Congressional Democrats are appealing to Marco Rubio to restart refugee resettlement services — something the new Secretary of State supported as a Republican senator from Florida — after the Trump administration issued stop work orders to halt programs.
In a letter, shared first with POLITICO, a group of lawmakers urged their former colleague to use his leverage to undo the pause on Reception and Placement services, which help refugees rebuild in the U.S.
On the first day of his administration, President Donald Trump moved to suspend the entire U.S. Refugee Admissions Program until further notice and issued a pause on “foreign development assistance.”
But the Democrats say this kind of assistance to refugees does not qualify as “foreign development assistance,” since it helps people in the United States rather than abroad.
They also cite the 32,000 refugees that relocated to the U.S. through the Refugee Admissions Program in fiscal year 2025 — a number of whom are still eligible for assistance through the R&P program — in addition to the many Afghan nationals now in the country who aided U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and are now also eligible for help.
“The stop work orders undermine legal obligations that the Department has entered into through its contracts with U.S.-based and intergovernmental organizations, increasing new arrivals’ vulnerability to homelessness and food insecurity at a time when they still have no lifeline for support,” the members wrote.
Signers of the letter are the top Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary Committee — Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, respectively — alongside the ranking members of each panel’s immigration subcommittee — Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Sen. Alex Padilla of California.
