Thousands of recently arrived refugees might lose support for necessities like food and rent after the Trump administration suspended federal funding for resettlement agencies. There is widespread confusion as agency leaders seek greater clarity from the government, the most pressing question is how they will continue supporting refugees already under their care in the United States.
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, the national Lutheran refugee resettlement agency, said the suspension of federal funding “paralyzes the program, the federal refugee program, a form of legal migration to the U.S., has been in place for decades and assists those who have escaped war, natural disaster, or persecution. Despite longstanding support for accepting refugees, the program has become politicized recently.
Refugee services crisis: Religious groups step up amid uncertainty
Religious organizations shoulder the responsibility of refugee resettlement work in the United States. Seven of the 10 federally funded national agencies that resettle refugees are faith-based.
“We’re not getting any useful guidance from the government right now, most of the organization’s budget is funded by federal funding. We will fight the government on this,” said Ark Hetfield, president of HIAS, the Jewish refugee resettlement agency.
The Trump administration has halted new refugee admissions. Still, some refugee agency leaders say last Friday’s “stop work” order goes further, they assume it will affect the refugees in the U.S., who rely on federal funds for housing, food, and support during their first three months in the country.
This foreign assistance was stopped before the Trump administration tried to pause all federal grants and loans, both directives are part of an ideological review of government spending. Also, amidst an immigration crackdown, the White House froze Catholic charities’ funding.
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, agreed on Tuesday to temporarily continue spending money on “life-saving” humanitarian aid. On Wednesday morning, refugee agencies were still unclear whether they would receive such a waiver or whether the government would continue funding their U.S. programs.
Resettlement agencies try to honor their commitments and continue paying their staff and administrative costs. However, if all federal funding has stopped, their reserves and private donations will have difficulty matching millions in lost federal funding.
“Now we’re in a difficult situation with thousands of individuals we have already settled in communities in the United States, Our goal of initial assistance is to get them on a relatively quick path to economic self-sufficiency, working and able to cover their expenses,” said Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy for World Relief, an evangelical resettlement agency.
World Relief has been fundraising to help with rent and other services for new arrivals. Soerens emphasized that a funding shortage will harm communities that have received these individuals because they won’t have the support to integrate as quickly as they should.
A Jan. 24 letter from the State Department to one of the resettlement agencies stated that its resettlement grant funding is “immediately suspended” pending a review of foreign assistance programs, which President Donald Trump ordered over 90 days ago. The department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration letter said a decision would be made on whether to restore, alter, or cut the funding entirely.
Under the grant, the agency must immediately stop all work and not incur any new costs. According to the letter, the agency must cancel as many outstanding obligations as possible, other agencies reported receiving similarly worded directives.
The same grants also fund the initial resettlement costs of those arriving with Special Immigrant Visas, most of whom are Afghans who helped the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan, along with their families, that’s a different category from refugees, but the same grant fund assistance is available for both. U.S. religious groups have been resettling refugees for more than a hundred years. Today, there are national agencies with Catholic, Jewish and Protestant roots.
Vignarajah of Global Refuge, citing biblical mandates, said that welcoming the stranger is a core tenet of so many of their work. Church World Service helps resettle about 12% of refugees nationwide—some 12,000 in the last fiscal year, said its senior vice president, Erol Kekic.Â
According to him, It is a bridge to self-sufficiency, one of the services for which federal funding is now apparently paused. He estimates that about 4,000 refugees served by his organization would be affected, and refugees undergo an extensive vetting process.
According to Soerens of World Relief, President Trump has said that he will defend persecuted Christians. The U.S. refugee resettlement program is one of the primary ways that the U.S. government protects Christians and others fleeing persecution.
Mission Adelante, a World Relief affiliate organization in Kansas City, Kansas, sent a letter on Monday seeking to raise $70,000 to meet the basic needs of 22 families it serves through a program that supports newly arrived refugees. It dubbed the campaign the Love Mercy Initiative, Jarrett Meek, the group’s founder and executive director, wrote that when the government abandons its commitment to the vulnerable, the Church must step in to fill the gap,
Refugee resettlement entangled in politics
According to an analysis of government statistics, this order will affect at least 26,494 refugees and recipients of Special Immigrant Visas and almost certainly more. The order pertains to grants that fund the resettlement of newly arrived refugees within the first three months of their time in the United States.
According to the Federal Refugee Processing Center, 19,679 refugees and 6,815 SIV recipients were resettled in the United States in November and December within three months. However, the center has not yet provided statistics on January resettlements, which would also be affected, some arrivals in late October, also within the three-month window, could also be affected.
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Refugee programs remain politicized despite longstanding support
Refugee admissions dropped during the previous Trump administration. The U.S. admitted about 11,000 refugees during the last year of his first term, the fewest in the program’s history; the program was rebuilt by former President Joe Biden, who admitted nearly 100,000 refugees last year, a three-decade high.
A 2022 Pew Research Center survey showed broad support for refugee resettlement among the U.S. population overall and among evangelicals, a core Trump constituency. About two-thirds of white evangelicals said it was at least “somewhat important” for the U.S. to take in refugees, as did four-fifths of Hispanic evangelicals, according to Pew.
Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, condemned his Church’s role in immigration advocacy on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops helps resettle refugees and has been critical of Trump’s immigration policies.Â
Vance suggested the bishops were in it for the money and asked if they were worried about humanitarian concerns or their bottom line. While not directly referring to Vance, the USCCB said in a brief statement on Sunday that it has been partnering with the federal government on refugee resettlement since 1980.
 The USCCB emphasized that, in their agreements with the government, they receive funds to do this work; however, these funds are insufficient to cover the entire cost of these programs. Nonetheless, this remains a work of mercy and ministry of the Church.
As resettlement agencies scramble to adapt, the coming weeks will determine whether private efforts can prevent a humanitarian crisis or if thousands of refugees will be left without the support they need to rebuild their lives.