Tom Perumean/Houston Public Media
President Donald Trump’s administration has launched funding for Harris County Public Well being’s Refugee Screening program after a federal courtroom ruling.
Harris County Public Well being gives well being screenings, immunizations and connections to main care providers for about 11,000 refugees and different admitted immigrants with documented authorized standing, in accordance with a lawsuit filed final week. The group has been experiencing employees layoffs and different monetary challenges as a result of appropriations from the federal Workplace for Refugee Resettlement had been halted by the Trump administration.
“These well being screenings, they do not simply defend these refugees, they defend our complete communities,” Appearing Harris County Legal professional Christian Menefee stated. “As a result of you probably have a illness, a virus, and there are elements of the group that are not screened for it, then all of us are probably put in danger.”
The courtroom ruling will restore $10.5 million in grant funds that had been frozen since January. Menefee stated the administration was additionally requested to offer a transparent timeline for disbursing the funds.
“That they had no excuse in any respect, and the second they needed to go earlier than [the] courtroom of legislation and supply an excuse, it was very clear that that they had none,” Menefee stated. “This was federal overreach at its worst, however the county lawyer’s workplace pushed again, and we beat it.”
The U.S. Division of Justice, which represented the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers and Secretary of Well being Robert F. Kennedy Jr. within the lawsuit, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Refugee packages throughout the Houston area have been affected by a funding freeze applied by the Trump administration in January. Catholic Charities in Houston has already laid off 120 staff, principally from its refugee program, and the Alief Household YMCA is predicted to shut by the tip of Might as a result of it misplaced funding for its New American Initiative, which helps refugees and different susceptible populations within the Houston area.
Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones, who represents areas of Houston like Sharpstown, Gulfton, and Alief, stated this lawsuit was a “large win” for the group.
“It is a large win for … the rule of legislation, and the various communities I’m honored to serve,” she stated in a information launch. “For over 40 years, the Refugee Medical Screening Clinic has supplied important well being providers to authorized immigrants, and the work of the Clinic helps make our complete group safer and more healthy. I’m proud that we stood up, took motion, and acquired outcomes. Harris County will proceed to be a spot that welcomes households in search of security and alternative.”
