By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON – The U.S. State Department this week suspended funding to groups that assist refugees with housing, job placement and other needs as part of a broad pause on aid, a letter reviewed by Reuters shows.
The letter, dated Friday, said the agencies must stop all work related to the paused federal grants and “cancel as many outstanding obligations as possible.”
President Donald Trump halted the resettlement of refugees from overseas indefinitely as part of a broad immigration crackdown after taking office on Monday, calling for a review in three months to determine whether the program sufficiently benefits Americans. Trump also ordered a 90-day pause in foreign development assistance, a move that could affect humanitarian efforts around the world, including in Afghanistan, where relief operations are already stretched thin.
The order freezing funding for U.S. refugee groups could make it harder for refugees already in the U.S. to keep their housing, find jobs and adapt to U.S. life, three people familiar with the move said. Groups were still reviewing the impact of the suspension, they said.
John Slocum, executive director of Refugee Council USA, a coalition of aid groups, called the funding freeze “unfathomably cruel” and urged Trump to reverse course.
CNN first reported the funding pause. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Outgoing President Joe Biden ramped up refugee admissions during his tenure, accepting 100,000 in fiscal-year 2024 and on pace for more this year.
Another 100,000 refugees abroad had been fully vetted and ready to travel to the U.S. as of mid-January, a senior Biden administration official told Reuters last week.
Trump’s abrupt refugee halt led to cancellations of all scheduled refugee arrivals, including 1,660 Afghans, some of whom were family members of U.S. military personnel.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Mary Milliken and Matthew Lewis)
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