Report: Trump Admin Considers Withdrawing From UN Refugee Agency

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is considering withdrawing the United States from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the primary UN agency in charge of refugee-related matters.

According to a July 20 report by Reuters, the administration “has in recent weeks weighed cutting ties with the U.N. refugee agency, prompting a campaign by diplomats and U.N. officials to persuade the United States to maintain support.” The report noted that “a decision had been expected last week, but no announcement was made, suggesting that the lobbying effort may have helped delay or avert a move.”

Finerty vs. Hankinson

The United States’ potential withdrawal from the UNHCR appears to have been triggered by the agency’s appointment of Tressa Rae Finerty, a U.S. diplomat who had been serving as the chargé d’affaires for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, as its deputy high commissioner. The Trump administration had supported another candidate more aligned with its agenda.

Reuters reported:

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih chose Finerty over Simon Hankinson, a U.S.-backed candidate and former foreign service officer who has accused the UNHCR of pursuing “a mass migration agenda.”

“If they wanted reform, a return to UNHCR’s original mission of helping actual refugees, and a careful inspection of budgets and spending, I was the guy,” [Hankinson] told Reuters, calling Finerty a “business as usual” candidate….

Andrew Veprek, Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, who has espoused anti-migration views, was involved in backing Hankinson’s candidacy, … sources said. The U.S. State Department declined to comment on his involvement.

Previous U.S. Actions

A U.S. withdrawal from the UNHCR would deliver a massive blow to the globalist agency. In 2024, the United States provided more than $2 billion to the UNHCR, more than half of its total funding from governments. The agency is already in financial distress after Washington and other donors cut funding in 2025.

The Trump administration previously sidelined the UNHCR from the U.S. refugee-admissions process, set the refugee-admissions cap to the lowest-ever ceiling since enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980, and formally rejected a UN review of the Global Compact on Migration.

Other Immigration-related Conventions

In addition to exiting the UNHCR, migration experts are warning that the United States must withdraw from the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, a treaty that obligated the United States to comply with the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (which it hadn’t previously ratified), while also massively expanding the scope of the 1951 convention.

Writing at The Federalist, Todd Bensman, a journalist and former Department of Homeland Security official, noted:

Article 31 of the Convention obliged the United States to adopt as a human “right” the ability of migrants who can reach U.S. soil to claim asylum on five mainly government persecution grounds: race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion….

With dramatic reductions in the costs of transportation and communication, the world’s ineligible poor discovered they could use asylum to win permanent stays inside the United States (as well as European signatories to the Convention). This became the immigration speedway for ineligible millions since the 1990s.

Permanently ending this cycle of abuse must start with withdrawing from the treaty.

It is not clear whether the United States will ultimately withdraw from the UNHCR or the 1967 treaty. Reuters reported:

A State Department spokesperson said there have not been any changes to Washington’s engagement with UNHCR. “As with many other international organizations, we work with and through UNHCR when doing so is useful to advance U.S. foreign policy interests or save lives.”

“We will continue to evaluate the United States’ role in international organizations…” the spokesperson added, referring to a February 2025 Executive Order to review U.S. participation and funding.

Don’t Reform — Withdraw!

Regardless of what steps the Trump administration takes next, its stance toward the UNHCR demonstrates that it is overly focused on trying to “reform” it. Instead of trying to “return to UNHCR’s original mission,” as Hankinson put it, the United States should withdraw from the globalist body — and the entire UN system — completely.

Additionally, the fact that the administration opposed the appointment of an incumbent U.S. diplomat to a top UNHCR position for not being aligned with its immigration agenda helps demonstrate the existence of a “Deep State” in the federal bureaucracy, including the U.S. Foreign Service, that consistently supports globalist policies.

Legislation in Congress, the DEFUND Act (H.R. 1498 and S. 669), would fully withdraw the United States from the UN, including the UNHCR and UN conventions. Encourage your U.S. representative and senators to co-sponsor and pass these bills.

This article is part of The New American’s weekly online newsletter Insider Report, which is emailed to TNA subscribers each week. Click here to subscribe to The New American to receive the Insider Report and access exclusive content.