Refugees set to reunite with family in Iowa are now ‘stranded’ under Trump order

• At least 162 refugees who had been approved to come to the U.S. and had flights booked to arrive in Iowa are now stranded.
• The order suspends the refugee resettlement program, affecting those fleeing Afghanistan, Congo, Rwanda, Burma, Iraq, Syria, Guatemala and other countries.
• Federal officials have 90 days to submit a report to the president on whether allowing people into the U.S. through the U.S. refugee program would be in the U.S.'s interests.
• The order directs the Secretary of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney General to examine granting states and cities greater involvement in the process of determining the placement or resettlement of refugees.

More than 1,400 refugees expecting to reunite with family members and resettle in Iowa this year are now waiting indefinitely after refugee travel to the U.S. was canceled on Tuesday night under President Donald Trump's executive order halting federal programs.

A little more than 10,000 refugees from around the world had already gone through the lengthy vetting process to come to the U.S. and had travel scheduled over the next few weeks, according to the Associated Press. That includes more than 1,600 Afghans cleared to resettle in the U.S. The number includes those who worked alongside U.S. troops during the war in Afghanistan as well as family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel, the AP reported.

At least 162 refugees who had been screened and approved to come to the U.S. and had flights booked to arrive in Iowa over the next two months are now stranded, according to resettlement agencies in Iowa.

Overall, the agencies say at least 1,436 refugees were expected to resettle in Iowa this year before Trump’s executive order suspended the country’s refugee resettlement program.

Federal officials have 90 days to submit a report to the president about whether allowing people into the country through the U.S. refugee program "would be in the interests of the United States," according to the order.

“The President is suspending refugee resettlement, after communities were forced to house large and unsustainable populations of migrants, straining community safety and resources,” according to a statement from the White House.

The order says the United States “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.”

Trump’s order directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the U.S. Attorney General, to examine granting states and cities greater involvement in the process of determining the placement or resettlement of refugees in their jurisdictions, “and shall devise a proposal to lawfully promote such involvement.”

How many refugees come to the U.S. each year? Who decides?

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There are 11 refugee resettlement agencies in Iowa. The nonprofits say Iowa communities have not been overburdened by refugees, and have worked closely with local and state officials, community partners, donors and volunteers in a nationwide rebuilding effort after Trump slashed the refugee program during his first term.

Each year, the United States sets a ceiling on the number of refugees it agrees to accept. The U.S. President establishes the number in consultation with Congress.

For the 2024 fiscal year, the federal ceiling was set at 125,000 refugees.

When he first took office in 2017, Trump initially paused the refugee program. He then sharply cut the number of refugees allowed into the country. By the end of his term, he proposed capping the number of refugees at 15,000, the lowest number in the more than 40-year history of the program.

Before 2017, the average annual admissions cap was 95,000 under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

The cuts decimated refugee resettlement in the United States, said Nick Wuertz, director of refugee services at Lutheran Services in Iowa. The network of organizations that support refugees when they first enter the country shrank by a third as a result.

Over the last three years, Lutheran Services in Iowa worked with local and state officials, local health care, education, housing, employment, and faith-based partners to reestablish resettlement services in the state.

In the last three years, LSI has resettled 1,741 people, including refugees and special immigrant visa holders. The latter are mostly Afghan or Iraqi nationals who worked as translators or drivers with U.S. armed forces.

Other immigrants resettled by LSI are from Congo, Syria, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Guatemala, Burma, Honduras and more.

“At its core, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program is a humanitarian program designed to provide safety and security to the most vulnerable people in the world who have no other options for safety and permanency,” Wuertz said.

“Despite what is stated in the (executive order), state and local jurisdictions already play a very important role in the placement and resettlement within their communities,” he said.

Local stakeholders provided letters of support for LSI’s application to the U.S. Department of State, and resettlement agencies meet with these stakeholders on a quarterly basis to update them on services, assess community capacity and address service needs.

“It should also be stated that none of the communities in which we serve have declared states of emergency due to refugee resettlement as suggested” in Trump’s order, Wuertz said. “As an organization, 95 percent of the families we resettled are economically self-sufficient through employment income after eight months of arrival.”

He said the nonprofit was expecting to help resettle 800 refugees and immigrants this year. That includes about 100 people who were expected to arrive over the next several weeks and months at one of the nonprofit's three sites in Des Moines, Sioux City and Waterloo — where staff would help them adjust to life in the U.S. That includes help finding jobs, housing and child care, enrolling children in schools and adults in English language classes, using public transportation and accessing community resources.

A majority of the individuals from various countries were reuniting with family members who had resettled as refugees in the United States years ago.

“These are all people that were forced to leave their homes, their jobs, their schools, their businesses,” because of persecution, war or violence, Wuertz said.

Many have waited in refugee camps in neighboring countries for years — some a decade or more — hoping to be able to go back home, only to find that’s not possible, he said.

“And so we have all worked together collectively to kind of reestablish these programs, not only in Iowa but across the country, to be able to help resettle people and help them to become a part of our communities,” Wuertz said. “And so it’s really disheartening to sort of see, kind of again, all of that work and all of those efforts being sort of dismantled once again.”

