A Tacoma-based nonprofit that provides resettlement services to refugees in the region sued the Trump administration Monday over the suspension of the U.S. refugee-resettlement program, court records show.
The lawsuit is challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order on Jan. 20 that suspended entry into the country by refugees under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and the administration’s stoppage of federal funding to long-serving refugee organizations, according to the complaint.
“Rather than learn from past mistakes, the Trump Administration has repeated them and engaged in severely harmful and irrational conduct that flouts the rule of law,” the suit said.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit’s claims.
One of a dozen plaintiffs is Lutheran Community Services Northwest, headquartered in Tacoma and an affiliate of a national resettlement agency, according to the complaint. It maintains more than 40 locations across Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and its 700-plus employees serve more than 40,000 clients annually.
The organization has “provided a range of social and family services to low-income communities in the Northwest for decades,” the suit said. The case, which includes 11 other plaintiffs, was filed in U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington.
“We’ve done this work at LCSNW since after World War II, through the Vietnam era, the Afghanistan evacuation, to the present day,” CEO David Duea said in a statement. “We know there will be ebbs and flows. But this is the first time a President has shut down the system without notice, abandoning thousands of families who’d received invitations to start new lives, and thousands who’ve barely had a chance to start. We trust justice will prevail.”
The executive order last month asserted that continuing to allow refugees into the United States under the USRAP “would be detrimental to” the country’s interests. It cited widespread migration into the United States over the past four years in both small cities and major urban centers.
“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees,” the order said.
The lawsuit argues that the suspension further endangered vulnerable refugees, including persecuted ethno-religious minorities, and it seeks a temporary restraining order and court injunction to “restore the important and historic American tradition of protecting and aiding people fleeing persecution.”
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