Latest news with #TexasOfficeforRefugees
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
After funding freeze, refugee dollars flowing to Texas again but program's fate uncertain
After a six-week federal funding freeze that decimated refugee services in Texas, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Monday released $47 million to the state's refugee services designee. The health department, which includes the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, stopped sending such reimbursements to states across the country in early February. For reasons that remain unclear, the pause continued in Texas even after all other states started receiving reimbursements again. That prompted a lawsuit from the Catholic Charities of Fort Worth, which runs the nonprofit Texas Office for Refugees, the designee that distributes reimbursements to the state's 29 refugee services providers. At a hearing in the case last Friday, a Justice Department lawyer announced that the agency had completed an unspecified type of review of the nonprofit office and of Catholic Charities – a process that had apparently delayed the release of funds – and would soon send money to cover the requested reimbursements. 'I was very glad it happened, so that we can continue our work,' said Simone Talma-Flowers, executive director of Interfaith Action of Central Texas, the largest local provider of English-language learning programs for refugees. 'We can continue serving refugees, teaching English language instruction, youth, mentoring, health and wellness. This is all very good news for us.' Previously: Amid lawsuit, feds say they will end funding freeze on Texas refugee services Neither Catholic Charities nor the Texas Office for Refugee responded to a request for comment. While leaders of other Texas refugee service providers are relieved, they also say it's going to take a long time to recover from the furloughs, layoffs and other cost-cutting measures they had to use to get by. They also are bracing for an even bigger challenge. On Friday, the same day as the court hearing, the Trump administration published a policy letter saying it plans to stop sending reimbursements to the Texas Office for Refugees and other state designees in October when the new federal budget cycle begins. That would affect Texas and 13 other states, where designees exist because the state government has chosen not to accept federal dollars intended to support refugees. Anjum Malik, executive director of Austin-based refugee service provider Global Impact Initiative, said the letter adds to the sense of ongoing uncertainty that has already taken rooted within many organizations. Dig in: Refugees in Austin, across Texas, still struggling amid mysterious pause in federal funding 'This is a first,' Malik said. 'Everybody's confused about it.' Malik said her organization on Tuesday received the $100,000 it was owed, but that she is still trying to make sense how, and to what extent, it can begin the arduous process of rebuilding services. Because the refugee service system is based on reimbursements of past expenses, Malik said she is still without the funds to hire back the 14 employees she furloughed. As she attempts to do so, she will have to apply for additional reimbursements and hope they are processed. This, along with continued fixed costs, like rent and software services, makes it rocky to rebuild. Yet even as she makes plans to bring staff back, she is writing recommendation letters for many of those same employees, who are looking for new jobs. With so few guarantees in the industry, she said she can't blame the workers. The past weeks 'shook the confidence out of the refugees and out of us,' Malik said. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: In Texas, refugee dollars flowing again, but program's fate uncertain
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Amid lawsuit, feds say they will end funding freeze on Texas refugee services
A mysterious six-week freeze on Texas refugee service funds may have reached its end. In a Friday afternoon hearing at a federal district court, a lawyer for the Department of Health and Human Services said reimbursements to the Texas Office for Refugees, a nonprofit that distributes payments to local service providers, are on track to resume. The Office for Refugee Resettlement, which reviews refugee service reimbursements, is under the Administration for Children and Families in the health department. In court documents, the health department had argued it needed to suspend payments because it was still conducting a review on the office. Texas was the only state that still had a suspension on refugee services funds. Previously: Casar, Doggett and other Texas Democrats demand release of $42M in federal refugee funds Due to that suspension, Texas refugee service providers had rolled back on the English classes, job training and cash assistance programs offered to thousands of refugees and other authorized migrants. They had also furloughed and laid off hundreds of staff. Edward Waters, the lawyer representing Catholic Charities, said that the Texas Office for Refugees estimated that 85% of staff working for providers had been furloughed or laid off since the freeze began. He also told the court that $47 million had been withheld from Texas refugee organizations to date. But, in a surprised tone, Waters said that his clients were 'hopeful that it will now be business as usual.' 'But hopeful is not definitive,' he added, before asking the presiding U.S. district judge, Loren AliKhan, to hold off on a ruling until payments resumed. AliKhan called the government's announcement, which could put a close to proceedings, 'very happy news.' She asked for the two parties to file a 'joint status report' describing the process made resuming reimbursements by Monday. The announcement comes almost two weeks after Catholic Charities of Fort Worth sued the health department, demanding it release payments and give a reason for why it had frozen the funds. It also comes one day after Texas Congressional Democrats published a letter calling on DHHS to release Texas' refugee funds and offer an explanation for the freeze. Related: Refugees in Austin, across Texas, still struggling amid mysterious pause in federal funding Court documents showed that a Trump administration directive suspended payments to refugee service providers on Feb. 3, citing a Florida grand jury report. The report identified waste and fraud in an unaccompanied minor program, which was also managed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement but unrelated to refugee services. In the weeks after that directive, payments resumed to refugee service agencies in all 49 states that have programs, except for Texas. The government has not given a reason for Texas' uniquely prolonged hold. Neither the Texas Office for Refugees, Catholic Charities Fort Worth, nor the law firm representing these organizations responded to a request for comment on Friday afternoon. Shortly after the hearing, Anjum Malik, the director of an Austin refugee services nonprofit, told the American-Statesman that she was trying "to air on the side of caution" about the government's comments at the hearing, but that she believes "it's probably good news." But Malik said she remains nervous that future disruptions could wreak additional havoc to a system that has been weakened dramatically by uncertainty and austerity in the past weeks. It's hard to know what to expect, she said. This story was updated to include new information. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Freeze on Texas refugee service funds now over, DOJ lawyer says
