Federal Judge Declines to Immediately Block Trump’s Halt of Catholic Refugee Funding

A major Catholic bishops group had filed a lawsuit against the government earlier this week.

Workers go over the day's schedule during an orientation at the day shelter in Chelsea, Mass., on Feb. 22, 2024. Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

A federal judge in Washington on Thursday declined to immediately block a Trump administration rule that rescinded funding to a refugee resettlement program, after a major Catholic organization challenged the plan in a lawsuit this week.

Judge Trevor McFadden denied U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB’s) request for a temporary restraining order that would have restored the funding but called his ruling “very tentative.”