World Relief, an evangelical organization assisting refugees, received an order from the U.S. State Department to cease operations the same day Afghan refugees were arriving. Despite the confusion, the group chose not to abandon its mission. The order raised concerns about funding for refugee housing and support, as federal funds are crucial during the initial settlement phase. This situation comes as the new Administration has enforced spending freezes on various foreign-aid programs, impacting organizations like USAID and their humanitarian efforts.
"It said, stop all work," says Matthew Soerens, the vice president of advocacy and policy for World Relief. "But we were not going to not show up at the airport."
Usually that time period is covered by federal money distributed through various partners so that refugees have time to get on their feet and find a job, but now the State Department has ordered World Relief and other charities to immediately cease doing that.
Funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)—which, at roughly $40 billion, accounts for less than 1% of the federal budget—was paused for 90 days on all but a very narrow set of programs.
Since the inauguration, the incoming Administration has imposed spending freezes and stop-work orders on a wide swath of American foreign-aid enterprises.
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