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 |
A lot happening in Congress:
- TPS for Haiti extension passes the House. Today, the House passed H.R. 1689, legislation that would extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti for three years. All Democrats and 10 Republicans voted to pass the bill. This is a historic win in support of 350,000 Haitians living in the United States.
- Homeland Security leaders testify. Today, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Rodney Scott, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow testified before the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee. You can read their submitted testimony and watch the hearing here. The leaders made the case for additional funding for their agencies as laid out in the president’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request. In his prepared statement, Lyons characterized the annual appropriations lapse as “dire,” even as DHS returned all of its employees back to “a work and paid status” this week.
- Republican leadership still sorting out DHS funding. Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson met last night to begin shaping what will be included in the next reconciliation bill. Leader Thune has signaled support for moving forward billions in funding for ICE and Border Patrol alone, but it remains unclear whether additional priorities sought by some lawmakers will end up included. Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO-08) said that ICE and Border Patrol funding “aren’t really popular” with Americans and argued that the bill needs to address Americans concerns around affordability.
Federal programs shifted to immigration enforcement. NOTUS reports that the Trump administration has repurposed at least six unrelated federal programs or accounts away from their original missions to focus on ICE “Custody Operations and Homeland Security Investigations.” Resources dedicated to countering foreign election interference at the State Department, senior Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) positions, and the DHS Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office were shifted away from their original purposes, contrary to congressional intent. Theresa Brown, a former DHS official in the Bush and Obama administrations, described the shift as “the biggest reorienting of federal resources toward a single end since 9/11” and said the change signals to “the entire federal government: This is now your No. 1 mission.”
Despite the significant changes, Congress has received little insight into how the administration is reprioritizing resources. The White House typically shares its planned funding shifts to demonstrate that agencies are acting within the bounds of congressional intent. In this case, lawmakers continue to receive minimal information about how and where federal funds are being redirected.
Possibility of release from immigration detention narrows. In February and March, Bloomberg Law reporters observed 55 immigration bond hearings in California, Texas, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Judges granted bond in only 15 of these cases, with several saying they believed they no longer had the authority to do so. This uncertainty stems from the administration reinterpreting the law to require mandatory custody without the possibility of release back in September 2025. Although a judge struck down this precedent, the Ninth Circuit paused this ruling on March 6. Today, if denied bond, a person’s options are to remain indefinitely detained in horrific conditions or agree to leave the country. In one case where bond was granted, it was set at $25,000.
According to TRAC, only 2 percent of charging documents filed by the government in February said that individuals should be removed for alleged criminal activity. 98 percent of cases involved immigration violations, like overstaying a visa.
Stories of Impact |
Plaintiff Miriam and her family fled the Democratic Republic of Congo after facing persecution by paramilitary groups. They lived in a refugee camp in Burundi for fifteen years as they proceeded through the lengthy U.S. refugee resettlement vetting and screening process. She gave birth while going through this years-long process, and was erroneously advised by UN staff at the camp that adding her new son to the case would delay the resettlement process – and she understood she would be able to immediately apply for him once the rest of the family arrived in the U.S. Upon resettlement, Miriam immediately filed a Follow-to-Join application for her son, an application that has now been blocked by the refugee ban. A lawyer supporting the case asked the government for an exception to the ban, and was told the existing exception process “was not for” Miriam’s now-nine-year-old son. Miriam believes the government is purposefully neglecting her and preventing reunification with her son because her family is Black. She calls her son every day.
Plaintiff Babak resettled in the U.S. as a refugee from Iran, and is now a citizen. He has submitted an application for his wife and her parents through the Lautenberg program for those facing religious persecution. The family is Zoroastrian, a religious group that faces discrimination across all facets of society in Iran. While his wife was able to make it to the U.S. via another pathway, the family has been separated for years. They had been scheduled for an appointment to move their case forward and were preparing to leave for processing in Austria when the refugee ban stalled their case once again.
| 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.
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