(RNS) — In a Monday night (March 10) status report on refugee resettlement, President Donald Trump’s administration acknowledged there had been a “significant deterioration of functions” due to its stop-work orders and suspension of resettlement programs.
The status report was produced to comply with a federal judge’s order after the administration was sued by three faith-based refugee resettlement organizations, along with refugees and their families, for suspending the federal refugee program.
The administration signaled it planned to move forward with identifying a single service provider for refugee resettlement in the status report, a drastic change in how refugees would receive services when they arrive in the United States. It was “preparing a request for proposals for a new resettlement agency” and expected a solicitation process to take three months, according to the status report.
“This proposal would punish those who have long supported refugee families and abandon decades of expertise and infrastructure that make this program successful,” said Rick Santos, president and CEO of Church World Service, one of two refugee resettlement agencies the administration has resumed working with, in a statement. “Doing so is harmful, unnecessary and acts to strip newly arriving refugee families from accessing a robust support network to rebuild their lives.”
The administration also said it did not know how long it would take to restart refugee processing from overseas, as Church World Service and the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration, the other organization the administration resumed working with, will need to rehire furloughed workers.
U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead ordered the Trump administration to produce the status report on refugee resettlement at an emergency hearing March 4 after plaintiffs in Pacito v. Trump — which include faith-based organizations Church World Service, HIAS, Lutheran Community Services Northwest and individual refugees and their families — argued the administration was not complying with Whitehead’s Feb. 25 ruling that blocked the president’s Jan. 20 executive order suspending the refugee program.
Martin Bernstein, 95, whose parents were refugees, at center, holds a sign as people gather outside the U.S. District Court after a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to halt the nation’s refugee admissions system, Feb. 25, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
In the February ruling, Whitehead had said the president’s actions amounted to a “nullification of congressional will.”
The day after the Feb. 25 ruling, the Trump administration sent out termination notices to the 10 refugee resettlement organizations in the U.S., seven of which are faith based. Lawyers for the three faith groups and the nine individual plaintiffs suing the government had requested the March 4 emergency hearing because they believed the terminations were an attempt to undermine Whitehead’s order.
At the end of the hearing, Whitehead said, “The timing of the government’s decision to terminate the contracts of the resettlement agencies just one day after the court issued its preliminary injunction raises serious concerns about whether these actions are designed to circumvent the court’s ruling.”
In the status report, the Trump administration’s lawyers argued the State Department is not required by law to provide reception and placement benefits to refugees when they arrive in the U.S.
Melissa Keaney, a senior supervising attorney at the International Refugee Assistance Project, pushed back on that claim in an email to RNS, saying, “The court already found that provision of these critical services is required by Congress.” She cited the nearly 50-year history of refugee resettlement agencies providing “critical domestic services and benefits to recently arrived refugees.”
Afghan refugees in Islamabad hold placards during a meeting to discuss their situation after President Donald Trump paused U.S. refugee programs, Jan. 24, 2025. When the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan in August 2021, it carried tens of thousands of Afghans to safety. But years later, many others are still waiting to be resettled. Those are Afghans who helped the war effort by working with the U.S. government and military or Afghan journalists and aid workers whose former work puts them at risk under the Taliban. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
The Trump administration indicated the State Department “is also exploring alternatives to the traditional reception and placement program” without providing further details to protect “deliberative process privileges.”
In an interview with RNS, Rachel Levitan, chief global policy and advocacy officer at HIAS — a Jewish organization that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees — echoed Santos’ concerns about the impact the administration’s pivot to a single service provider would have on resettlement expertise and experience. She said the government’s three-month solicitation process was “ really slow-walking its obligations to comply with the preliminary injunction.”
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, of which Lutheran Community Services Northwest is an affiliate, struck a more hopeful tone regarding the government’s status report in a statement to RNS.
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah. (Photo courtesy of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service)
“We are encouraged by the government’s efforts to resume refugee resettlement operations, and we hope this will minimize what has been a prolonged disruption to families seeking safety and stability in the United States,” she wrote.
However, she added, “While we understand that operational disruptions are inevitable, the delay in processing and support services has caused real harm to refugees who are already in vulnerable situations. We urge the government to ensure that the United States continues to honor its legal and moral commitments to protecting refugees.”
Responding to Whitehead’s order, the Trump administration’s report also addressed its delay in financially reimbursing faith organizations for contracted work, including work undertaken during the Biden administration.
The report said that on Monday, the Office of Refugee Resettlement had directed all payments for work done during the Biden administration to be released. It also said, “The Department of State is reviewing pending payment requests from plaintiff organizations for expenses already incurred and will pay legitimate requests in due course.”
The Trump administration highlighted two payments made Feb. 26 and March 6 to HIAS, accounting for slightly over $5 million. Levitan told RNS she anticipates HIAS will submit further requests for reimbursement to be fully compensated for its expenses.
Vignarajah also told RNS that Global Refuge appreciates the “acknowledgment of pending payment requests” and it remains hopeful “the government will expedite the reimbursement process for expenses already incurred.”
“Many of our partners rely on timely funding to continue their essential work with refugees, and it’s crucial that these payments are processed given the months-long delay,” she said.
The status report also said the Trump administration had processed hundreds of refugee applications and petitions in the first week of March but that it would be “formulating new vetting guidelines for refugees” with “heightened standards.”
President Donald Trump talks as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Levitan said, “ The lack of transparency about (the new vetting guidelines) and the potential of not resettling people who have been fully vetted and/or have very strong persecution claims are very concerning to us.”
Keaney, of the International Refugee Assistance Project, said the status report raises more questions than answers.
“Rather than showing progress, it confirms what was apparent when the government issued termination notices to resettlement agencies just 24 hours after the preliminary injunction went into effect: this administration’s flagrant intent to undermine and circumvent the judiciary and Congress,” she said.
Moreover, the International Refugee Assistance Project’s statement noted: “In the two weeks since the preliminary injunction order, none of the individual plaintiffs in the case have received any communication from the government about rebooking their travel or other steps to move their cases forward.”
In the report, the Trump administration said it sought the individual plaintiffs’ identities “to confirm the status of their individual applications” but that its lawyers were still reviewing a proposed protective order from the refugees’ lawyers.
HIAS president Mark Hetfield said in a statement: “With every day that the government stalls in implementing the court order, refugees around the world who were already approved for resettlement suffer greater and greater anxiety. Their approvals expire over time. We are ready to welcome people through the safe and legal resettlement process. We just need the U.S. government to do the same.”