Daily State of Play: Trump’s Indefinite Refugee Ban and Funding Halt


August 19, 2026

Editor’s Note: No editions next week. The next State of Play will be in your inbox on Monday, August 31.

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.

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The latest: ICE gives its detention facilities “superior” ratings and finds fewer standards violations; TPS for Somalia and Ethiopia ends; and updates on deportations to third countries. 

ICE gives its facilities “superior” ratings and finds fewer standards violations. New analysis by POGO Investigates found that the Office of Detention Oversight (ODO), an ICE sub-agency responsible for inspecting detention facilities, has been identifying significantly fewer violations in recent years. These violations–called “deficiencies”–determine a facility’s rating and if it can remain open. Between Fiscal Years 2022 and 2025, deficiencies dropped by nearly 70 percent, and the number of facilities receiving a “Superior” rating has nearly tripled since Fiscal Year 2024. These findings contradict the extensive reporting about inhumane detention conditions and the record number of deaths in ICE custody last year. 

ODO gave Prairieland, an immigration detention facility in Texas, a “Superior” rating in 2026, a meaningful jump from its previous “Acceptable/Adequate” rating. Kordia, a Palestinian woman detained for a year there, described medical neglect, lack of religious accommodations, foul-smelling rooms, and water with “things swimming in it.” Attorneys told POGO Investigates that their clients reported similar issues, as did Representative Marc Veasey (D-TX-33) during an oversight visit in March. 

A past appropriations bill prohibited ICE funds from going toward detention facilities receiving less than an “Adequate” rating twice in a row. In 2023, ten percent of all inspected facilities failed, but only one of 102 facilities failed in Fiscal Year 2025. So far this year, all facilities have passed. Five of the six facilities that consecutively failed twice continue to operate. 

It is unclear how a facility’s violations relate to its rating. For example, Camp East Montana in El Paso had one of the highest total standard violations of any facility at 49 in a 2026 inspection, yet received an “Acceptable/Adequate” rating. 

Judges allow terminations of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia, Ethiopia to go into effect. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), TPS for Somalia is terminated as of August 14, affecting about 700 individuals. A judge on Friday lifted her previous pause that kept TPS in place for Somalia. The plaintiffs already notified the court of their plan to appeal. 

Yesterday, a judge denied a request from African Communities Together (ACT) to postpone the termination of TPS for Ethiopia while its legal challenge continues. USCIS confirmed TPS for Ethiopia’s termination is effective as of August 18, affecting about 5,000 individuals. ACT’s Diana Konaté told CNN, “The crisis in Ethiopia is still ongoing, and this decision puts the lives of thousands of Ethiopians living in the U.S. at severe risk.” The lawsuit will continue over whether the termination was motivated by racial or national origin animus, which would violate the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment. 

The Department of Homeland Security’s general counsel cheered these court decisions, posting online yesterday, “All TPS terminations are in effect!” Overall, the Trump administration’s TPS terminations strip legal status and work authorization from more than a million people, with hundreds of thousands more from El Salvador, Sudan, and Ukraine waiting to see if their statuses are ended or renewed this fall.

Liberia agrees to accept third country deportations, and news on Mexican immigrants deported to Central America. The Trump administration continues to pursue forced third country transfers, which send individuals to countries where they are not citizens and often lack any ties. Yesterday, Liberia announced that it will accept up to 1,200 non-Liberians from the U.S. over the next year, with an initial group of 20 expected to arrive on Thursday. Neither government provided the nationalities of people Liberia would accept. The Liberian government said the individuals can leave freely or apply for asylum in Liberia. 

Some DHS officials anonymously gave insights to CBS News about its ongoing deportations of hundreds of Mexican citizens to Guatemala and Honduras, instead of returning them to their homeland. Mexico’s foreign ministry said it “rejects the deportation of Mexican nationals to third countries and has no such agreement in place.” Washington Office on Latin America’s Adam Isacson said the practice has the same “purpose of sending them to Ecuador or Africa or anywhere else: to broadcast the hardship, to make sure people know that this is a possible consequence of remaining undocumented in the United States and to encourage people to self-deport.”

Human Rights First and Refugees International are closely tracking third country deportations, finding that the U.S. has signed agreements with at least 35 countries, sent more than 23,000 people to 26 countries, and pledged at least $44 million in government funding so far. Some of those forcibly transferred have landed in indefinite jail without charges and without a way to object to their incarceration. Others have experienced “chain refoulement,” when they are sent to a third country and then immediately sent back to their country of persecution. 

Today’s Headlines

    Opportunities to Take Action:

    Community Resources:

    Stories of Impact

    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 resettlement – 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. Her lawyer asked the government about requesting  an exception to the ban for Miriam’s now-nine-year-old son, and was told the exception process “was not for” him. Exceptions have been granted to over 4,000 white Afrikaners. 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.

    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 in Iran and former Soviet Union countries. 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. 

    Yodit and Senai are a mother and son who have been separated for 17 years. Yodit fled Eritrea in 2008 and was resettled in the U.S. in 2018. She is now a U.S. citizen. She has filed a Follow-to-Join application for her son, Senai, who remains in danger in Eritrea. They have completed all necessary steps and her son was waiting to receive a travel document to the U.S. when the refugee ban went into place. When Yodit learned the administration was admitting white Afrikaners as refugees, she felt the administration was discriminating against her because of her race. 

    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.