This legislative ask is designed to be shared with your members of Congress and their staff.
On his first day back in office, President Trump issued executive orders freezing all foreign assistance for 90 days and indefinitely suspending refugee admissions on the backdrop of rising global needs following a destabilizing pandemic with economic upheaval. Quaker faith demands that we greet the sojourner with open arms, not closed fists. As scripture instructs, we must welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.
Throughout 2025, the administration has arbitrarily eliminated 30% of current foreign aid funding and terminated over 85% of all foreign assistance programs, including those essential to global peace and stability—at a time when over 120 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide. These acts jeopardize major bipartisan achievements from President Trump’s first term, including the Global Fragility Act (2019) supporting peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and good governance; the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act (2019) preventing genocide and mass atrocities; and the Women, Peace, and Security Act (2017) protecting women and girls during conflict and supporting their role in conflict prevention.
For fiscal year 2026, the administration has issued a historically low Presidential Determination on refugee admissions cap of 7,500 refugees. The administration intends to overwhelmingly prioritize Afrikaners. The United States Refugee Admissions Program remains closed to thousands of refugees whom the U.S. government already determined had verifiable cases and previously committed to resettling. Refugee protections must be robustly funded and made available to those in dire need.
Foreign assistance supports local peacebuilders and human rights defenders, helping to prevent the very conditions that drive displacement: conflict, political repression, hunger, and climate disasters. Foreign assistance initiatives build health systems, education, economic stability, and democratic governance in fragile states. Quakers have long known that true security is built not by force, but through just relationships. Foreign assistance and refugee programs are proven tools that save lives and promote peace and stability.
Congress must urge the administration to resume foreign assistance programs. Congress must fully fund foreign assistance, including migration accounts, in the FY26 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs bill. Legislators must also press to reopen fully the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to all populations in need as well as fully invest in refugee resettlement and protection through the FY26 Labor, Health and Human Services bill.
- Prevention is cheaper than response: Foreign assistance is among the most cost-effective tools of U.S. national security. Investments in peace, governance, and development avert costlier emergency responses and military interventions. Every dollar spent on preventing conflict saves $26-103 in the cost of conflict and response.
- Human security and global stability: From Chad, where resources are exhausted hosting 760,000 Sudanese refugees, to Colombia, which has welcomed 2.8 million Venezuelans. U.S. foreign aid has been crucial in helping partners respond. Now, many of these lifelines are vanishing.
- Moral and strategic responsibility: Turning away from global crises by abandoning our refugee program will worsen humanitarian suffering, increase irregular migration, weaken alliances, and embolden authoritarian regimes. America must remain a beacon of peace and refuge, not retreat from global responsibility.