Refugee resettlement agencies around the nation are scrambling for money in the wake of President Trump's executive order halting all refugee resettlement for four months. The order is affecting resettlement in Cleveland.
Two workers have been laid off from the local office of Catholic Charities, as the agency shifts to manage cuts to its government funding.
More than 100,000 refugees were going to be allowed into the United States, until Trump's executive order cut that to 50,000. The charity’s local office had planned to help 450 people, but now expects to serve far fewer, says Tom Mrosko, director of Catholic Charities’ Migration and Refugee Services.
“We’re reimbursed from the State Department on a per capita. For every refugee, we get X number of dollars. If we’re not going to resettle 450, and we’re staffed to handle 450, we had to make some changes along the way, along with other resettlement agencies," Mrosko says.
Nationally, Catholic Charities is trying raise $8 million to cover the drop in funding.