World Relief Western Washington, the organization that gives monetary, logistical and cultural support to Whatcom County’s diverse community of refugees, is facing an existential crisis with the Trump administration’s halt of federal funding for refugee resettlement.
The day President Donald Trump took office, he signed an executive order halting refugees — legal immigrants fleeing war and persecution — from coming into the country. Days later, the administration instituted a stop work order ending support for refugees who had already arrived, and froze other federal funding sources for refugee resettlement agencies.
The federal government has historically given resettlement agencies $1,650 per refugee for direct expenses like rent, food and furniture, as well as providing administrative funding. That aid has ended, leaving the resettlement agency in Whatcom County reeling.
“These are people we welcomed at the airport, who are staying in temporary housing, and we’ve committed to serving them for 90 days, and then we were told the government was completely backing out of their side of the agreement,” local World Relief resettlement manager Steven Shetterly said.
Hope for a new life
Daniel Tamayo and his wife Karen Wilcken fled persecution in Colombia after Tamayo spoke out against crime and corruption high up in the government. They were the target of several assassination attempts in their home country and in Guatemala, where they lived in hiding as they awaited approval to resettle in the U.S.
The couple arrived in Bellingham at midnight on Nov. 22, 2024, with barely any possessions, no friends and no family. They were met at the airport by their World Relief case manager, whom they call “their angel.” The organization found them housing, furniture and warm winter clothing, and helped them learn the bus system, open a bank account, enroll in courses at Bellingham Technical College and seek employment.
“If there’s no more World Relief, who will help refugees? We’re really grateful,” Tamayo said. “I know in reality the Trump administration has a strong point — people abuse the asylum and refugee program, but a lot of people like us really need this. We just want to have a peaceful life and we think we deserve peace.”
In Colombia, Tamayo led a nonprofit organization that used cycling to promote education and nutrition for impoverished children. He and his wife don’t drive — they have always ridden their bikes everywhere, first in Bogotá and now in Bellingham. That quickly led them to being befriended by a couple of World Relief volunteers who are cyclists.
Even though they are here legally, Tamayo and Wilcken are nervous about being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They carry their documentation everywhere, but aren’t confident an ICE agent would know the difference between a refugee and someone who is here illegally.
“We’re trying to be good citizens,” Tamayo said. “People who come here just want to have a normal life, be good neighbors, pay taxes, learn about the town. This is a beautiful town and we’re so happy to be here — we can imagine getting older here.”
They’re no longer dependent on financial aid from the government or World Relief; they’re already paying rent and are saving up to reimburse the agency for their plane tickets.
The 90-day resettlement program is funded through the Department of State, but World Relief offers additional programming for refugees and other immigrants, such as employment services, English classes and school readiness programs in which kids can become acclimated to the U.S. education system.
“It’s a public-private partnership,” Shetterly said. “The government isn’t paying all the expenses. Resettlement agencies make up the difference, and have done that willingly and in a way that brings the whole community in.”
In his experience, around 80% of refugees achieve self-sufficiency in the 90-day window of federal aid, and within six months almost every adult refugee is employed and engaged in the local economy.
“The idea of moving from zero, from arrival to self-sufficiency in 90 days, it sounds laughable — imagine moving to a foreign country where you don’t speak the language and are expected to be self-supported in three months,” Shetterly said. “Refugees are some of the most resourceful and resilient people you can meet.”
Who is coming to Whatcom County?
The Whatcom branch of World Relief Western Washington has resettled 373 refugees and Special Immigrant Visa holders in Whatcom and Skagit counties since opening in 2021. World Relief is a religious organization and one of the 10 federally funded resettlement agencies.
In the early years, it felt like the office was “rolling from one crisis to the next,” Shetterly said.
“You read the news and see what international crises are happening, and you figure in four to six months’ time this is probably going to affect us locally,” he said.
The organization had planned to open the new office gradually, laying the groundwork for a few months before starting to accept refugees. Then, in August 2021, Kabul fell to the Taliban and the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan.
Afghan families started pouring into the country — in Whatcom County alone, 31 people arrived in the first eight weeks of World Relief being open.
The refugee population served by World Relief has diversified since then, with people coming here from Syria and South and Central American countries, as well as a few cases from Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Before coming into the country, refugees are thoroughly vetted, verified and processed by the United Nations and U.S. national security agencies. They have legal immigration status, are authorized to work and can apply for permanent residency (a green card) after one year.
“It has helped boost the image of the U.S. on an international scale, as a place seen as ‘the good guys’ who are willing to welcome at least a portion of the world’s most vulnerable,” Shetterly said about the country’s Refugee Admissions Program, which has been in place since 1980.
World Relief in Whatcom has also provided less intensive support for more than 500 humanitarian parolees — Ukrainians who fled their country after the Russian invasion and have temporarily relocated to the U.S. (The humanitarian parole program was paused on Jan. 28.)
