California & Political Imagination: Resettlement at Risk
Feeling overwhelmed? Us too. Here's how to catalyze that feeling of overwhelm into advocacy that will shape the future of resettlement--in the Trump era and beyond.
The Incentives for Action
In our first newsletter, we talked about incentives—the role incentives play in political decision-making. We shared a core tenant of our pro-refugee advocacy work in red states:
The incentives for action have to be greater than the incentives for inaction.
As the Trump Administration dismantles the Refugee Program—as flights are canceled, families are stranded, and local resettlement offices begin to shut their doors—the incentives for action increase. The cost of doing nothing doubles.
When we assess political possibilities, we are often victims of what has happened—rather than aligning our attentional resources with what could happen. We see rising opposition as a tide against the possible, limiting legislative choices. And not without cause: choices this Congress will likely grow more and more limited, as the President exercises his bully pulpit to exact action on his anti-immigrant agenda.
But we cannot only be focused on what our choices are this Congress. While limited capacity could justify such short-term decision-making, it will result in reactive advocacy that, at best, will staunch the bleeding—much less cauterize the wound.
Meaningful legislative reform—including The GRACE Act—is a long-term advocacy objective. It is a problem for our decade, not this Session—or even the next.
But the time to lay the groundwork is now.
Political Imagination
How do you create momentum for resettlement in a hostile legislative environment?
You have to get creative.
We cannot do what we have always done and expect different results. We are no longer operating in a political environment where bipartisan support for refugees can be assumed, executive actions offer term-to-term continuity, or Democratic marker bills hold hope of becoming functional on their own.
We have to repurpose the tools of refugee advocacy for the Trump Era.
World Refugee Day Resolutions
Every year, members of Congress and state lawmakers sponsor resolutions—non-binding “sentiments” of a legislative chamber or body—commemorating World Refugee Day (June 20th). Over the past several years, the majority of these resolutions on the federal level have been introduced and supported by Democrats only.
We can no longer afford a World Refugee Day Resolution that’s a party-line ticket.
In the Trump Era, World Refugee Day Resolutions must be used as a tool to generate bipartisan support. When utilized correctly, resolutions—despite being vehicles for sentiment rather than substantive legislative change—coalesce real rhetorical, political, and ideological support that fosters tangible, bipartisan change over the long run.
Resolutions can help bring Republicans to the table if they focus on the basics.
We know this strategy works. In Republican supermajority states like Utah, resolutions set off a cascade of Republican-sponsored refugee-centered policies that have transformed the state into a leader on refugee integration. Similar resolutions have passed in Arizona, Georgia, and Texas.
These resolutions highlight the Refugee Program’s contributions to national security, the American economy, and local communities. They educate lawmakers about the Refugee Program’s rigorous security vetting requirements and the definition of a refugee. They cite prior Republican statements of support and they call for future legislative action.
The 2025 World Refugee Day Resolution should be patterned after those that have previously generated strong Republican support in red states—and it should introduce the idea of a statutory refugee admissions floor to a bipartisan audience.
Refugee Protection Acts
In response to the first Trump administration’s attacks on the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, Rep. Lofgren (D-CA) and Sen. Leahy (D-VT) proposed the Refugee Protection Act of 2022—an iteration of previous legislation Lofgren and Leahy introduced to strengthen U.S. resettlement.
While this Refugee Protection Act, and those that came before, was expansive, inclusive, and offered a crucial legislative response to the first Trump Administration’s attempts to dismantle the Refuge Program, it did not offer a viable political solution for saving resettlement.
Including the text of The GRACE Act is not enough; Refugee Protection Acts must offer a politically viable vehicle for making a statutory floor law.
Fundamentally, for refugees, resettlement offices, and our broader communities, legislation on resettlement needs to prioritize aspiration in durability over aspiration in scope.
Durability, in and of itself, is a wildly aspirational proposition. No country has truly committed their resettlement goals to law, leaving admissions decisions subject to the whims of leaders as they come and go.
If the U.S. Congress were to pass The GRACE Act, it would be the first time a country would commit to providing safe haven to a minimum number of refugees each year—irregardless of political leadership. It would be globally precedent setting.
A statutory floor with bipartisan ambitions should be the centerpiece of any future Refugee Protection Acts.
The GRACE Act
We've written about the GRACE Act before (and hint, we won’t stop talking about it).
The GRACE Act is the only path to creating a Refugee Program that can continue to offer refuge to the persecuted across Administrations.
Passing the GRACE Act would codify a minimum number of refugees that must be admitted to the U.S. each year, offering stability for resettlement agencies, receiving communities, and refugees. Setting a statutory floor codifies a point of minimum viability for resettlement, ensuring that fluctuations in geopolitics, shifting congressional attitudes, and volatile executive agendas could no longer dismantle the U.S.’s resettlement infrastructure.
We are dealing with the fallout of a Refugee Program governed by executive whim—rather than legislative certainty—now.
And we know the costs will only grow with time.
During the last Trump Administration, almost 40% of resettlement offices closed.
And it’s happening again.
Resettlement agencies have begun laying off staff and closing offices, left with no other choice following the Trump Administration’s resettlement pause and federal funding freeze. World Relief's stark warning that 4,000 refugees resettled by their agency face immediate risks of "hunger and homelessness" isn't hyperbole; it's happening right now in our communities.
We’ve said it once, and we will say it again: it doesn’t have to be this way.
The GRACE Act offers a solution. We need to focus our political imaginations and efforts on passing a bipartisan statutory admissions floor.
Incentives for The GRACE Act: California & Beyond
California is home to almost 600,000 refugees—96% of whom are employed and 89% of whom are naturalized U.S. Citizens. This sizable population makes invaluable contributions to California’s churches, schools, and industries. The American Immigration Council estimates that there are approximately 50,000 refugee entrepreneurs in California. California’s refugee population holds $33 billion in local spending power and contributes almost $10 billion in state and federal taxes each year.
But these contributions are at risk.
The whiplash of Trump's refugee shutdown is reverberating through California with devastating clarity.
In Sacramento, home to one-third of California's refugees , families who prepared homes and bought welcome meals now stare at empty apartments. In Stanislaus County, 20 refugee families received three days' notice before losing their housing in temporary hotel rooms. In the Bay Area, refugees who arrived mere days before Trump’s second Inauguration are now left worrying for their family and friends who did not make the cut—and are now stranded overseas.
These stories are snapshots of phenomena across the Nation.
This isn't just a crisis: it's a preview of what happens without The GRACE Act's protection. When federal funding vanished overnight, the damage spread like wildfire. Around the Country, offices are closing, resettlement agencies are laying off staff, refugees are losing housing, basic services, and support.
If you’ve been affected by a resettlement agency’s closure or reduction in staff, we invite you to share your story HERE.
Every empty apartment, every canceled flight, and every shuttered resettlement office represents not just a humanitarian failure, but a clear mandate for change.
The message to Congress must be unequivocal:
For every refugee stranded mid-journey, for every caseworker losing their job, for every community scrambling to provide promised resources:
There is a solution: The GRACE Act.
The GRACE Act offers the stability our communities desperately need—and the cost of inaction grows by the day.
You can email your Congressional representatives and ask them to support The GRACE Act by clicking here.
Thanks for reading Save Resettlement. Next week: Colorado & Infrastructure Collapse.
Until then, don’t let the bastards get you down.