Trump cancels contracts with refugee groups one day after judge blocks suspension of resettlement program
Donald Trump’s administration abruptly terminated contracts with refugee resettlement and assistance groups 24 hours after a judge ordered the government to restore a federal refugee program and funding to aid organizations.
Lawyers for aid groups argue the administration is trying to circumvent court orders by cancelling their contracts altogether.
On Wednesday, brief messages from State Department officials told refugee groups that their contracts were “terminated for the convenience of the U.S. Government pursuant to a directive” from Secretary of State Marco Rubio for “alignment with agency priorities and the national interest.”
Other messages told aid groups that funding is “immediately terminated” because it “no longer effectuates agency priorities.”
The cancellation of those contracts follows global chaos and humanitarian emergencies as Trump and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency deliberately gut foreign assistance and face legal challenges over allegedly unconstitutional and illegal attempts to dissolve entire agencies.
“Simply put, termination of funding based on purported ‘alignment with agency priorities’ cannot be justified if agency action is unlawful,” attorneys for aid groups told a court on Thursday.
District Judge Jamal Whitehead in Washington state will hold a hearing on March 3.
The Independent has requested comment from the State Department.
Global Refuge — the largest faith-based nonprofit organization squarely focused on refugee resettlement and support for people seeking asylum — received one of those messages.
The end of federal support for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program marks the “essential destruction of a program that has saved more than 3.6 million lives” since it was created by Congress in 1980, according to Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge.
“This decision will undoubtedly disrupt critical services for vulnerable families and trigger widespread layoffs among social service professionals, forcing local communities to address entirely avoidable evictions, food insecurity, and devastating job losses,” she added.
The termination notices arrived on Wednesday — one day after Judge Whitehead said he would issue a preliminary injunction to block Trump’s executive orders that temporarily suspended refugee entry and froze foreign aid.
Lawyers for plaintiffs in that case, which include three national and local resettlement agencies and nine refugees, asked the judge to hold an emergency hearing to address their canceled contracts.
Rubio and the State Department “have now revealed their true intention, which is exactly what plaintiffs have said all along,” lawyers wrote.
