Activists hold signs during a demonstration organized by HIAS outside the U.S. Capitol in 2017. The organization has been forced to make deep cuts to its budget even as it seeks to prepare for a second Trump administration. Photo by Getty Images

By Arno Rosenfeld January 10, 2025

HIAS fired 22 workers, including two senior executives, this week, in a sign the Jewish refugee advocacy agency is still reeling from major budgeting errors discovered last year even as it gears up to fight mass deportations and other anti-immigrant policies expected with President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Raphael Marcus, chief programs officer, and Jess Reese, chief institutional development officer, were among those laid off at the storied group’s Maryland headquarters on Wednesday. Mark Hetfield, who has led HIAS since 2013, has also stepped down as CEO but is retaining the title of president; the  job posting to replace him seeks candidates with “significant experience leading complex, international organizations through change.”

The downsizing follows the April termination of 43 employees, after HIAS employees discovered the financial mistake and realized it had overspent its budget by at least $20 million. Combined, HIAS has cut its headquarters staff by at least 20% since the start of 2024.

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Despite the turmoil, Rebecca Kirzner, a spokesperson for the 144-year-old group, said “HIAS is well positioned going forward and will continue to serve those in need for many years to come.”

HIAS has grown tremendously in recent years. Its budget soared from $51 million in 2016 to $130 million last year, as donors — many of them Jewish — sought to push back against the first Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The Biden administration also gave HIAS nearly $500 million in government grants for its refugee programs in the United States and overseas, more than five times what the group received under Trump.

Audit reveals deficiencies

But amid that growth, a budgeting error was discovered in February. Employees fired in April said in interviews that they were told that accounting mistakes had left a shortfall as high as $40 million. The chief financial officer, Lara Moninghoff, was also let go.

A 2023 audit filed with the Internal Revenue Service cited inconsistencies in how HIAS tracked its assets, liabilities and revenue, including improperly recording unconditional donations as “deferred revenue.” The organization said it was forced to reduce the amount of money allocated for general operating expenses by $20.9 million.

The audit also found that HIAS was not properly conducting risk assessments for the organizations it partnered with to spend federal grants. HIAS said in the document that it was working to address, or had already improved, all the issues noted by the auditors.

Kirzner, the spokesperson, described the audit as “clean” and said that “the auditors also concluded that HIAS is in compliance with requirements related to its federal programs.” HIAS took “appropriate corrective action.” she added in an email, and since the audit has “overhauled our finance department,” bringing in a new chief financial officer and comptroller and updating budgeting practices.

“We have taken several steps,” she said, “including staff reductions and additional cost cutting measures, to address these unanticipated financial pressures, eliminate the deficit and achieve financial stability.”

Hetfield’s changing role

Hetfield, an immigration lawyer, started as a HIAS caseworker in 1989. He has been the public face of the organization for more than a decade, speaking at synagogues and helping maintain Jewish support for a group that was founded to help resettle Jewish immigrants to the U.S. but now works almost exclusively with non-Jewish refugees.

After Trump’s reelection in November, Hetfield sought to reassure his employees that HIAS would stay the course: “We’ve been through this before,” he wrote in an email to the staff. “And we got through it, staying true to our values.”

A few weeks later, the organization announced that Hetfield would no longer serve as CEO but remain as president, a role whose duties are unclear.

Kirzner said HIAS had separated the roles because of the organization’s “eightfold” growth under Hetfield’s tenure and its expanding global presence. She added that Hetfield would “continue to support HIAS and the Jewish community in advocating for the rights of refugees and forcibly displaced people around the world.”

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