14:30 pm<\/p>\n

Catholic Charities Fort Worth (CCFW) announced July 17 that it will continue leading the Texas Office for Refugees until September 2026, reversing an earlier decision to step down later this year due to challenges imposed by the Trump administration\u2019s funding cuts to refugee programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The move follows urgent pleas from approximately 60 refugee service providers across Texas, who warned that CCFW\u2019s withdrawal would jeopardize $200 million in critical federal funding for over 118,000 refugees.<\/p>\n

In early June, CCFW announced plans to relinquish its role in October as the state\u2019s replacement designee for the Texas Office for Refugees, a role the nonprofit took on in 2021 after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott withdrew the state from the federal refugee resettlement program in 2016.<\/p>\n

This prompted a swift response from providers, who sent letters to the group warning that its abrupt exit would disrupt critical refugee services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo do this in this climate is not moral in a lot of ways,\u201d said Kimberly Haynes, Texas director of Church World Service, who urged CCFW to stay for another year to ensure a stable transition.<\/p>\n

Haynes told the Houston Chronicle in June that CCFW\u2019s departure could force her organization to lay off employees and close programs, including the Refugee Cash Assistance, Medical Assistance, Immigration Legal Services, and Social Adjustment programs, affecting 80% of its services in Dallas and Houston.<\/p>\n

CCFW President and CEO Michael Iglio said in a statement shared with CNA the reversal came after \u201cdeeper reflection\u201d and \u201cthoughtful feedback\u201d from providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognized that an early withdrawal could risk serious disruptions in services,\u201d Iglio stated, adding that stepping down prematurely was a decision the agency \u201ccould not in good conscience allow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

By continuing through September 2026, when its contract ends, CCFW aims to safeguard services and facilitate a responsible transition.<\/p>\n

CCFW sued the Trump administration and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in March, alleging an unlawful freeze of $36 million in funding. Although payments resumed after a program integrity review, the incident highlighted the precarious funding environment for refugee programs.<\/p>\n

The decision comes amid broader challenges for refugee services under the second Trump administration, which froze the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in January, disrupting $100 million in aid for Houston-area refugees alone.<\/p>\n

As a result, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in February laid off 120 employees<\/a> who mostly worked in refugee assistance.<\/p>\n

Catholic social teaching on immigration<\/a>, which is built on Jesus\u2019 call to welcome the stranger (cf. Matthew 25:35), underpins CCFW\u2019s commitment to refugees. The agency\u2019s decision to stay aligns with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops\u2019 advocacy<\/a> for humane immigration policies.<\/p>\n


\n \"Amira
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Amira Abuzeid is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Amira Abuzeid Houston, Texas, Jul 18, 2025 \/ 14:30 pm Catholic Charities Fort Worth (CCFW) announced July…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":78076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,51485,17159,7371,7372,53968,53967,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,53966],"class_list":{"0":"post-78075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-catholic-charities-fort-worth","10":"tag-catholic-news","11":"tag-fort-worth","12":"tag-fortworth","13":"tag-refugee-aid","14":"tag-refugee-resettlement","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa","23":"tag-usccb-united-states-conference-of-catholic-bishops"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114885789164998466","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}