ST. LOUIS COUNTY — More than a decade after fleeing civil war and squalor halfway around the world, two families had hoped to finally reunite in St. Louis to build a better future.
Volunteers spent a year helping one of the families, already settled here, to get their relatives out of a refugee camp in Jordan. The volunteers got approval from U.S. officials to help the family for at least three months. They raised more than $23,000 in private donations to do it.
Then, this week, President Donald Trump halted refugee resettlement. The family’s Feb. 3 flight was canceled.
“I just feel terrible for this family,†Ruth Ehresman, one the volunteers, said in a recent interview. “They’ve been waiting for so long. And then at the last minute, the rug was just pulled out from under them.â€
The halt to refugee resettlement scuttled flights for dozens of families already vetted and approved to come to St. Louis through resettlement agencies that receive federal funding to help support them, including more than 120 refugees assigned to the International Institute, the region’s premier resettlement agency.
People are also reading…
But the halt also upended plans for families hoping to sponsor loved ones through the Welcome Corps, a federal program that allows local volunteers to sponsor refugees for three months with private donations of at least $2,500 for each member of the incoming family.
Welcome Corps refugees are also vetted by state officials. But the private sponsorship helps them avoid years of waiting and alleviates pressure on federal resources, said Krissy Durant, a spokeswoman for the International Institute, which helps coordinate Welcome Corps volunteers here. Since its launch in 2023, Welcome Corps settled more than 2,500 refugees in the U.S., including several in St. Louis.
Eric Davis, a volunteer in St. Louis, was working on bringing another family, this one from a refugee camp in Pakistan here to reunite with Afghan relatives already settled here. Davis said his group, connected through local churches, was motivated to help people in need.
ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were told in January the refugee family would be assigned a flight to St. Louis in February. But they haven’t heard anything since.
“We were basically expecting them to get a notification of travel any day,†Davis said. “Now it’s all in limbo.â€
Family left behind
In a home in south St. Louis County on a recent day, a Syrian refugee family gathered around tea and coffee and sweets. Young kids ran through the hallway playing, or stopped to look at pet birds and fish. A Syrian flag hung over the television.
The family is in the U.S. legally, but requested anonymity, fearing they could jeopardize their relatives’ case.
The first family arrived in St. Louis in 2021, years after fleeing their home in Daraa, Syria, which was the launching point of an uprising against the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad. Protests in 2011 turned into all-out civil war in 2012, and the family’s windows shook from bombings. People disappeared, were imprisoned and shot in the street.
To escape, the family paid a driver to sneak them down backcountry roads, around regime checkpoints, and finally into Jordan, they said. There they spent years in a refugee camp.
The family went through rounds of interviews and background checks and cultural orientation classes that came to a halt in 2017, when Trump first assumed office and slowed refugee resettlement for four years. Finally, in late 2021, they arrived in St. Louis.
The family had always heard about America, and its freedom of speech, individual rights and good education, they said. They feel safe here, and welcomed by volunteers and the local community. The father works at a tire shop 6 days a week. Their kids want to be dentists, doctors and engineers.
Back in Jordan, their relatives are confined to a refugee camp where they can’t leave without permission. They can’t find work. And their kids’ schooling is poor.
After the Welcome Corps program launched, Anne Ross, a volunteer, helped organize sponsorship to bring the father’s sister and her family to St. Louis. They also applied to bring the mom’s brother here from a refugee camp in Lebanon.
By January, the sister’s family learned they had a ticket to arrive in St. Louis on Feb. 3. They prepared their luggage and bought new clothes.
Two days later, on Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order halting refugee resettlement. The relatives in Jordan were heartbroken.
Ross said she and volunteers have contacted St. Louis-area congressmen and senators for help. But it’s unclear what will happen.
“We’re just sticking with it,†Ross said. “We’re trying every day to do something to try to reverse this.â€
Post-Dispatch photographers capture hundreds of thousands of images each year. Take a look at some from from just one week. Video edited by Jenna Jones.
