Updates to the refugee resettlement program since it abruptly changed on January 20, 2025:
On January 20th, 16 refugee individuals had their flights canceled following an Executive Order suspending refugee resettlement. These individuals were invited to be resettled in Minnesota where they were joining family and friends.
Our staff was actively serving 109 refugees at the time of a stop-work order on January 24, which left us with a funding gap. Many of you responded to our great need, and we raised the $250,000 needed to sustain services for the 109 individuals in our care.
On Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, we received more devastating news that our contract to resettle refugees was terminated.
The Executive Order’s request for a report on whether resumption of entry of refugees into the United States under the USRAP would be in the interests of the United States was due on April 20, 2025. We have now passed that pivotal date, and we still have not received news of a formal review of the program. Click here for a full timeline of the rapid changes to the refugee resettlement program.
Our Mission Continues
We continue to serve the 1,400 refugees already in Minnesota that we’ve resettled over the past 5 years. We hope, pray, and advocate for the U.S. Refugee Admission’s Program to be reinstated so others from around the world can find refuge in our neighborhoods.
Ways you can Stand in the GAP for our refugee neighbors:
Give
All donations go toward providing essential services for our refugee neighbors beyond 90 days. In partnership with the local church, we will continue to assist the thousands of refugees who arrived in Minnesota over the previous months and years through our supportive services and volunteer programs.
We ask for your continued financial support through a one-time donation or through monthly giving. Monthly support provides the stability we need to navigate this uncertain time with confidence to continue serving our vulnerable refugee neighbors in 2025 and beyond.
Show care for our refugee neighbors already living here. Volunteer with our new neighbors as they acclimate to life in Minnesota.
Advocate
Reach out to Cabinet Members, the White House, and your Elected Representatives and let them know you want them to reinstate the refugee admission’s program.
Pray
A call and response prayer sheet for resettled refugees and our elected leaders is available for download here.
Together, we pray, lament, and cry out for justice! Join us in praying to our God, who loves the foreigner.
We are grieved by the decision to suspend the US refugee admissions program and plead before you King of Kings for a swift reversal. To the God who softened the heart of King Xerxes to save his people, we pray for your intervention in the hearts of those who now lead our nation.
We pray for righteous men and women in the places where decisions are being made. May their voices be bold and persuasive. We pray the administration recognizes and acts on the moral imperative to welcome the stranger. We pray that new policies place value on human worth and dignity regardless of immigration status.
We pray for men, women, and children who live in perpetual waiting. For the millions who cannot go back. For the millions who cannot go forward. We pray for your comforting presence in the unknown middle. Grant peace and favor as families work their way through laborious systems. As years pass, as time slips away, we ask you to provide deep and lasting hope.
God of Provision, we pray for those newly arrived families whose services have been cut as the administration reneges on its commitment. We pray for your provision to meet their needs confident that you richly bless. We pray for first days at school, for first trips on the bus, first English classes and first jobs-ease the stress of navigating new systems, language and culture. We pray for legal documents to arrive on time, for rapid benefit approval, for jobs that fully meet needs.
God who triumphed over fear, we pray for courage to step into the uncomfortable, to use our voices to advocate and act in ways that honor your heart for the stranger. Give your Church wisdom to respond in this time with clarity and compassion.
God of Belonging, we intercede for those families who have sought refuge from the ravages of war and violence. We pray they may find not only shelter and sustenance, but also a loving and supportive community, welcomed in by your people, welcomed by you Jesus.
OH LORD, HEAR OUR PRAYER.
