PBS News Hour

JOHN YANG: Shortly after being sworn into office, President Trump indefinitely suspended refugee admissions to the United States.

After months of legal challenges, only a small group of refugees has been allowed into the country.

White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez has an exclusive report on one family's journey here.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: In the early morning hours last Saturday, John, Anna and their six children arrived at Bradley Airport in Hartford County, Connecticut, ending a journey more than a decade in the making.

JOHN, Refugee (through translator): Our journey was long.

We were very tired when we arrived, but the manner in which we were welcomed, all the exhaustion faded away.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: That welcome came from staff at the Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, a local nonprofit that resettles refugees.

John and Anna, whose names we have changed for their safety, met and lived in a refugee camp in Zimbabwe for nearly 20 years.

Both had fled their own countries, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, fearing for their lives.

They built a family, but were never able to live outside the camp or put down roots.

JOHN (through translator): There was no purpose to our lives and every day was a struggle.

When we got the news that we could travel to the U.S., we were very happy.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: But the family's arrival in their new home is five months late.

They were all set to come to the U.S. earlier this year, after packing up, giving most of their possessions away and leaving the refugee camp.

But then, hours after taking office on January 20, President Donald Trump indefinitely stopped all refugee admissions, following through on a campaign promise.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: On day one of the Trump presidency, I will restore the travel ban, suspend refugee admissions, stop the resettlement.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: What did you think when you found out you could not come to the U.S. anymore?

ANNA, Refugee (through translator): I felt very bad because we had already given everything away.

We didn't have anything else to sell to get funds when we returned to the camp.

MARK HETFIELD, President and CEO, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society: A promise has been made and a promise should be kept.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Mark Hetfield is the head of HIAS, one of 10 mostly faith-based organizations that the federal government has long contracted to resettle refugees.

HIAS joined a class action lawsuit in February to restore the U.S.

Refugee Admissions Program.

In the meantime, they argue, all refugees who have already been approved should be allowed to enter the country.

What is the legal argument for why these 128,000 that had previously been approved should be able to come in?

MARK HETFIELD: That these refugees have already been through an exhaustive process, that Congress authorized this program, and that these refugees have already established their eligibility for it.

And they have the approval notices to prove it.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: In May, after months of appeals, a district court partially agreed.

Thousands of refugees who had booked travel to the United States must now have their cases reconsidered by the government.

And the federal judge ruled that 160 refugees who were due to arrive within two weeks of Trump's executive order be immediately admitted.

That number dropped to around 80 after President Trump imposed a new travel ban in June.

But, for John, the news his family could finally enter the United States felt like divine intervention.

JOHN (through translator): From my side and my family, we felt as if the heavens had opened up for us.

I swear it was like news that had come to wipe our tears away.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: John and his family are the first refugees that HIAS and partner organization Jewish Family Service have resettled since January 20, said Rabbi James Greene.

RABBI JAMES GREENE, CEO, Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts: But our team jumped into action, the team that used to be our reception and placement team.

The gang got back together and set about doing all of the things that we are trained and experts in doing.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: That included packing hygiene kits, stocking up on groceries, and even finding community members to make a home-cooked East African meal.

For Abubakari Bigirimana, John and Anna's case manager, this work is personal.

ABUBAKARI BIGIRIMANA, Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts: Because I have, they have been refugees, and I really understand.

I know those kind of situations they have been in, yes.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: JFS helped him resettle when he arrived to the U.S. from a camp in Tanzania in 2017.

He says this year has been a difficult one.

ABUBAKARI BIGIRIMANA: When you have been doing this kind of work helping people, you just get ordered that you're not going to do that anymore, that is a challenge.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, President Jimmy Carter signed the Refugee Act into law with unanimous bipartisan support in the Senate, establishing today's resettlement system.

Until recently, the U.S. admitted more refugees than all other nations combined.

During the first Trump administration, the number of refugees dropped a record 85 percent.

President Biden rebuilt the program, with more than 100,000 refugees arriving last year alone.

But after retaking the White House, Trump almost entirely shut down resettlement, with one exception, Afrikaner are South Africans.

DONALD TRUMP: White farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Trump has repeated false claims of mass killings of white South Africans, and, in May, granted refugee status to 68 members of the minority.

The White House did not provide anyone for an interview, nor responded to questions about refugees like John and Anna.

Spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to the "News Hour" that: "The Trump administration is working to undo the damage caused by the Biden administration, who admitted countless poorly vetted migrants into the United States."

But, experts say, the process to become a refugee in this country requires intensive screening, including interviews with U.S. and U.N. officials, medical examinations, and mandatory cultural orientation.

MARK HETFIELD: It is a very arduous process.

There is no person who comes here who is more thoroughly vetted over a longer period of time than a refugee.

So, when people talk about waiting in line to come here the right way, these are people who are waiting in line.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Back in Massachusetts, Alina Dyachenko, who is from Ukraine, helped JFS resettle 481 refugees last year.

Apart from John and Anna, she now only works with clients already in the U.S. How has it felt that the work that you initially were doing is now stopped?

ALINA DYACHENKO, Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts: It's sad, but the end result is the same.

The goal stays the same to help families achieve self-efficiency and build their life in the United States.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Do you feel like the United States is still a welcoming place for refugees or for people like your family who fled a war?

ALINA DYACHENKO: No, not at all.

It's very sad to see what is happening.

I don't think it feels welcoming at all.

RABBI JAMES GREENE; I think there's a deep sense of pain and a deep sense of loss and sadness.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Rabbi James Greene says John and Anna will likely be the only refugees his organization resettles this year.

RABBI JAMES GREENE: In this family's arrival is an acknowledgement that there are thousands of other families who had assurances who won't be arriving this year and potentially for years to come.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: In the same court case that ordered John and Anna be admitted, a federal judge ruled Monday that the government must allow entry to the 80 additional refugees who were blocked by Trump's travel ban.

Less than a week in the U.S., John, Anna and their children are adjusting to their new home.

JOHN (through translator): Firstly, we feel very safe.

Secondly, we aren't hungry and we sleep in a great place.

We definitely see the difference between where we were living and where we are now in the U.S. We are now finally starting our lives.

ANNA (through translator): Our expectation is that our kids can get a great education so they can help themselves and we can also help ourselves.

We can now live peacefully with everyone else.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: John thanked America for his family's warm welcome, but made one final appeal.

JOHN (through translator): On our end, we already have gotten a durable solution, but there's neighbors and family who we were going through the process of resettlement together with, and they are still really suffering awaiting to be relocated.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Those refugees, like more than 100,000 others, are still waiting.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez in Western Massachusetts.

JOHN YANG: We want to thank Laura Barron-Lopez for that story and for all of her terrific work here at PBS News.

She's moving on to a new opportunity, and we wish her the very best.