How are refugees vetted to come to the U. S.?

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Anne Dugger is executive director of the Catherine McAuley Center, a Cedar Rapids nonprofit that provides services for refugees and immigrants.

Dugger said the nonprofit planned to resettle 250 individuals this year, but has only managed to help 80, leaving many “stuck in limbo again in the refugee camps.”

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“They had gone through the vetting process. They were ready to come. The flights had been booked,” Dugger said.

The average wait time for refugees in camps is currently 17 years, and only a tiny fraction are resettled in the United States, Dugger said, adding refugees undergo rigorous, more elaborate security vetting than immigrants to the country.

Most refugees who enter the U.S. refugee admissions program are referred by the U.N. refugee agency, a U.S. embassy or an approved humanitarian aid organization. The three-year process includes exhaustive screening by U.S. government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.

The 12-step process includes background and biometric security checks, fingerprint verifications, medical screening and in-person interviews.

“The process is incredibly intense,” Dugger said. “ … That's part of why it's been so sad. This population of people has waited for so long in often really terrible conditions. And, now, they have been denied entry when they offer such economic boons to our country, to our communities.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a report last year that estimated between 2005-2019 U.S. refugees contributed $123.8 billion more than they received in initial public assistance upon arrival. And studies show the rate of employment and participation in the labor force for refugees exceeds that of the U.S. population as a whole.

‘Everybody is scared, everybody is worried’

Dugger said the presidential order has led to heightened fear and uncertainty among a “thriving community of refugees” in Cedar Rapids, including recently resettled Afghans who left family behind when they fled after U.S. troops pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021, when the Taliban took power.

The Cedar Rapids center helped resettle just shy of 250 Afghan parolees and Special Immigrant Visa holders in 2021.

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Trump’s order suspending the program now puts the resettlement of additional Afghan refugees — including family members of those in Cedar Rapids — at risk, advocacy groups say.

The change is not expected to affect the Special Immigrant Visa program, a separate immigration pathway for Afghans who have worked for the U.S. government or military, according to resettlement agencies in Iowa.

However, Afghans who served in the Afghan military or who campaigned for human rights, but did not work directly for the U.S. military or embassy, are not eligible for the visas and have to apply through the refugee program, according to advocacy groups.

Additionally, immigrant advocates worry a Trump administration directive to shut down programs created under former President Joe Biden’s administration that allowed more than a million people to enter the country temporarily could apply to Afghan and Ukrainian immigrants who were given a grant to stay in the country for up to two years under a temporary legal status known as “parole,” The New York Times reported.

“Everybody is scared, everybody is worried,” Dugger said.

Despite having a lack of English skills, she said labor-starved businesses in Eastern Iowa have quickly found a way to put the vast majority of Afghan arrivals to work.

Many have gone to work in manufacturing settings or meatpacking. Whirlpool Corporation in Middle Amana is one of the biggest employers of the new population, along with West Liberty Foods.

Iowa agencies will continue providing services

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Dugger said Trump’s order threatens to cut funding to essential services for immigrants and refugees. Despite these challenges, she said the organization will continue to provide educational programs, employment and other support, while working to “bulk up on our funding.”

Dugger emphasized Iowa's historical role as a welcoming state for refugees, beginning in 1947 with resettling displaced persons after World War II. In the early 1970s, Republican former Iowa Gov. Robert Ray welcomed Tai-Dam refugees to Iowa, an ethnic minority that fled Laos and Vietnam after the countries fell to communism, even as other state governors refused to do the same. In the 1990s, Iowa welcomed many Bosnian families fleeing the war in former Yugoslavia.

Samantha Huynh is among the Tai-Dam refugees who resettled in Iowa, and serves as director of the Des Moines field office of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

“A lot of our refugee new neighbors come with different skill sets, and they become an integral part of Iowa's community and economy,” Huynh said. “We have many that become doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, restaurant owners, directors of nonprofits. … Putting a pause on this, I feel, will have a huge impact on Iowa.”

She said the office was projected to receive 600 refugees by the end of September, with 134 already in Iowa. That has now been halted, including 58 people the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Des Moines planned to welcome next month who are now waiting indefinitely.

Their whereabouts are unknown.

“We don't know if they made it back to their home country. We don't know if they made it back to their refugee camp … and that's the most disheartening part,” Huynh said.

That’s led to emotional conversations with families looking forward to reuniting with loved ones.

"We have to be the ones to basically break it to them and tell them, you know, at this time, they will not be traveling within the next three months,“ Huynh said. ”We will just have to wait and see what happens in the next three months … and not to lose hope.”

The agency will continue providing services like English classes, women's groups, wellness programs and employment programs despite the suspension.

Wuertz, as well, said LSI’s other refugee services will remain in place as it awaits more information from federal agencies.

“As one of the state’s leading humanitarian organizations — founded by immigrants — LSI will remain steadfast in our commitment to welcoming and empowering newcomers in our communities,” he said.

Elijah Decious of The Gazette contributed to this report.

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