LoginAdvocates urge restart of suspended refugee resettlement program
Opponents of President Donald Trump’s executive order indefinitely halting refugee resettlement in the U.S. rally on the steps of the federal courthouse in Seattle on Feb. 25, 2025, after a judge issued a ruling blocking the president’s order. (Photo by Jake Goldstein-Street/Washington State Standard)
WASHINGTON — State and local leaders and advocates from across the country called on the Trump administration Monday to immediately restart the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, saying the program’s suspension has harmed communities.
President Donald Trump signed an order suspending the program on his first day back in office and the administration withheld funds appropriated by Congress for those services. Federal courts have partially rejected that order, but the Trump administration has still not resumed the program, the advocates said.
By indefinitely halting the program and subsequently defunding its infrastructure, Trump “stranded” more than 100,000 refugees “who had already been interviewed by Homeland Security and received written notices from the U.S. government that they were eligible for resettlement,” Mark Hetfield, president of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, or HIAS, said at a press conference hosted by several refugee advocacy groups Monday.
‘More than a program’
Aisha Koroma, a Refugee Congress delegate for Washington, D.C., said the Refugee Admissions Program “is more than a program.” Refugee Congress is a national organization advocating for people who are forcibly displaced.
“It represents lives, dreams, resilience, hope — it is a gateway for future change-makers, doctors, engineers, artists, tradespeople — people who are ready and eager to become assets to America’s workforce and to contribute meaningfully to its economy and communities,” Koroma said.
“Pausing this program doesn’t just delay paperwork, it delays possibilities, it ensures tragedies, it tears families apart, and it leaves people vulnerable, but most importantly, it sends a painful message that America is closing its doors, not only to those who need it most, but also those who fill jobs, those who open stores and people who sat on our school boards,” Koroma added.
Rev. Noel Andersen, national field director at Church World Service and faith leader with the United Church of Christ, said the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program “has signified a space of refuge and hope for the world as a beacon of light for democracy.”
“Now, because of the increased discriminatory attacks on all immigrants, including refugees, we’re in a dire place for this program, even as it is clearly represented in our laws written by Congress and with a recent court order to resume the refugee program, yet it has not happened, and now our own democracy is in danger,” he said.
Legal challenge ongoing
The International Refugee Assistance Project filed a lawsuit on behalf of HIAS, Church World Service, Lutheran Community Services Northwest and refugees impacted by the order in February.
A federal judge in Washington state granted a nationwide injunction in February requested by the groups who challenged Trump’s executive order suspending the program and the withholding of funds for those services.
The faith groups then asked the federal judge for an emergency hearing after the U.S. State Department terminated their contracts despite the earlier injunction. The court ordered in March that the administration offer a status report on their efforts to resume the processing of refugees.
The administration quickly appealed the judge’s subsequent order requiring the State Department to restore contracts to nonprofits that help with resettling refugees. An appeals court denied part of the administration’s request to halt the lower court’s earlier preliminary injunction.
The federal judge on April 11 granted the groups’ motion to enforce the first preliminary injunction issued.
Hetfield said the administration defied the February injunction effectively ordering the administration to restart the program and the federal appeals court upholding the part of that order focused on admitting more than 100,000 conditionally approved refugees.
“Yet two months later, the administration has continued to defy the court order, noting in its filings last week that it intends to admit only a fraction of a fraction of conditionally approved refugees, and, in fact, has taken no visible steps yet to even do that,” he said.
Trump’s January executive order also instructed officials at the State and Homeland Security departments to submit a report to Trump 90 days from the order — April 20 — “regarding whether resumption of entry of refugees into the United States under the (U.S. Refugee Admissions Program) would be in the interests of the United States.”
Trump also instructed the departments to submit further reports every 90 days thereafter until he determines that resumption of the program “is in the interests of the United States.”
Advocates said Monday they have yet to hear whether the administration’s first 90-day report regarding the potential resumption of the program was delivered to the White House.
Asked for a comment on the issue, a White House spokesperson acknowledged receiving the inquiry but did not immediately provide a substantive response.
