Major refugee aid organizations filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on February 11, 2025 to challenge President Donald Trump’s executive order which blocked the federal refugee resettlement program and cut funding for resettlement agencies. A U.S. District Court lawsuit in Seattle works to proclaim the executive order unconstitutional along with stopping its execution and restoring refugee funding allocation.
International Refugee Assistance Project and other groups including Church World Service together with HIAS and Lutheran Community Services Northwest filed a lawsuit to prove that President Trump’s executive order violates Congress’s authority to make immigration laws. Through her role as an IRAP attorney Melissa Keaney emphasizes that Trump lacks the authority to circumvent Congressional decisions with his pen. America has both ethical responsibility and legal requirement to protect refugees.
The order from Trump states that community services are overwhelmed by excessive immigration amounts so it has initiated disruptions for accepted refugees and family partitions. USAID funding cuts compelled the Wits RHI Key Population Programme in South Africa to suspend its services as part of the international program suspension. 
Through its long-standing operation the refugee program provides help to those who run away from war and persecution and natural disasters. Through bipartisan agreement in the past the refugee program received support but Trump enacted reductions in refugee admissions when he was president during his first time in office.
The lawsuit represents one more legal opposition against the immigration policies currently enforced by President Trump who seeks an end to birthright citizenship while cutting back asylum availability. Most U.S. refugee resettlements are managed by faith-based organizations that predict severe results from an extended suspension of activities.
