The four refugee families filled seven suitcases for their new life in America. They packed blankets, tin plates, blades to clean up the land of the future home, and blades to chop the meat. They left behind what they shouldn't have brought: traditional medicines, fish paste, traditional medicines from their home country, Myanmar.
However, the family never made it to Ohio. Last month their flight was suddenly cancelled. Now, with President Trump's order to suspend resettlement for refugees, they say they have lost hope in becoming Americans, even for the thousands who have gone through years of approval processes.
“I have no opinion on American politics,” said Saw Wah Doh, a 35-year-old lab engineer who is back in a refugee camp in Thailand with his wife and two children. “I'm becoming an American, working hard, and I love democracy.”
The Trump administration's refugee suspension and the freeze on foreign aid maintains efforts to address one of the world's most tragic humanitarian crises. Not long ago, Myanmar was a symbol of democratic reforms praised by the West. Today, four years after the military overthrew the elected government, it is a rarely checked international pariah, as it bombs its own civilians.
On Wednesday, non-governmental organizations that promote democracy and provide life-saving treatment to refugees and people who have been refugees and have been refugees in Myanmar's conflict, said grants from the National Fund for Democracy have been suspended and will soon be effective. He stated that he was told.
NED was established by Congress during the Reagan era to strengthen democracy around the world. Three representatives from the Myanmar-related aid group said they were told that NED was unable to withdraw funds from the U.S. Treasury to pay the already approved grant.
The NED halt comes two weeks after President Trump's order to freeze most foreign aid, including funds paid by the US International Development Agency. According to local monitors, the Myanmar-related program has received a pledge of approximately $150 million from USAID. The grant was to be used for benefits such as HIV treatment and helping to report asylum media on civil wars in Myanmar.
According to the Global Conflict Monitor, in 2024, Myanmar was the second most dangerous and violent place on the planet. More than 3 million people have now evacuated. Thousands have been killed.
For a long time, the United States has provided a legal path to immigration for refugees fleeing persecution, war, or other threats to their lives. Trump's orders closed the door for Afghan translators and those fleeing religious persecution who risked their lives for American soldiers. It also shattered the dreams of the people of Myanmar who had escaped persecution decades ago.
In Bangladesh, a vast tent settlement for Rohingya Muslims exiled from Myanmar constitutes the world's largest refugee camp. Mohammad Islam was to resettle in the United States on February 13th with his family. That dream has withered.
Islam (43 years old) has been a refugee since he was seven years old, but he speaks fluent English and serves as a camp teacher.
“I have never been to a classroom. I only studied at a tent shelter,” he said. “I want to study with my kids in a real school in the US with walls and desks.”
The 2021 coup, which was handled by a Myanmar general, elicited bipartisan condemnation in Washington. During Trump's first term as president, his administration officially labelled the massacre of Myanmar's military violence against the Rohingya. He also praised the religious minority from Myanmar in the White House.
However, US support for those fighting Myanmar's junta has never approached a financial commitment to Ukraine, Israel or other top aid recipients. In Myanmar's jungle, university students, young experts, and even poets who have adopted weapons to drive away generals have expressed their dissatisfaction with how much international attention their light letters have been.
In late 2022, President Biden signed the law. Burmese law aims to punish those who abuse human rights in the country and to provide support to those who oppose the junta. (Burma is my previous name in Myanmar.).
Last month, Trump chose to eliminate a $45 million scholarship program that supports Myanmar students who want to flee the civil war and study conflict resolution and peacebuilding. The USAID-supported Education Fund is known as the Development and Inclusive Scholarship Program.
“We also blocked $45 million from Burma's Diversity Scholarship,” Trump said, “You can imagine where that money went.”
In a post on X, the so-called government efficiency department labelled the program as a “DEI scholarship” and said it was cancelled. Trump said federal funds should not be used to support diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I feel like they just closed it because they can,” said scholarship recipient Kofwan Paying Tiha. He is studying for a Masters degree in Public Policy in Thailand.
Opposition militias pushed Myanmar's troops out of their vast territory, but the junta forces forced civilians to revenge through brutal air campaigns and scattering of land mines in thousands of villages. The military is enforced conscription and lures young men out of town to fill their ranks.
For hundreds of Myanmar refugees who have already allowed to go to the US, the prospect of an indefinite immigration halt is another challenge in life plagued by conflict, poverty and anxiety. Htun Htun said his wife and two daughters have already settled in Vermont. He is scheduled to fly to the US in late February, but said there is little hope for the trip to move forward.
“My heart is weak and I'm afraid I'll never see my family again,” he said. “Pray that I go to the US.”
Thinking he was on his way to America, Steele Wa Doe left his laboratory job in a refugee camp in Thailand. His father, who wants to resettle in the United States, is unable to get the medical checkups required for immigration documents as the camp clinic was closed due to a freeze in Trump's funding.
American aid should be exempt from the ban on spending, but health facilities remain closed. The two nonprofit representatives said they were told they needed to fund the program themselves before receiving a refund from American aid agencies. What constitutes life-saving aid has not been revealed to them, they said.
The Rohingya Refugee Camp has also closed US-funded hygiene clinics, learning centers and hygiene programs. In one of the most densely packed locations on the planet, residents say the sewers are overflowing and pose a disease threat.
Galbahar, who suffers from heart and kidney disease, has passed through Mac to American-funded clinics several times over the past two weeks, but is chased away.
“I have no hope,” she said.
In Lakewood, Ohio, Steele Wah Do's cousin, 19, said Ray Futou, 19, felt terrifying for his relatives who didn't show up as expected.
Htoo was almost eight years old when he and his family moved to the US. He didn't speak English.
His father is currently a mechanic at a factory that makes gambling materials. HTOO is studying health at a community college. Community College was the first family to access higher education.
Htoo, who is now a US citizen, said he didn't vote in last year's election. He said some other Myanmar refugees in town, including family friends, are supporting Trump because they consider him a talented businessman.
“To be honest, I remember that because I live in a refugee camp. It's not 100% alive,” Htoo said. “If I knew I was still stuck there and others voted for the guy who overturned a new life opportunity, I would be very lively.”
Saiful Arakani contributed to a report from Teknaf, Bangladesh.
