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


October 1, 2026

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: The human impact of refugees losing Medicaid coverage; Justice Department files complaint against Minnesota judges related to Operation Metro Surge; and deaths in ICE custody rise as the agency removes death reports and oversight shrinks. 

The human impact of stripping health care from refugees. Beginning today, refugees and other humanitarian entrants are newly cut off from Medicaid, due to the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The New York Times yesterday told the story of Farahzad Sediqi, a 32-year-old paraplegic living with multiple sclerosis who depends on Medicaid-funded home health nurses and treatment to prevent seizures. After fleeing Afghanistan, she arrived in the U.S. in 2023 alongside her mother and brother. Despite applying for green cards more than a year ago, Sediqi and her mother have yet to receive them. If approved, they would once again qualify for Medicaid coverage.

In an op-ed, CWS Fort Collins Director Kristy Beachy-Quick and Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning President Paula Schriefer demonstrated how the loss of health care coverage fails refugees and their communities. They wrote: “Federal resources are funding expanded enforcement and deportation while healthcare coverage and other humanitarian supports are being eviscerated … The urgent question is whether our country will honor the commitments made to [refugees] — or bear the ethical and practical consequences of increasing uninsurance, growing uncompensated care and destabilized families.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) files complaint against Minnesota judges who spoke out about violations of court orders during Operation Metro Surge. After the former Minnesota Federal District Court’s chief judge described the administration’s failure to comply with court orders as “a grave threat to the rule of law” to the New York Times, the DOJ filed a formal complaint yesterday against almost all federal district court judges in the state. 

During Operation Metro Surge, Judge Patrick J. Schiltz ordered ICE to stop violating court-ordered releases of immigrants, as had occurred nearly 100 times in January alone. The intensified enforcement led to more than a thousand habeas corpus petitions from detained immigrants seeking release, along with lawsuits challenging the treatment of protesters, the arrest of refugees, and other actions. Schiltz said he believes most violations stemmed from incompetence and insufficient legal staff rather than defiance, but emphasized that the legal system depends on compliance with court orders. Otherwise, “you either have anarchy or you have authoritarianism.” 

Attorney General Todd Blanche alleges that Judge Schiltz and six other Minnesota judges violated the judicial ethics code by speaking to the Times about the strain Operation Metro Surge placed on the court. The complaint characterizes their comments as “overtly political.” The DOJ previously filed a misconduct complaint against U.S. District Judge James Boasberg after he similarly warned that disregard for federal court rulings could trigger a constitutional crisis. Boasberg had also presided over a high-profile case involving the administration’s use of a wartime authority to remove Venezuelan men to a torture prison in El Salvador. A federal appeals court judge later dismissed the complaint.   

Deaths in ICE custody nearly double as oversight erodes, while the agency removes mortality reviews from public view. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, 37 people died in ICE custody, up from 21 deaths in FY 2025. Former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials expect deaths to continue rising as key oversight mechanisms have been gutted. For example, DHS’ Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) was once staffed by about 100 employees and has since been reduced to fewer than five due to funding cuts, and Congress eliminated funding entirely for the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO) in its last funding bill. That leaves the Office of the Inspector General to inspect and oversee immigration detention, but it does not perform CRCL’s collaborative, corrective functions or OIDO’s role in investigating detained individuals’ complaints.  

Within five days of publishing 33 agency-produced reports reviewing medical care after deaths in custody, ICE removed all of the documents from its website, including eight reviews related to deaths that occurred in 2025. The reports showed egregious failures, including detention staff refusing to administer medication or giving the wrong medications; inadequate follow-up for serious conditions; misreading of diagnostic tests; insufficient CPR abilities; and failures to provide lifesaving emergency care. The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project recently released a report on Arizona ICE detention centers that identified the same issues, finding that “[w]ith essentially no oversight, it is nearly impossible for individuals in detention to get any assistance for urgent issues like medical neglect or abuse.” ICE did not respond to a request to comment on why the mortality reviews were removed from public access.

Latest Headlines

Opportunities to Take Action:

Community Resources:

Stories of Impact

Fran: “The wait has become endless. A year of processes, of dreams of a better life, of yearning for security and stability for my family. Venezuela, a country that once was home, became a place where workplace persecution forced me to seek refuge elsewhere. One of my sons was also enrolled in the program and he went ahead, and we had hope of reuniting, and when they had already requested our travel documents and we were in the process of buying plane tickets the USRAP prohibition came into effect, freezing our plans. Months of anxiety, of uncertainty, of unanswered questions: When will we be able to be together again? The distance is a weight we carry, a constant reminder of what we have yet to achieve. Uncertainty is a lonely path, but the hope of reuniting with my son is what drives me to move forward, not to lose faith in a future where we can be together and safe.”

Samuel: “My name is Samuel. I was approved by USCIS as a refugee in March 2024, and since September of that year I had a U.S. resettlement agency assigned to my case. I currently live in a third country with my partner, with whom I have shared a stable relationship for more than eleven years. In January 2025, I was called to repeat my medical exams, but only a few days later everything was suspended after the change of government in the United States. Since then, our process has been frozen, and we remain stranded without clear answers — with our suitcases full of hope, waiting for the moment to finally travel. These months have been emotionally very hard. Living for so long in uncertainty, unable to move forward or plan for the future, has deeply affected our mental and emotional well-being. As an LGBT refugee couple — and in my case, living with HIV — every day here brings constant challenges to our health, safety, and hope. Despite the pain and frustration, we continue to believe in the possibility of a better life. We share our story because we know we are not alone, and because behind every paused case there are human beings simply seeking safety, acceptance, and the chance to rebuild their lives with dignity.”

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.

 

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
Donate

 

The latest: The human impact of refugees losing Medicaid coverage; Justice Department files complaint against Minnesota judges related to Operation Metro Surge; and deaths in ICE custody rise as the agency removes death reports and oversight shrinks. 

The human impact of stripping health care from refugees. Beginning today, refugees and other humanitarian entrants are newly cut off from Medicaid, due to the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The New York Times yesterday told the story of Farahzad Sediqi, a 32-year-old paraplegic living with multiple sclerosis who depends on Medicaid-funded home health nurses and treatment to prevent seizures. After fleeing Afghanistan, she arrived in the U.S. in 2023 alongside her mother and brother. Despite applying for green cards more than a year ago, Sediqi and her mother have yet to receive them. If approved, they would once again qualify for Medicaid coverage.

In an op-ed, CWS Fort Collins Director Kristy Beachy-Quick and Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning President Paula Schriefer demonstrated how the loss of health care coverage fails refugees and their communities. They wrote: “Federal resources are funding expanded enforcement and deportation while healthcare coverage and other humanitarian supports are being eviscerated … The urgent question is whether our country will honor the commitments made to [refugees] — or bear the ethical and practical consequences of increasing uninsurance, growing uncompensated care and destabilized families.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) files complaint against Minnesota judges who spoke out about violations of court orders during Operation Metro Surge. After the former Minnesota Federal District Court’s chief judge described the administration’s failure to comply with court orders as “a grave threat to the rule of law” to the New York Times, the DOJ filed a formal complaint yesterday against almost all federal district court judges in the state. 

During Operation Metro Surge, Judge Patrick J. Schiltz ordered ICE to stop violating court-ordered releases of immigrants, as had occurred nearly 100 times in January alone. The intensified enforcement led to more than a thousand habeas corpus petitions from detained immigrants seeking release, along with lawsuits challenging the treatment of protesters, the arrest of refugees, and other actions. Schiltz said he believes most violations stemmed from incompetence and insufficient legal staff rather than defiance, but emphasized that the legal system depends on compliance with court orders. Otherwise, “you either have anarchy or you have authoritarianism.” 

Attorney General Todd Blanche alleges that Judge Schiltz and six other Minnesota judges violated the judicial ethics code by speaking to the Times about the strain Operation Metro Surge placed on the court. The complaint characterizes their comments as “overtly political.” The DOJ previously filed a misconduct complaint against U.S. District Judge James Boasberg after he similarly warned that disregard for federal court rulings could trigger a constitutional crisis. Boasberg had also presided over a high-profile case involving the administration’s use of a wartime authority to remove Venezuelan men to a torture prison in El Salvador. A federal appeals court judge later dismissed the complaint.   

Deaths in ICE custody nearly double as oversight erodes, while the agency removes mortality reviews from public view. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, 37 people died in ICE custody, up from 21 deaths in FY 2025. Former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials expect deaths to continue rising as key oversight mechanisms have been gutted. For example, DHS’ Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) was once staffed by about 100 employees and has since been reduced to fewer than five due to funding cuts, and Congress eliminated funding entirely for the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO) in its last funding bill. That leaves the Office of the Inspector General to inspect and oversee immigration detention, but it does not perform CRCL’s collaborative, corrective functions or OIDO’s role in investigating detained individuals’ complaints.  

Within five days of publishing 33 agency-produced reports reviewing medical care after deaths in custody, ICE removed all of the documents from its website, including eight reviews related to deaths that occurred in 2025. The reports showed egregious failures, including detention staff refusing to administer medication or giving the wrong medications; inadequate follow-up for serious conditions; misreading of diagnostic tests; insufficient CPR abilities; and failures to provide lifesaving emergency care. The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project recently released a report on Arizona ICE detention centers that identified the same issues, finding that “[w]ith essentially no oversight, it is nearly impossible for individuals in detention to get any assistance for urgent issues like medical neglect or abuse.” ICE did not respond to a request to comment on why the mortality reviews were removed from public access.

Latest Headlines

Opportunities to Take Action:

Community Resources:

Stories of Impact

Fran: “The wait has become endless. A year of processes, of dreams of a better life, of yearning for security and stability for my family. Venezuela, a country that once was home, became a place where workplace persecution forced me to seek refuge elsewhere. One of my sons was also enrolled in the program and he went ahead, and we had hope of reuniting, and when they had already requested our travel documents and we were in the process of buying plane tickets the USRAP prohibition came into effect, freezing our plans. Months of anxiety, of uncertainty, of unanswered questions: When will we be able to be together again? The distance is a weight we carry, a constant reminder of what we have yet to achieve. Uncertainty is a lonely path, but the hope of reuniting with my son is what drives me to move forward, not to lose faith in a future where we can be together and safe.”

Samuel: “My name is Samuel. I was approved by USCIS as a refugee in March 2024, and since September of that year I had a U.S. resettlement agency assigned to my case. I currently live in a third country with my partner, with whom I have shared a stable relationship for more than eleven years. In January 2025, I was called to repeat my medical exams, but only a few days later everything was suspended after the change of government in the United States. Since then, our process has been frozen, and we remain stranded without clear answers — with our suitcases full of hope, waiting for the moment to finally travel. These months have been emotionally very hard. Living for so long in uncertainty, unable to move forward or plan for the future, has deeply affected our mental and emotional well-being. As an LGBT refugee couple — and in my case, living with HIV — every day here brings constant challenges to our health, safety, and hope. Despite the pain and frustration, we continue to believe in the possibility of a better life. We share our story because we know we are not alone, and because behind every paused case there are human beings simply seeking safety, acceptance, and the chance to rebuild their lives with dignity.”

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.