Hundreds of would-be immigrants set to legally travel to Georgia as vetted refugees in January and February had their flights abruptly canceled earlier this week, aid workers say. They also warn that cuts in public assistance to refugees who are already in the state, and who rely on government benefits to survive while they get settled, could fuel a surge in hunger and homelessness.
As a popular destination for refugees, Georgia is among the states most directly affected by sweeping new restrictions to the U.S. refugee resettlement program, which provides a legal pathway into the country for people who fear for their safety back home.
“Everyone is shocked. People are in limbo right now, they don’t know what tomorrow will look like for them,” said Muzhda Oriakhil, who chairs the Georgia Coalition of Refugee Service Agencies and works for the nonprofit Embrace Refugee Birth, which helps pregnant refugees navigate health care in the state.
Last fiscal year, which ran from October 2023 through September 2024, Georgia resettled 3,227 refugees, more than all but 11 other states. Nationwide, the U.S. welcomed over 100,000 immigrants through the refugee program in that time span, a 30-year milestone, according to the U.S. Department of State. An additional 1,079 refugees came to Georgia in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, more than any other state in the southeast.
Under President Donald Trump’s new administration, those numbers would come down to near zero.
Shortly after taking office, Trump issued a flurry of executive actions targeting both illegal and illegal immigration, including a directive to suspend the refugee program starting Jan. 27. That was followed by a decision to cancel the travel plans for refugees already approved for resettlement. The executive order says federal authorities may permit some refugee arrivals going forward “on a case-by-case basis,” but it lays out no guidance for how such exceptions will be dispensed.
Aimee Zangandou leads Inspiritus, an Atlanta-based resettlement agency that helps refugees relocate chiefly to Georgia but also to communities in Tennessee and Alabama. She said that in just the past week, Inspiritus was set to welcome close to 100 people scheduled to land at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
“We had case managers planning to go to the airport the next day when we heard that flights were being canceled.”
New American Pathways, another local resettlement agency, was expecting 65 refugees to arrive from the end of January through mid-February.
“They’re effectively stranded right now,” said Paedia Mixon, New American Pathway’s chief executive officer.
The trip cancellations represent an unexpected culmination to years spent applying and being vetted for refugee status. The U.S. resettlement program, created by the late President Jimmy Carter, imposes rigorous background and medical checks while applicants wait overseas.
Through her work with Atlanta-area refugee communities, Oriakhil has heard from people whose relatives were on the verge of joining them in the U.S. through the refugee program, but are currently blocked from doing so. She said individuals with canceled trips are reeling with shock and desperation, many having already sold their belongings in anticipation of an imminent move to the U.S.
“What I’ve heard is most of them, they cannot believe it, they are still really, really confused. It’s like shock for them, like, ‘What type of county does that?’ It took so long for people to go through the process, through the background check, interviews, the immigration process. It’s really hard. It takes a lot of time, a lot of energy. And at the end of the day, they hear they are being refused. So, it’s very sad news for them.”
“Family members here feel helpless. They are sad, they are overwhelmed,” Oriakhil added.
Most new refugees to Georgia were likely to have arrived from Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Syria and Venezuela.
Aid for refugees already in the U.S.
Last Friday, the Trump administration followed its suspension of new refugee arrivals with a “stop work” order halting the flow of federal funds to organizations serving refugees who are already in the country. It was a move that predated the administration’s attempt to pause all federal grants and loans on Tuesday.
Although the refugee resettlement program places an emphasis on helping newcomers get jobs and become self-reliant as quickly as possible, refugees need government assistance to survive when they first arrive.
For their first three months in the country, refugees have access through resettlement agencies to federal funds to pay for housing, food, clothing and other basic necessities.
“Refugees come here with nothing,” Mixon said. “We cover all of the basic needs in the first couple of months while they get their documents and get settled and then, you know, they eventually go to work and start taking on their own bills. But in those first months, they really don’t have any resources here.”
Withholding federal aid could result in more strain on local communities that host significant refugee populations, including the refugee hub of Clarkston in metro Atlanta.
“It’s very, very important that we are able to provide services for the refugees, obviously, but also for the communities where they’re living and making sure that their needs are met and they’re not having to try and compete with other people for local resources,” Mixon said.
As they wait for additional guidance from federal authorities and think about how best to break the difficult news to their refugee clients, resettlement agencies are scrambling to find alternative sources of revenue through private funds and donations to continue to provide a base level of support.
“The most important thing for our organization and others is to cover at least the most critical services that government funds will not fund at this time,” Mixon said. “Food on the plate. Roof over the head. That’s where we’re at.”
The stop work order was “totally unexpected, and it’s really going to cause homelessness,” Zangandou said.
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