Democrats push for Rubio to preserve refugee program

House and Senate Democrats on Wednesday pushed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to preserve a refugee program.

“We urge you to immediately revoke the stop work orders that the Department issued on January 24, 2025, to the 10 national resettlement agencies that provide services to refugees who 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,” a letter from the Democrats reads.

“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,” they added.

An older State Department webpage from former President Obama’s time in the White House describes the R&P program as giving “assistance for refugees to settle in the United States,” contributing “resettlement agencies a one-time sum per refugee to assist with meeting expenses during a refugee’s first few months in the United States.”

The letter is signed by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

“We urge you to reverse course by excluding or granting a waiver to the R&P program from the definition of ‘foreign development assistance,’ as used in the President’s Executive Order on ‘Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid,’ revoking the stop work orders, and permitting a resumption in R&P services for all eligible populations,” the letter continued.

On his first day back in the presidency, an executive order titled Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program was signed by President Trump in an apparent effort to better align the relevant programs with American principles and interests. The order effectively halts admissions of refugees for at least three months.

The Hill has reached out to the State Department for comment.

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Dems urge Rubio to rescue a refugee program he once supported

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