JANUARY 26, 2025
As of 12:01am this morning, the U.S. has formally suspended refugee resettlement. Here’s what it means for America–and the Great State of Arizona.
Trump’s Executive Order paints the Refugee Program as disorderly and overwhelming—causing, rather than responding to, record levels of migration.
The opposite is true. Pausing and dismantling the Refugee Program results in more chaos, not less. The Refugee Program is one of America’s most important and effective tools for coordinating orderly responses to displacement—responses that are in the economic, military, and even the local interests of communities across the United States.
Americans & Arizonans know it. As we’ve reported before, 71% of U.S. voters believe that the U.S. should have a refugee program. In Arizona, the State Legislature has passed multiple pro-refugee resolutions. In 2023, Republican State Senator Kaiser championed legislation that established Arizona’s New American Talent Study Committee, which works to further enhance refugee and new American contributions to Arizona’s workforce. Arizona’s refugees also make up a large political constituency: in 2022, 81.1% of refugees were naturalized citizens—which equates to thousands of voters.
Pausing the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program does not realign resettlement.
Pausing resettlement dismantles the Refugee Program, fundamentally damaging the U.S.’s ability to respond to displacement in a way that secures our interests—for decades to come.
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