Let Refugees In—Keep Injustice Out

In the Catholic tradition, justice demands that we create systems that uphold human dignity, protect the vulnerable, and allow every person in society to participate.

But recent legislation and budget decisions—including the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (H.R. 1) on July 4, 2025, and the Administration’s proposed FY 2026 budget—move us further from that vision.

What’s Changed

Together, these policies are no longer just proposals—they are law and active budget priorities. They:

• Entrench mass deportation policies by expanding enforcement funding and limiting pathways to legal status.

• Strip away legal protections for refugees and asylum seekers, while increasing application fees and narrowing eligibility.

• Defund faith-based and community organizations serving displaced families through both the FY 2025 rescissions law and FY 2026 budget reductions.

• Deny the Child Tax Credit to 4.5 million U.S. citizen and lawful permanent resident children in mixed-status families, deepening child poverty.

These harmful measures directly violate principles of commutative justice (fairness in relationships and systems) and participatory justice (the right to contribute fully to one’s community). They also contradict longstanding Catholic teaching and our nation’s moral commitments.

Take Action

Policies that punish families, restrict due process, and abandon humanitarian values are not just harmful—they are unjust. Urge your Members of Congress and the White House to:

• Fully restore refugee resettlement, asylum, and humanitarian programs defunded by H.R. 1 and subsequent rescissions.

• Oppose harmful tax credit restrictions targeting children in mixed-status families.

• Increase funding for asylum adjudication and the immigration court system.

• Reject inflated immigration enforcement budgets and instead support a path to legal status for long-term undocumented residents with good moral character.