What is the Lautenberg Program?
The Lautenberg Program is one of the U.S.’s primary tools for protecting refugees fleeing religious persecution. The program facilitates reunification for families who have fled Iran and the former Soviet Union as a result of threats to their religious freedom. The Lautenberg Program has created a path to safety for a wide range of religious groups, including Jews, Evangelical Christians, Ukrainian Catholics, Baha’is, Sabaean-Mandaeans, Zoroastrians, and members of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and Greek Orthodox Church. The Lautenberg Program has long had broad bipartisan support and has continued to be reauthorized each year without fail by Congress since its creation in 1989.
Due to a broad range of policies targeting refugees enacted by the Trump administration, the Lautenberg pathway has been blocked and no new Lautenberg cases have been admitted since January 2025. This is the first time in the Lautenberg program’s history that it has been entirely non-operational, leaving no clear path to safety for people fleeing religious persecution.
What steps has the Trump administration taken to limit refugee resettlement and the operation of the Lautenberg program?
The Trump Administration’s suspension of USRAP in January 2025 has brought refugee admissions to a halt, leaving tens of thousands of refugees – including over 14,000 individuals in the Lautenberg pipeline – without a viable path to safety. The refugee ban blocks refugees from seeking safety and religious freedom in the U.S. despite Congress repeatedly providing a clear mandate that the Lautenberg Program should continue to protect religious minorities fleeing Iran and the former Soviet Union.
Historically, the U.S. processed all Lautenberg cases through the Resettlement Support Center (RSC) Austria, which has long been operated by the resettlement agency HIAS in partnership with the U.S. Department of State. In February 2025, HIAS announced that the Trump administration terminated its contract to operate RSC Austria, leaving over 14,000 refugees facing religious discrimination in limbo. All of them remained in Iran as violence escalated in the country in early 2026.
In addition to the suspension of refugee admissions and the closure of RSC Austria, as of December 16, 2025, 39 countries, including Iran, are currently subject to a travel ban, encompassing 20% of nations globally. Additionally, on January 14th, the Trump administration announced it would indefinitely freeze immigrant visa processing for 75 countries, including Iran and many former Soviet states. The administration has illegally applied this ban to refugees, despite explicit exemptions in the text of the travel ban executive orders. As long as any of these bans remain in place, refugees and others seeking safety – including thousands with pending Lautenberg cases – are left in a state of precarity.
Beyond the travel bans and RSC closure, the Trump administration has also diverted and misused funds allocated by Congress for overseas humanitarian and refugee assistance. Funding for accounts like the “Migration and Refugee Assistance” and “Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance” accounts have been repurposed to support the administration’s agenda of deportation, refoulement, and repatriation.
How have the U.S. and Israel’s attacks on Iran impacted Iranian religious minorities?
In times of heightened conflict, Iranians belonging to religious minority groups are uniquely vulnerable to discrimination and violence. The regime’s ongoing repression of Baha’is intensified sharply in the wake of Israel’s June 2025 attacks on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure. Adherents of the nation’s largest religious minority continue to face arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, and property confiscation, in a wave of persecution documented by Human Rights Watch. Today, tens of thousands of persecuted religious minorities who would qualify for resettlement remain in danger, including Christian, Jewish, and Baha’i Iranians.
Who is eligible under the Lautenberg Program?
To be eligible for resettlement under the Lautenberg Program, an individual must be a persecuted religious minority and have a “U.S. Tie”: a close relative who is at least 18 years of age and is either a U.S. citizen, has legal permanent status, or is an asylee, parolee, or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holder. Iranian applicants must provide religious documents to their resettlement agency that prove their affiliation with a minority religious group, while applicants from the former Soviet Union are not required to prove religious affiliation.
What is the history of the Lautenberg Program?
The Lautenberg Program was first authorized as an amendment to the 1989 Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill. It was enacted as a mechanism to bring Jewish refugees from the former Soviet Union to safety in the United States. Since then, the program has grown significantly. To respond to the substantial need for resettlement pathways for Iranian religious minorities historically vulnerable to persecution by the Iranian government since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Congress passed the 2004 Specter Amendment. This amendment extended Lautenberg protections to all Iranian religious minorities. The U.S. Secretary of State continues to designate Iran as a “Country of Particular Concern” for its “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” Ongoing repression and violence against religious minorities has prompted Members of Congress to renew the program every year.
The Lautenberg Program requires reauthorization by Congress upon each new fiscal year. If Congress neglects to renew the program, it automatically pauses and local resettlement agencies are unable to accept new applications. Congress has reauthorized the program every year since its enactment. In 2023, the House State and Foreign Operations Committee failed to include Lautenberg in its appropriations bill, causing a delay in its passing. However, Members of Congress ultimately resolved the issue and the Lautenberg Program was reauthorized for Fiscal Year 2024. Congress reauthorized the program for Fiscal Year 2026, meaning the program’s failure to function illegally contradicts the will of Congress. Church World Service and others are currently challenging the administration’s failure to abide by Congress’s mandate to operate the Lautenberg program.
Recommendations for Congress:
Though the Trump administration’s travel ban and the suspension of USRAP entirely impede the arrival of refugees to the U.S., the closure of RSC Austria marks a further degradation of the U.S.’s capacity to welcome those fleeing religious persecution. Should the Trump administration or any future administration lift the refugee ban and reinstate USRAP, the refugee processing mechanisms and capacity of RSC Austria will have to be restored in order to resume processing of Iranian religious minorities fleeing persecution. The U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran following weeks of threats from President Trump put Iranian religious minorities at an increased risk of being targets of violence.
To protect refugees fleeing religious persecution, Congress must:
- Permanently codify the Lautenberg Program
- Demand that the Trump administration reopen RSC Austria and immediately end the ongoing refugee, travel, and immigrant visa bans
- Ensure necessary and proper use of U.S. humanitarian assistance funding to protect refugees overseas and restore the U.S.’s historic role as a beacon of hope for people seeking safety.
The Church World Service Policy Team would like to thank Policy & Advocacy Intern Ellie Acree for her work on this resource.