Refugee resettlement groups in Vermont are reeling amid mounting federal funding cuts and suspensions but are looking to forge a path forward during uncertain times. 

The administration of President Donald Trump ordered a stop to refugee arrivals in January and suspended, then eventually terminated, programs that support recently arrived refugees in their first 90 days, according to Tracy Dolan, director of the Vermont State Refugee Office.

Four of the 10 refugee resettlement groups in the U.S. — including the two refugee resettlement agencies with offices in Vermont: the Ethiopian Community Development Council and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants — also have not received reimbursement by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement for other programming since January, Dolan said.

“All the agencies are experiencing significant loss of federal funding, and they’re all reorganizing their programs right now,” Dolan said. “They’ve all had to lay off staff in order to manage under a new budget, and then really kind of shrink and intensify their services for those who have arrived here already.”

Reimbursements run dry

Sonali Samarasinghe, the interim director of U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Vermont, said Trump’s executive order to suspend the U.S. Refugee Admission Program and the halt to funds for reception and placement programs have sowed fear in refugee communities.

“This deluge of cruel and inhumane executive actions designed to intentionally cause chaos, and confusion is impacting the lives of those who have already suffered years of violence, abuse, and trauma,” Samarasinghe said via email.

Trump’s executive order defended the actions, saying, “The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.”

While the loss of funding for reception and placement programs is tied to Trump’s executive order, Samarasinghe said her office has received no official explanation for the lack of federal reimbursement for their other programming. Samarasinghe said she learned Wednesday that the USCRI-Vermont was one of the many Vermont organizations whose Covid-19 grant was cut by the federal government.

USCRI-Vermont’s loss of federal funding, which comprises about 90% of its budget, amounts to a nearly $1.24 million shortfall, Samarasinghe said. Among the suspended programs are one focused on employment and one that helps refugees and immigrants with intensive mental or physical health care needs.

“We already lost 11 staff, so we are struggling because you need the staff to do the work. We are struggling to serve our clients,” Samarasinghe said. “We are donating hours, but it’s a tough situation, and we do not want to lose more staff, and we want to continue to serve our clients.”

While the federal government has stopped directly reimbursing refugee resettlement agencies, Dolan said refugee resettlement funds have continued to flow to the state. Dolan said the current funding for refugee resettlement the state possesses totals $4.2 million, with $3.3 million issued from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and $900,000 allocated by the state. 

The recipients of this funding include refugee resettlement agencies and partnered groups helping to support refugees with legal services, housing, employment, mental health, English language learning and other services, Dolan said. 

The State Refugee Office has been working to allocate existing funding quickly and flexibly toward the highest priority situations, including case management, English language learning and employment services, she said. 

Joe Wiah, executive director of both the Bennington and Brattleboro branches of the Ethiopian Community Development Council, said his agency has not been able to draw funds from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement since Jan. 19, and he has not received an official statement explaining the reason behind the delay in reimbursement. 

Wiah said the agency’s annual operational costs amount to $4.2 million, and federal funds directly issued to the council account for 82% of its total budget. He said the rest of their budget consists of private and public donations and funding by the state.

The pressure on the council’s cash flow has meant the council has had to reshape programs and lay off workers, losing 12 of 28 staff members between the two council locations, he said. 

“If you are a refugee or immigrant or any community partner, we just want to reassure you that our offices are open,” Wiah said. “Even though it’s on a reduced capacity, we’ll continue to serve the refugee population we have.”

Jack Rossiter-Munley, the director of programs and community engagement for the Bennington branch of the council, said the withholding of funds means its original six-person staff at the Bennington Multicultural Center would dwindle down to two, and their support services for the 105 refugees in the area, some of them recently arrived, would be hampered significantly.

“What’s been so challenging for all of us just psychologically with this latest cut, is that we’re just getting our momentum going,” Rossiter-Munley said.

Trickle before the travel ban

While no refugees are coming to the U.S. at this time, efforts continue to settle new residents in the state, said Molly Gray, executive director of the Vermont Afghan Alliance. 

Vermont aimed to resettle 650 refugees during this fiscal year but had received around 250 refugees before reception and placement programs in Vermont were halted, according to Dolan.

Partnering with No One Left Behind, Vermont Afghan Alliance received five Afghan special immigrant visa holders — a single woman, a mother and daughter and a couple — earlier this month, Gray said. 

The national nonprofit No One Left Behind raised funds to buy plane tickets to the U.S. for special immigrant visa holders before the Trump administration’s proposed travel ban goes into effect, likely targeting more than 40 countries, including Afghanistan.

“It’s been a small and meaningful success at a time where we’ve wondered how we will get through what feels like a relentless attack on the Afghan community,” Gray said. 

Afghan people who worked to support the U.S. on military or diplomatic missions during the two-decade war in Afghanistan were promised special immigrant visas and a path to citizenship, Gray said. But, when the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, an estimated 140,000 special immigrant visa holders were left behind in limbo because a proper plan to process these visas was not put in place. 

“It is because of their connection and commitment to the U.S. government that they had to flee Afghanistan, and so to leave them behind, to leave them in harm’s way, to leave them facing such significant risk, is extremely shameful,” Gray said. 

Gray said there has not been clear communication by the federal government on when the  travel ban would be implemented, or if Afghan special immigrant visa holders would be included in the travel ban. 

The Vermont Afghan Alliance is not a designated refugee resettlement agency, but the federal funds it receives to support refugees had been frozen in January and then temporarily unfrozen, so the organization is still able to offer critical services to new residents, Gray said. 

“Part of the problem is the inconsistencies and confusion created by these knee-jerk, largely unconstitutional actions by this administration,” she said. “Even when actions are found to be unconstitutional, they have ended contracts and ended funding, in effect, making the implementation impossible.”

Weathering the storm

While federal funding remains uncertain, refugee resettlement groups are devising creative ways to sustain their work.

Around 400 people gathered at Bennington College earlier this month for a benefit concert to support the work of the Bennington Multicultural Center, which is a branch office of the Ethiopian Community Development Council. The concert, organized by Bennington College and the Vermont Arts Exchange, raised more than $4,500 for the Bennington Multicultural Center, according to Matthew Perry, the executive director of the Vermont Arts Exchange. 

Before the crowd listened to the music group Alash, a Siberian throat-singing ensemble, Rossiter-Munley announced the Deep Roots, Clear Skies Capital Campaign, with the goal to raise funds to retain staff and continue community initiatives such as a women’s entrepreneurship program, language learning program and community gardening projects. 

Despite the challenging road ahead, Rossiter-Munley said he envisions that the capital campaign in Bennington will pave the way for the center to grow without as much dependence on federal funding and provide a model for other communities around the country to meaningfully sustain refugee resettlement work locally. 

“We have an opportunity to truly insulate ourselves from the federal uncertainty that’s happening right now because of the scale at which we work and the kinds of communities that we serve,” Rossiter-Munley said. 

Wish said the Brattleboro branch of the council is planning to launch a similar fundraising campaign in the coming weeks, and Samarasinghe said the committee has been working to diversify funding sources and fundraise as well. 

Gray said that Vermont refugee agencies, support groups and other community partners will continue to find ways to share resources, raise funds and continue to work in coalition to support Vermont’s refugee communities. 

“We are going to build resilience at the local level and free ourselves from federal funding so that we can continue to stand by this community and help them contribute to the Vermont economy and be thriving members of our state,” Gray said.