Spokane refugee aid groups lose federal contracts; status unclear for more than 400 fleeing danger and previously set to come to Inland NW

A nonprofit that assists refugees who come to the Spokane area to escape war, persecution and natural disasters has issued layoffs to all 15 members of its staff who assist the newly arrived.

The status of refugees who were expected in Spokane through the middle of the year is unclear.

World Relief Spokane confirmed on Friday that the administration of President Donald Trump canceled its contract to resettle refugees in the Inland Northwest despite a court ruling pausing Trump’s executive order halting the refugee process.

“Honestly, we don’t know anything beyond that, what’s going to happen,” World Relief Director Christi Armstrong said. “Does that mean permanently terminated? Does it mean terminated, and we’re going to think about something different? We have no idea.”

Some refugee aid groups are calling the move by the Trump administration an attempt to circumvent a court order.

On Thursday, refugee aid groups filed a motion in Seattle to have U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead clarify his earlier ruling that paused Trump’s efforts to end the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

Whitehead issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday halting an executive order that sought to end the program, which was enshrined into law by Congress in 1980. Whitehead said the executive order likely violated that act, known as the Administrative Procedure Act, and the right to due process, as reported by the Seattle Times.

At the time, Whitehead was expected to issue a final opinion in a matter of days.

Despite the temporary blockage of the order, the State Department sent several refugee aid groups notice Wednesday that their “cooperative agreements” have been canceled, including World Relief Spokane. Lawsuit plaintiffs Church World Service and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society received similar notices, as reported by the State Standard.

The State Department has also ended an agreement with the International Rescue Committee, whose Spokane branch is the only other nonprofit in town assisting refugees in resettlement. A representative of the local branch said they could not comment Friday and directed The Spokesman-Review to a news release from national leadership.

Hans Van de Weerd, senior vice president of resettlement, asylum and integration at the IRC, said in a written statement that the resettlement program has “long been an effective partnership between the federal government, states, and everyday Americans to welcome refugees as our new neighbors.”

“The decision to end these resettlement agreements comes at a cost not only to the families whose lives are now endangered stranded overseas, but also to the American communities that will miss out on the cultural and economic contributions, resilience, and ingenuity that refugees bring,” Van de Weerd wrote.

Nearly 5,000 people who were being assisted by the agency across the country are now without support, the release states.

World Relief furloughed 15 employees tasked with resettlement operations following the executive order and start of the legal battle. Armstrong said those furloughs have become layoffs in light of the contract cancellation.

“They’re the people that meet people at the plane and help them get into housing and just get settled for the initial 90 days that they’re here,” Armstrong said.

In the Thursday motion, aid groups called the contract cancellations a “flagrant attempt to evade” Whitehead’s earlier ruling. A hearing has been set for Monday to weigh the emergency motion.

For Armstrong’s organization and their peers, the weekend waiting and contract cancellation is a continuation of the uncertainty that’s plagued resettlement operations under the new administration.

The executive order suspending all refugee admission and processing and the founding for organizations contracted to handle resettlement was signed on Trump’s first day in office. A later pause on all federal funding only added to the confusion, leaving many refugee aid groups stuck in limbo, Armstrong said.

World Relief’s contract and federal funding was supposed to run through the end of September, with a proposed resettlement of 750 people by the end of the fiscal year. Just more than 300 arrived through World Relief as of Jan. 21, leaving about 450 who would have otherwise resettled in Spokane in limbo for the time being.

Armstrong said she’s frustrated by the efforts to eliminate a more than 40-year-old program that’s proven to be successful.

It’s in conflict with the America she’s come to know and love, “a nation of immigrants,” as she puts it.

While refugees are immigrants, Armstrong noted the classification means the government is providing those individuals refuge after fleeing violent realities.

“All of the people we resettle, they are all fully documented, vetted by the U.S. government and have been invited to come by the government,” Armstrong said. “And they just add so much to our communities; they bring different foods, different cultures, different ways of thinking.

“To lose that, is just really, really sad for us.”