Cuts to U.S. foreign aid in Chad have placed Sudanese refugees in a dire situation, making already scarce resources such as food and water even more difficult to access. This has also impacted various U.S. government-funded programs for mental health counseling and education.

Aballah Abakar Abdallah, a teacher at the only secondary school in Aboutengue refugee camp near the Sudan border, described how distressed the students were upon hearing the news of the school’s closure: “Most of them were crying.”

The school, funded by a U.S. State Department grant through the Jesuit Refugee Services (J.R.S.), was a key provider of secondary education to refugees fleeing the Darfur region. The cuts threaten the education of approximately 32,000 Sudanese refugee students, as stated by J.R.S.

Despite the challenges, Sudanese refugee Abdulazeem Abdu Abaker, who fled El Geneina, Darfur, in 2023, emphasizes the importance of staying in education: “We have brothers fighting in the battlefield, so we have to split our efforts between education and the battlefield. If we give up on education, it won’t help our country’s success.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. accused the R.S.F. and its allied militias, an ethnic Arab paramilitary group aiming to control the country, of committing acts of genocide against non-Arab Masalit ethnic groups in Darfur.

According to UNICEF, the majority of Sudanese refugees who have crossed into Chad and reside in refugee camps are women and children, with widespread gender-based violence reported in active conflict areas.

HIAS, a refugee advocacy organization operating in Aboutengue camp, spent nearly two years building trust among the refugee community to encourage at-risk women to seek help with domestic and gender-based violence issues and emergencies.

However, the Trump administration’s January stop-work order on all U.S. foreign aid-funded programs halted HIAS’ ability to follow up on thousands of refugee protection cases. Although the stop-work order was eventually lifted, it remains unclear which programs will continue to receive funding and for how long.

In February, HIAS filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, along with seven other groups, challenging the executive order to halt foreign aid assistance as unconstitutional and the withholding of congressionally appropriated funding as unlawful. Although a federal judge ruled in favor of HIAS and the other plaintiffs, the U.S. government has yet to fully implement the ruling.