Compelling news from the refugee and migrant sector

Trump blocks refugees entering the US

30 January 20250 comments

The US’ world-leading refugee intake program has effectively been shut down as part of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.

The move means that Nearly 1,660 Afghans already cleared by the US government to resettle in the US, including family members of active-duty US military personnel, are having their flights cancelled.

The US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) has also indefinitely suspended new applications and case processing.

The news comes after President Trump’s signing of multiple executive orders attacking the refugee and immigration system.

The travel suspension was due to take effect on January 27, but reports from the US say the blocking of refugee entries has already been begun.

Refugees affected by the executive orders include those resettling in the United States through USRAP, refugee follow-to-join family reunification petitions, the Central American Minors (CAM) Program, and the Welcome Corps private sponsorship program,

Trump has also ended parole programs for Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans already in US. Their futures remain unclear as the administration has vowed to deport a million asylum seekers a year.

The US has traditionally had the largest global intake of permanently resettling refugees.

But, with the stroke of a pen, much of that resettlement infrastructure – build up since the end of the Vietnam War – has been dismantled.

Among the Afghans already cleared to settle in the US are unaccompanied minors awaiting reunification with their families in the US as well as Afghans at risk of Taliban retribution because they fought for the former US-backed Afghan government.

The US decision also leaves in limbo thousands of other Afghans who have been approved for resettlement as refugees in the US but have not yet been assigned flights from Afghanistan or from neighbouring countries.

Trump made a crackdown on migrants a major campaign policy in his 2024 election campaign.

Almost 200,000 Afghans were brought to the US by former President Joe Biden’s administration since the chaotic western withdrawal from Kabul.

The new White House website says that Trump “is suspending refugee resettlement, after communities were forced to house large and unsustainable populations of migrants, straining community safety and resources”.

Vice President of the NGO the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) Laurie Ball Cooper said the administration’s movers had caused “sweeping harm”.

“It is now apparent that Trump’s refugee executive order has already caused sweeping harms. Currently, the refugee suspension is affecting all approved refugees, including many Afghan allies, those planning on joyous family reunifications, and those readying to resettle in the US through the popular and successful Welcome Corps program, as well as the American communities eager to welcome them,” she said.