New Jersey & Nurturing Seeds: Resettlement at Risk

New Jersey Needs a Refugee Minimum

In 2024, New Jersey welcomed 1,127 refugees. This year, New Jersey has welcomed approximately 300—over 70% fewer refugees. Most of these refugees were resettled before the Trump administration took office and indefinitely suspended resettlement.

Without reliable refugee arrivals and resettlement funding, New Jersey’s eight resettlement agencies are at risk—and so is the Garden State’s welcoming legacy. Interfaith-RISE, which oversees half of New Jersey’s resettlement offices, has been forced to lay off 20% of its staff and shifted another 20% of its workforce from full-time to part-time.

As the administration’s suspension of resettlement largely continues, New Jersey’s refugee communities remain needlessly separated from beloved family members. Courtney Madsen, Regional Director for Church World Service—which supports an office in Jersey City—shared the costs of resettlement’s suspension with North Jersey News:

“Because the suspension is indefinite, so we have no idea when these families will be able to come to New Jersey. In most of these cases they are reuniting with people who are already here, so we are already seeing family separation in action by this administration.”

But this isn’t the first time New Jersey has dealt with political volatility. The Garden State nourished a flourishing resettlement program following Governor Christie’s withdrawal from the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in 2016.

Jennifer Gill, Executive Director of One World One Love—a community organization that serves newcomer families—shared what local leaders have learned:

To build a reliable refugee program—one that can withstand tomorrow’s political uncertainties—New Jersey needs a resettlement floor. Here’s how we build a groundswell of local support to future-proof New Jersey’s Refugee Program.

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