The Fort Worth-based organization that runs Texas’ refugee resettlement operations has sued the federal government demanding it release $36 million in funding that has been held up since January.
Catholic Charities Fort Worth on March 3 filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on grounds that the office unlawfully withheld grant funds for the charity’s refugee services.
“Shortly after the new Administration took office in January 2025, Defendants attempted to unlawfully freeze federal grant funds across the federal government’s operations, including grant funds obligated to CCFW under four open federal grant awards,” the lawsuit alleges.
Catholic Charities Fort Worth has operated the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement in Texas since 2021, stepping in to fill the need for the services after the state withdrew from the program in 2016.
On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order “realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program,” which put grant funding for resettlement services on hold “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests” of the country.
“Cities and small towns alike … have even recently declared states of emergency because of increased migration,” the order reads. One of the small towns it mentions is Springfield, Ohio, which became the focus of misinformation about Haitian refugees eating residents’ pets during the 2024 presidential election.
The lawsuit alleges that the funding freeze results in “real-world harm” to both the organization and more than 100,000 individuals who rely on its services that have been mandated by Congress. It has also led to layoffs, furloughs, office closures and service cuts in 24 of the organization’s 29 partner agencies, the lawsuit states.
The organization’s partners have seen a 64% drop in staffing across the state, according to the lawsuit. The freeze has rendered them unable to help newly arrived individuals and families secure housing, find gainful employment, sign up for health insurance and enroll their children in school, among other tasks.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation.
The frozen funds are “crucial for providing essential services to those fleeing persecution in their home countries,” according to Michael Iglio, CEO of Catholic Charities Fort Worth, and Jeff Demers, state refugee coordinator of Texas Office of Refugees, who issued a joint statement Monday.
Catholic Charities Fort Worth has tried to secure the funding 14 times since January, they said, but to no avail. This has inhibited its ability to provide services “designed to help individuals and families integrate and thrive in Texas communities,” they said.
The effects have not only been felt by refugees themselves but also local businesses that rely on them, the lawsuit states. Over 10,000 recipients of the organization’s services have not been able to receive their cash assistance services, which has led to evictions. With occupancy rates dropping, some apartment complexes will be unable to operate and will have to shut down.
The inability to resettle refugees affects revenue in both the public and private sectors, according to Denise Gilman, a law professor and director of the Immigration Clinic at UT Austin. The poultry industry in East Texas, for example, has come to rely heavily on refugees who are eager to work and integrate into U.S. society, she said.
The program pause is “going to mean a decrease in taxpayers, a decrease in rent-payers, a decrease in employees who have valid authorization to work and provide critical labor,” she said. “If you just stop plans to bring migrants who would have otherwise come and have had work authorization, then you are absolutely going to be impacting the economy.”
Texas has led the country in refugee resettlement in recent years, according to a Department of Homeland Security report published in November. Over 5,000 settled in the Lone Star State in 2023.
Although the Refugee Resettlement Program only provides services to people who have entered the country with refugee or other kinds of documented legal status, Catholic Charities Fort Worth has become a regular target of anti-immigrant sentiment in recent years.
Some politicians and media outlets have accused the organization of helping bring “illegal aliens” to North Texas.
“The problems at the border are different from the refugee resettlement work conducted by Catholic Charities Fort Worth,” the organization said in a Q&A document when asked about allegations of illegal activity by Tarrant GOP Chairman Bo French in September.
That month, French shared articles by The Dallas Express, owned by Dallas real estate mogul and Republican donor Monty Bennett, and the Texas Scorecard, a website launched by a group funded by billionaire donors Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks. The articles accused Catholic Charities Fort Worth of participating in conspiracy theories of immigrants invading the country.
“We are paying for our own invasion,” French said on X in September.
“Accountability is coming for everyone who facilitated in the invasion of our country,” he said in an emailed statement Monday. “Sorry, not sorry.”
Catholic Charities Fort Worth has been working to alleviate poverty for over 114 years, the organization said in the Q&A document. It has served refugees since the 1970s, helping “thousands of families not only adjust to their new lives in America but also thrive as citizens.”
Refugees are people who have been forced to flee their homes due to violence, war or persecution, according to the International Rescue Committee. Entities like governments or the United Nations Refugee Agency grant them refugee status if it is determined they cannot safely return to their countries of origin.
The U.S. Customs and Immigration website has a detailed page on the rigorous security screenings and background checks they must pass in order to enter the country as refugees.
The funding freeze has “seriously eroded trust and confidence” in those whom Congress has approved it to serve, the lawsuit states, adding that the damage this has caused is “irreparable.”
By Cody Copeland, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
