(RNS) — In late February, U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead ordered the Trump administration to resume accepting refugees cleared under the federal refugee admissions program, which President Donald Trump froze by executive order on the first day of his second term.
In a lengthy ruling siding with the plaintiffs, which included a trio of faith-based groups that help resettle refugees, the judge spelled out his reasons for granting a preliminary injunction, arguing “the record shows concrete and severe harms to the individual and organizational plaintiffs flowing directly from” the administration’s decision to freeze the program.
“These harms are mostly irreversible and warrant immediate intervention to stop more harm from befalling Plaintiffs,” Whitehead added.
Three months later, the administration has not begun to admit the estimated 128,000 refugees already approved to enter the U.S., roughly 12,000 of whom had travel plans booked before Jan. 20, when Trump issued his order.
The faith groups involved in the case say the harm to refugees has only worsened. The refugees — many who fled religious persecution, brutal war and relentless violence around the globe — remain locked in limbo, the groups say, some in refugee camps where they wait to hear whether they will again be approved to enter America.
“As if they haven’t been through enough already,” said Mark Hetfield, head of HIAS, a Jewish agency that r …