Recent efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to revoke the legal status of refugees has alarmed Vermont service providers.
It’s definitely affecting Vermont residents from certain countries, including Haiti, Ukraine and Venezuela, said Tracy Dolan, director of the State Refugee Office.
“They’re nervous and they’re afraid for their safety if they ever have to go back,” she said.
While new to Vermont, “they are doing all the things they’re supposed to be doing. They are working. They have employment authorization,” Dolan said. “Their employers generally have been pleased with the work and are really glad to have them.”
Those impacted include residents in the U.S. on temporary protected status granted to those who came from certain countries experiencing crises — such as Afghanistan, Sudan and Ukraine — and the humanitarian parole program that allows people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter and stay in the country for two years.
In light of February notices issued by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem revoking those programs, at least two Afghans and several asylum seekers from Venezuela, Haiti and Ukraine who resettled in Vermont were set to lose their legal status this month, officials said.
The orders, which affected an estimated 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians nationwide according to the American Civil Liberties Union, have been challenged in court. A federal judge in San Francisco and another in Massachusetts have since ruled that those already in the U.S. could keep their protections for now.
Alerts this month on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website state that Homeland Security “has every intention of ending Venezuela (temporary protected status) as soon as it obtains relief from the court order” and “No new requests for (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela) parole will be processed.”
A hundred days into the Trump administration, the efforts amplify the president’s first-day promise to crack down on an “invasion” of migrants, based allegedly on the high numbers of asylum seekers arriving at the border.
A previous order froze federal funding for refugee support affecting local relocation agency efforts.
“These actions by the Trump administration signal to Vermonters and Americans that this country is no longer a nation of immigrants,” said Molly Gray, executive director of the Vermont Afghan Alliance, a Burlington-based nonprofit that supports Afghans who are resettling in the state.
In Vermont, the orders affect dozens of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans and more than 100 Ukrainians who are “very concerned that they could lose parole, be denied the opportunity to renew parole, or have their (temporary protected status) reversed,” said Matt Thompson, a program manager for refugee services with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Vermont, a nongovernmental, not-for-profit international organization that helps resettle refugees and advocates for their rights.
While Thompson does not know of any Afghan residents affected by the latest order, the committee and its legal services partners have been working to ensure that Afghans in Vermont pursue other options for remaining in the U.S., he said, such as the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa or asylum.
The effort to revoke protections launched by former President Joe Biden is problematic not just from a humanitarian standpoint but from an economic one, said refugee relocation workers.
“These individuals have worked here, attend church — which for some is so important — and learn English. They want to work hard, do a good job and continue to contribute to the community,” said Yvonne Lodico, executive director of the Grace Initiative Global, a nonprofit that provides services to several refugee groups including Haitians and Afghans living in Vermont.
The organization often fields calls from employers looking to hire newcomers, “and we have to decline,” she said. “Vermont companies, especially those in service industries, need these individuals.”
The federal orders have caused anxiety and bewilderment among the refugee communities, Lodico said, particularly because they arrived through legal mechanisms after intense vetting.
“They anticipated that through application for legal documentation they would be able to live and work here,” she said.
Dolan said refugees have long contributed to the state economy. “I can’t speak for every person but in general all these populations are working,” she said.
Ending temporary protected status for Afghans is particularly crushing for Afghan allies who have sought protection in the U.S. while the security situation continues to deteriorate in their home country under the Taliban, said Gray, from the Afghan Alliance.
“They were made refugees because of their association with the United States government and support for U.S. military and diplomatic missions. It is these circumstances that make the revocation of (temporary protected status) that much more shameful, horrific and unconscionable,” she said.