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Casar, Doggett and other Texas Democrats demand release of $42M in federal refugee funds
Texas Congressional Democrats are calling on the federal government to release the funds it has withheld from the organization that is in charge of distributing reimbursement to the state's refugee service providers. In a Thursday letter to the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. representatives including Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett of Austin demanded that the administration's Office of Refugee Resettlement immediately release contractually obligated funding to the nonprofit Texas Office for Refugees. 'If funding is not restored immediately, hundreds of thousands of refugees across the state could be permanently left without crucial medical services, basic shelter, and legal support,' according to the letter, which also was signed by Democratic Reps. Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch, Al Green of Houston, Veronica Escobar of El Paso, Sylvia Garcia of Houston, Lizzie Fletcher of Houston and Joaquin Castro of San Antonio. Previously: Refugees in Austin, across Texas, still struggling amid mysterious pause in federal funding The letter comes after numerous American-Statesman reports that revealed the ongoing funding freeze, its dire impact on the state's service providers and refugee community; and a lawsuit that the Texas Office for Refugees filed against the U.S. health department to force release of $42 million in funds. The office, which is run by Catholic Charities of Fort Worth, oversees federally sponsored refugee services in Texas. (The state withdrew from the federal refugee resettlement program in 2016.) Thursday's letter warned that the office may be forced to close by March 15 if funds remain unfrozen. The letter comes the day after a preliminary hearing in the refugee office's federal lawsuit, where a lawyer for the health department promised that funds would be 'released in a matter of days,' but did not provide a firm timeline. The lawsuit alleges that Texas is the only state where federal reimbursement has not resumed since Feb. 3 when the health department issued a directive pausing funds to states refugee service programs. On Wednesday the health department released a declaration at the request of U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan confirming that Texas was indeed the only state where the freeze is effectively still in place. Agency lawyers also made it clear that it was intentional. In other court filings, the health department pointed to a Florida grand jury report on fraud and waste in that state's unaccompanied minor's reception program as reason for the ongoing pause in Texas refugee payments. That program is unrelated to refugee service programs. At Wednesday's hearing, government lawyer Joseph F. Carilli, Jr. argued that the pause was under the government's purview, and that forcing the state to release the funds would take away the authority of the federal government to review any of its contracts before completion. The review of the Texas Office for Refugees 'is still ongoing,' Carilli said. 'They can't provide at this point in time anything certain as to when it would conclude.' AliKhan has not yet issued a ruling. Late last month, she ruled against the Trump administration in withholding billions in foreign aid payments, which fund refugee resettlement programs in the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court sided with her ruling last week. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Democrats demand release of $42M in federal refugee funds
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas' refugee designee sues U.S. health department, RFK Jr. over prolonged funding pause
A lawsuit filed on Monday by Texas's refugee services coordinating agency alleges that the federal government has 'unlawfully' deprived the state's service providers of more than $36 million in reimbursements since late January. Catholic Charities Fort Worth, the parent organization for the Texas Office for Refugees, sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., alleging that reimbursements to CCFW have not resumed since the Trump Administration rescinded a memo freezing all federal grant payments in late January. '[M]any entities have received their federal funding in the weeks since the attempted funding freeze,' the complaint reads. 'CCFW has not been able to draw down any funds—and has not received any indication why its funds remain frozen.' Recently: Austin refugee organizations panicking amid prolonged halt in federal funding That funding covers the cost of services like workforce development, cash assistance, case management, and English classes for approximately 100,000 authorized immigrants across the state. The lawsuit claims that the Trump Administration has ignored its own January memorandum to resume federal grant payments, as well two federal court orders that mandated the release of federal dollars. Neither the health department nor the Administration for Children and Families, the health department division that oversees the reimbursement-authorizing Office of Refugee Resettlement, immediately responded to a request for comment from the American-Statesman. Along with running its own services, the Texas Office for Refugees is in charge of reimbursing refugee service providers across Texas. Locally, the cut-off has led providers to cease services and furlough staff, the Statesman has previously reported. 'These funds, mandated by law for organizations contracted by the federal government to care for these individuals and families, are crucial for providing essential services to those fleeing persecution in their home countries,' CCFW CEO Michael Iglio and Jeff Demers, State Refugee Coordinator at the Texas Office of Refugees, said in a written statement to the Statesman. 'Despite four attempts in January to secure payment—followed by ten additional requests over the next four weeks—HHS has unlawfully continued withholding the financial support allocated under existing grant agreements.' This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Catholic Charities Fort Worth sues feds over prolonged funding pause
