PITTSBURGH (RNS) — The Jewish community here is haunted by the specter of the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting, when a gunman killed 11 worshippers in deranged retribution against HIAS, a Jewish refugee aid agency, for bringing “invaders that kill our people.”
But congregations have never stopped helping to resettle refugees, and Jewish leaders vow their work will continue despite President Donald Trump’s order ending federal funding for it. “This work doesn’t change just because any president was elected,” said Rabbi Daniel Fellman, senior rabbi at Temple Sinai, a Reform congregation just a mile from the Tree of Life synagogue. “So we’re going to do everything we can to help people.”
But Trump’s order has left Temple Sinai and its partners scrambling to determine exactly how their refugee assistance program will be impacted. The temple’s volunteers will still look for deals on used furniture listed on local Facebook groups, and the order won’t keep the volunteers from offering newcomers help in deciphering the postal system, operating washing machines or navigating public transit. Federal funding, however, is indispensable to meet basic needs such as rent.
HIAS, formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, was closing for Shabbat on Friday (Jan. 24) when a notice from the State Department arrived by email, instructing the agency to halt all services funded by the U.S., including to refugees who already arrived. An earlier executive order had already barred new arrivals of refugees for 90 days.
HIAS is one of 10 national resettlement agencies that are contracted with the State Department to process refugees and place them in communities across the country. These agencies, seven of which are faith-based, subcontract with local affiliates, allocating federal dollars to refugee resettlement. HIAS President Mark Hetfield said federal funding made up 60% of HIAS’ budget for this year.
In Pittsburgh, one local affiliate, Jewish Family and Community Services, has settled hundreds of refugees, coordinating airport pickups, finding housing, purchasing groceries and clothes and helping refugees open bank accounts, enroll in school and find jobs. JFCS Director of Refugee and Immigrant Services Ivonne Smith-Tapia said the government provided between $1,250 and $1,650 for each refugee, depending on need. The State Department also funded the staff positions at JFCS and training for the refugee clients.
Drew Barkley, center, meets with two resettled refugees at Temple Sinai in Pittsburgh, Jan. 28, 2025. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)
JFCS has long supplemented federal money with private fundraising. In 2021, the group approached Temple Sinai and Pittsburgh’s Shadyside Presbyterian Church about becoming co-sponsors. Together, the two congregations formed a refugee resettlement committee that has since settled five families in the city, according to Drew Barkley, a Temple Sinai executive director and a member of the committee.
“It’s like delivering a baby when somebody arrives in Pittsburgh, not knowing the language and having zero resources,” said Dr. Susan Balaan, a Shadyside Presbyterian lay leader who serves on the resettlement committee.
The co-sponsors’ donations, as well as hands-on assistance such as furnishing apartments and buying groceries, besides bridging gaps the State Department money doesn’t cover, also come with personal contact and emotional support.
“They are a different type of support system,” said Smith-Tapia. “They can take the family to the museum, they can take the family to the park, to do activities that we generally due to our time restrictions and limited capacity cannot prioritize. We are focused on survival mode.”
Temple Sinai also hired one refugee, Carlos, who arrived from Colombia seven months ago. The job has allowed him to purchase a car. “It has been a great help to me in getting to work and taking the kids to day care,” he said.
Carlos said he is concerned about Trump’s targeting of refugees and immigrants. “A refugee living in the United States … is already scared. Suddenly, you don’t know if they can be exported to their country, and things would get worse,” he said.
But the bulk of JFCS’ financial support still comes from the State Department. “We all have a sense how important those resources are in the early months, and how positively vulnerable people will be when they’re cut off,” said Balaan. “We’re willing to step up and try to fill the void, but some of it we can’t. Some of it just requires somebody who is doing this professionally.”
Timothy Young, director of public relations at Global Refuge, a Lutheran resettlement agency currently serving some 6,000 refugees, said thousands of families face food insecurity, homelessness and isolation because of the White House’s decision. Federal funds are most crucial in the families’ first three months in the U.S., as they integrate into their new communities.
“Rent is due next week, and local municipalities, like anyone, don’t want to see refugee families face eviction or sleep on the street, right?” he said. “This could have a devastating impact on families who are already here, who have gone through an extensive vetting process to reach safety.”
Mark Parker. (Courtesy photo)
In summer of 2023, after Global Refuge connected a Guatemalan family to the Breath of God Lutheran Church in Baltimore, the family was housed in a church-owned home, and federal funding initially covered rent, groceries and cash assistance. The church’s volunteers helped family members secure employment, apply for permanent residency, buy a car and obtain driving licenses, or else drove them to job interviews.
“It gave us the opportunity to take our interests and our Christian commitment to welcome and walk alongside some of the most vulnerable and traumatized people in the world,” said Mark Parker, a pastor at the church. In Guatemala, the family had received death threats because the father and a son had worked for the police force. After both were murdered, the family was granted refugee status.
Parker estimated the total cost of supporting the family for the first three months at close to $10,000. “After 90 days, with some exceptions, you’re expected to have your life up and running and be self-supporting in this country,” said Parker, but added, “Given the scale of transition in life that we’re talking about and given the success that the program has in helping people get established here, it’s remarkable how much happens with so little investment.”
The church’s refugee team is waiting to see how the federal funding cuts will impact its budget but remains committed to pursuing its work with the help of the community. Soon, the team hopes to be able to welcome eight families.
Spike Carlsen was part of a team that helped resettle an Afghan family in Stillwater, Minnesota, three years ago, working with an interfaith coalition organized by Ascension Episcopal Church of Stillwater, which is next door to Trinity Lutheran Church of Stillwater, Carlsen’s church. Word of the coalition spread, and soon a retirement community’s social justice committee and the Eastern Twin Cities Islamic Center of Afton became involved. “It just kind of fell together,” said Carlsen.
The Minnesota Council of Churches, an affiliate of the Episcopal Migration Ministries, another of the 10 national resettlement agencies, connected the family with the interfaith coalition in Stillwater. Federal funding covered six months of rent and a $250 monthly allowance for the family, who also received clothes and furniture donations from members of the three congregations.
People evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, wait to board a bus after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., on Aug. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The team focused its efforts on the two primary obstacles immigrants face, according to Carlsen: language and transportation. A coalition member donated a car to the family, while another offered driving lessons. Members of the mosque who spoke Urdu served as interpreters and the family was enrolled in English classes.
Today, with the help of the team, the father works as a nurse and the mother works in the food service industry. A year after their arrival, the family obtained permanent residency with the help of a lawyer working pro bono. They are currently saving to buy a house.
The coalition is now working with other families, and despite the uncertainty created by Trump’s order, the members’ faith has convicted them to find a way forward.
“We will continue this work. It’s just a question of what it will look like and what kind of resources we have to bring to bear. But we’ll do everything we can,” said Parker.
In Pittsburgh, JFCS’ Smith-Tapia hopes more faith groups such as Temple Sinai and Shadyside Presbyterian will join JFCS in serving immigrants and refugees. Currently, JFCS is working to support the 76 refugees who arrived between November and January who had been relying on federal funds to make western Pennsylvania their home.
“I wish that in this moment, more faith-based organizations will feel that they would like to make that commitment,” said Smith-Tapia. “Regardless of their specific denomination or religion, we all share this common understanding that we care for each other, that we believe in our shared humanity, that we care about the most vulnerable.”