Refugee resettlement in western Wisconsin challenged amid Trump’s crackdown

EAU CLAIRE, WIS. – Miguel has built a happy life since he resettled here as a refugee from Venezuela last summer. He works at a Menards warehouse, pays for his own apartment, goes to church and takes English classes at a nearby college.

The 24-year-old was surprised to learn from other locals about the massive backlash that spread across western Wisconsin in the months before his arrival, taking aim at refugee resettlement agency World Relief’s plans to open a new office in Eau Claire.

“Most of the people who come here, come to do a good job,” said Miguel, who like other refugees interviewed for this article asked that his surname not be published for security reasons.

He is among 116 refugees whom World Relief placed in the area over the past year, as part of a national expansion of refugee resettlement under President Joe Biden. Now, the fate of that effort in western Wisconsin hangs in the balance after President Donald Trump issued an executive order suspending refugee admissions and freezing spending that aids newcomers in their first three months.

Trump, who narrowly won the Badger State, vowed on the campaign trail to “liberate Wisconsin from the mass migrant invasion” and echoed some of the Chippewa Valley opponents’ concerns in his rationale for the refugee crackdown.

“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees,” read Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order.

World Relief officials stressed their commitment to staying in Eau Claire.

“We are going to have to reduce staff, very likely, as far as our national network,” said Matt Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief. “But our goal is to maintain the footprint of offices we have to the very best of our ability.”

The Christian humanitarian nonprofit had “expanded cautiously,” in part because it knew there was a possibility of going from relatively low refugee admissions under Trump’s first term to high numbers under Biden, and back again, according to Soerens. “It’s not particularly sustainable — it makes it very difficult to plan when the number of refugees coming into the country can vacillate so dramatically from one administration to the other.”

He said World Relief has been trying to figure out how to adapt and stick to its mission of boldly engaging in the displacement crisis around the world. “We need individuals and donors and volunteers more than ever precisely because the work is going to continue,” said Soerens, “but it might be with fewer resources from the federal government.”

World Relief and other resettlement agencies are soliciting private donations to fill in the gaps.

One newly arrived Syrian refugee family has been living at a hotel for the past month while World Relief works to find them housing. They had lived as refugees in Egypt after fleeing civil war in their homeland more than a decade ago, and recalled crying with joy as they landed at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

“We are so sorry [that more refugees cannot come] because all is terrible in our country and not safe,” said Kamel, 60. He broke into tears while recalling the hardships of the Syrian civil war. “Killing anywhere,” he said, voicing concern that Syria remains a broken country even after the recent overthrow of dictator Bashar Assad.

Kamel, his wife and four children, ages 12 to 20, tucked six small American flags into a wall hanging at the hotel to honor their new home.

“Everywhere you go, you see people smile,” said Kamel.

He had a career as a car salesman and World Relief is helping him apply for similar jobs in Eau Claire. His oldest daughter had been studying pharmacy in Egypt and is looking into college here. Kamel believes the education system here is much better, and his 17-year-old son, an aspiring doctor, has spoken well of his school.

“I want to help this country,” Kamel said, “because you opened your hearts.”

Trump’s actions will make it tougher to get Kamel’s family settled in their new life.

World Relief’s national office in Baltimore reported that it received a notice on Jan. 24 from the State Department instructing it to “stop all work” under the grant agreement that provides support to refugees for their first three months in America. That agreement provides resettlement agencies about $1,300 per refugee to cover administrative costs of helping newcomers get established; agencies also disburse $1,650 in federal grant money to each refugee for expenses during that initial period, including rent, transportation and food.

Matthew Bocklund maintains that one reason the president won is that he was on the side of the American public on refugee and immigration issues. The former St. Croix County Republican chair helped lead the opposition to World Relief’s plans, as concerns grew that refugees would eventually spread into the broader region outside Eau Claire, and St. Croix County commissioners voted in March 2024 to pause refugee resettlement. Several other Wisconsin counties took similar action following contentious meetings.

“My whole talking point over and over [was], ‘We just have to hold out long enough to defend America until Donald J. Trump is in office,’” Bocklund said.

Crowds packed the Eau Claire City Council chambers and more protested outside, but officials voted in support of bringing in refugees in January 2024 and the county board voted against pausing resettlement. Eau Claire County backed Democrat Kamala Harris by 55%, though surrounding areas that opposed World Relief’s plans went for Trump.

The nonprofit said all of its refugees have been resettled in Eau Claire, except for a few who came to Barron, where there is already an established Somali population.

Bocklund wants legislative action, too: He is pushing for the passage of U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany’s (R-Wis.) bill to prohibit resettlement of refugees in any jurisdictions that take government action formally disapproving it. He said there’s no doubt that organizations like World Relief have done some good things, but he believes they mishandled the process of coming to the Chippewa Valley without enough transparency and community input — creating taxation without representation.

Duane Shoebridge said he’s thankful for Trump’s actions. Chippewa County, where he was recently elected supervisor, voted a year ago to pause refugee resettlement.

“It’s the mass population movement that the federal government is forcing into areas that’s been causing the harm and damage, and so during this quiet time we need to go through and see about correcting some of the issues,” he said.

Shoebridge felt that if locals had no say over the initial 75 refugees resettled, they would have no say if a refugee agency came to “dump in 20,000.” (Another 41 refugees came in the new fiscal year that began in October.) He noted that Eau Claire has had a hard time with the closure of HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital last March, taking 1,400 jobs. “We’re hurting over here, and they didn’t care.”

Still, even opponents said they haven’t heard about or even seen any of the new refugees.

Among the newcomers is Boukaka, who lived in a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1999 as civil war raged. There, he met his wife and they had three children. World Relief resettled the family in Eau Claire a year ago, and they just had a fourth child. Boukaka now stocks shelves at Walmart, where he works with another Congolese refugee. He has found everyone to be hospitable, and enjoys going with his family to a Presbyterian church.

“Wisconsin is good,” Boukaka said with a smile. “The problem is just cold.”

Miguel was the first of 21 Venezuelan refugees resettled by World Relief and has helped some others get established. Yet even though he is here legally, Miguel sees a lot of news that scares him about Latinos at risk of deportation amid Trump’s crackdown on unauthorized immigrants. Sometimes he and his new refugee friends share worries that they are at risk, too.

“There are people who have entered the country and are doing bad things in other states,” said Miguel, noting controversies about migrant crime in Denver, New York and elsewhere. “Based on my experience in Wisconsin, good people have arrived who like to work, do things well and get ahead.”