This legislative ask is designed to be shared with your members of Congress and their staff.
In January 2025, President Trump began the process of dismantling U.S. foreign assistance and the U.S. refugee system at a time of rising global needs following a destabilizing pandemic with economic upheaval. Quaker faith teaches us to be instruments of peace and that the love one shows their neighbor bears witness to the selfless love of the divine. In this spirit, a successful foreign assistance policy must be rooted in strategic open arms, not closed fists.
Between Inauguration Day and March 2026, the administration terminated approximately 90% of previous foreign assistance programming and failed to spend funds as Congress intended — gutting programs essential to strengthening stability, building peace and reducing human suffering while nearly 118 million people remain forcibly displaced worldwide. The administration also employed “pocket rescissions” to cancel billions in congressionally approved funds for displaced population assistance and ended refugee resettlement programs for the transition of newly arrived refugees.
Foreign assistance supports local peacebuilders and human rights defenders, helping to prevent causes of displacement: conflict, political repression, persecution, hunger, and climate disasters. Foreign assistance initiatives build health and education systems, economic stability, and democratic governance. These are notable investments in the face of rising democratic backsliding. Quakers have long known that true security is built not by force, but through just relationships. Foreign assistance and refugee programs are proven to save lives and promote peace and stability.
Congress must fully fund foreign assistance, including migration accounts, in the FY27 National Security and Related Programs appropriations bill and strengthen guardrails to ensure the funds are spent as intended by Congress. Legislators must also press to reopen the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to all populations in need as well as reinstate and fully invest in refugee resettlement and protection through the FY27 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. Investing in peace, governance, and development averts 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 assistance has been crucial in helping partners respond and to mitigate irregular migration. Many of these lifelines are vanishing.
- Moral and strategic responsibility: Turning away from crises and persecution around the world by narrowing the U.S. refugee program to just Afrikaners is worsening humanitarian suffering, weakening alliances, and emboldening authoritarian regimes. America must remain a beacon of peace and safe harbor for all, not retreat from global responsibility and offer selective refuge.