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: DOJ orders states to report undocumented immigrants or risk losing anti-poverty program funding; immigration judges are pressured to deport abandoned children and crime survivors; and deported Haitian immigrants arrive without their belongings and face homelessness.
Department of Justice (DOJ) orders states to report undocumented immigrants or risk losing anti-poverty program funding. Reversing nearly three decades’ precedent, a new opinion from the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel directs all state government agencies to report individuals known to be not lawfully present in the United States. Previously, this reporting requirement applied only to the state agencies administering safety net programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Now, any component of a state government is obligated to report undocumented immigrants. The opinion’s author, Joshua Craddock, said that states’ “failure to comply may lead to serious consequences, including loss of program funding.”
The policy is another attempt to expand how states facilitate the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda. Jorge Loweree of the American Immigration Council told The Hill the move “is about instilling fear and creating chaos, likely starving people in the process.”
Attorneys general have repeatedly challenged the administration’s other attempts to push states to share information about immigration status. Yesterday, a federal appeals court upheld that the IRS should not share taxpayer information with ICE. More litigation over this new DOJ opinion is likely.
Immigration judges are pressured to deport abandoned children and crime survivors waiting for visas or green cards. The Guardian reported that immigration judges recently attended a mandatory presentation discouraging granting continuance motions, which give immigrants more time to find lawyers, gather evidence, or wait for an approved visa or green card stuck in a backlog. The training instructed judges to tightly restrict giving people, even unaccompanied children, more than 10 days delay, a timeline that makes securing counsel nearly impossible.
Immigration judges were told not to delay proceedings for approved visa petitions stuck in quota backlogs, placing abused, abandoned, or neglected youth with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) and survivors eligible for U visas at risk of deportation solely because of bureaucratic delays. For example, SIJ recipients often wait years for green cards due to annual and per-country limits they are subject to, leaving them vulnerable despite being approved for protection.
The new training’s overall message is that immigration judges should prioritize expeditious deportations, even when doing so effectively punishes some of the most vulnerable immigrants appearing in their courtrooms.
These changes come as representation rates decline. Only a fifth of immigrants ordered removed had an attorney in June, and immigration attorneys are unable to keep up with demand. However, the presentation warned that immigration attorneys who take on too many cases may be punished with “referral to EOIR disciplinary counsel for further action and possible sanction for a violation.”
Haitian immigrants deported to Haiti arrive without their belongings and face homelessness. According to the New York Times, ICE is shackling and flying dozens of Haitian immigrants to Cap-Haitien each week. ICE deported many individuals without their phones, passports, jewelry, and savings. Without cash, people cannot sustain themselves or reach their hometowns, needing to pay tolls to gangs to leave Cap-Haitien. Others refuse to travel at all, fearing they will be killed. Between April and July, gang-related violence killed 1,408 people and injured 656.
Natacha Antoine, a former nurse’s aide who cared for 10 patients in Indianapolis, told the Times, “I did more for the United States than the United States did for me.” ICE did not return her passport. Another man lost thousands of dollars after being arrested at a court hearing; ICE claimed the cash was put into an account, but he never received it before removal.
Today’s Headlines
- The Atlantic: The Charges Were Dropped, but the Damage Was Already Done
- Bloomberg: US Pursues Deportees Abroad for Hundreds of Millions in Unpaid Fines
- Politico: Trump asks Supreme Court to restore states’ access to citizenship database before election
- NBC News: 2 ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ guards charged with battery of inmate, records show
- Border Report: Philadelphia nun gives immigrants hope when they’re due in court
Opportunities to Take Action:
- CWS Action Alert: Take Action for Immigrants and Refugees During the 2026 August Recess
- CWS Action Alert: Urge Congress to Support Legal Representation for Immigrant Children
- CWS Action Alert: Urge Your Members of Congress to Pass the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act
- CWS Action Alert: Demand Justice and Accountability After ICE Shootings
- 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
Community Resources:
- Welcome.US Free Citizenship Tutoring: A trained volunteer will meet with you one-on-one to practice civics questions, English conversation, and the citizenship interview. Citizen Guide can be used on its own or as extra practice alongside a citizenship or English class. Sign up for Citizen Guide or email learner@welcome.us with questions.
- CWS: Lakou Tanama Virtual Haitian Healing Spaces
- Georgetown Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues: Explainer for Parents and Their Helpers Seeking Family Reunification
- NILC and PIF: Public Charge: What Advocates Need to Know
- 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
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.
