Stop work order creates 'unprecedented' turmoil for refugees and agencies that serve them

Yahoo

31-01-2025

The agencies that help newly arrived refugees adapt to life in Wisconsin are reeling after an order from President Donald Trump's administration to stop work immediately.
The order late last week directs the nonprofit agencies to stop using federal funds to provide services such as enrolling children in school, paying refugees' rent for three months and helping them find jobs. The private agencies, many of them faith-based, contract with the federal government to resettle persecuted individuals that the U.S. flies here after years of vetting.
The leaders of three resettlement agencies in Milwaukee, and one in Madison, say the unexpected order has left their staff and their clients in the lurch. They will try to continue serving refugees using donations while they wait for the government to decide whether to restart. But the future is uncertain.
The suspension of operations and new spending was made pending a review of all foreign assistance programs. After that review, the government will resume, alter or cut the funding completely.
"We're in a very bad situation. I'm trying to stay calm," said Sheila Badwan, executive director of Hanan Refugees Relief Group in Milwaukee.
The organization, which began as a volunteer-run aid group, became a resettlement agency in July 2023 and hired several staff members with the help of federal funding. Badwan had to lay off one employee earlier this week, she said, and expects to lay off at least two more by Friday. Many of the employees are refugees themselves.
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The agency took in 119 refugees in the last three months. Like all refugees, they were promised 90 days of government-funded assistance through Hanan. That aid includes securing and furnishing apartments, helping set up bank accounts and enrolling them in health insurance.
"We help them become self-sufficient," Badwan said. "What do you do when you can't provide those essential services?"
Many of the refugees who are worriedly calling and visiting Hanan's offices since the stop-work order are vulnerable people, Badwan said. Some are single mothers with several children; some are people with complex medical cases. That's in addition to the relatives of refugees whose flights to the U.S. in the coming weeks were abruptly canceled.
Omar Mohamed, the refugee program manager for Lutheran Social Services in Milwaukee, worked in resettlement during Trump's first administration, when refugee admissions were sharply curtailed and the so-called Muslim travel ban was in place. But the orders now are "really unprecedented," he said.
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On social media and in group chats, rumors about what could happen to refugees have spread quickly. As staff are informing clients about the situation, they're trying to stick to the facts and explain that they only know so much, Mohamed said.
"I can't tell them what's going to happen tomorrow. But as of today, this is what it is," Mohamed said.
The Trump administration has ordered a report within 90 days on whether resuming the refugee program "would be in the interests of the United States." So, the pause on funds and arrivals is expected to last for at least the next three months.
Lutheran Social Services feels it has a "moral obligation" to continue supporting refugees despite the funding cut-off. Mohamed asked people to donate and to contact their local elected officials. He also asked people to be kind and respectful to refugees in this moment.
"They are afraid right now. They are in shock. This was like their lifeline" to a better future, he said. "They're a fellow human being who is in need."
Refugees who are selected to resettle in the U.S. have fled their home countries and wait years, often in refugee camps, while undergoing intensive vetting from a number of federal agencies. When they arrive, they can apply for a green card, or legal permanent residency. About 60% of the refugees who were resettled in Wisconsin in the last fiscal year were from Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and Venezuela were some of the other most-represented countries.
Also, some Afghan evacuees' future in the U.S. could be up in the air, as the Trump administration directed officials not to renew their humanitarian parole, which offered evacuees a temporary legal status and was used widely under Joe Biden's administration. The U.S. admitted thousands of Afghans under the parole policy in 2021.
The administration has ordered no new parole approvals for Ukrainians, according to CBS News.
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Kai Gardner Mishlove, executive director of Jewish Social Services of Madison, emphasized the "domino effect" of the pause. Without knowing if federal funding will restart, the agency can't plan its budget, sign contracts for the future or schedule programs. And the uncertainty affects its partners too, from employers who hire refugees to behavioral health providers to benefits specialists.
"Now there's stress on that system," Gardner Mishlove said.
She is trying to take a long view. The agency's national affiliate, HIAS, was founded after World War II to assist Holocaust survivors, and it has had to "pivot" several times. Like Lutheran Social Services, staff members are "morally committed" to continuing to serve refugees, she said.
"We're all part of a shared community, and we're here to support them," Gardner Mishlove said.
Donations and volunteers will be key to resettlement agencies' survival in the coming months. Paul Trebian, president and chief executive of the International Institute of Wisconsin, is confident the broader community will step up to fill gaps.
"I've got peace about it. Our community here is very resilient," he said.
The pause on resettlement and the stop-work order has overwhelmed and disheartened those who work in resettlement. They're strong believers that refugees benefit the U.S. economy and culture.
"They're hard workers, and they just want to live in freedom, just like the rest of us," Badwan said.
"We're a nation of immigrants. We're a melting pot. And right now it just doesn't feel that way."
Sophie Carson is a general assignment reporter who reports on religion and faith, immigrants and refugees and more. Contact her at [e-mail] or 920-323-5758.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump's stop-work order leave refugees, resettlement agencies in panic