
Migrants seeking asylum leave an immigration office after their scheduled meetings were canceled and they were turned away soon after President Donald Trump canceled the CBP One app, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Matamoros, Mexico.
Eric Gay / AP Photo
Migrants seeking asylum leave an immigration office after their scheduled meetings were canceled and they were turned away soon after President Donald Trump canceled the CBP One app, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Matamoros, Mexico.
Eric Gay / AP Photo
Eric Gay / AP Photo
Migrants seeking asylum leave an immigration office after their scheduled meetings were canceled and they were turned away soon after President Donald Trump canceled the CBP One app, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Matamoros, Mexico.
Members of 14 refugee families due to resettle in Lancaster next month now face an uncertain future as the Trump administration’s new immigration orders have paused all relocation plans.
Suspending the resettlement process will have a life impact on the families who had been scheduled for travel next month “and on their family members who may have already found safety here in our community and are waiting to be reunited with loved ones,” said Rachel Helwig, Church World Service Lancaster associate director, development and engagement.
CWS is a nonprofit resettlement organization that provides services such as housing, employment, economic empowerment, health and family wellness, and additional assistance needed to ensure that refugee individuals and families seeking safety in the United States receive the community support they need to thrive.
“The new administration has already signed a number of executive orders that significantly impact CWS Lancaster’s work and our communities, including indefinitely suspending the United States Refugee Admissions Program as well as multiple actions to eliminate access to asylum and other protections for people seeking safety,” Helwig said.
The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has existed since the 1980 Refugee Act. The program is managed by the U.S. government, which works with the United Nations Refugee Agency and designated humanitarian agencies to identify, screen and vet prioritized populations for resettlement in the U.S.
The suspension of the resettlement program became effective Monday.
In an email dated Jan. 21 and reviewed by The Associated Press, the U.S. agency overseeing refugee processing and arrivals told staff and stakeholders that “refugee arrivals to the United States have been suspended until further notice.”
Trump also canceled travel for refugees already cleared to come to the U.S., including about 10,000 refugees who had gone through a sometimes yearslong vetting process to start new lives in America and are now stranded at various locations worldwide. That includes more than 1,600 Afghans who assisted America’s war effort, as well as relatives of active-duty U.S. military personnel.
All those who had been set for travel had already been approved.
“The clearance process is very extensive, and it can take months or years before a family is ready to travel to the U.S.,” Helwig said.
But now families are being told they are no longer allowed to travel to U.S. Depending on the length of the suspension, their security and medical clearances could expire, and families might be forced to begin the long vetting process all over again, according to Helwig.
“It’s different for each family. Clearances are not done all at once. They happen at separate times. It really has an impact on people’s ability to be able to find safety promptly,” Helwig said.
Trump said the refugee program would be suspended because cities and communities had been taxed by “record levels of migration” and didn’t have the ability to “absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees.”
“We remain committed to doing all that we can to support families. Community donations are needed more now than ever to bridge funding gaps and ensure that families receive essential services,” Helwig said.
The president is also ending the CBP One app, a border app that gave legal entry to migrants. It enabled noncitizens without appropriate documents for admission who sought to travel to the U.S. through certain southwest border land ports of entry the ability to submit information through a module within the application instead of coming directly to wait at a port of entry.
“The new orders related to the U.S. southern border will curtail immigrants’ ability to pursue legal channels of entry into the country and limit their options for safety,” Helwig said.
The Trump administration also rescinded a policy that protected certain areas, such as churches, school, and hospitals, from immigration enforcement.
“That will cause many families to make difficult choices such as removing kids from school and skipping needed health appointments in order to stay safe,” Helwig said.
As of Friday, Helwig had not heard of any enforcement actions in those formerly protected areas. “But I know the threat exists in the community,” she said.
READ: Will Lancaster County businesses be affected by immigration orders? Here’s what we know
Meanwhile, Lorita Shirley, COO of Bethany Christian Services, said the nonprofit is motivated by faith to serve vulnerable families and children pursuing safety.
“The temporary suspension of refugee resettlement efforts will cause significant harm to vulnerable men, women, and children legally seeking safety and hope in our nation,” Shirley said.
Bethany Christian Services is a global nonprofit organization with a Lancaster County office at 681 Crown Ave. in Manheim Township that supports vulnerable kids and families in the U.S. and globally through foster care and family preservation, adoption and refugee and immigrant services. In 2024, Bethany resettled 969 people in the U.S.
“We seek to partner with the administration on policy changes in hopes of resuming the resettlement of refugees as quickly as possible, as well as advising on long-term solutions that include pathways to citizenship, increased resources for asylum processing, and protections for vulnerable populations,” Shirley said. “We are living in the largest refugee crisis the world has ever experienced, and Bethany will continue to demonstrate the love and compassion of Jesus to refugees through exceptional programming.
Shamaine Daniels, the Pennsylvania director for CASA, an immigrant and working-class advocacy organization with offices in Lancaster city at 315 W. James St., said that by threatening mass raids, shutting down asylum access, halting refugee resettlement, cutting off the CBP One app, the current administration has chosen xenophobia over compassion.
“That’s not who Lancaster is,” Daniels said. “President Trump’s relentless assault on immigrant families and communities of color is a cruel and calculated attack on the values that have defined our city, which has welcomed every person regardless of their immigration status or place of birth.”
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