Trump Suspends Refugee Admissions

As soon as he took office President Trump paused the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for 90 days by an executive order titled “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program”.

The Biden-Harris administration claimed to have “restored, strengthened, and modernized” the refugee program and set it “on its strongest footing in modern history.” The Biden efforts resulted in increasing numbers of refugee admissions to the United States, in FY 2024 reaching the highest number in three decades, with over 100,000 resettled refugees. 

Beyond admitting a larger number of refugees, the Biden-Harris administration also changed the refugee program significantly. It extended the benefits and beneficiaries of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to include non-refugees on U.S. soil; Afghan and Ukrainian parolees were recently added to ORR’s list of beneficiaries that already included Cuban and Haitian entrants among other eligible populations. ORR, under the Biden-Harris administration, was “projecting to serve 531,500 other arrivals” in FY 2025, in addition to refugee arrivals through USRAP, that were capped at 125,000.

Biden Changed the Essence of Resettlement

Those Biden-Harris actions changed the essence of resettlement itself. A program meant to “save lives” had been turned into one that resettled people who “somebody who made it to the United States and gotten a green card happens to know”. By launching the “Welcome Corps”, a private sponsorship program within the USRAP, the former administration chose not to resettle the most vulnerable, but rather to privilege those who happen to have friends or family who made it here before them. It opened the door to non-refugees to be picked for resettlement by non-citizens based in the United States. Sponsored individuals did not need to actually be refugees according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Refugee Status Determination, let alone in that subset of refugees determined by the UN to be in “need of resettlement”. And the sponsors could themselves be earlier refugees or other newcomers.

The “Welcome Corps” was further expanded to include the “Welcome Corps on Campus”, bringing “refugees” straight to U.S. campuses; the “Welcome Corps at Work”, bringing them straight to U.S. jobs; and the “Welcome Corps for Afghans” allowing U.S.-based non-citizens to sponsor Afghan nationals through USRAP. Another branch, the “Welcome Corps for Refugees in Latin America”, offered individuals of any nationality who are in Latin America “a path to permanent legal status in the United States.”

The prior administration also expanded resettlement efforts for individuals from Latin America and the Caribbean. Under its authority, admissions from the Americas saw “historic increases” in line with the goals set forth in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, a “U.S.-led migration pact” launched by President Biden on June 10, 2022, at the Americas summit. Over $1.2 billion was committed by the United States under the Los Angeles Declaration framework in 2024 alone.

Biden’s State Department also expanded access to USRAP for “LGBTQI+” persons. Jessica Stern, was appointed “U.S. Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons”, by President Biden on June 25, 2021, to partner with NGOs to identify “LGBTQI+” individuals for resettlement, in line with Biden’s “Memorandum on Advancing the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Persons Around the World” days after he was sworn in. Biden’s memorandum “reaffirms and supplements the principles established” President Obama’s December 6, 2011, memorandum that directed, for the first time, U.S. executive departments and agencies to advance the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons everywhere. 

All these (and many other programs and partnerships implanted within USRAP) have led to higher costs. Under the Biden-Harris administration, the estimated “Funding for Refugee Processing and Resettlement” totaled $2.8 billion in FY 2024 and were set to amount to $5.1 in FY 2025. For comparison, the estimated cost was $2.2 billion in FY 2023, $1.4 billion in FY 2022, $967 million in FY 2021, $932 million in FY 2020, and $976 million in FY 2019. 

Reassessing USRAP

These programs and projections have now been derailed by Trump’s win. USRAP’s pause for 90 days will allow the Trump administration to reassess the program and its priorities. It could allow a return to the basics and the implementation of resettlement as it was intended: a protection tool solely available to the most vulnerable refugees who are not able (for fear of persecution, medical needs, etc.) to remain in the country they fled to. 

This suspension, as explained by Trump, will also allow his administration to focus on looking for ways to “only admit those refugees who can fully and appropriately assimilate into the United States”; grant state and local jurisdictions “a role in the process of determining the placement or settlement in their jurisdictions of aliens eligible to be admitted to the United States as refugees”; while keeping Americans as safe as possible and preserving “taxpayer resources for its citizen.”

The refugee resettlement program poses a substantial security challenge. The vetting of refugees, no matter how “extreme”, is not enough. The task of checking refugees’ backgrounds is often impossible, given the lack of solid on-the-ground intelligence systems and the absence of dependable screening measures from conflict zones.

Furthermore, while vetting is essential and should remain a top priority, it only gives us a glimpse of the past and present; it doesn’t secure the future. Shared values and successful integration are the best shields against radicalization. Integration is key for migrants in general but more so for refugees who have suffered great losses. Real (or even perceived) insurmountable differences in values, culture, and beliefs are perfect elements for a time bomb. It is a fact that resettled refugees do not necessarily leave their beliefs and biases behind.

The concern about giving states and localities a say in the resettlement process and allowing them to accept or object to welcoming refugees in their communities is not new. In principle, the federal government and the resettlement agencies it contracts with need to consult with states and localities about welcoming refugees, but reality is quite different. In an attempt to correct such omissions, President Trump issued in 2019 Executive Order 13888, Enhancing State and Local Involvement in Refugee Resettlement, allowing state and local authorities to opt out of the refugee resettlement program altogether. Three resettlement agencies (HIAS, Church World Service, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service) filed a lawsuit challenging the executive order, and the measure was blocked by a Maryland judge. 

Following Trump’s EO 13888, 42 governors (including Republicans) expressed their commitment to resettling refugees in their communities. Only Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas announced that his state would not be participating in the refugee resettlement program in FY 2020. 

This time around, Trump instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Attorney General, to “examine existing law to determine the extent to which, consistent with applicable law, State and local jurisdictions may have greater involvement in the process of determining the placement or resettlement of refugees in their jurisdictions” and “devise a proposal to lawfully promote such involvement.”

What Happens Next?

The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, will submit a report to President Trump within 90 days. The report should determine whether USRAP should be resumed “in the interests of the United States.” The two departments are supposed to submit further reports every 90 days thereafter until the president determines whether the resumption of the USRAP is in the interests of the United States. 

Curiously, the refugee resettlement EO seems to allow for the admission of some refugees after all. It says that the secretaries of State and Homeland Security “may jointly determine to admit aliens to the United States as refugees on a case-by-case basis, in their discretion”, provided they determine that the admission of such refugees “is in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States.”

As we wait to see how things will unfold in 90 days (or after) and what shape USRAP will take under Trump, all previously scheduled travel of refugees to the United States have been canceled and no new travel bookings are to be made.

The Welcome.US Team acknowledged the new policy change and the suspension of USRAP, including of the Welcome Corps program. The team notes, however, that refugees who have already arrived in the United States through the Welcome Corps are not affected by this new Executive Order and that sponsors who have welcomed refugees will continue to be supported by the program through the duration of their sponsorship commitment.

FY 2025 refugee ceiling was set at 125,000 by President Biden. This ceiling is now revoked, Trump will determine a new one if and when USRAP is resumed.

So far this FY 2025 (October 1,2024-December 31, 2024), a total of 27,308 refugees (7,629 in October, 7,162 November and 12,517 December) have been resettled in the United States. The top nationalities these three months were as follows : 5,225 from Afghanistan; 4,548 Dem. Rep. Congo; 3,603 Syria; 2,901 Burma, 2,387 Venezuela; 1,876 Somalia.

For FY 2024 admission numbers and top nationalities, see here.