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In Bicameral Letter, Ranking Members Call on Secretary Rubio to Immediately Restore
Refugee Resettlement Services
Letter Calls on State Department to Swiftly Restart Program Providing Basic Services to Refugees, Including Afghan Allies Who Supported U.S. Troops
Washington, D.C. (January 29, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, along with Sen. Dick Durbin, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Alex Padilla, Ranking Member for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, urged U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately restore vital services for refugees already in the United States. The letter comes after the State Department abruptly halted services for refugees last week.
“This unprecedented order threatens to deprive refugees already in the United States of the vital assistance known as Reception and Placement (R&P) services, which help them during their first three months in the United States as they rebuild their lives here,” wrote the Members.
Since the start of Fiscal Year 2025, more than 32,000 refugees have arrived through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), thousands of whom remain eligible for R&P services. These refugees were forced to flee their home countries in order to escape war or persecution and were deemed eligible to resettle in the United States after undergoing thorough vetting. This is on top of the approximately 10,000 Afghan nationals who are in the U.S. on Special Immigrant Visas (SIV), which they received after risking their lives to assist U.S. troops and U.S. government efforts in Afghanistan; these SIVs also remain eligible for such benefits.
The stop work orders undermine legal obligations that the Department has entered into through its contracts with U.S.-based and intergovernmental organizations, increasing newly- arrived refugees’ vulnerability to homelessness and food insecurity at a time when they still have no lifeline for support. The R&P program covers basic needs like rent, food, and clothes in the first few months after arrival, providing core services for refugees who often resettle with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. Barring R&P services causes undue and unnecessary suffering and hardship, breaking a promise we made to refugees and Afghan allies when we approved them for resettlement in America.
“We also call on you to do everything in your power to swiftly resume refugee processing and admissions—and restore this life-saving humanitarian program that advances U.S. security, foreign policy work, and diplomatic interests,” the Members concluded.
Click here to read the letter.
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