Some still argue over whether pilgrims landing in Plymouth Rock were refugees escaping religious persecution from the Church of England. Regardless, it is a reality that refugees and emigrants have flocked to this continent since before the founding of the United States.
Whether through immigration or via refugee status, the contributions of those President Ronald Reagan referred to as “new Americans” are well understood. From the time of James Madison, fourth U.S. president and founding father who said “America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity” to Senator Edward Kennedy, who said “Bearing different memories, honoring different heritages, they have strengthened our economy, enriched our culture, renewed our promise of freedom and opportunity for all.” And in his full quote, Ronald Reagan observed: “If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”
The language of the Trump administration has turned 180 degrees from that notion. A rebranded old concept of “America first” from the 1930s has resurfaced, fueling a new wave of nationalism. Under the cover of cutting down government size and reducing the federal budget, the executive branch has flexed its muscle into cutting programs and eliminating entire departments, setting up a confrontation with the legislative and the judiciary branches.
Executive Order 14163
The attack on the refugee and immigrant programs started on day one of the second Trump administration, with the executive order “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program.” This was more than just a budgetary measure, despite the cartoonish photo ops of his enlisted top donor running his new Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, with the chainsaw given to him by the no less cartoonish president of Argentina, Javier Milei. This measure comes straight from the White House, and contains orders to cut all funding to U.S. Refugee Admission Program, or USRAP, and to all Resettlement Support Centers, or RSCs.
Musk’s chainsaw circus exemplified the contrast between the administration’s public posturing and the severe impact of its policies. This executive order is a deliberate attack on the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, hiding under the mantle of cost-cutting and public safety. But, at bottom, this measure flows directly from the anti-refugee, anti-immigrant rhetoric Trump has peddled for years.
The exact dollar amount of frozen federal funding is unclear, but in 2024 refugee admissions and resettlement costs across federal agencies was calculated at nearly $2.8 trillion. That includes the Department of Homeland Security, the Citizenship and Immigration Services Refugee Processing, the Department of State, the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Refugee Admissions, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Children and Families, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
In partnership with local resettlement agencies, RSCs provide transitional assistance to newly arrived refugees for their first 90 days in the U.S., covering food, housing, employment, medical care, counseling and other services to help them achieve economic self-sufficiency.
Here in Portland, local organizations including the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, or IRCO, Catholic Charities and Lutheran Community Services Northwest provide programs that help immigrants and refugees integrate into their new communities. They provide services such as language classes, job training and financial assistance. They also facilitate language interpretation services to connect them with critical services like medical visits or legal advice.
These services are given to individuals and families that have been already vetted by the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Prior to the freeze on refugee arrivals, they are already living in our cities, with open procedures for a more permanent migration status, waiting on work visas, but still dependent on assistance.
About 100,000 people are in this situation in the U.S., with thousands living in Oregon. They are a small group targeted in the frenzy of anti-refugee and anti-immigrant sentiment that attempts to blur the line between the documented and the undocumented.
Resettlement agencies often employ people who are part of refugee and immigrant communities — in many cases those resettled by the same agencies. The wealth of cultural awareness and process knowledge of these individuals is invaluable. The effects of the possible downsizing is not just affecting the livelihoods of their full-time employees, but also a vast network of contractors and freelancers, their ability to provide career training, and provide a modest income and a job history to those at the end of the resettlement process.
Another critical benefit of these programs is community visibility — open connection to cultural resources that keep communities from hiding in plain sight in their own separate pockets. The current state of fear needlessly challenges their ability to enjoy safe and free access to all the societal benefits of living and working in Oregon and threatens them with great socioeconomic harm.
Pacito v. Trump
Trump’s executive order “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program” has been challenged in court, like many of his other executive orders in the past three months. U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead in the Western District of Washington issued a preliminary injunction Feb. 25th against the order, temporarily preventing the indefinite suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Judge Whitehead found that the executive order violated both the Refugee Act of 1980 and the Administrative Procedures Act.
“The president has substantial discretion to suspend refugee admissions,” Whitehead said in his ruling. “But that authority is not limitless, has crossed the line from permissible discretionary action to effective nullification of congressional will.”
However, the Trump administration circumvented the judge’s injunction by terminating contracts with resettlement agencies hours after Whitehead issued it. In reaction, Whitehead then ordered the government to file a status report detailing its efforts to resume refugee processing by March 10. When the government failed to meet that deadline, the court issued a second preliminary injunction March 24, reinforcing the previous orders.
Fear and the judicial process
Even with these court victories, the final decision remains in question, with an ongoing appeal set to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the government is still resisting the full restoration of funding to resettlement agencies. The threat to critical services like housing and food assistance is growing, as is the climate of fear and retribution. Those affected are hesitant to speak — from the organizational level, to providers trying to hold on to their livelihoods, to the refugees and immigrants in the crosshairs of the executive order.
Local resettlement agencies maintain a prudent stance as the process flows, while making appeals to philanthropy to cover the funding gap. Currently, the depth of the possible loss of services and layoffs are not yet public.
Oregon is still committed to helping with funding. In 2019, Oregon approved House Bill 2508, a measure aimed at fighting the efforts of the first Trump administration to defund immigration and refugee resettlement assistance. The current loss of federal assistance could be a major blow. It is yet to be determined how much the state measure will help, or if new measures are in the works.
Melissa Keaney, senior supervising attorney at the International Refugee Assistance Project, or IRAP, said the fight isn’t over.
“President Trump cannot override the will of Congress with the stroke of a pen,” Keaney said in a statement. “The United States has a moral and legal obligation to protect refugees, and the longer this illegal suspension continues, the more dire the consequences will be. This could decimate the USRAP, carrying consequences for years to come. IRAP successfully fought Trump’s previous refugee ban and we are not backing down.”
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This article appears in April 16, 2025.