Catholic Community Services to maintain refugee programming thanks to influx of private donations

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Catholic Community Services will continue its refugee programs despite federal funding cuts, tapping into donations.
It's received pledges of $1.5 million in donations for the refugee programming and needs $1 million more.
The offerings for refugees will likely be scaled back, but the charity hopes to help 300 refugee families annually.

SALT LAKE CITY — Catholic Community Services of Utah will maintain its refugee resettlement initiatives, which face federal funding cuts, after an outpouring of donations and support from the public.

The efforts will likely be scaled back from prior offerings, however, and the nonprofit group still needs $1 million more in donations for its revamped plans. But the new development, announced Monday and spurred by pledged donations so far of $1.5 million, means the agency won't have to end its offerings for refugees by mid-2026, as it announced earlier this month.

"This is more than encouraging," said Aden Batar, director of migration and refugee services for Catholic Community Services. "Our community always surprises us with donations. Every time that we need it and appeal to our community, our community always comes through, helping those that are less fortunate in our community. Refugees really need our support right now."

On taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump signed an order halting the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program effectively prohibiting entry of new refugees from abroad and stopping U.S. funding assisting refugees already here.

"The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees. This order suspends the USRAP until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States," it reads.

Natalia Chornovol, refugee resettlement case manager, works at Catholic Community Services of Utah in Salt Lake City on Monday. (Photo: Tess Crowley, Deseret News)

The decision stopped some $2.5 million a year from going to Catholic Community Services, prompting the agency's April 1 announcement that it would end its refugee program and the subsequent fundraising spike that will now allow the initiative to continue. Going forward, the charity will operate under a "privately funded model" given the federal funding freeze.

"We want to make sure that our community knows that the refugees have a place, that they can come and they can be served," said Batar. "Refugees need a lot of advocacy right now, a lot of services, somebody who can stand for them and make sure that their rights are protected."

Utah is home to somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000 refugees from around the globe, with Catholic Community Services — until Trump's order — helping resettle around 700 a year. The International Rescue Committee in Salt Lake City and Logan-based Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection have also assisted with refugee resettlement in Utah and say they've been hit hard by funding cuts as well.

Catholic Community Services of Utah says it will tap private funds to maintain programming for refugees threatened by federal funding cuts. The undated image shows two of the agency's refugee clients. (Photo: Catholic Community Services)

Batar said the funding cuts have prompted Catholic Community Services to shed about half its workforce — around 60 people before the Trump administration cuts — and its offerings to refugees will be scaled back given the smaller dollar amount to work with. Now it's looking at spending $2.5 million over the coming four years — the $1.5 million already pledged plus $1 million more it hopes to raise — versus $2.5 million a year when it received federal money. The aim is to assist around 300 refugee families a year already in Utah.

"We're going to be focusing on case management, employment, youth mental health and also volunteer and community engagement," Batar said.

A "lead private gift" from an anonymous donor helped spur the new effort. The envisioned transformation allows CCS "to maintain its commitment to refugee families in Utah while adapting to a changing national landscape," the agency said in a press release. If federal funding is reinstated, CCS hopes to restore its refugee program back to its "previous capacity" while maintaining aspects of the "new community-supported model," it said.

Batar previously said CCS would have to halt a separate program offering legal assistance to some 126 unaccompanied immigrant children in Utah, but on Monday he reported that the agency is still talking with federal officials about its future. Meantime, CCS attorneys are still working the cases they've been handling. "That one right now, we don't know what's going to happen. We're still waiting," he said.

Other CCS programming for immigrants, refugees needing foster care and those facing homelessness are "active and fully staffed," the agency said.

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