Erin Aquino, director of Exodus Refugee Bloomington, says that after the Trump administration suspended federal refugee programs, dozens of people who were supposed to arrive in Indiana had their cases cancelled. Photo by Rodney Margison
by Susan M. Brackney
Just one.
That’s how many new refugees Bloomington welcomed in 2025. It’s a marked change from previous years when scores of asylum-seekers from Africa, the Middle East, and Central America started new lives here. In fact, since Exodus Refugee Bloomington opened in 2022, it has helped about 500 refugees settle in our area.
Erin Aquino is the local nonprofit group’s director. “Once Trump was elected, he immediately shut down the entire [federal] refugee program,” Aquino says. “Between the Indianapolis office and ours, dozens of cases that were scheduled to arrive were canceled.”
Nationally, between 12,000 and 14,000 refugees had impending flights to the U.S. canceled. What’s more, around 100,000 people were in the refugee approval pipeline, but, since Trump 2.0, there’s been little movement on those cases.
America has long been a haven for refugees fleeing religious, ethnic, or political persecution. “Part of the way the resettlement program has worked since its inception in 1980 is refugees get access to services and some funding for up to five years from their date of arrival,” Aquino explains.
With years’ worth of interviews, paperwork, medical screenings, and more, the refugee resettlement process is arduous. “It’s the hardest way to come here as an immigrant,” she says. “You get interviewed in every single database that exists at a federal level.”
That’s how things once worked. Federal funding has since vanished, and essential federal employees have been axed. “Now, no one’s coming to interview asylum seekers, because the representatives from the U.S. Embassy or the State Department are gone,” Aquino says. “You’re just left to wonder, is [refugee resettlement] ever going to happen again?”
As for Bloomington’s current refugees? Trump’s recently passed “Big Beautiful Bill” will strip them of SNAP and Medicaid benefits. “It’s literally taking food off the table and refusing medical care to people that we promised would have access to those things coming to this country,” Aquino says.
As well, she says, the Trump administration’s detention-and-deportation squads are sweeping up refugees along with undocumented people. “Refugees have a pathway to citizenship that should not be affected, but ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is also detaining and deporting them without due process, which is unheard of,” Aquino notes. “It’s the equivalent of a death sentence for some people. It’s just flat out not legal.“
While technically our clients should be safe from that, we are preparing for ICE to potentially show up,” she continues. “Frankly, people are afraid to leave their homes. They’re afraid to go to work. They’re afraid to send their kids to school. That’s the absolute terror that ICE and these policies are having on our community.”
Still, Exodus Refugee Bloomington is continuing to provide case management as well as mental health, legal, and employment services to area refugees. The group includes six staffers working out of a newly downsized office space.
Exodus still receives some state funding but relies heavily on private grants, donations, and assistance from volunteer workers. “It’s our mission and our goal to keep our doors open, to support the families that we’ve welcomed here, and ensure that they know they are a valuable part of our community,” Aquino says.
To donate funds or become an Exodus Refugee Bloomington volunteer, visit exodusrefugee.org.
On September 8, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita issued a civil subpoena to Exodus demanding information regarding possible “labor trafficking” and interference with ICE in a recent Monroe County operation. Exodus CEO Cole Vargas said in a statement published by IndyStar, “There is absolutely no justification for this demand. We stand by our important work serving refugees, asylees, special immigrant visa holders, and humanitarian immigrants. Exodus is in fact one of the few organizations in the state of Indiana that assists victims of human trafficking.”
