The various agencies of the United Nations are a peculiar beast. Their quality and contributions are a mixed bag. Even among the best agencies, quotas and cash matter. Internal U.N. appointments are akin to affirmative action on steroids, with the added complication of appeasing donor nations that expect their donations to equate to influence and patronage.
On the first issue, there is a broad consensus over which agencies pull their weight. Even U.N. insiders roll their eyes at the antics of the more political agencies such as the U.N. Human Rights Council, U.N. Relief and Works Agency, U.N. Women, the U.N. Population Fund, and increasingly, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. All of these agencies engage in virtue signaling and political agendas that besmirch the reputation of the entire U.N. system.
That said, within the U.N. and among policymakers from across the political spectrum, there is also consensus about what the U.N. does right. Both the World Food Programme and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees fulfill tasks that no single government could accomplish. Both are technocratic and require real expertise among staff.
On Jan. 1, 2026, Barham Salih, former Iraqi president, polyglot, and at one time a refugee himself, took the helm at UNHCR. His rise coincided with massive budget cuts; funding is now 40% below 2022 levels. The United States fell from being the agency’s top donor in 2025 to its sixth in 2026. Compounding the problem has been the Trump administration’s decision to give a lump-sum payment to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs instead of targeted funding for specific agencies and purposes. Deferring decisions to U.N. bureaucrats served to forfeit U.S. sovereignty.
Still, for American conservatives, Salih was an ideal partner.
Unlike other U.N. heads, he values rather than resents Washington. His freedom is a testament to U.S. actions in Iraq that so many others at the U.N. condemned. He was a victim of the Oil-for-Food program, the U.N.’s worst corruption scandal, and so takes a zero-tolerance approach to waste and fraud. In addition, Barham understood that an ever-expanding definition of refugees not only betrayed the meaning of the U.N. Refugee Convention but also preserved rather than resolved existing problems. Salih understands, too, that whining about budget shortfalls does not help refugees, but that institutional reform does.
Because of America’s accumulated generosity, Salih preserved the practice of appointing an American to be deputy high commissioner, even as Europeans lobbied for their own nominees. The position is not born of political patronage. Rather, it is equivalent to that of a chief operating officer overseeing a multibillion-dollar budget.
To choose the deputy, U.S. administrations traditionally provide UNHCR with a slate of possible candidates to interview. The State Department refused. Those shepherding Trump’s pick then announced the selection before the U.N. completed its process.
UNHCR ultimately shortlisted three U.S. nationals, but based on merit and management experience, the interview panel unanimously chose Tressa Rae Finerty, a career U.S. diplomat. Finerty has never made headlines; she defined her career by managing U.S. contributions and interactions with the U.N. system based strictly on the policy of her superiors. She is no ideologue.
Rather than be introspective about the failure of its own candidate or accept responsibility for its own mistake of providing three candidates from which to choose, some within the Make America Great Again camp now prefer to castigate UNHCR as helping illegal immigrants or undermining American interests. This is not only nonsense, but self-defeating.
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First, the UNHCR plainly reduces illegal immigration flows into the U.S. Here, Barham’s philosophy coincides with President Donald Trump’s belief that removing refugees from harm’s way negates the right to travel onward to America. Barham has also committed to halving the number of refugees on the books by 2035. He seeks returns of refugees to Venezuela through work permits and, on a shoestring budget, has worked to stop refugee flows from Ukraine. UNHCR cash also helps return refugees to Syria and wind down camps in Kenya.
To punish the only U.N. agency that listens to and respects Washington does not make America great again; rather, it represents another own goal.
Michael Rubin is director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum and a contributor to Beltway Confidential.