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: Updates in Dorcas case on immigration processing freeze; Trump reinstates ICE vehicle stops; release of key evidence in Good and Pretti shootings; and another person dies in ICE custody.
Judge denies government request to pause Dorcas v. USCIS ruling, requires resumption of processing as the case goes to appeal. Yesterday, Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS denied the government’s request to pause the June 5 ruling in the case. The court’s ruling will remain in effect throughout the remainder of the case, setting aside a number of harmful Trump administration immigration restrictions and requiring the administration to resume adjudications of immigration benefits, continue to process asylum applications, and end the halt on asylum processing for immigrants from 39 countries under the travel ban.
Though the original June 5 ruling and yesterday’s decision do not abolish the travel ban itself or affect the refugee admissions program, the court’s decisions reaffirm that USCIS exceeded its authority when it paused a number of immigration benefits and the processing of cases.
At time of publishing, it remains unclear whether USCIS has abided by the latest order and resumed processing the frozen applications.
The latest updates on ICE vehicle stops. President Trump overturned an ICE memo directing officers to temporarily suspend vehicle stops. He was reportedly furious that ICE personnel had been ordered to pause conducting vehicle stops and viewed the move as weakening his administration’s mass detention and deportation efforts. Border Czar Tom Homan and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin had issued a temporary halt on most vehicle stops earlier this week after two ICE-involved shootings in Houston and Maine.
White House border czar Tom Homan had stressed that the suspension was a temporary measure to ensure proper training for ICE agents. DHS officials were vague when reporting when they would resume traffic stops, but Secretary Mullin posted on social media that he was “on the same page” as Trump. As of yesterday, ICE sources confirmed that the agency’s deportation officers will resume vehicle stops.
Key evidence released in fatal ICE shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. On July 13, state prosecutors in Minnesota announced that the federal government turned over key evidence in the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti that occurred during major immigration enforcement surges in Minnesota. The release of evidence comes in the wake of recent fatal ICE shootings in Houston, Texas and Biddeford, Maine, once again surfacing issues surrounding police brutality in immigration enforcement.
The evidence provided by the federal government in the Good and Pretti cases includes body camera footage, hard drives enclosing statements, and Good’s damaged car. Lawyers for Good’s family welcomed the release of evidence as, “an important and meaningful step towards justice and accountability.” Lawyers for Pretti’s family called for a public commitment by federal authorities to cooperate with the state in order to pursue justice.
Documents filed in a lawsuit by state and local officials suggest that state and local prosecutors agreed to provide evidence for the assault investigation of ICE agent Christian Castro – who shot Venezuelan Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in January while in pursuit of another man – in exchange for the Good and Pretti evidence. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison noted that he was “deeply troubled that the federal government spent more than half a year attempting to conceal this evidence from state investigators,” bringing to light the question of future federal-state cooperation on immigration enforcement
Another person has died in ICE custody this week in Georgia, making this the 22nd death in immigration custody this year. Jesús Manuel Arenas-Silva, a 45-year-old Venezuelan man, was found unresponsive in a transportation bus going from Irwin County detention center, a privately run facility in Georgia where he was arrested last Thursday, to Folkston ICE processing center. According to an ICE press release, Arenas-Silva’s cause of death was cardiac arrest.
Arenas-Silva’s sister and the Detention Watch Network released a joint statement pointing out that ICE restricted his access to the vital medication he needed to treat his underlying medical condition. During a phone call with his sister, Arenas-Silva confirmed that ICE had not provided him with the medication he needed, leaving him without it until his tragic death.
Arenas-Silva’s death adds to the growing number of deaths reported in recent weeks under the oversight of ICE and DHS. ICE has shot and killed upwards of 11 people, including Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Johan Sebastian Guerrero in Maine. A St. Augustine man was the third person in a week to die during an immigration enforcement stop, after he was fatally struck by a tractor-trailer fleeing ICE agents in Florida. Urge your elected officials to demand justice in the wake of the killings, commit to rescinding hundreds of billions of additional dollars for immigration enforcement, and pass meaningful guardrails to rein in DHS’s lawlessness.
Today’s Headlines
- CBS News: Trump overturns pause of ICE vehicle stops implemented after Maine, Texas shootings
- Politico: Judge handling challenge to Trump immigration halt cites exceptions for World Cup visas
- The Washington Post: Man killed in Maine ICE shooting was a 25-year-old Colombian father seeking a better life for his daughter
- PBS News: Report: Detainees at ICE facility in Texas report frequent beatings and other human rights abuses
- CNN: Furious Trump overturns suspension of ICE traffic stops amid MAGA criticism
Opportunities to Take Action:
- 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
- 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.
