Delaware immigration advocates and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) held a round table to hear from refugees and immigrants about their situations and needs, as federal support for refugee services drops dramatically.
Coons said refugees from Haiti, Venezuela, Ukraine, and Afghanistan who he spoke with at the Siegel Jewish Community Center are experiencing a high degree of uncertainty.
"Those who are here with refugee status or seeking asylum from different countries and different backgrounds are under enormous pressure," he said. "They're having real difficulty getting any answers from USCIS, and the circumstances differ with each individual and each family."
He cites reversal of temporary protected status for Haitians, and lack of clarity on plans to extend legal status for refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan.
The Trump administration ended temporary protected status for Haitian refugees this summer, which affects as many as five thousand people in Delaware brought here in 2023.
State data says 125 refugees arrived in Delaware during Fiscal Year 2025.
He said daily struggles like finding housing are also increasingly difficult with drops in federal funding for refugee and asylum services. And he heard from people at the roundtable who received assistance through JFS in dinging d housing, educational opportunities, and settlement into Delaware.
Jewish Family Services received $1 million in congressionally directed funds. Coons wanted to celebrate the fund's ability to support the organization, "meeting its operating costs at a moment when there are so many people vulnerable in our community."
"This is something that as a member of the Appropriations Committee I could do for JFs for Delaware," Coons said. "I have pushed back hard against cuts to humanitarian programs domestically and internationally. This is something I could do for people seeking help here."
The organization plans to use the money to help vulnerable groups, like housing and community work with refugees in Delaware.
Coons said creating policy that extends temporary protected status has been stagnant in the last two years. He’s not been able to find Republican co-sponsors for bills that offer support to refugees.
Coons and Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester are both co-sponsors of a bill to extend TPS for Haitians in the US, which passed with bipartisan support in the House. They released a letter to senate leaders Thursday calling for a vote on the bill in their chamber.
