Refugee resettlement organizations face turmoil and uncertainty

For many, the federal crackdown on migration evokes images of midnight ICE raids and mass deportations.

But the changes have also struck a vulnerable group with explicitly legal status: refugees.

On Inauguration Day, the Trump administration indefinitely halted the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, blocking refugee entries. Since then, local resettlement agencies have struggled to navigate rapidly shifting policies.

“Things are so fluid now,” said Joe Garcia, CEO of Catholic Charities of Ingham, Eaton & Clinton Counties. “We’re trying operationally to understand what our new normal is going to be.”

Garcia

As the county’s designated refugee resettlement agency, Catholic Charities has received federal funding for over 20 years for a 90-day program helping refugees settle into their new life. 

Garcia said his organization had been contracted to settle 550 refugees for the federal fiscal year, which started in October. By the time the contract was terminated, roughly 180 had already been relocated.

“The government doesn’t work in real time, they work months behind,” Garcia said. “We haven’t been reimbursed for those costs.”

Catholic Charities is still contractually obligated to take care of the refugees, though Garcia said they would do it regardless: “The people that are here need our help. They don’t know our banking systems, they don’t know the rules of the road, and they need to sign up with state services that they’re entitled to with their refugee status.”

For now, they are able to fund the refugees with state funding, though the long-term viability of such a solution is uncertain.

While federal funding for resettlement has always had “ebbs and flows,” according to Garcia, the sudden cutoff is unprecedented. The United States Council of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities’ fiduciary organization, had its federal contract terminated entirely, and vetted refugees with legal status and airline reservations to the U.S. had their flights canceled after Trump took office.

Support for refugee resettlement has been historically bipartisan, excepting the first Trump administration — the Refugee Act of 1980 passed the Senate unanimously. Those seeking asylum in the United States must demonstrate that they experience persecution in their home country that renders them unable to stay. Garcia called the process “extensive.”

“It’s a very difficult process,” said Erika Brown-Binion, executive director of the Refugee Development Center, a Lansing-based organization that provides education such as English classes to refugees. “Less than 0.5% are ever given the opportunity to be resettled, so it’s the most vulnerable people, primarily women and children. That’s why resettlement has always received bipartisan support.”

Brown-Binion

Kelly Glass

Tax revenue from refugees also outweighs the cost of resettlement, according to a study by the Wilson Center. Brown-Binion said refugees’ contributions to the economy generally do not come at the expense of Americans’ jobs.

“They’re taking jobs that are currently vacant,” Brown-Binion said. “Under the previous Trump administration, we were getting calls from manufacturing plants, and food processing facilities, and other places that used to hire brand-new refugees, and getting asked, ‘Why aren’t we getting workers anymore?’”

Brown-Binion also said refugees generally “contribute to the tax base immediately.”

“Most refugees start working in 30 days and fill jobs that are typically unfilled,” Brown-Binion said. “They go on to become homeowners, entrepreneurs, and business owners.”

So far, funding cuts have come through the U.S. executive branch, which has not impacted the refugee development center. The crackdown has primarily been enacted through Trump’s executive orders and from presidential adviser Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, both of which have no jurisdiction outside the executive branch. 

While refugees are vetted in advance of resettlement, some migrants already in the U.S. can apply for asylum and gain refugee status. Since immigration courts are civil courts, those navigating the system do not have a right to counsel, including unaccompanied children incapable of testifying.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement helps such children by providing federal aid to nonprofit organizations who navigate them through immigration courts and asylum claims. The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, which has an office in Lansing, is one such organization.

On Feb. 18, they were ordered to cease all work on the program.

“It put us into financial freefall,” said Christine Sauvé, the Rights Center’s manager of policy and communication.

Sauvé

The Rights Center is Michigan’s only legal service provider for unaccompanied children in federal custody, so there was no one else to pass the cases onto. Sauvé said the organization had a legal obligation to continue representing the children, even without funding.

“Once you enter into representation for a child in immigration court, those obligations don’t disappear, even if your funding does,” Sauvé said. 

The order was lifted after four days of turmoil, but the uncertainty it created has been pervasive. Sauvé says staff are worried funding for the program will not be renewed, restoring the chaos of the “stop work” order. 

“We have grave concerns, because our contract with the federal government just happens to be up for renewal at the end of March,” said Sauvé. “The government already made a commitment to continue these services, but they have to formally take that step. So it is possible that they choose not to renew the contract.”

If the Rights Center’s contract is not renewed, Sauvé said it may have to “end representation” for asylum-seeking children.

Sauvé echoed Garcia and Brown-Binion’s sentiments that the issue had previously seemed nonpartisan.

“It was passed in Congress with broad bipartisan support,” she said, referencing the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which established legal protections for unaccompanied minors. “We thought this was a bedrock value of our country, that we cared for children and their concerns. We thought that was unshakable, and it is shocking to see that it may not be.”

Sauvé reiterated that refugee children “have experienced really unimaginable horrors in their journey” to America.

“The provision for legal services for these children through the Office of Refugee Resettlement makes sure that kids who have escaped gang violence, abuse, trafficking and persecution are able to find safety and refuge in our country,” she said. 

For each of these organizations, finding their new normal has been a struggle in the face of uncertainty. As with many Trump administration initiatives, sweeping rollbacks of federal policy and spending have been met with numerous lawsuits, some of which may make it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Orders to stop work entirely have been issued and rescinded, and the viability of alternate funding sources remains unclear.

“The unknowns will only continue to mount,” Garcia said.

Garcia said the most immediate impact in Ingham County is that he does not anticipate any new refugees or federal funding arriving soon. Catholic Charities is focusing on serving the refugees who are already here.

Garcia said cutting off the flow of refugees to Michigan will hurt the economy.

“Refugees work, they plant roots here in our state, and they help our economy, unlike a lot of college students who come, get their education here, and then leave,” Garcia said.

“Programs that resettle refugees and help them get some good ground here bring value to our state.”