SILVER SPRING, Md — HIAS joins our partners in the humanitarian and development community in our outrage and devastation at the U.S. government’s decision to abruptly suspend life-saving assistance to vulnerable people around the world.
“The magnitude of these stop-work orders is unprecedented and breathtakingly cruel,” said Mark Hetfield, HIAS President. “The impact is staggering, abandoning millions of people around the world to face exploitation, violence, and hunger — including in places where HIAS has been working in partnership with the U.S. government for decades.”
In addition, effective immediately, national and local refugee agencies, including HIAS and our network of more than two dozen partners around the country, have been ordered to stop providing critical services to refugees who came to the U.S. through the safe and legal pathway of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. This includes Afghans who helped U.S. troops and people who fled war and religious persecution in countries like Ukraine, Sudan, Syria, and Iran. They along with the communities that had prepared to welcome them will now be abandoned.
People who have been forced to flee because of who they are and what they believe will see the immediate termination of many life-saving services, including in some of the world’s most unstable places.
“The Biblical commandment to act with compassion toward the widow, the orphan, and the stranger has guided HIAS’ work for more than 120 years,” said Hetfield, “But today, these are the exact people that the U.S. has decided to abandon.”
The humanitarian and development coalition InterAction released the following statement upon learning of the stop-work orders. HIAS joins together with our partners to urge Secretary of State Rubio to continue America’s leadership role in providing humanitarian and development assistance by allowing HIAS and many other organizations to continue our important work around the world.
As Jews and humanitarians, HIAS will never abandon our values. We have a responsibility to always stand up for newcomers, who came to the U.S. with the understanding that we would help them adjust to life in a new country. Likewise, we will always advocate for the rights and safety of forcibly displaced people around the world.
As the world’s oldest refugee agency, our hearts are broken today, and yet we look to tomorrow with resolve and determination to use all our strength to help as many people as we can. This is what we have done every day for the last 120 years, even through some of the darkest moments of Jewish history. We are committed to the values that have driven this work for over a century.
