Iowa’s refugee resettlement agencies are expecting fewer arrivals and facing more uncertainty as the Trump administration continues to lower the cap on refugee arrivals.
Carly Ross is director of the Des Moines field office for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. She says in past years, when she was notified that a refugee family would be traveling to the U.S., she could expect that family to arrive in two to three months.
“But at this point, we are not as clear on those timeframes when we receive the notification,” Ross said. “We don’t know if they will be traveling within that same timeframe, two to three months, or if it could be even longer.” That leaves refugees in Iowa with a lot of questions about when they’ll be reunited with their family members who are still overseas.
According to Ross, one refugee family in Des Moines still has two teenage girls living in Malaysia. “And they’re really fearful for those two girls’ safety, so they’re constantly just asking for updates about when they might be able to come to the U.S. and at this point, we just can’t give them very firm answers,” Ross said.
The Trump administration will admit 45,000 refugee arrivals this fiscal year — the lowest cap since the program’s start in 1980. The Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, recently criticized the State Department for failing to consult Congress on its refugee plan.
(Thanks to Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio)