President Donald Trump’s executive order to halt the country’s refugee resettlement program as of Jan. 27 has Vermont organizations ramping up efforts to support newcomers and those still expected to arrive in the state.

While the January arrivals are already here, the future is uncertain for 17 refugees — four from Afghanistan, five from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and eight from Sudan — who were scheduled to arrive in February, according to Sonali Samarasinghe, interim director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Vermont.

Although her office has not received any notifications of the refugees’ travel plans yet, she said, “We expect cancellations for those booked to arrive after Jan. 27. We hope that’s not the case.”

Signed on Monday, Trump’s order puts a pause on the resettlement program, canceling travel for refugees already cleared for relocation to the U.S. Initially those with travel plans before the Jan. 27 deadline were expected to be able to make it in, but that deadline appears to have been moved up, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

USCRI, a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization that has been working to resettle refugees in Vermont since 1980, is actively advocating for pending cases to be rebooked to arrive in the country before Jan. 27, Samarasinghe said in an interview Tuesday. 

Among them is a young Somali resident in Vermont who has been trying to bring his mother here for 13 years. She recently passed her final interview with USCRI and is waiting to leave the drought-plagued country that is fast becoming one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Refugees like her are “thoroughly vetted, security-screened individuals,” said Samarasinghe, who was once a refugee fleeing persecution in Sri Lanka herself. “So it’s a very sad day for them and of course their family members here who are very concerned to see if they are joining them.”

Across the state, agencies that help refugees have adopted a wait-and-watch stance since Trump signed the order on Jan. 20.

“Over the last 4 years, the United States has been inundated with record levels of migration, including through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program,” the order states. The country, it adds, “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees,” and that continuing to allow more of them to enter “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

Tracy Dolan, Vermont’s state refugee director, said high numbers of refugee arrivals indicate a high level of need. “We have more refugees worldwide than we’ve ever had escaping from persecution and war, and so there are a lot of people who need assistance, who very much would like to live and have prosperous lives in their own countries and who can’t.”

And new refugee residents have filled a key gap in Vermont, Dolan continued. 

“We know through studies that have been put out by the Office of Refugee Resettlement that we gain as a country and as a state in terms of economic benefits from refugees here,” she said. 

“The majority of employable adults find work relatively quickly and we have employers that are very much looking to hire refugees and find it to be a successful, positive relationship. And we have organizations that are working with folks to help them move up and move ahead and really live the American dream.”

Since October, Vermont has received about 160 refugees — about 25% of the number that had been expected to arrive in fiscal year 2025, according to Dolan. 

She estimated that about 3,800 refugees have settled in the Green Mountain State since 2012. The most recent arrivals have come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Venezuela, Sudan and Afghanistan. They have primarily resettled in Chittenden County, Rutland, Brattleboro, Bennington, and more recently, in smaller numbers, in Manchester.

About 85% to 90% of all employable adult refugees in Vermont typically join the taxpayer pool within six to eight months of arrival — a remarkable statistic for any population, said Samarasinghe. 

“Refugees demonstrate a remarkable entrepreneurial spirit, they have high rates of business ownership, citizenship attainment, and homeownership. Nationwide refugees pay billions of dollars in taxes annually. Contrary to being a burden on taxpayers they are an integral part of the economy,” Samarasinghe wrote in a statement.

“Vermont relies on the New American community to address the issues of an aging population,” she said. By providing a robust young, hard working workforce, refugees “ensure a greater future for Vermont.”

Gov. Phil Scott’s press secretary, Amanda Wheeler, said in a statement that the administration “will continue to do our part to welcome refugees to Vermont, which is even more important as we face these demographic challenges.” Referencing Trump’s spree of executive orders, Wheeler continued, “we are working to review, assess, and understand what implications they may have on Vermont going forward.”

Since U.S. troops pulled out of Afghanistan and Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, many persecuted Afghan allies have found a safe haven in Vermont. So the order is particularly devastating for Afghan refugees awaiting relocation in the U.S., the Vermont Afghan Alliance said in a statement Wednesday. 

The order means many Afghans on temporary visas in Pakistan could be deported and risk persecution by the Taliban, the alliance said. And it will affect refugees in Vermont who have been waiting to reunite with their family.

The decision “isn’t just cruel — it’s an unconscionable betrayal,” the alliance said in its statement. “It shatters a sacred promise to Afghan allies who risked everything to support U.S. military and diplomatic missions.”

The suspension of the refugee program deals a blow to the United States’ standing in the world, said Samarasinghe, noting that most of the Afghan refugees moving to the U.S. are people who have helped the U.S. military. “For America to now appear to have relinquished that role of welcoming the vulnerable, really I think it harms our nation’s standing abroad,” she said. 

“The most devastating impact of the suspension of refugee resettlement is that families will remain separated,” she said.

The Ethiopian Community Development Council, which has offices in Bennington and Brattleboro, works to support refugees in southern Vermont.

Joe Wiah, the organization’s executive director, said in a statement that the council will continue to provide support services to refugee families through these uncertain times.

“Their presence has strengthened our region culturally, economically, and socially,” he said, calling refugee resettlement “a powerful catalyst for positive change, economic growth, and cross-cultural understanding.”

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the program, Vermont’s refugee resettlement organizations plan to continue working to help recent arrivals find employment, secure housing and help their children get integrated in schools.

Some are holding out hope that the indefinite suspension will be short-lived. A line in the order that asks for a report within 90 days on whether the program is in the country’s best interests. 

“Everyone is going to continue to do the same hard work they’ve been doing. And we are hopeful that in three months, we will see the spigot turn on again,” Dolan said.