A few weeks before the change in presidential administrations, Mohammad sat in his St. Louis-area home talking on the phone with his niece in Iraq about schools she wanted to attend when she arrived in St. Louis on Feb. 12.
She never made it. Her flight from Iraq was canceled along with 120 other flights with refugees headed to St. Louis from countries like Afghanistan, Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. Mohammad’s family and thousands of other refugees have been in limbo since President Trump paused federal immigrant and refugee funding and canceled resettlement flights on his first day in office.
“She was looking at the pictures of schools here, and she wanted to be in the same school with my daughter because she already has some friends and they could spend some time together,” Mohammad said. “It was a hard thing for me to do when I had to call her and tell her she would have to wait.”
St. Louis Public Radio is not using Mohammad’s last name because he is afraid of retaliation against his family from the Taliban or the Iraqi government.
Mohammad’s niece, nephew, brother-in-law and sister went through a vigorous vetting process with the federal government, including health screenings, background checks and work authorizations. Mohammad and his family went through the same process at the end of 2021 to escape the Taliban in Afghanistan.
He said he chose to live in St. Louis because he heard how welcoming it was for immigrants and refugees, and he wanted his family in Iraq to have the same experience. His brother-in-law worked with an organization in Afghanistan that supported the U.S. ambassador before the fall of the Afghan government. Mohammad’s sister and her family went to Iraq in 2023 for refuge until they were cleared to resettle in the U.S.
However, while they wait in Iraq, Mohammad said their life is not easy.
“The situation in Iraq is not good because the government is pushing companies to hire Iraqi citizens, so Afghans, Pakistani people or any other people from foreign countries, if they want to work, they get paid less,” he said. “They don't have benefits like insurance, and their job is not guaranteed.”
Central Reform Congregation’s Refugee Resettlement Circle, a St. Louis-area refugee and immigrant group, helped resettle Mohammad and his family in 2021 under the support of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. The aid society’s Sponsorship Circles Program has been helping resettle refugees for years since many immigrant organizations have been federally underfunded.
A group of faith organizations, including the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, filed a federal lawsuit last month against the Trump administration, arguing that the pause in refugee resettlement and its funding is illegal because Congress appropriated the funds. A federal judge in Seattle blocked the refugee resettlement funding pause, saying the president cannot revoke a law that Congress has put in place.
“They've gone through medical checks. They've gotten all their vaccinations … and still had the rug ripped out from under them,” said Helen Petty, team leader of Central Reform Congregation’s Refugee Resettlement Circle.
Many new arrivals cannot advocate for themselves because they are just now learning the systems of the state they reside in. Petty said it is incumbent upon organizations, community members and families of those affected by Trump’s executive orders that paused resettlement funding to participate in nonstop advocacy.
“I consider it an obligation, and I mean that in the most positive way, to advocate on these families’ behalf,” Petty said. “We've certainly been doing that. It does feel a little bit like screaming into the void, but we will continue to do so for not just Mohammed's family, but for anybody who wants to come here and make a life here.”
As for Mohammad, he hopes that during the federal pause in immigrant and refugee services, the government will make an exemption for Afghans who helped carry out missions for the U.S. in their home country.
“Believe me, they are living in a very hard situation, people inside Afghanistan and also people outside Afghanistan,” he said. “They are not feeling safe inside Afghanistan because of the Taliban and outside Afghanistan because of the foreign government.”
The 90-day pause in federal funding for refugee and immigrant services ends toward the end of April, and many local service providers are terrified about the future of refugee resettlement in this country.
Last year, the Biden administration increased the resettlement cap to 125,000 refugees allowed in the U.S. during fiscal 2025; however, only 44,000 have been resettled so far. Last year, St. Louis resettled over 1,500 refugees and was approved to resettle more than 1,900 this fiscal year.
Local providers say not having the funds to dispense to families that resettled in the St. Louis area is immense. Still, a greater loss for the city’s economy is not welcoming new immigrants to the community.
“The positive impact that we have seen locally in terms of jobs, in terms of economic uplift, and that we've seen over the generations of the refugees that we've been able to welcome to this community — whether they're Vietnamese or Bosnian or Ethiopian or Congolese — we've seen over several generations of folks contribute, build and add to the fabric of this community,” International Institute of St. Louis interim President and CEO Blake Hamilton said. “Not being able to do so puts that at risk and really limits the growth potential that we have as a region.”
