Barham Salih, the first refugee to lead the United Nations refugee agency, said Monday the world faces “a very difficult moment in history” as the U.S. cuts funding and tightens asylum restrictions. Speaking from Rome in an interview with the Associated Press, the former president of Iraq warned that repression of immigrants is growing while resources to protect them are plummeting.
Salih took office as high commissioner for UNHCR on January 1, just weeks before the Trump administration suspended the U.S. refugee program and slashed agency funding from $2.1 billion to $800 million—a loss that threatens assistance to some 30 million refugees worldwide.
A Refugee’s Voice at the Helm
Barham Salih arrived at the United Nations refugee agency carrying personal knowledge most leaders lack: what it means to flee persecution. The former president of Iraq, now high commissioner for the UN’s refugee agency, spoke from Rome this week about the moment he inherited—one he described bluntly as difficult.
The world is home to 117.3 million forcibly displaced people, according to UNHCR data. Yet funding to protect them is evaporating. The Trump administration cut U.S. support to UNHCR from $2.1 billion to $800 million, eliminating well over a billion dollars in resources even as the country remains the agency’s largest donor.
The Funding Cliff
“Resources made available to helping refugees are being constrained and limited in very, very significant way,” Salih said in his interview with the Associated Press. His agency must now support approximately 30 million refugees with dramatically less money.
The administration also suspended the U.S. refugee program in 2025 and set admissions at 7,500—a historic low since the program’s inception in 1980. The administration has been tightening immigration enforcement generally as it pursues broader deportations, policies that Salih said place UNHCR in a position it has not faced before.
“We have to accept the need for adapting with a new environment in the world,” Salih said. He added that his agency would “be more cost-effective, to really deliver assistance to the people who need it, rather than be part of a system that sustains dependency on humanitarian assistance.”
Personal Stakes
Salih’s understanding of displacement is not theoretical. He fled Iraq to Iran as a teenager in 1974. Years later, after being arrested and tortured under the Saddam Hussein regime, he fled again—to the United Kingdom in 1979. He eventually returned to Iraq and served as president from 2018 to 2022, a trajectory from refugee to national leader that remains rare.
Since taking office on January 1, Salih has visited refugee camps in Chad and Kenya, observing the consequences of his agency’s reduced means firsthand. Refugees living in those camps—from Sudan, Somalia, Congo, and Ethiopia—are experiencing the downstream effects of U.S. funding cuts and political shifts in wealthy countries.
Faith and Humanity
Salih met this week with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. The pontiff, the first pope from the United States, expressed support for UNHCR’s work. Salih emphasized the importance of faith-based organizations to the refugee effort.
“The voice of the church and faith-based organizations in this endeavor is absolutely vital,” Salih said. “His moral support, his voice of the need for supporting refugees and what we do as UNHCR at this moment is very, very important.”
Faced with a resource crisis and a narrowing of asylum protections in key countries, Salih voiced optimism. “Of course it’s a fight, undeniably so, but I think also I’m hopeful and confident that there is enough humanity out there to really enable us to do that,” he said.
He concluded with a reframing of how displaced people are understood. “Refugees are not just numbers and victims,” Salih said. “With protection and opportunity, things can be very, very different for a lot of people.”