OKLAHOMA CITY — Following the Trump Administration’s abrupt cancellation of all federal refugee resettlement contracts in February, Oklahoma City-based resettlement agencies have been left scrambling for funding or forced to shutter their programs altogether, potentially leaving thousands of already settled refugees in OKC without needed support.
Within hours of being sworn in on January 20th, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order immediately halting all refugee admissions and refugee aid programs established by Congress. That order was challenged by a federal judge, but on February 26th, all federal contracts with refugee resettlement agencies nationwide were canceled with no notice.
That’s meant substantial funding cuts for Oklahoma City resettlement agencies like Catholic Charities, resettlement-focused nonprofit The Spero Project, and Oklahoma City Temple B’nai Israel’s HIAS-OKC (formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.)
In addition to helping to settle and house new refugees upon arrival in the US, those funds are used for years’ worth of integration and social services for resettled refugees like English education and housing support.
In response to cuts, HIAS-OKC has touted a significant private endowment that they say will help to continue funding their services in the short term, while The Spero Project is attempting to raise $1.5 million by October 1st to address what they say is an 86% reduction in their budget.
Catholic Charities, after decades as the lone or primary resettlement agency in Oklahoma, has ceased all refugee resettlement operations and declined to be interviewed by Free Press.
The Spero Project sees 86% cut
In addition to preventing any new refugee arrivals, local aid groups say that without that federal funding, thousands of refugees already settled in OKC, including many of the nearly 2,000 Afghan refugees settled in Oklahoma in 2021, will be left without the lifelines that they were promised.
“One big misconception is that you don’t need that funding support because we are not bringing in any new refugees,” Spero Project Director of Partnerships Skyler Taylor said in a presentation to community service nonprofit AMBUCS on July 11th, at which OKC Free Press was present.
“But we still have over 2,700 people that are here, over 1,800 of which are kids,” Taylor said. “So we want to make sure that we are doing our due diligence in honoring our word and still providing those services.”
When approved and vetted refugees are resettled in the US, they are enrolled in Refugee Support Services, guaranteeing 60 months of housing, employment assistance, and English language learning programs funded through federal grants awarded to local contracting agencies like The Spero Project.
Though Trump administration policies have effectively shut down all widespread refugee settlement operations, thousands of settled refugees in OKC are still within that 60-month window. They are still relying on those support services.
“We are in a tricky spot right now with an 86% reduction in funding,” Taylor said. “So we are trying to operate and honor our promises that are made. We believe in that. And so we need to do that, but with 14% of our funds.”
HIAS-OKC still operating
OKC’s Temple B’nai Israel officially launched their HIAS chapter recently in September of 2024, helping to resettle a number of refugees through the No One Left Behind program that evacuates and resettles foreign nationals who have aided the US military in wartime.
With a substantial private endowment and funding support directed through national-level HIAS operations, HIAS-OKC Program Director Dr. Harold Ginzburg said that their refugee resettlement program remains viable for now.
“It depends, frankly, on how much we want to – or can – expand,” Dr. Ginzburg told Free Press in a phone call Tuesday. “Right now, our cash burn rate is acceptable, and given the number of employees we have, both full and part-time, we’re in good shape.”
With only a minimal number of refugees, if any, expected in the coming months and years, can HIAS-OKC pick up the slack from the local resettlement groups more heavily affected by the federal cuts?
“That depends, really, on three things,” Dr. Ginzburg said. “How many people come that require or want our services, how much support we have economically from benefactors, and what the community tolerance is, referring to I.C.E.”
State government — no response
Oklahoma’s state-level Refugee Resettlement Program within the Oklahoma Department of Human Services is tasked with receiving and dispersing federal grants from the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Repeated calls and emails to OKDHS received no response, and there is currently no option for refugee aid or resettlement services in their automated menu.
Feds provide few answers
In addition to the cancellation of contracts with local resettlement agencies, the Trump administration has also begun to dismantle and disband the federal agencies that would have coordinated or addressed those contracts and funding streams.
Beginning July 11th, as part of mass layoffs and rollbacks within the State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio began shutting down the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, or PRM, the primary State Department agency coordinating refugee evacuation and resettlement.
The official government website for the bureau has been removed, and only an archived version of the page from the 2021-2025 Biden administration period currently remains online.
But when OKC Free Press reached out to PRM’s sister agency, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR, housed with the Department of Health and Human Services, we received a statement implying that resettlement efforts were continuing and that local contracts were still being supported.
An emailed response to Free Press addressed from Health and Human Services Press Secretary Vianca N. Rodriguez Feliciano read:
“Yes, the Office of Refugee Resettlement remains fully operational and continues its mission to support the resettlement and integration of eligible populations. ORR remains committed to working with local partners to ensure services are delivered effectively and in line with current guidelines and responsibilities.”
Who those “local partners” are and what those “guidelines and responsibilities” currently are were not made clear.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