The local office was on track to resettle 250 people this fiscal year before Trump signed an executive order on his first day that barred entry to incoming refugees and halted application processing, at least temporarily. The order claims that absorbing refugees into communities hurts Americans by depriving them of resources and security.
Shetterly acknowledged that the overwhelmed asylum system has resulted in chaos at the southern border, but disputes the executive order’s message.
“The refugee program has been painted as part of that chaos when really it’s the solution to it,” he said. “It’s orderly, there is security vetting, you assure these people are in danger and bring them into the country in a controlled manner in collaboration with communities.”
The administration then instituted a stop work order, freezing federal funding for refugee resettlement agencies. On Feb. 10, three agencies sued to challenge the government’s withholding of funds. A federal judge in Seattle granted a preliminary injunction on Feb. 25 blocking the program’s suspension and funding freeze.
The next day, the State Department canceled its cooperative agreements with all 10 national resettlement agencies, cementing the end of funding.
Because of that, the agency has had to lay off three employees in Whatcom County.
“These weren’t extra folks, these were people with language and cultural skills that we now don’t have on our staff anymore,” Shetterly said.
Job loss
One of those people is Kamran Karwan, a former World Relief caseworker from Afghanistan who speaks Pashto and Dari.
Karwan was an activist and journalist in Afghanistan before fleeing to the U.S. to seek asylum in 2023.
Because he was an asylum seeker, he had none of the support that people who have been granted refugee status enjoy. While a refugee has been vetted in another country before being approved to resettle, an asylum seeker arrives in the U.S. ineligible for government services, benefits or work authorization, and must prove his or her case.
“As an asylum seeker, you are basically on the streets, you have nothing,” Karwan said. “You have to hire an attorney to help you apply. You have to wait six months to be eligible to work.”
Karwan moved to Bellingham in March 2024 to be closer to his brothers living in Vancouver, B.C. He didn’t know anyone in town but learned about World Relief from a friendly stranger on the bus. He immediately contacted Shetterly, who connected him with temporary housing shared with another recent immigrant from Afghanistan.
A couple months later, when World Relief had a job opening for a caseworker who could support Whatcom County’s growing Afghan population, Karwan was at the top of the list. He loved the work — he loved being a friendly, familiar face for refugees.
“It was my favorite job,” he said. “I knew about immigration, I was one of them so I understood them really well. I knew what they need, what challenges they face in a new community, a new culture, a new country.”
Karwan was furloughed in February, then laid off after World Relief’s cooperative agreement was canceled.
He doesn’t believe that ending federal financial aid is actually a cost-cutting measure — he thinks withdrawing support from refugees at the beginning of their resettlement journey can force them to draw on other government benefits for longer.
“[The government] says they have to save money and make people self-sufficient, but they’re actually pushing people to rely on public benefits,” he said.
A patchwork of support
Federal actions left one recently resettled Syrian family frightened they would no longer have housing. But despite losing funding, World Relief pulled together a patchwork of private donations to ensure stability for the family of seven.
The family arrived at the Bellingham airport on Dec. 30, 2024, after a long day of traveling from Jordan to Qatar to the U.S. The parents, who asked that their names not be published, fled Syria at the onset of civil war in 2011 and spent more than a decade in Jordan, awaiting approval of their refugee status.
Saed Abdou translated during an interview between the Syrian father and Cascadia Daily News. He has been a volunteer interpreter for World Relief since the Whatcom office opened and Arabic-speaking families started arriving.
“It’s good to have a familiar face and the same language when you come from a very long trip,” Abdou said. “I’m lucky I’m able to do it.”
It was a challenge finding an apartment big enough for the family. Then the property manager canceled their move-in due to the actions of the new administration. The family had to continue living in a hotel.
“That was one of my biggest fears,” the father said about the possibility of losing housing. “But the World Relief organization didn’t give up on us. They still supported us, although they didn’t have the proper funding.”
It took another week or so to convince the landlords that World Relief could continue to provide support by piecing together private donations from churches and individuals.
“It’s a success story in a way, seeing the community step up, but it’s not repeatable on a large scale,” Shetterly said. “Federal funding provides a baseline assurance that you can ensure basic services for people.”
With five kids, ages 10, 8, 6, 4 and 18 months, the Syrian parents have been grateful to receive help with transportation and school registration, and to connect with other refugees from their country who live nearby. The father is still looking for work but hopes to secure a job soon.
The organization is continuing to fulfill its mission, for now.
“We are functioning as if those funds are going to be available, but due to the way the refugee programs are funded, we spend that money up front and get reimbursed by the government, so I think there are very legitimate questions about whether any of those dollars we’re spending now will actually be reimbursed,” Shetterly said.
To learn more about World Relief Western Washington, visit worldrelief.org/western-wa.
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
