Biden-Appointed Judge Halts Trump’s Freeze Of Refugee Admissions

A federal judge Tuesday threw a wrench into President Donald Trump’s efforts to pause the country’s massive refugee resettlement program.

U.S. District Court Judge Jamal Whitehead, appointed to the bench by former President Joe Biden, blocked Trump’s executive order pausing the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, according to the Associated Press. The ruling was the latest in a growing pile of lawsuits by organizations and localities opposed to the Trump administration’s immigration law enforcement agenda.

“The president has substantial discretion … to suspend refugee admissions,” Whitehead said to the administration and the several refugee aid groups that brought forward the lawsuit, according to the AP. “But that authority is not limitless.”

On his first day back in the Oval Office, Trump signed an executive order that called for a temporary suspension of all refugee resettlement into the U.S. The president cited the country’s lack of “ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.”

In the order, the president highlighted the plight of small towns like Springfield, Ohio, and Charleroi, Pennsylvania, that have dealt with incredible logistical and infrastructure challenges due to the large influx of refugees. Trump also noted that other major jurisdictions, like New York City and Massachusetts, have declared emergencies due to the weight of their migrant populations.

The decision to pause resettlement came in sharp contrast to the Biden administration, which had allowed incredibly high levels of refugees into the country — to the dismay of some local communities. The Biden White House allowed more than 100,000 refugees to settle in the U.S. throughout fiscal year 2024, the highest resettlement number in roughly three decades.

Local residents in Springfield, Ohio, and Charleroi, Pennsylvania — two towns which received high numbers of refugees during the Biden administration — told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the migrant influx had sparked an array of infrastructure challenges, such as a housing crisis, classroom shortages and more dangerous roadways.

The Biden administration established several pathways for otherwise-inadmissible migrants to lawfully enter the country en masse in order to mitigate chaotic scenes at the southern border, such as the implementation of the CHNV program and the massive expansion of the CBP One app allowing migrants abroad to apply for asylum — two programs which the Trump administration quickly began rolling back.

Shortly following Trump’s executive order on refugee admissions, the State Department in January confirmed it cancelled all flights of refugees who were approved to enter the U.S.

The moves were met with opposition from various migrant organizations, including those that receive lucrative contracts from the refugee program. Lutheran Community Services Northwest, the Jewish resettlement group HIAS and numerous individuals sued the administration earlier in February, arguing that their ability to provide care to refugees was sidelined by the White House.

In a separate court challenge, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) also sued the Trump administration over the order. That group stands to lose tens of millions in federal taxpayer dollars providing refugee services.

In addition to the lawsuits targeting Trump’s pause on refugee admissions, liberal groups have sued over his order blocking birthright citizenship for individuals born on U.S. soil to illegal migrant parents, the Justice Department’s directive withholding funds from sanctuary cities, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement directive on “sensitive locations” and other administration policies.