Jesuit Refugee Service says Trump funding freeze will impact more than 100,000 refugees

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 11, 2025 / 15:50 pm

More than 100,000 refugees across the globe who are recipients of critical aid from an international Jesuit nonprofit organization will be negatively impacted in the wake of the Trump administration’s 90-day funding freeze, according to Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) USA.

According to a Feb. 7 document shared with CNA, the funding freeze has “initiated a total work stoppage” for the organization, which provides assistance to refugees and other displaced people across nine countries.

Funding from the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migrants for fiscal year 2025 would have totaled over $18 million, and the funding freeze “could adversely impact 103,000-plus refugees and other forcibly displaced people,” JRS said. In 2024, JRS received $24,049,039 in government funding and $9,224,422 in private donations, according to its financial statements from last year.

JRS was founded by the then-Superior General of the Society of Jesus Father Pedro Arrupe to serve Vietnamese refugees who fled their home country at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Gradually, the Jesuit-run organization grew to accommodate refugees from conflicts around the world. The organization was recognized officially by the Vatican in March 2000. 

Since the Trump administration directive halted all foreign aid on Jan. 24 for a 90-day review, Catholic nonprofits internationally that depend on federal funding, such as Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services, are facing a crisis situation. 

Despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announcement that exemptions will be granted for certain “life-saving” programs, the document explained, “there is a lack of understanding and certainty about what this means, so funds are still not flowing.”

JRS USA carries out its operations in Chad, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, South Africa, South Sudan, and Uganda. They provide critical services such as food, medicine, transportation, cash assistance, care for orphans and unaccompanied children, and psychiatric care. 

According to information shared with CNA, Chad, Colombia, and Iraq have the largest number of refugees that will be negatively affected by the funding freeze, with more than 160,000 direct and indirect beneficiaries in Chad, some 54,000 in Iraq, and nearly 13,000 in Colombia. 

JRS’ country director in Thailand, where over 12,000 refugees are expected to be impacted by the freeze, said in a statement shared with CNA that “the sudden suspension of JRS work with people of concern from Myanmar have left many at high risk of life-altering psychosocial distress.”

“They already found it hard to recover their lost social support network and livelihoods while in exile, and the uncertainty of restarting a life or surviving itself continues to bother them deeply,” the country director, who was not named, added.

The JRS coordinator for an education program center in India said in another statement: “It was once a place of hope, love, and joy, their safe space, but now it is an abandoned center that has an impact on the education of 200+ students.”

“More than 300 [children from Myanmar] rely entirely on JRS to continue their education in the hopes that they will be the ones to bring about change and put an end to the conflict,” the statement continued. “Though some may believe they have no other choices, they are survivors who can shape the future, and they come at the center every day shining.”