The Trump administration ended the Biden-era Welcome Corps refugee program months before one of its proponents, the Niskanen Center, published a report identifying seven Tennessee counties as potential destinations for new immigrants.
Niskanen, a pro-immigration think tank that has received funding from the Open Society Foundations, in March 2022 joined the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Amnesty International USA, and the Community Sponsorship Hub in policy recommendations submitted to the U.S. State Department in response to a February 2021 executive order produced by President Joe Biden, which directed federal agencies to expand refugee resettlement.
In May 2022, the Biden administration published a second notice to prospective non-governmental organization (NGO) partners, stating that it was looking for an entity to manage private sponsorship infrastructure similar to that described in the proposal submitted by the four nonprofits.
The Biden administration in January 2023 announced it selected a group of nonprofits to implement the Welcome Corps under the U.S. Refugee Admission Program (USRAP).
Before the Trump administration scrapped the program in February 2025, the Welcome Corps allowed groups of five or more lawful permanent residents or U.S. citizens to sponsor refugees by raising $2,425 per foreign national, securing their housing and household necessities, helping them obtain employment and enroll their children in American schools, and providing various forms of resettlement assistance for up to 90 days.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 20, 2025, that directed the U.S. State Department “to admit only those refugees who can fully and appropriately assimilate into the United States and to ensure that the United States preserves taxpayer resources for its citizens,” which led the agency to end the program the following month.
While the Biden-era Welcome Corps program did not directly include the Niskanen Center when it launched in 2023, the consortium chosen for its implementation was led by the Community Sponsorship Hub and included IRAP, who proposed a similar model alongside the Niskanen Center in 2022.
Niskanen also co-hosted a 2023 discussion featuring a State Department official who was responsible for administering the program.
A funding-source disclosure released by Niskanen appears to reflect a $300,000 grant from the Open Society Foundations, dispersed between September 2024 and February 2026. Tax documents show the nonprofit network previously selected Niskanen for a 2019 operating-support grant.
Hungarian-American financier George Soros is the founder and primary donor to the Open Society Foundations, and has donated more than $32 billion to the nonprofit since 1984.
In November 2025, Niskanen published a report purporting to map America’s immigration needs and identify seven Tennessee counties among hundreds nationwide as suitable for additional immigration. The report drew renewed scrutiny on Monday after Natalie Winters, the White House correspondent and co-host of Steve Bannon’s War Room, highlighted the think tank’s findings.
EXC: A Washington think tank whose immigration program receives Soros funding has identified hundreds of American counties as destinations for migrants. 96.5% of selected counties are majority White .
Residents would have no say.
Its November 2025 immigration blueprint urges… pic.twitter.com/HazsNckO1x
— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) October 12, 2026
According to the think tank’s November 2025 report, Hamblen County, Knox County, Madison County, Maury County, Moore County, Sevier County, and Wilson County would each benefit from more immigration.
With less than 10 percent of Tennessee’s 95 counties identified, the think tank deemed other states to be in significantly greater need of immigrants. Of Kansas’s 105 counties, the think tank said 54 need more immigrants, representing more than half the state.
Niskanen also claimed similar for North Dakota, where it said 31 of its 53 counties would benefit from more immigrants.
In Minnesota, the think tank said 29 of 87 counties could do with more immigration.
Since 1975, Minnesota has resettled more than 115,000 refugees and is currently home to about 520,000 foreign-born residents. Immigrants now account for about 9 percent of the state’s total population.
The Trump administration has dramatically shifted the American refugee and immigration systems, with the White House recently touting a 96 percent drop in immigration from Muslim-majority countries. Trump has also slashed the total number of admitted refugees, while allowing in mostly South African farmers facing land confiscation by their government.
Niskanen’s role in informing policy during the Biden administration, followed by its suggestion that Tennessee counties accept new immigrants, makes it the latest nonprofit to draw scrutiny for its interactions with previous administrations.
In 2024, a lawsuit filed by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti unveiled emails showing the Biden administration attempted to enlist pro-illegal alien nonprofits in Tennessee to assist with their plan to release illegal aliens from detention facilities into the interior of the Volunteer State.
Skrmetti’s office filed the lawsuit following opposition by Governor Bill Lee and U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
