CWS, IRAP, HIAS, and LCSNW Amend Class Action Lawsuit Challenging Dismantling of USRAP
(Seattle, WA)—Last night, refugees, their family members, and resettlement organizations moved to file an amended complaint in the Western District of Washington in the class action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s dismantling of the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). The updated complaint adds five new plaintiffs and challenges the discriminatory and illegal manner in which federal agencies have implemented the refugee program under the Trump administration. The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) represents Church World Service (CWS), HIAS, and Lutheran Community Services Northwest (LCSNW), as well as individuals representing a class of impacted refugees.
The updated complaint reflects how the government has doubled down on its suspension of refugee processing and admissions over the past fourteen months since President Trump issued his refugee ban Executive Order:
- The government has granted exceptions to the refugee ban to over 3,000 white Afrikaners, while refusing to do so for other refugees.
- The administration has applied the travel ban to refugees, even though the travel ban explicitly contains an exception for refugees.
- The government has implemented President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2026 presidential determination to only admit white Afrikaners and non-Black minorities in South Africa, while refusing to consider any other refugees.
While refugee admissions have been fast-tracked for South African minorities, the government has categorically and unlawfully blocked vulnerable refugees from other populations under the new presidential determination and deprived them of the chance of even applying for an exception to the refugee ban. This includes individuals from populations Congress has specifically prioritized for refugee resettlement, such as the immediate family members of resettled refugees, U.S.-affiliated Iraqis, and Iranian religious minorities, all of whom have been unlawfully shut out of USRAP by the Trump administration.
“Before I came to America, I would always have nightmares that people are after me. I would dream that ISIS was chasing me, but once I came here the dreams stopped. Now I’m having the dreams again, but this time they are about my brother,” said plaintiff Jalal. “I have been trying to reunite with him for years, and worry about his safety constantly. I was persecuted in Iraq because I’m Yazidi and it pains me that my family is being discriminated against in America simply because of where we are from.”
“USRAP has been transformed into a discriminatory entity serving a 95% white population at the expense of refugees who have waited years for the chance to safely resettle in the United States,” said Mevlüde Akay Alp, IRAP Senior Litigation Attorney. “The government has the ability to grant exceptions to the refugee ban. Instead, it has abused this process to create a shadow refugee program for white Afrikaners while excluding refugees that Congress has prioritized.”
“Our hearts are with the families who were denied the chance to begin again this past year because of restrictive federal refugee policies,” said David Duea, LCSNW CEO. “Every day, we see the strength, resilience, and contributions that refugee families bring to our communities. Keeping families together and creating pathways for them to rebuild their lives reflects the best of who we are. It’s time for federal policy to return to those values.”
“This is not how refugee protection is supposed to work,”said Beth Oppenheim, HIAS CEO. “Congress created safeguards to ensure that the United States protects vulnerable populations based on need, not preference. This includes Iranians helped by the Lautenberg Amendment, which has been reauthorized by Congress every single year since its enactment in 1990. What we are seeing now is a system that ignores those legal obligations and leaves families, religious minorities, and allies behind.”
“The United States Refugee Admissions Program was created to offer refuge to those forced from their homes and to help families find safety and peace. Today, it has been reduced to a shadow of that mission and is being used to exclude rather than protect, and to leave vulnerable people waiting indefinitely in uncertainty,” said Rick Santos, CWS President and CEO. “Until the program once again lives up to its promise, we will challenge unlawful and inhumane policies wherever they appear—locally, in our faith communities, and in court.”
Background on the Case
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order indefinitely halting the entry of refugees through USRAP. After refugees and agencies represented by IRAP sued, a federal court in Seattle issued an injunction in February 2025 that resulted in the admission of more than a hundred refugees, until the Ninth Circuit stayed refugee processing and admission under the injunction in July 2025.
Earlier this year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision affirming that the government must continue funding domestic resettlement services to refugees in the United States, but reversing the District Court’s previous ruling that the government’s suspension of processing and admissions for refugees who had been approved for resettlement prior to President Trump’s refugee ban was unlawful.
Additional Resources
MEDIA CONTACTS
CWS | Chris Plummer | media@cwsglobal.org; IRAP | Spencer Tilger | media@refugeerights.org; HIAS | Rebecca Kirzner | media@hias.org; LCSNW | Matt Misterek | mmisterek@lcsnw.org