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


October 14, 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: Resources on the new regulation making it easier for the government to terminate refugee status; Member of Congress responds to raid on her home; UN High Commissioner for Refugees faces critical budget shortfall.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) regulation making it easier to terminate refugee status is published. The rule, which was formally published today, takes effect immediately. Refugees now have as few as ten days to respond to a Notice of Intent to Terminate (NOIT), leaving them without a meaningful opportunity to contest the administration’s claims. The rule comes as the administration continues to target refugees for “revetting.”

Take action: urge your Members of Congress to hold the administration accountable as it escalates its efforts to target refugees.

Learn more here, and read statements from CWS, Refugee Council USA, and IRAP. We will share additional information, resources, and opportunities to take action as they become available.

Rep. Ilhan Omar responds after federal agents raid her home. On Monday, federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the investigatory arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), raided the Washington, DC home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat. Rep. Omar, who arrived in the United States via the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program after fleeing Somalia’s civil war as a child, has long been a target of the Trump administration.

Vice President J.D. Vance and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin have repeatedly implied – without offering evidence – that Rep. Omar committed immigration fraud, and before HSI searched her home, both had publicly suggested she was under investigation. President Donald Trump has slung racist and inflammatory comments at her for years, often in the context of a broader rhetorical attack on Somalis and Somali Americans, including at a political rally days before the raid.

“For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation,” Rep. Omar said in a social media post, describing the raid as an “attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.”

The Justice Department publicly confirmed that agents who executed the search had a valid warrant, and an administration official told the Washington Post that Attorney General Todd Blanche signed off on the warrant. The department has historically sought to uphold an informal policy of avoiding taking actions that could appear to be politically motivated within 60 days of an election. The midterm elections are in 20 days.

Global foreign assistance budget shortfalls impact displaced people around the world. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is making significant cuts to many of its humanitarian operations after receiving just a fraction of the funding that would allow it to maintain its current operations. The agency received only $3 billion of the $8.5 billion that it needed for 2026, said UNHCR High Commissioner Barham Salih. In the wake of significantly reduced support from the U.S. and other countries, programs that support people fleeing conflict and persecution are at risk. For example, Salih said, budgetary limitations may imperil a program that provides legal services and medical care to over 50,000 survivors of sexual violence from Sudan who have fled to Chad. 

In remarks to the Executive Committee of the United Nations, Salih said that as funding falls below a certain point, “the consequences are not abstract. They are borne by people who depend on protection,” adding that absent sufficient resources, “the protection we can provide begins to fail.”

Congress continues to appropriate funds for humanitarian aid to support displaced people, including through the newly-created International Humanitarian Assistance (IHA) fund. IHA merges two previous funding streams that supported people in displacement crises through programs to provide emergency assistance, promote stable conditions for refugees and host communities overseas, and strengthen durable solutions for people fleeing conflict. U.S. funding for refugee assistance could help fill the gaps that UNHCR is facing. However, the administration has repurposed many of the resources that Congress allocated for humanitarian protection to instead refoul individuals to dangerous conditions.

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.