Catholic Charities closes refugee resettlement program

Catholic Charities Family and Community Services has decided to close its refugee resettlement program due to recent changes in immigration policy. This is a blow to the new-immigrant community that relies on the agency’s services.

In addition to the resettlement program, CCFCS has shuttered its migrant children foster care program and some specialized programming for Afghans and refugee families with special needs. Some 30 staffers are losing their positions in that capacity; CCFCS is hoping to absorb them within the agency.

CCFCS is working with clients in the impacted programs to refer them to other department programs or external providers. It continues to provide refugee and immigration services such as job preparation and placement, and post-resettlement integration.

In January, under the Trump administration, the U.S. halted refugee resettlement. As a result, funding for such programs dried up. Even so, CCFCS officials say the agency decided to raise funds and underwrite costs for services deemed critical for its clients.

The last group of refugees arrived at CCFCS on Jan. 17, says Jim Morris, vice president of family prosperity programs. Sixty people, who were booked on flights to arrive in Rochester through the agency, had their flights canceled.

“Overall, there were 10,000 refugees that had booked travel dates, and those were canceled, and there were 100,000 refugees that were conditionally approved to arrive in the United States,” Morris says. “They hadn’t booked travel yet, but they were through the process; they were approved by the Department of Homeland Security, they were approved by the Department of State, and all those have been canceled.”

Some of these refugees, he adds, were coming to join their families—parents, children and spouses.

“It’s horrible on any level, through years of processing in a refugee camp, and then maybe they’ve sold all their possessions, which is what they do, and then they’re turned back,” Morris says. “And for the people here that we’re expecting family members to join, it’s just devastating.”

To add to an already challenging situation, in April, an unnamed CCFCS contractor terminated its agreement with the federal Office of Refugee Settlement.

“Our work with refugees is an important part of our mission at Catholic Charities,” says Lori VanAuken, president and CEO of CCFCS. “The need for services remains. CCFCS can and will continue to fulfill our obligation to serve those who are building new lives in the U.S.”

If the federal government decides to reverse its position on admitting refugees, CCFCS is ready to resume that work, officials say.

Rochester has played a crucial role in helping refugees. Organizations, both large and small, work with these new immigrants to help them find their footing. During the first Trump administration, the influx of refugees dipped, but it rebounded under the Biden administration. 

In 2024, CCFCS was awarded a five-year, $5.4 million job preparation and placement grant from the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance Bureau of Refugee Services, through a competitive bid process. So far, Morris says the grant is still in place.

CCFCS has been assisting refugees for more than 100 years, helping thousands of people.

For Morris and others who work at the agency, some of whom are refugees, it has been a painful time. Not only are the clients they serve in distress, with news of loss of protection status, deportations or family separations, but also the agency itself is working through uncertainty over immigration policies.

Morris shares a story of Nepali refugees who were dropped off at the Indian border–—not in their home country.

“The administration is creating illegal immigrants by their other actions here,” Morris says. “But there is a lot of confusion, and people are scared. They’re scared to go out and work. They’re scared to go get groceries, go to school.”

“It’s not just them, but I think anybody that cares about this is sort of suffering a moral wound,” he adds. “This is a value that we believed was an American value that defined us as a country, and it just seems like it’s been abandoned. Anytime you have something like a value that’s core to your being, or even your national (identity)…what makes you unique as a country, when you lose that, or that’s just sort of abandoned, it cuts at your core. That’s a traumatic experience.”

Smriti Jacob is Rochester Beacon managing editor.

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