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

The administration has introduced a policy that will reduce the number of days that a person has to challenge a bid to terminate their refugee status from 30 days to just 10 days.

Refugee advocates say this will make it effectively impossible for someone to obtain legal counsel and state their case for why their refugee status should not be terminated.

They say it also lays the groundwork for mass deportations.

The new policy also reaffirms that US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) may place someone who was admitted as a refugee directly in removal proceedings, without a formal termination of refugee status. Together.

However, a  ⁠federal judge has temporarily blocked the ​administration from implementing the new policy after refugee advocacy groups ⁠sought ​the order as part of a lawsuit filed challenging the ⁠rule and a plan for a broader review of refugees.

300,000 visas revoked

The Trump administration has claimed it has revoked more than 300,000 visas issued to foreign nationals, saying this has happened at a faster pace than any previous administration.

The administration claims most of revocations were due to criminal activity, public safety concerns, immigration violations, fraud or misrepresentation.

The administration has also brought in a stricter visa policy, tightening social media vetting and expanding screening.

Refugee advocates have condemned the moves saying the social media screening efforts threatens free speech and are amount to surveillance and the singling out of immigrants.

Deportations of LGBTQ+ refugees puts them at risk

LGBTQ+ migrants who have sought safety in the US have instead been deported to countries they have never visited, and sometimes to places where they must hide their identities to survive.

A report by NGO Immigrant Equality documented cases detailing how the Trump administration’s deportations to third countries have exposed LGBTQ+ migrants to dangerous conditions in places where they have no ties.

Refugee fines blocked by court

A federal judge in Boston has blocked the Trump administration’s move  fine migrants up to $US1.8 million for failing to leave the US after receiving their final order to deport.

Judge George O’Toole ruled that the administration unlawfully imposed the fines and wrote that migrants in the “economically precarious position” of responding to fines could be pushed into “insolvency.”

Asylum court being used to speed up deportations

Refugee advocates say many asylum seekers are having their court dates moved without being told with the number of in-absentia removal orders nearly tripling since the beginning of 2025.

A new report from Princeton University says mechanisms such as bond denial and prolonged detention are making it more challenging for people to pursue asylum claims in the US, a process that was already very difficult.

The report argues that due process has been severely eroded for asylum seekers, including children who came to the US after fleeing violence and extreme poverty.

Is Trump courting Myanmar junta?

Reports say Washington’s long-standing policy of isolating and criticising the military regime in Myanmar now changed.

The reports say a Trump administration official met junta leader Min Aung Hlaing last month, and that some leading Myanmar business figures have been removed from the US sanctions list.

The Myanmar junta has presided over want the Un termed a genocide of the minority Rohingya people, which has seen a million flee as refugees.