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New York, NY, April 21, 2025 —  This week marks ninety days since a Trump administration  indefinitely paused refugee resettlement. The last refugee families to arrive through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program are now moving toward self-sufficiency. But thousands more refugees, who were previously vetted and approved, are stranded abroad, and the fate of the decades-long, public-private resettlement program partnership remains in limbo.

For the past three months, the ̽����ѡ (̽����ѡ) continued our commitment to assist more than 530 refugees who arrived in late January 2025 - among the nearly 6,000 resettlement clients ̽����ѡ was serving when the resettlement pause took effect. The 90-days of  provided to refugees under federal law will soon conclude for the last arrivals. Despite challenges caused by disruptions to these services, the ̽����ѡ is heartened to see the families moving toward self-sufficiency - settling into new homes, connecting to local faith communities, reestablishing relationships with long-separated family members, enrolling children in school, and finding first jobs in America. 

• A mom and her five-year-old son from South Sudan have found a new start and connections to the local community in the Dallas, Texas area, as one of the last refugee families to arrive in January 2025. Despite challenges due to the sudden changes to the resettlement program, with the help of ̽����ѡ case workers, the woman found full-time employment at a large retailer and enrolled her son in school.
• A doctor from Iran is settling into life in Tucson, Arizona, as one of the last refugees to arrive in January 2025. Despite turmoil caused by abrupt shifts in resettlement support, an ̽����ѡ caseworker was able to assist him validate his educational credentials, investigate further university education, and find a job in the healthcare industry within a month of arrival. With resettlement and other humanitarian pathways paused, he worries about his mother and younger sister and longs to bring them to safety in the United States.
• An Afghan granted a Special Immigrant Visa for his service with the U.S. military arrived with his wife and two children in January 2025 after four years in the process to resettle to America. With resettlement support programs impacted by new administrative orders just days later, he noted that the ̽����ѡ office in Seattle, Washington, was able to continue assisting his family: “As a refugee, when you go to a new country, they are not always willing to help you. Not so many countries would do that for you.”

Celebration of these new beginnings for refugee families is bittersweet, as it remains unclear whether the more than 100,000 refugees who were vetted and approved for resettlement will reach safety in the U.S. and have the opportunity to start new lives and contribute to new communities. 

• The resettlement pause has left three ̽����ѡ Spokane clients separated from their mother, who has been waiting to resettle to the United States for nearly ten years. After fleeing Syria, the three adult siblings were resettled to the United States in 2023. Their mother should have arrived in February 2025, but her travel was cancelled due to the refugee admissions suspension order and she remains stranded abroad.
• Members of a Congolese refugee family assisted by the ̽����ѡ in Atlanta have been left separated by the resettlement pause. While one family member arrived with her one-year-old daughter in January 2025, the arrival of the woman’s brothers and grandmother, who were expected in February 2025, has been indefinitely paused due to the refugee admissions suspension.  

While the resettlement program remains in limbo, the ̽����ѡ is steadfast in our commitment to serve and advocate for recently arrived refugees as well as asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, and other individuals and families who cannot return to their countries due to conflict and other humanitarian disasters. Many are facing additional challenges as legal status and authorization to work are prematurely terminated, and as long-standing protections are eroded. ̽����ѡ programs provide critical workforce development, legal representation, child protection, and other services to help displaced people in America find safety, build success, and contribute to new communities.

Hans Van de Weerd, Senior Vice President of Resettlement, Asylum and Integration at the ̽����ѡ, said: “Decades of evidence show that welcoming newcomers through the resettlement program is not only safe and legal, but a benefit to American prosperity and the vitality of communities that refugee families invigorate. Refugees undergo extensive screening and security vetting, as they wait to reunite with family members in America. The loss of refugee resettlement hurts refugee families and American communities waiting to welcome them. We urge the administration to restore the decades-long, public-private resettlement partnership, so that American communities can continue to be a part of providing pathways to safety for refugees fleeing conflict and persecution.”