For the first time in its 43-year history, Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) has welcomed in a new year in which it plans to not welcome any new refugees.
That decision to not work with the federal government to resettle refugees in 2026 was first announced last October, when Executive Director Maggie Mitchell Salem said that IRIS’ board had voted not to respond to a federal Request for Proposals (RFP) for agencies to participate in a 90-day resettlement assistance program.
“We absolutely want to welcome again,” Mitchell Salem said during an interview on Friday. “We want to welcome again when the program that is enforced is recognizing U.S. and international law and what it really means to be a refugee.”
The primary reason for IRIS’ decision, according to Mitchell Salem in October, was President Donald Trump’s February 2025 executive order calling for resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program of white Afrikaners from South Africa facing what Trump characterized as “government-sponsored race-based discrimination.”
“Being a refugee is more than just fleeing a country that is undergoing some hardship,” Mitchell Salem said on Friday. “It means that you, a community that you come from, an ethnic group, a religious group, a racial group, your political thought and activism, is causing your government to go after you. It’s a very high bar.”
Mitchell Salem cited the federal government’s halt of the resettlement of thousands of people who were given refugee status while expediting an unconventional process for the resettlement of Afrikaners. “We will not be part of that.”
So IRIS won’t be resettling new refugees in 2026. “There are no new refugees,” Mitchell Salem said. “Besides Afrikaners, no one is coming. And they just halted the arrival of Afghan allies. The [Special Immigrant Visa] program is shut down.” Trump also declared that the U.S. would re-examine every immigrant from Afghanistan who entered the country under the Biden administration after an Afghan man shot two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. in November.
Now, the refugee resettlement organization will be focusing on its existing clients, who Mitchell Salem said “need us now more than ever,” as their legal status could be questioned by the federal government. IRIS will also be adding more immigration lawyers to its small team this month, to help the waiting list of clients in need of services. All the while, the organization will continue to provide medical, job, schools, and housing support.
Mitchell Salem also highlighted the increase in legal fees for immigration services. Green card applications, which are largely suspended, have gone from $1,150 to $1,500 per person. Due to Trump’s massive spending bill passed in July 2025, a green card is necessary for lawful non-citizens to retain Medicaid access by Oct. 1 of this year. And green card processing has been paused for non-citizens from the 39 countries where Trump has restricted travel. “That is over half of the people we serve,” Mitchell Salem said.
“This is a year of cascading impacts from 2025,” she said.
In the midst of the major changes IRIS has seen over the course of the last year, Mitchell Salem said that the organization’s Hamilton Street food pantry, made possible due to a partnership with Community Soup Kitchen, continues to be in operation. She said the food pantry has seen a 20 percent increase in families served.
Despite typically being closed for the last two weeks of the year, the food pantry opened on Dec. 23. CT Foodshare added an extra delivery to make the pantry happen, which served around 400 families that week of Christmas, according to Mitchell Salem. There was also a toy drive.
“It was a wonderful way to end the year,” Mitchell Salem said.
IRIS’ annual 5K Run for Refugees will also take place on Feb. 8. For the first time, Mitchell Salem said, there will be Spanish language t-shirts — a nod to Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show set to take place the same day.