Refugee aid groups say the Trump administration is trying to circumvent the court ordinance

Seattle – The refugee aid groups said on Thursday, in a federal court, that President Trump’s administration seems to try to bypass a decision this week to block their efforts to suspend the refugee admission program.

American district judge Jamal Whitehead in Seattle, on Tuesday, established this week that, while the president has a wide authority on who he comes to the country, he cannot cancel the law adopted by the Congress that instituted the program of admission of American refugees.

Whitehead, a 2023 named Biden President from 2023, said that Trump’s actions were raised to an “effective cancellation of the will of Congress”, and from the bench, he granted the request of the aid groups for a preliminary blocking block. Trump’s executive order Suspension of the refugee relocation program. He promised a written decision in the following days.

But on Wednesday, the aid groups, including the World Church Service and the Hias Jewish refugee reset, received notifications that “their cooperation agreements” with the State Department were canceled.

On Thursday, the groups requested Whitehead an emergency hearing to discuss the impact of termination notifications or to say clearly that its decision also applies to those newly issued notifications. The groups called the actions of the administration a “flagrant attempt” to evade the Court’s decision.

“The defendants continue to implement their Defund of Usrap and an emergency hearing is required to ensure that the defendants are not allowed to evade the decision of the bank of this court and the written order of the future designed to confuse the state of play,” the motion shows.

Whitehead has set a hearing for months.

The State Department acknowledged the receipt of an E -mail from The Associated Press about the applicants’ motion, but did not answer the questions about it. The announcements indicated that the cooperation agreements with the relocation agencies have been ceased “for the convenience of the US government in accordance with a directive of the US Secretary Marco Rubio, for aligning with the priorities of the Agency and the national interest.”

The program of refugees, created by Congress in 1980, is a form of legal migration in the US for people traveling, natural disaster or persecution – a process that often lasts years and involves significant verification. It is different from asylum, through which people have arrived in the US can seek permission to stay, because they are afraid of persecution in the country of origin.

Despite the long -term support from both parties to accept refugees, the program has become politicized in recent years. Trump also stopped temporarily during his first term, then dramatically dropped the number of refugees who could enter the US every year.

There are 600,000 people processed to come to the US as refugees from all over the world, according to the administration.

Trump’s order and subsequent detention of the fund administration blocked the refugees who had already been approved to come to the US; forced the refugee aid groups to dismiss personally; And they interrupted short-term assistance, such as rent, for those who have recently reinstalled here, organizations said in the process that challenges the actions.

The submission of Thursday came the next day after the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to block another court decision that requires it to issue billions to suspended external aid. The administration also stressed the plans to cancel more than 90% of the US Agency for External Aid contracts and $ 60 billion in US general assistance.

Shawn Vandiver, a Veteran of the Navy and head of #fghanevac, a coalition that supports Afghan relocation efforts, said the termination of contracts will affect Afghans who have worked closely with the US during his war in two decades in Afghanistan and are now in danger. They reinstalled to the US through the refugee program, as well as the special immigrant visa visa program.

While the special immigrant visa program is still operational, the conclusion of the contract eliminates the financing that was to help those who qualified to come to America and start new lives here.

“Now the Afghans are on their own to get here,” he said.

“Do not make a mistake in this regard, this is a betrayal as what we all felt in August 2021,” he said, referring to the American chaotic withdrawal under the Biden administration.

Johnson writes for Associated Press. Rebecca Santana contributed to Washington.