The Trump administration continues to cause disruption and upheaval in the US’ migrant and refugee sector.

The administration is moving to axe $US810 milion in health and welfare funding for refugees, immigrants, and related services that had been approved by the US Congress.

The White House has sent House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson a letter proposing cuts to funding and programs related to migrants and refugees at the Departments of Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, and the Justice Department.

The cuts are ‘rescissions’, which occur when the president calls on Congress to cancel specific funding appropriations.

“Enacting the rescission would… be consistent with the Administration’s goal of ending the use of Federal taxpayer dollars to support non-citizens, putting Americans first,” the letter said.

But Democrats and refugee advocates says the move is an overreach of executive power that bypasses Congress.

Supreme Court backs deportations

The US Supreme Court has ruled the Trump administration can resume quickly deporting immigrants to a “third countries”, or countries other than those immigrants’ homelands.

The six-justice conservative majority of the court temporarily lifted a lower-court decision that required the administration to give immigrants sufficient notice and the opportunity to claim fear of torture or persecution in the countries where they are being sent.

UN human rights experts have warned the deportation of thousands of migrants has already set off a “cascade of human rights violations” that could have “deadly” consequences.

Since Donald Trump returned to power in 2025, the US government has been offering millions of dollars to foreign nations to take in migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, with no ties to their countries. Deals have been struck with 35 nations, nearly a third of them in Africa.

About 20,000 people have been taken by bus to Mexico, according to Refugees International and Human Rights First. More than 5,000 others have been put on flights to countries in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and central Asia.

Barriers imposed on citizenship and permanency

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and a coalition of Democratic-led cities and states across the US have lodges a lawsuit challenging a new Trump administration rule that would give immigration officers wider discretion to deny green cards to some applicants.

Immigration officers would be able to deny green cards to people who are “likely at any time to become a public charge,” according to a policy notice published on the US. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

Under current law, the government can deny a green card to those who become primarily dependent on government cash assistance or long-term medical care paid for by federal agencies. The Trump administration expanded the list to include non-cash, temporary programs like SNAP and WIC.

The government could now prevent someone from gaining permanent legal status if officials believe they’re likely at any point to require such programs.

Opponents say it could prevent US citizens and their family members from obtaining certain benefits. For example, federal officers could count a child’s participation in a school’s free lunch program against their parent’s application for citizenship.

US global standing plunges

China is now seen more positively than the US in most of 36 countries surveyed by the Washington-based think tank The Pew Research Centre.

More also have confidence in Chinese leader Xi Jinping than President Trump, the survey found.

“Global views of the United States worsened last year as President Donald Trump’s second term began, though most people still had a more positive opinion of the US than China. This year, that is no longer the case,” the Pew report said.