Refugee Council USA, Elected Leaders, and Advocates Condemn Collective Punishment of Refugees and Immigrants Following DC Shooting

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) today convened a national press conference to condemn the Trump administration’s sweeping anti-refugee, anti-asylum, and anti-immigrant actions announced in the wake of the November 26 shooting in Washington, DC.

The briefing brought together national, state, and local leaders, including resettlement and legal experts, a refugee mayor, a state legislator, a refugee community leader, and a U.S. Navy veteran, who warned that the administration is exploiting a tragedy to justify collective punishment, targeting entire communities instead of individuals responsible for wrongdoing.

Advocates raised alarm about discriminatory vetting practices, even as refugees from other regions now face mass re-review.

“Most Americans rightly reject collective punishments and the scapegoating of entire communities of people” – John Slocum, RCUSA

John Slocum, Executive Director of RCUSA and moderator of the briefing, opened by emphasizing that the policies amount to “extraordinarily punitive measures” that abandon both U.S. law and long-standing humanitarian commitments. He noted that collective punishment of entire nationalities and faith communities is not only illegal and discriminatory, but also undermines public safety by driving people into fear and the shadows.

“Putting these families in unnecessary limbo is cruel and destabilizing for them and their communities,” Slocum said. “The dehumanizing rhetoric that has accompanied these policies has no place in our government and puts Americans in danger.”

Slocum also shared how RCUSA joined the Welcome with Dignity campaign and the Evacuate Our Allies steering committee in sending the President a letter signed by a broad coalition of  130 national, state and local organizations, condemning the administration’s actions and demanding a swift reversal of these harmful policies.

Communities already in limbo pushed into deeper crisis

Dr. Beth Oppenheim, CEO of HIAS, described how the new measures are immediately harming refugees who have already passed years of vetting and begun to rebuild their lives in the United States. She shared examples of clients, including Congolese and Afghan families, who now fear they could lose their status, their jobs, and the stability they worked so hard to achieve.

“The horrific actions of one person have been used as pretense for the introduction and aggressive implementation of policies that affect the safety and well-being of hundreds of thousands of refugees, asylum seekers, asylees, and immigrants,” Oppenheim explained. “They create fear, retraumatize families, and jeopardize the very promise that the United States has made to those fleeing persecution.”

Laurie Ball Cooper, Vice President of U.S. Legal Programs at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), detailed ongoing litigation challenging the government’s pause on Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) processing and warned that the new policies will multiply backlogs, prolong family separation, and plunge thousands into renewed uncertainty.

Local leaders: Fear and confusion on the ground

Wilmot Collins, Mayor of Helena, Montana, and a former refugee from Liberia, spoke about the impact on cities and towns that have welcomed refugees for decades.

“This past week has been one of the hardest and most difficult time in all my eight years as Mayor of Helena, Montana,” Collins said. ”My neighbors are afraid. I’m afraid. They’re asking. They’re confused. This is the country they gave up everything for. And today, their lives are in an uproar. This administration has chosen to exploit a tragic incident, not as a moment for sober reflection or pursuit of justice, but as a pretext for collective punishment by weaponizing grief and fear.”

Ohio State Representative Ismail Mohamed (D-Columbus) highlighted the chilling effect on Somali, Afghan, and other immigrant communities in central Ohio, noting that local leaders are fielding urgent questions from families, faith communities, and service providers about what these policies mean for school, work, and everyday life.

“Too often, when people are dehumanized, it makes it easier, and it makes it legal for someone to start acting on them. That is the biggest worry,” Mohamed said. “If it’s a Somali community today, then it’ll be another community next week. And we’ve sort of seen that movie.”

Former refugees and veterans: Stop targeting entire communities

Dauda Sesay, Board Chair of Refugee Congress and National Network Director at African Communities Together, spoke as a former refugee from Sierra Leone and a proud American. He stressed that Black and Brown refugee communities are reliving past traumas as they watch themselves vilified once again in public debate.

“That is not how you build trust. That is not how you build safety. Safety comes from smart, community-based involvement, not blanket suspicion based on nationality or religion,” Sesay said. “We the people. Our power is greater than the people we put in power. Let us not allow it to turn the other way, as we are seeing now.”

Shawn VanDiver, a U.S. Navy veteran and founder of AfghanEvac, condemned efforts to use the DC shooting to smear Afghans, refugees, and asylum seekers as a whole. He reminded reporters that Afghans evacuated to the United States passed multiple layers of security screening, often in third countries, before ever setting foot on American soil.

“Our Afghan allies and refugees around the world have shown extraordinary courage and trust in the promise of the United States. The question now is whether we will show a fraction of that courage in return,” VanDiver said. “We can be a country that panics and punishes – or a country that grieves, thinks clearly, and chooses justice. We need to choose justice.”

VanDiver called on Congress to strengthen, not dismantle, protections by passing measures such as the Enduring Welcome Act and related bills that provide durable status for Afghan allies and uphold the integrity of the refugee program.

Legal, moral, and national security stakes

Speakers underscored that the administration’s actions raise serious legal concerns, risk violating U.S. treaty obligations, and could undermine national security by signaling to allies worldwide that American promises are unreliable.

“No one should live in fear that their government will target them because of who they are or where they or their families are from,” Ball Cooper said. “We will defend our communities and stand up to any attempt to strip people of their status, their livelihoods, or their safety.”

RCUSA’s call to action

RCUSA and the speakers at today’s briefing urged the administration to:

1. Immediately reverse the mass re-review of already-admitted refugees and resume case processing for asylum seekers and refugee green card applicants;
2. Lift the blanket visa suspensions targeting Afghans and nationals of the 19 listed countries and return to individualized, evidence-based determinations;
3. Publicly reject dehumanizing rhetoric that paints entire communities as threats; and
4. Engage directly with impacted communities, resettlement agencies, legal experts, and local leaders to craft policies that uphold both safety and human rights.

A recording of the press conference and speaker bios are available upon request.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Jen Lee Reeves, Refugee Council USA, jreeves@rcusa.org

 

RCUSA is a diverse coalition advocating for just and humane laws and policies, and the promotion of dialogue and communication among government, civil society, and those who need protection and welcome. Individual RCUSA members do not all address all refugee-related issues, nor do all individual members approach common refugee-related issues identically.

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