HIAS Pennsylvania reels as Trump’s funding cuts hit refugee-resettlement programs

HIAS Pennsylvania is shrinking as the immigrant-assistance agency reels from huge cuts in federal funding under President Donald Trump.

By the end of June its staff will have dropped from 88 to 49 as layoffs take hold, and by the end of October its annual budget will have fallen from about $11 million to about $5 million.

That comes as the Trump administration stops the programs that bring refugees to new lives in the United States and support them for a time after they get here.

“I’m obviously devastated,” said Cathryn Miller-Wilson, executive director of the Philadelphia-based agency, “but I’m unshakable in my faith in my staff and the work that we do.”

Similar layoffs and funding losses are taking place at resettlement agencies across the country, some of which joined a conference call with business leaders and elected Democratic officials on Monday to demand that the administration reopen the resettlement program.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said refugees and other immigrants are vital to his city’s ability to grow, earn, and thrive, and he spoke directly to them, saying, “We want you to come here.”

“We have to get the resettlement program restarted,” the mayor said. “This is how you grow a state, how you grow a city.”

Brandon Mendoza, president and CEO of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, told reporters on the call that government support for refugee resettlement is crucial. In Erie, he said, refugees have started businesses, bought homes, and filled job openings — “a lifeline to Erie County.”

The confirmation of losses at HIAS Pennsylvania follows big funding and staff cuts at Nationalities Services Center, Philadelphia’s largest resettlement agency. NSC’s budget will be down by half come May, and it has already shed a third of its staff.

Those organizations and others have been rocked by Trump’s Jan. 27 order that halted new refugee admissions and by a second directive that cut off funding for agencies that support newcomers as they rebuild their lives in this country.

HIAS Pennsylvania had been scheduled to resettle 100 refugees before the order was issued, and has resettled hundreds of others in recent years. It offers multiple services to help arrivals from around the globe find their footing in the Philadelphia region.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has allowed the Trump administration to continue to block the entry of refugees as a lawsuit goes forward, but says refugees who were previously approved — about 128,000 people, according to advocates — still must be processed for admission.

The federal refugee resettlement program is how the United States brings some of the world’s most vulnerable people to new lives, and agencies like NSC and HIAS Pennsylvania serve on the front lines of that.

The system is a form of legal immigration, and refugees hold a specific, government-authorized status that includes a clear path to citizenship. Over time, economically, they contribute billions of dollars more than they cost, studies show.

The U.S. resettled 100,034 refugees in fiscal 2024, the largest number in 30 years, as President Joe Biden rebuilt the shrunken system he inherited from the first Trump presidency.

Trump cut the numbers to historic lows during his first term.

In the last three months of 2024, Pennsylvania received 1,043 refugees, with more than 700 coming from just three countries, Syria, Afghanistan, and Democratic Republic of Congo, according to government statistics. New Jersey resettled 216 refugees during that time.

Although refugees are among the most vetted people in the world, checked and rechecked before they are allowed to come here, the president has cited security and terrorism concerns around their entry.

He has asserted that the U.S. lacks the ability to absorb these newcomers in a way “that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation.”

HIAS Pennsylvania supports low-income immigrants of all backgrounds in the Philadelphia area, providing not only refugee resettlement but also legal aid and social services. It says it strives “to address their needs, defend their rights, and advocate for their equitable inclusion in American society.”

This year, Miller-Wilson said, is in many ways the equivalent of 1924, a dark time for immigrants and their advocates. The passage of the Johnson-Reed Act set a national quota system based on national origin and blocked all immigration from Asia.

But in the cycle of history, she said, years comparable to 1945 and 1965 must be ahead — times when the United States passed laws to help displaced people, promote family reunification, and enable greater immigration from Asia and Latin America.

HIAS Pennsylvania is different and separate from HIAS, the international organization based in Maryland.

The roots of HIAS Pennsylvania reach back to 1882, when members of Philadelphia’s Jewish community formed the Association for the Protection of Jewish Immigrants, which sought to assist arriving Eastern European Jews. A wave of pogroms and expulsions in the Russian empire left hundreds of thousands homeless, and between 1880 and 1924 nearly two million Jews sought refuge in the U.S.

HIAS Pennsylvania has terminated its resettlement program, and its social-services division will close June 30.

Roughly $7.4 million in federal funding has been or is expected to be cut from the local budget, Miller-Wilson said. The agency has not been paid in months for its core programs, and expects funding to disappear for some programs that are still operating, she said.

The federal cuts have been terrible for the agency, but most of all for new arrivals who need help and support to get settled, Miller-Wilson said.

“A whole lot arrived in January and February, and all of a sudden it’s, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t help you anymore.’”

HIAS Pennsylvania hopes to divorce itself from all need for federal funding by June 30, given the volatility around Trump immigration policies. Its revised mission will concentrate on providing legal services, though that division will lose 17 staff members in layoffs at the end of June.

“I’m conscious of people who disagree with our work,” Miller-Wilson said, but “the shrinking of our services is not about us, it’s about our country. … We’re losing [immigrant] workers, we’re losing employers, we’re losing the beautiful diversity from all over the world. The cuts to us, it’s not about our agency, it’s about our country, which is devastating and tragic.”