Judge won't immediately block Trump administration’s abrupt halt to Catholic refugee funding

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday refused to block the Trump administration’s abrupt halt to funding of the nation’s largest private refugee resettlement program in a setback to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Judge Trevor McFadden denied the bishops’ request for a temporary restraining order that would have restored the funding but called his ruling “very tentative."

McFadden, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017, also ordered the two sides to have mediation session with a federal magistrate judge next week.

“A temporary restraining order is an extraordinary remedy that should be granted sparingly,” he said.

The bishops are asking him to prohibit the U.S. State Department from enforcing a Jan. 24 suspension of millions of dollars in aid, saying it has affected nearly 7,000 newly arrived refugees.

The bishops say that withholding millions in resettlement costs violates various laws as well as the constitutional provision giving the power of the purse to Congress, which already approved the funding.

The conference’s Migration and Refugee Services has sent layoff notices to more than half its staff with additional cuts expected. It’s one of 10 national agencies, most of them faith-based, sent scrambling after the State Department informed them Jan. 24 of an immediate suspension of funding pending a review of foreign-aid programs.

The administration has said the country cannot welcome additional refugees and the spending halt will allow it to align funding with the president’s priorities.