The Trump administration can cancel millions of dollars in contracts for refugee resettlement, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday afternoon.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee, denied a request to block the administration from canceling $65 million in contracts between the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the State Department's U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, determining the court lacked jurisdiction to intervene.
"The Conference's motion is, at its core, seeking a purely contractual remedy," McFadden wrote, adding the issue should be resolved in the Court of Federal Claims.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is one of 10 organizations that participates in the public-private partnership administered by the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to help settle refugees once they enter the country. They received two contracts valued at $65 million this year, which the Trump administration canceled last month.
In denying the motion, McFadden acknowledged the "emotions" associated with the program but insisted the court cannot intervene.
"This Court is but a creature of the trifurcated structure of its Constitution," he wrote.
-ABC News' Peter Charalambous
