Our nation’s moral compass is being tested. The Trump administration’s executive order, “Realigning the USRAP,” is not about security or reform — it is a calculated disruption to one of the most successful legal immigration pathways in U.S. history, the United States Refugee Admissions Program, or USRAP.

With no justification tied to its stated goals, vetted refugees were abruptly banned from scheduled flights and future resettlements were halted. This is, in effect, a ban on the legal immigration of refugees, including wartime allies and those seeking family reunification with U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.

The fallout is immediate and devastating — tens of thousands of refugees and legal immigrants now face uncertainty, danger and shattered hopes, both abroad and within our local communities.

The language of the executive order deliberately conflates refugees with migrants, fostering misconceptions that fuel fear rather than fact-based policy. Refugees are forced from their home countries out of fear for their lives, and that is true of some of the migrants at the border as well. However, refugees and migrants are governed by different legal frameworks. Refugees are extensively vetted abroad before arrival, unlike asylum seekers at the border. Targeting the refugee program will do nothing to address........

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