GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — In a year where advocates say the need is great, the United States has resettled just under 11,000 refugees.
Late Wednesday, the end of the 2020 fiscal year, President Donald Trump told Congress of his plans to further slash the refugee resettlement cap from 18,000, an all-time low, to 15,000. Resettlement will halt until a number is set.
Trump has been lowering the number of refugees who can resettle in the U.S. since he took office. In 2020, the already low cap was further impacted by the Trump administration putting a pause on resettlement entirely starting in March, citing COVID-19 concerns.
It's a move that faith-based organizations in West Michigan say has kept families separated for longer.
Susan Kragt from Bethany Christian Services said her colleague had been waiting to reunify with his family since 2016, only to have their travel plans canceled and delayed during the pandemic.
"That's so much distress and heartbreak, and that's just one of many, many cases. On the ground, it's just devastating," Kragt, who is the Grand Rapids branch director for refugee and immigrant services.
Kragt said the plan to further slash the cap doesn't make sense to her.
"It's already been so lowered that I don't understand why it needs to be lowered any further, we're in the midst of the world's worst refugee crisis. One in 97 people are displaced," she said Thursday.
She says the cuts to the refugee admissions are also leading to cuts within the organizations who help with resettlement.
"So, even if the refugee ceiling is moved up, it's going to take a while to rebuild a lot of that infrastructure, not just locally, but nationally," Kragt said.
Kragt is calling on the community to contact their lawmakers to push for a change to the 2021 ceiling. A move that Melissa Stek, who works for Christian Reformed Church, said she is spreading through congregations.
"We are encouraging our congregations to take action to make those calls to Congress to really encourage the president to fulfill his responsibilities and to keep the resettlement program intact," said Stek, who works in the church's office of social justice as a justice mobilization specialist.
Trump has the final say, but he is required to discuss the ceiling with legislators. Both Kragt and Stek say they'd like to see the cap raised to the historic average of 95,000 refugees.
"We often forget that where refugees are it is not a permanent solution, but we've kind of as a world let it become a permanent solution. And it's just inhumane, it's frankly unchristian in a lot of ways I think," Kragt said.
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