The Trump administration’s indefinite refugee ban, stop work orders and prolonged delays in reimbursement for resettlement agencies have had a devastating impact on tens of thousands of refugee families and communities across the country and around the world. Welcome to the latest edition of State of Play from Church World Service. This resource will provide regular updates from the CWS Policy Team on the current state of play; updated asks for national, state and local leaders; and the latest headlines and community resources. Subscribe now to receive daily updates on the latest developments and ways to support impacted communities.
State of Play |
The latest: Proposed 17,500 refugee ceiling for white South Africans; Ebola sparks Title 42 order prohibiting travel from three countries; Afghan SIVs effectively frozen; reconciliation bill moves to markup; 200,000 children have had a parent detained.
Proposed 10,000 refugee ceiling increase for white South Africans only. The State Department sent a proposal to Congress yesterday with a plan to increase the refugee admissions ceiling from 7,500 to 17,500. The proposal only references Afrikaners in South Africa and no other populations in need of refugee resettlement. Resettlement agencies expect to reach the current 7,500 ceiling sometime in June.
The proposal does not include a path to resettlement for any of the over 100,000 refugees who were conditionally approved for resettlement when President Trump took office but now remain stranded in the pipeline. These include:
- Over 15,000 Iranians fleeing religious persecution in the Lautenberg Program pipeline.
- Hundreds of Afghan allies still stuck on the Camp As Sayliyah base in Qatar after more than a year.
- More than 650 Follow-to-Join family reunification cases in which refugees in the U.S. remain separated from spouses and children.
- Refugees with severe medical conditions, unaccompanied refugee children, and those fleeing the world’s most devastating emerging and protracted displacement crises.
Instead, the administration is expanding the program for just one population: white Afrikaners. Read CWS’ statement on the proposed adjustment here. We will share more information in our next edition.
Travel from the DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan prohibited due to Ebola outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Title 42 order yesterday suspending entry of foreign nationals who were in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan during the last 21 days because of the Ebola outbreak. The order took effect immediately and will remain in place for 30 days. It does not apply to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. During the COVID-19 pandemic, both the Trump and Biden administrations used Title 42 to rapidly expel migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border without the ability to seek asylum.
The World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday. Over the weekend, an American working in the DRC tested positive for Ebola and is now receiving treatment in Germany. Congo’s health minister reported 513 suspected cases and 131 deaths. The DRC is also the country State Department officials proposed as a destination for more than 1,000 Afghan allies still in limbo at Camp As Sayliyah, instead of resettled in the U.S. as promised.
State Department report reveals depth of freeze on Afghan SIV Program. Despite Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants still being scheduled for interviews, no Afghan SIVs have been issued this year to those applying with Afghan passports. As of January 31, 2026, there are more than 23,400 Chief of Mission (COM) approved applicants who remain in processing, with only 5,790 SIVs that remain available. Per its report, State will also not create new COM cases for SIV applications received after the December 31, 2025 deadline. As mentioned in the State of Play yesterday, IRAP and advocates are recommending applicants postpone visa interviews and later processing steps to avoid receiving a 212(f) denial.
Immigration enforcement bill moving ahead–with moving parts. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is planning a Thursday vote on the reconciliation package providing $70+ billion to ICE and CBP. He can only lose up to three Republicans, and retiring Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) has vowed to oppose the bill if it comes to the floor this week because of its funding for the White House ballroom and the rapid timing of the process. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said she supports “his initiative” and Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) said he doesn’t “necessarily disagree” with Tillis.
Senators are still reworking several pieces of the bill after the nonpartisan Parliamentarian assessed that they did not fit under the strict reconciliation rules, which require provisions to primarily have a budgetary, rather than policy, impact to skirt the filibuster and be voted on by a simple majority. So far, the Parliamentarian has found CBP hiring, CBP operations, screenings of unaccompanied children, the $2.5 billion DHS slush fund, and the ballroom subject to a 60-vote threshold (unless successfully rewritten). In a phone call with Majority Leader Thune yesterday, President Donald Trump urged him to fire the Parliamentarian for ruling against the ballroom funding.
The Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee marked up this still-in-progress bill today (all amendments were rejected), and the Budget Committee will mark it up tomorrow. “Vote-a-rama” is expected to begin on Thursday evening, teeing up final votes in the Senate and the House by the end of this week or early next.
More than 145,000 American children have likely experienced a parent being detained. Since the second Trump administration began, the Brookings Institution estimates that around 205,000 children have been affected by parental detention, with more than 70 percent of them being U.S. citizens. Of those, 22,000 are left without any parent at home due to immigration detention.
ProPublica previously found that the Trump administration has been deporting about four times as many mothers of American children per day as the Biden administration did. DHS estimated about 60,000 parents of American children were arrested under the current administration, but the Brookings researchers argue their 145,000 estimate better accounts for DHS not consistently asking detained people about having children or detainees being fearful of revealing they had children, in case that puts them or their caregivers at risk.
Stories of Impact |
| Loni is a mother of six children who fled violence and torture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The family’s flight to Houston to reunite with her husband and the children’s father was scheduled for February – but it was cancelled after the ban went into effect. Loni and her children are now stuck indefinitely in Malawi.
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. Taq, a resettlement caseworker in Ohio, has witnessed first-hand the devastating impact of recent Executive Orders that have halted refugee arrivals, leaving families like his own in limbo. Taq’s cousin and his family were scheduled to arrive in the United States on February 20th but had their flights canceled, and his brothers, who are awaiting asylum interviews, are living in fear. “They are now left stranded…those still in [Afghanistan] have seen their hopes crushed.” Find more stories of impact here, and watch this space for new stories as they arise. Have a story to share? You can share it with us via this form for refugees overseas or this form for refugees, immigrants and service providers in the U.S. |
