While many welcome the Trump administration’s attempt to get the country’s finances under control, some of the moves have had unfortunate consequences. One such is the issuing of a 90-day moratorium on distributing any foreign aid through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The dark side of this decision is the suffering of millions of people who rely on aid programs.
Understanding the $37 trillion deficit facing the American taxpayer, the refrain is that we can no longer be the banker for all the world. There are people in this country — such as military veterans, the homeless, and the needy, who could also use help.
This very dilemma has led the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to sue the Trump administration in federal court. So far, the White House has not indicated why domestic aid programs are subject to a freeze on international aid payments.
Many Catholics may believe the Church provides benefits and comfort to numerous organizations through its members’ donations, when, in fact, the Church has been working with the federal government on refugee resettlement since the Refugee Act of 1980 was passed by Congress.
As stated in the USCCB lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Feb. 18, the USCCB “faces irreparable damage to its long- standing refugee resettlement programs and its reputation and relationship with its subrecipients and the refugee populations it serves.” Furthermore, they say the “USCCB’s inability to reimburse its partner organizations, in turn, has required some of those organizations to lay off staff and may require them to stop providing aid for housing, food, and resettlement to support refugees.”
The USCCB states that it has laid off 50 employees, more than half of its refugee-resettlement staff, from its Migration and Refugee Services office as a result of the freeze. The suspension also left 6,758 refugees assigned to its care — who were still within their 90-day transition period at the time of the suspension — in limbo as they may soon be cut off from support, according to the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Globally, the situation seems more dire.
Caritas Internationalis — a confederation of 162 national Catholic relief, development, and social service organizations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide — also fears the worst, as its global aid coverage is deeply affected. Caritas Secretary General Alistair Dutton said in a statement that “stopping USAID abruptly will kill millions of people and condemn hundreds of millions more to lives of dehumanizing poverty.”
“This is an inhumane affront to people’s God-given human dignity that will cause immense suffering,” Dutton added. In 2023, the U.S. provided $15.7 billion in aid to international relief agencies, with Africa being the largest recipient. Recognizing the interconnectedness of all humanity, the Catholic Church teaches that wealthier nations have a responsibility to assist poorer ones. Pope Paul VI, in his “Populorum Progressio” encyclical, emphasized that development and peace are intertwined and urged affluent countries to aid those less fortunate.
Sean Callahan, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. Catholic Church’s overseas relief and development
agency, warned “with programs paused, the effect is dire.” “Foreign assistance is not a handout. It is an essential investment to protect life, uphold human dignity, and pursue sustainable solutions to the world’s toughest challenges,” Callahan wrote in a letter to Congress. What is needed immediately is for the Trump administration to prioritize the most important aid packages to be reinstituted as soon as possible.