Churches, Jewish group sue Trump on ending refugee resettlement

Refugee agencies have filed a lawsuit against US President Donald Trump over his executive order to suspend the US refugee resettlement programme.

This is the first lawsuit of its kind to address Trump’s efforts to halt refugee resettlement and withhold funding for processing services as part of the administration’s accelerated crackdown on immigration and foreign nationals.

The lawsuit was filed by the International Refugee Assistance Project on behalf of three refugee agencies: Church World Service, the Jewish American organisation HIAS, and Lutheran Community Services Northwest, and nine individuals in Seattle in the state of Washington.

The lawsuit says that the president’s suspension of the refugee programme is against the law because it violates congressional authority to pass immigration legislation and the stop-work orders go against basic regulations.

“President Trump cannot override the will of Congress with the stroke of a pen,” said Melissa Keaney, a senior attorney with IRAP, said in a public 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. Refugees and the families and communities waiting to welcome them have been thrown into indefinite limbo and the resettlement agencies ready to serve them don’t know if they can keep the lights on if the government continues to withhold critical funding,” she said, adding that Trump’s actions could have consequences for years to come.

The president’s orders have already affected refugees who were in the process of relocating to the US.

“When the Taliban took over Afghanistan, I was a student at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul. I was a peace activist and advocated for human rights and was evacuated along with other students whose lives were at serious risk,” said Ahmed, a plaintiff, who was ready to relocate to the US before the executive order was issued, in a statement issued through IRAP. 

“For the past three years, I’ve been waiting for the chance to go to the United States and reunite with my sister and her family. I have not seen her since 2021, and I have never met my youngest niece. I was so excited to join them,” he said.