INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Congressional Democrats are appealing to Marco Rubio to restart refugee resettlement services — something the new Secretary of State
supported as a Republican senator from Florida — after the Trump administration issued stop work orders to halt programs, Politico
reported.In a letter, a group of lawmakers urged their former colleague to use his leverage to undo the pause on Reception and Placement
services, which help refugees rebuild in the U.S, the newspaper reported.On the first day of his administration, President Donald Trump
moved to suspend the entire United States Refugee Admissions Program until further notice and issued a pause on &foreign development
assistance.But the Democrats say this kind of assistance to refugees does not qualify as &foreign development assistance,& since it helps
people in the United States rather than abroad.They also cite the 32,000 refugees that relocated to the United States through the Refugee
Admissions Program in fiscal year 2025 — a number of whom are still eligible for assistance through the R-P program — in addition to the
many Afghan nationals now in the country who aided United States efforts in Afghanistan and are now also eligible for help.The stop work
orders undermine legal obligations that the Department has entered into through its contracts with United States -based and
intergovernmental organizations, increasing new arrivals& vulnerability to homelessness and food insecurity at a time when they still have
no lifeline for support,& the members wrote.Signers of the letter are the top Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary Committee — Rep
Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Sen
Dick Durbin of Illinois, respectively — alongside the ranking members of each panel&s immigration subcommittee — Rep
Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Sen
Alex Padilla of California.The post Democrats urge Rubio to rescue a refugee program he once supported first appeared on Ariana News.
