#046: The Impact of Federal Policy and Funding Changes on Refugee and Immigrant Communities

Since January of 2025 organizations like Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) have faced numerous legal and financial challenges in the wake of recent federal policy changes. Atrómitos Communications Director, Monette Goodrich, and IRIS Executive Director, Maggie Mitchell Salem, discuss the origins of the organization, the support it provides refugees integrating into their new homes, and how ordinary people in communities across Connecticut can help secure the future of organizations like IRIS. Monette and Maggie shed light on the critical first 90 days after refugees arrive in the United States, the impact of a $4 million federal funding cut on IRIS staff and the people they serve, and the vital role individuals play in advocating for refugee and immigrant rights with local, state and federal elected officials.

Maggie Mitchell Salem joined IRIS as Executive Director in January 2024. Throughout her 30-year career, Maggie has managed diverse teams focused on civic education, intercultural dialogue, social and political rights, and forced displacement. Given the fewer number of refugees allowed into the country due to the recent federal immigration ban, Maggie has focused on organizational structure, systems, and new initiatives that create a solid foundation for the organization’s continued growth.

Monette Goodrich, the new Atrómitos Communications Director, has decades of strategic communications, media relations and management experience in the governmental, non-profit and philanthropic sectors.

Key takeaways

The Past: For more than four decades the federal resettlement program funded organizations like IRIS to provide newly arrived refugees with critical and comprehensive integration services from basic living necessities and employment assistance, to healthcare and mental wellness support, and so much more.

The Present: Recent presidential executive orders including the immigrant ban, funding freezes and pauses, and stop work orders have drastically decreased the number of refugees allowed to immigrate into the U.S. and cut funding for resettlement agencies across the nation. After losing federal grant dollars, which make up a quarter of its annual budget, IRIS closed offices in New Haven and Hartford, restructured its services and cut its staff by more than half. 

The Future: While national organizations have challenged these policy changes in federal courts, judicial rulings take time. During this interim period of legal and financial uncertainty IRIS relies on state-level assistance and fundraising efforts, such as the Run with Refugees, to keep its doors open

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