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.
The latest: Fallout continues after ICE kills a man in Houston; Trump is deploying every single refugee officer to just one country; and USCIS misleads employers about expiration date of work authorization for TPS holders.
Multiple investigations are underway into ICE killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Last Tuesday, an ICE agent shot and killed Salgado Araujo in the Magnolia Park neighborhood of Houston. The shooting came just days after reports of a sudden surge in immigration enforcement across the country, with ICE agents required to work overtime to accomplish new arrest quotas set by Stephen Miller and the Trump administration. The New York Times has documented at least 21 instances of ICE shooting at people in their cars since September 2025.
- What we know. Salgado Araujo was killed as he drove his construction crew to a job site. The agents who shot him were driving black, unmarked cars with no lights or indication they were law enforcement. Salgado Araujo was not the initial target of the ICE agents, who were searching for someone else when they attempted to stop the vehicle he was driving. The ICE agents were not wearing body cameras. DHS immediately alleged Salgado Araujo tried to use his car as a weapon, although three eyewitnesses dispute that account. At this point, there is no publicly available footage of the moment he was shot.
- Ongoing investigations into the shooting. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General is investigating the circumstances of the shooting. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said his office is pursuing independent “investigative avenues” and has asked residents to share additional information if they have it.
- Congress’s role. After negotiations over substantive legislative guardrails on ICE activity stalled earlier this year, on June 10 Congress allocated approximately $70 billion in additional funding to ICE and CBP (after over $150 billion was allocated in last year’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act). The new funding came with zero guardrails or checks against ICE activity. Congress will have several opportunities to pass guardrails and rescind these funds as it considers annual appropriations bills in the coming months.
- Mexico has sought criminal charges over deaths at the hands of ICE. On Thursday, Mexico Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco announced the country will request criminal charges over the deaths of 17 Mexicans in the U.S. – asking state prosecutors and the Department of Justice to hold those responsible accountable and filing separate civil lawsuits against a series of private detention companies. Announcing the escalation, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that the country has decided to “move beyond diplomatic channels” in response to Salgado Araujo’s death.
- Remembering Salgado Araujo: Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was 52 years old and had migrated to the U.S. from Mexico 35 years ago. He had spent over 30 years in Houston as a construction worker and owned his own construction business. He was a father who took pride in putting his children through college.
Salgado Araujo’s death set off anti-ICE protests that have continued over the weekend at Houston’s City Hall and in the neighborhood where he was shot. Read CWS’s statement on the shooting here.
Every single refugee officer has been deployed to South Africa. Per a NOTUS report on July 9, the Department of Homeland Security has relocated every single refugee officer it employs to South Africa to process Afrikaners. Former USCIS International and Refugee Affairs Division (IRAD) head Brandon Prelogar described the situation as “unprecedented.” The refugee officer corps used to be in dozens of countries, conducting “circuit rides” all over the world to process the most vulnerable refugees in need of resettlement.
The change is borne out in the numbers. As we noted last week, the most recent data available shows so far this fiscal year the administration has resettled 7,727 South Africans and 3 Afghans. In the final months of the Biden administration, over 90 different nationalities were resettled through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
USCIS misleads employers on timing of TPS work authorization expiration following SCOTUS decision. In late June, the Supreme Court ruled that the government can move forward with terminating Temporary Protected Status for over 330,000 individuals from Haiti and Syria. The decision is likely to carry ramifications for other individuals relying on TPS – particularly those for whom terminations of protection have been held up by a court order (Burma, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Venezuela’s 2023 designation, and Yemen)
However, right now TPS remains valid for people from all of these countries. Relevant lower courts must wait at least thirty days before acting on the Supreme Court’s decision, and legal groups expect TPS to be terminated on or after July 27. Work authorization should remain valid for that same duration.
But instead of explicitly noting that work authorization is extended until the lower courts lift their stay and TPS is terminated, USCIS has been extending work authorization in short increments (first stating it would expire on July 1, then July 10, and now July 24 for Haiti and July 17 for several other countries). This has caused massive confusion among employers, with many already terminating workers by the time they were notified of the last minute extensions. “USCIS could have clarified the issue,” said a representative for the American Business Immigration Coalition. “Many employers were uncertain, leading them to unnecessarily terminate the workers early.”
Today’s Headlines
- The New York Times: Man Killed by Federal Agent in Houston Was Not the Target of ICE Search
- CNN: One person killed in an ICE-involved shooting in Maine, state official says
- NBC News: Eswatini receives 11 people deported from the U.S. as part of migration crackdown
- Reuters: Mexico to file criminal complaints in US over deaths of Mexicans in immigration enforcement
- CBS News: More than a dozen immigration detention facilities have gone over a year without inspection under revised ICE policies
Opportunities to Take Action:
- CWS Action Alert: Urge Your Senators to Pass Legislation to Protect Haitian TPS Holders
- Tell Your State and Local Officials: Protect Our Freedom to Welcome
- CWS Action Alert: With All Eyes on Iran, Palestinians Continue to Suffer Daily Attacks and Constant Hunger
- Sign Petition to the White House: Keep Our Promise to Refugees
- CWS Action Alert: Tell Your State Lawmakers – Do Not Let Refugees & Other Newcomers Go Hungry as Federal SNAP Cuts Take Effect
- CWS Action Alert: Immigrant Children Are Under Attack: Urge Congress to Demand Safety and Due Process
Community Resources:
- CWS: Lakou Tanama Virtual Haitian Healing Spaces
- CLINIC: Parish Toolkit: Supporting Immigrants in a Time of Need
- CWS: Ten Major Immigration and Refugee Policy Changes Since January 2025
- CWS: Bill Summary of the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act
- Refugee Storytellers Collective: Making Informed Decisions: A Risk Assessment Worksheet for Public Engagement
- ACLU: Enforcement at the Airport
- United Church of Christ: Love Knows No Borders Resources
- IRAP: Refugee Re-vetting and Detention
- USAHello: Multilingual Immigration Guide with clear, direct-to-community information
- IRAP: What do the recent U.S. immigration changes mean for Afghans?
- NILC: How to Find a Loved One After a U.S. Immigration Arrest and What to Do if Arrested or Detained by Immigration
- CWS: How the One Big Beautiful Bill Will Impact You
- Just Security: Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
- CWS: Story Submission Form for Refugees Overseas
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.
