A United States federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to indefinitely suspend the U.S. refugee resettlement program, ruling that the President had exceeded his executive authority by abruptly halting the program.
U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead, presiding in Seattle, ruled in favor of a coalition of refugee advocacy groups that had sued to challenge Trump’s action. While acknowledging that the president has significant discretion under federal law to regulate refugee admissions, Whitehead emphasized that such authority has legal limits.
“But that authority is not limitless,” he stated during the court hearing. “I cannot ignore Congress’s detailed framework for refugee admissions and the limits it places on the president’s ability to suspend the same.”
Whitehead, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden, determined that a preliminary injunction was necessary due to the likelihood of “irreparable harms, including refugees stranded after selling their possessions, agencies laying off hundreds of staff, and family reunifications suspended indefinitely.”
Trump, a Republican, had immediately halted refugee resettlement upon taking office on January 20, asserting that the program needed to ensure that refugees admitted to the U.S. “appropriately assimilate” and that taxpayer resources were not misused. He directed the Secretaries of Homeland Security and State to submit a report within 90 days to determine whether the program should be reinstated.
The abrupt suspension disrupted refugee travel worldwide, resulting in the cancellation of scheduled arrivals, including those of 1,660 Afghans who had already been cleared for resettlement in the United States. Days later, funding for U.S.-based refugee assistance organizations was also frozen as part of a broader pause on foreign aid.
The lawsuit was filed by nine refugees and their U.S.-based family members, including a family from the Democratic Republic of the Congo that had been approved to travel to the U.S. on January 22 but had their relocation abruptly canceled.
According to the complaint, the family, residing in Nairobi, had sold nearly all their belongings—keeping only what could fit in their checked luggage—and had given up their lease in preparation for their resettlement.
