The trickle-down effect of some of President Trump’s first actions after returning to office two months ago has reached Newtown.

Soon after his swearing in on January 20, Trump halted the resettlement of refugees from overseas indefinitely as part of his broad immigration crackdown. A letter issued by the US State Department that week suspended funding to groups that assist refugees with housing, job placement, and other needs as part of a broad pause on aid, according to Reuters. That letter, essentially a “stop work” order, went into effect 5 pm Friday, January 24.

The cancellation of the federal funds meant New Haven’s Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS) lost a combined $4 million. IRIS is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help refugees and other displaced people establish new lives in Connecticut and across the country. It also provides support to those sponsoring refugees for resettlement.

IRIS had a contract to receive $3 million this year under the State Department’s Reception and Replacement Program, which covers the first 90 days of help resettling refugee families.

IRIS had a separate $1 million contract to help 15 to 20 organizations in a dozen states nationwide sponsor refugee families under the Welcome Corps program launched in 2023. The stop-work order covers both programs.

Trump’s work on January 20 also included the suspension of The United States Refugee Admissions Program, or USRAP, “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”

Locally, the Interfaith Partnership for Refugee Resettlement (IPRR) was formed in late spring/early summer 2016. Members of many Newtown houses of worship — along with other residents with no religious affiliation, but a shared desire to help others who found themselves in the international humanitarian crisis — created the partnership. Since its formation, IPRR has worked with IRIS through the latter’s Community Co-Sponsorship (CCS) Program.

Through CCS, IRIS delegates most resettlement tasks to a group like IPRR, who takes care of everything from securing affordable housing and collecting furniture and other household items to helping refugees access public benefits (HUSKY/Medicaid, SNAP/food stamps, and TFA/cash assistance for eligible families), enrolling children in school, facilitating job searches, and performing other necessary tasks. IRIS works with Homeland Security and the United Nations, among other sources, to vet the families, sometimes for up to two years before a family is settled in this area through CCS.

In its nine years of existence, IPRR has helped five families settle in this area.

Its work is now in limbo.

Cindy Dunn, speaking for IPRR, told The Newtown Bee the CCS program “is no longer functioning at IRIS due to executive orders — shutdown of USRAP and Reception and Placement — withholding of federal funding and the consequential staff reduction.

“Consequently, IPRR can no longer be assigned to newly arrived refugee families to support in our area,” Dunn said.

IRIS had planned to help up to 800 families arriving in New Haven this year. Instead, the 210 families who had arrived between October 2024 and January 20 — when the newly inaugurated President effectively shut the door on any more arrivals — are the focus of current resettlement efforts for IRIS, which is simultaneously downsizing its staff and its operations.

In recent weeks IRIS has laid off 20% of its staff, laying off more than 20 of its 100 employees. It will also close its New Haven location by the end of this month, moving all operations to its Hartford office.

IRIS Executive Director Maggie Mitchell Salem issued a statement on March 6, calling the changes “strategic cost-saving decisions” during “immensely challenging times.”

The news does not mean Newtown’s IPRR is disbanding, however.

While it will not be assigned any new families for resettlement until further notice, Dunn said IPRR “has remained in consistent contact with the remaining IRIS staff.

“IRIS has provided alternative opportunities for our group to assist with IRIS’s remaining clients,” she added.

The changes do not mean IRIS is closing. In a statement issued March 10, Salem clarified that point, saying in point that while the organization is “reducing operational costs, we continue to provide the essential services that help our clients build successful futures.”

CT Mirror content was used in the creation of this story.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.