The Trump administration is continuing to dismantle long standing migration and humanitarian arrangements in the US and globally.

A raft of recent US migration initiatives are making life more difficult for thousands of refugees, asylum seekers and would be migrants, advocacy groups say.

The administration has issued a sweeping new order that could lead to the arrest of tens of thousands of refugees who are lawfully in the United States but do not yet have permanent residency, overturning years of legal and immigration safeguards.

A memo filed by the Department of Homeland Security ahead of a Thursday federal court hearing in Minnesota says refugees applying for green cards must return to federal custody one year after they were admitted to the US for review of their applications.

The order is the latest in a series of crackdowns on immigration by the Trump administration, which has reversed longstanding policies on refugee settlement, including reducing the numbers of refugees accepted by the US country to almost nothing.

Also, work permits for asylum applicants could be banned under a proposed rule being implemented by the administration, in one of the most sweeping changes to asylum-seeker arrangements in decades.

The proposed rule, issued by the US Department of Homeland Security, seeks to reduce incentives for migrants to file asylum applications to gain legal work authorisation and aims to lower the processing workload and increase security checks.

In another development, the State Department has announced the US would suspend the processing of immigrant visas for applicants from 75 countries.

The move would affect applicants from Latin America and the Caribbean, the Balkans and several countries in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The Trump administration has said the reason for move is that people from these areas would likely require public assistance once living in the US. A lawsuit has been filed against the move.

Yet another Trump administration move has been the planned expansion of the ‘Global Gag Rule’ which blocks US international aid to non-governmental organisations that provide abortion counselling or information.

Amnesty International has called the expansion an assault on human rights.

“By targeting organisations that support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and recognise gender diversity, the Trump administration is deliberately deepening inequality and putting the lives of millions around the world at risk,” Amnesty said.

“The Global Gag Rule is a disastrous and deadly US policy. It strangles healthcare systems, censors information and violates the rights to health, information, and free expression. It forces frontline providers and many struggling organisations that depend on US funding into an impossible choice: limit essential healthcare for the most vulnerable populations or shut their doors,” the agency said.