Last updated: Thursday, August 28, 2025
This resource provides daily updates from the CWS policy team in your inbox on the latest policy changes; the morning’s headlines on key issues impacting refugees and immigrants; and updated tools to take action. Subscribe now to receive daily updates on the latest developments and ways to support impacted communities.
State of Play |
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The latest: The indefinite refugee ban continues to leave over 120,000 refugees unable to move forward with their resettlement to the United States. The Ninth Circuit Court will hear arguments on the merits of the case challenging the refugee ban on Wednesday, September 3 at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT in Pasadena, California. This hearing follows a lower court’s orders earlier this year that determined the refugee ban is unlawful and granted class certification. Through the lawsuit, a small number of refugees were exempted from the ban and allowed to resettle in the U.S., including Plaintiff Pacito and his family. The lower court also established a compliance framework for the review of approximately 14,000 refugee cases whose travel was canceled after December 1, 2024, and it remains on hold pending appellate review. If you are in the Los Angeles area, please join us to rally for refugees outside the courthouse following the hearing next Wednesday – RSVP here! USCIS restarts “neighborhood checks” for immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship. According to CBS News, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is reviving a decades-dormant practice of conducting in-person investigations, or “neighborhood checks,” on immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship. These investigations may involve interviewing neighbors, employers, and coworkers to help determine whether the applicant satisfies the requirements for citizenship. The government memo suggests that applicants proactively submit testimonials and that failure to comply could impact their success. Doris Meissner, who oversaw U.S. immigration during the Clinton administration, said that it seems the goal is to “create a more intimidating atmosphere that discourages people from pursuing naturalization.” Neighborhood checks were largely discontinued in the 1990s because they rarely yielded useful information, and instead USCIS can rely on the FBI’s background and criminal checks for vetting. Within the last month, USCIS also announced stricter “good moral character” requirements for naturalization applicants, and that it will subject immigrant benefits requests to an “anti-Americanism” screening. Trump administration allows attorneys without experience in immigration law to serve as temporary immigration judges. Today, the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) at the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a final rule allowing any attorney to serve as a temporary immigration judge. Previously, only former immigration judges, administrative law judges within EOIR or other agencies, and DOJ attorneys with at least ten years of immigration law experience were eligible. While more judges are needed to address the 3.6 million cases pending in the immigration court backlog, lowering the qualifications for their positions raises significant concerns. Immigration judges often make life-or-death decisions for asylum seekers and other immigrants. Given the Trump administration’s record of harmful changes to the immigration court system and recent changes–including the firing of over 100 immigration judges–this rule appears designed to rapidly hire those who will quickly deny cases in service of meeting mass deportation goals. The recently passed, so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA) also compounds the issue by capping the number of immigration judges at 800 starting on November 1, 2028. This is only a hundred more than EOIR’s current total and could make the backlog even harder to tackle. OBBA also funds a massive expansion of immigration detention, which may result in immigrants languishing in custody for the entirety of their proceedings. These actions threaten to further politicize the immigration court system and erode due process. DHS prevents disaster relief groups from serving all people in need. In fiscal year 2025 aid contracts, the Department of Homeland Security is requiring nonprofit organizations to agree to not “operate any program that benefits illegal immigrants or incentivizes illegal immigration.” The contract also says that recipients are barred from “harboring, concealing, or shielding detention” of undocumented people and must agree to “provide access to” them, including if an immigration officer wants to conduct an interview. These new requirements could force nonprofits–many of which are faith-based–from providing food, housing, and other assistance in disaster-stricken communities without first verifying individuals’ immigration status. Humanitarian groups do not typically restrict aid based on documentation, religious beliefs, or other personal characteristics, and barring support would go against their ethos or faith-based commitment to serve anyone in need. In some states and cities, organizations are barred from asking about a person’s immigration status, so it is unclear how DHS’ requirements can coincide. For now, there may be a significant chilling effect on undocumented people seeking support, even after major disasters. |
Today’s Headlines, Calls to Action and Community Resources |
Stories of Impact |
| Zenayda is a refugee who resettled in Texas who has been trying for years to get her child to safety after many kidnapping attempts. The child’s flight was booked to arrive in February. That flight has now been cancelled, and the child’s case – which is listed as “extremely vulnerable” – is now once again delayed
Doaa is a single mom with three children who have been forcibly displaced and are currently living as refugees in Cairo, Egypt. She was referred to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program because of her status as a refugee and because she has family already living in New Jersey. She and her children went through the lengthy vetting and screening process and finally had their travel booked to the U.S. – but her flight was among those cancelled by Trump’s indefinite refugee admissions ban. The children are 19, 15, and 13. The case file shows the family as: “Survivors of Violence and Torture.” The Sung family are refugees from Myanmar who were split up as they fled for safe harbor. Part of the family has been resettled in Texas, and they have been waiting for years as the rest of the family goes through the resettlement process. The flight was scheduled for early February, and the family here bought a four-bedroom home just to accommodate them. Their flight was cancelled at the last minute. |
