Maryo: "I am a Venezuelan psychologist. I am in Colombia and my daughter is in New York sick and with disabilities. She urgently needs my presence to be able to access her life-saving neurosurgeries. I have an approved letter and need to travel for humanitarian health reasons. I am the only family member my daughter has."

Danna: "I am without documents in Ecuador. I am irregular because I trusted the resettlement process. I am from the LGBTI community with the desire to move forward, but I feel vulnerable... without a valid passport and without documents to help me succeed."

Mama Aliyah: “I am a widow with four children. I was living in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement in Uganda but ran away because of insecurities in the camp. My children and I are being hunted to be killed ever since we got a chance of resettlement, and we are also running away from people who demand me their money. I got a loan to buy nice clothes so that we can go to the United States looking nice. It's unfortunate the clothes are no longer fitting us, rats are eating the clothes and the debt is on my head.

My elder children ran away from me due to poor living conditions. Currently, I don't know where they are. I am with the young children, and they are no longer studying. Even I am sick, I have no support from anyone, and even the little [support] I used to get, I no longer receive it. Something that is stressing me, and it's going to kill me, is people's debt that I had incurred shopping for departure to the United States. I can never sleep in one place due to fear of people demanding to find me. And currently I am scared, I have an older boy, and here in the settlement we have insecurities of people who steal older boys and take them forcefully. I am requesting as parents to find a solution for my problems."

Luka: “I am at risk now. I need you to help me to take me away. They are trying to kill me, and they killed more members of my family. Please, can you try to help?"

Faba: “I am a Congolese refugee. I flew out of my country in 2012, seeking a safe place to live, and reached Uganda. In 2018, my siblings and my parents joined me, fleeing the war and the discrimination of the Tutsi population in the DRC. Now I live with my sisters and brothers; one of my sisters is a lesbian. We were safe in Uganda until the anti-gay bill passed into law. We have been living the worst since then, facing discrimination, abuse and attacks from homophobic people. We cannot go back to the DRC, and we are not safe in our country of refuge. The United States is not admitting new resettlement cases from Uganda, and we suffer a lot because of that."

Trigger Warning: This testimony includes reference of sexual violence.

Nsona: “I'm from the Democratic Republic of Congo but am living as a refugee in South Sudan. I am a single mother of 3 children. My firstborn is a girl I conceived through sexual violence, and those same people killed my grandfather and my uncle. My family and community don't want my child. Even if one day the war will end in DRC, for me I will never go back there for the security of my daughter. Here, in South Sudan, there is too much hunger. I'm living a miserable life, there's a high insecurity. I have been approved for resettlement in the United States since 2024, and I was waiting for the USCIS interview but now there is no hope for me. Please, I beg the U.S. government to open the door for us. I'm sure I will play my role for the benefits of the United States because I will get peace of mind and no one will hurt me again."

Trigger Warning: This testimony includes reference of sexual and physical violence.

Rafa: “We fled Venezuela seeking to protect our lives and security for our family, but upon arriving in Panama, it was not like that. They do not recognize us as a family because we are a same-sex couple. They recognized my partner and two of my children as refugees, but not my daughter and me. Since then, we have suffered verbal homophobic attacks; they do not accept our complaint because the legislation does not recognize discrimination based on sexual preference. My underage daughter was a victim of sexual abuse at a police checkpoint, and the prosecutor's office refused to take our complaint, which is why she fled to the United States, where she lives.

Because I am homosexual, they did not allow us to donate blood, and they also do not let me represent my son in school or health activities. When we were offered resettlement to the United States, we felt a great relief, and at the end of December 2024, we were told that our trip was imminent. We sold what little we had and were just waiting for the call until on January 20, we saw on television that the program was suspended. We all felt devastated once again.

We try every day to keep the faith, but it is difficult to be stranded in a country where we are not recognized as families and where, for an expression of affection like a kiss on the cheek or holding my partner's hand, we have been detained and humiliated by the police themselves. Institutions do not recognize our rights. Our situation is terrible, where we must live hidden, pretending to be who we are not. Every day I ask God for all this to end and for us to escape because I feel every day that this verbal violence will escalate to physical violence, especially since we live in areas controlled by organized criminal gangs, and our complaints are not processed. We are good people; my partner, my eldest son, and I are university professionals eager to contribute our knowledge and skills to a country that provides us with security. We just want to have peace and tranquility. To move forward."

Trigger Warning: This testimony includes reference of sexual and physical violence.

PabloT: “We are a Venezuelan family in Panama—a country that does not recognize same-sex unions and even less so families, lacking minimum laws for protection against discrimination based on sexual preference. We have been victims of homophobic attacks that are not prosecuted by the law. We have been victims of verbal aggression and temporary detention by police for holding hands with my partner during a demonstration. We were denied the ability to donate blood to our own child because we are homosexuals.

My partner and my underage daughter were not included in refugee protection because we are not recognized as a family. Due to this situation of irregularity and after an attempted sexual assault by the police, which the public ministry refused to take the complaint, my daughter traveled to the United States and is there as a refugee applicant. I cannot practice my nursing profession because the law does not allow it, and my partner and my older son cannot practice their profession because the law does not allow it, which restricts and complicates our possibility of labor and social inclusion. We do not receive any type of assistance from anyone. My 12-year-old son has suffered bullying for having two dads, and the school has done nothing to prevent it."

Joseph: “I am a Central African refugee in Benin approved for the American refugee program. With my family, we are suffering so much right now because we are not working, we do not have good conditions to ensure the future of our children and even in terms of health, we do not have the means to provide for that. We live in very painful conditions, sometimes going days without eating. The living conditions are not appropriate; the children are on the mat spending sleepless nights. With everything we have experienced as trauma during the war in the Central African Republic and what we are currently living, it is madness that does not yet touch us,. We are really unhappy about the program that has been suspended.”