TIMES OF ISRAEL
Trump taps pro-refugee Jewish immigrant as new White House ballroom architect
Philissa Cramer
December 6, 2025

After parting ways with the first architect hired to carry out his vision for the White House’s East Wing, US President Donald Trump has picked a replacement — turning to a firm run by prominent Jewish architect who once called on Trump to keep the country’s doors open to refugees and immigrants. Shalom Baranes was born soon after his parents fled Libya amid antisemitic sentiment there, coming to the United States as a child with the help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, now known as HIAS. He rose to prominence as an architect in Washington, DC, where he has designed and renovated both private and government buildings, including the post-9/11 Pentagon, that trend toward the modern. READ MORE

PUNCH LIST ARCHITECTURE NEWSLETTER Trump’s new ballroom architect, Shalom Baranes, is a self-described “refugee” who publicly challenged the president on immigration What might turn a few heads are these details: The new architect in question, Shalom Baranes, is a self-described refugee who was born in Italy to Jewish parents who had fled Libya, and who arrived in New York with his family at age six. During Trump’s first term, Baranes published an op-ed in the Washington Post that delicately, but unmistakably, challenged the administration’s policies on immigration, taking aim at the Muslim travel ban in particular.