Around The World, Refugees Are Shut Out Of The US By Trump’s New Policies

When President Donald Trump suspended the refugee program on the first day of his current administration, thousands of people around the world who had come this close to a new life in America found themselves abandoned.

Many had already sold their belongings or terminated their leases in preparation for the trip. They had submitted tons of documents supporting their cases, had interviewed US officials, and in many cases already had tickets to fly to America.

As part of Trump’s crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration, the Republican president has upended a decades-old refugee program that provided guidance for those fleeing war and persecution. It resumed the program in October but set a historic low of 7,500 in refugee admissions; most were white South Africans.

A series of new restrictions were announced after an Afghan citizen became a suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members last week. The Trump administration also plans to conduct a review of refugees taken in during the Democratic Biden administration. The Trump administration cited economic and national security concerns for policy changes.

According to the administration, approximately 600,000 people from around the world were being processed to come to the United States as refugees when the program was stopped. Dozens of white South Africans were allowed in this year. However, Mevlüde Akay Alp, the lawyer defending the case, said that only about 100 people were accepted as a result of the lawsuit filed by lawyers who wanted to restart the refugee program.

“It is important that we do not abandon these families and do not abandon the thousands of people who set out with the promise of coming here as refugees,” said Akay Alp from the International Refugee Assistance Project.

The Associated Press spoke with three families whose lives were turned upside down by changing policies.

A family separated by tightening restrictions The Davud family had waited years for the opportunity to come to the United States. They settled in Northern Iraq after escaping the civil war in Syria. They were hoping to find a home that could provide better medical care for their daughter, who fell from the fourth floor of the family’s apartment building.

After being admitted to the United States as refugees, his son Ibrahim and his sister Ava moved to New Haven, Connecticut in November 2024. His parents and one of his brothers were scheduled to fly in January.

However, two days before boarding the plane, mother Hayat Fatah fainted during the health check and her flight was postponed. Another brother, Muhammad, did not want to leave his parents behind.

“I said: ‘That’s it. The chance’s gone.’ But I had to stay with my mother and father,” said Mohammed.

Nearly a year later, he and his family are still waiting. Without a residence card, Mohammed cannot work or travel outside his home in the city of Erbil. The family survives on money sent from relatives abroad.

Muhammad had dreams of the new life he hoped for in America: starting a business or finishing his education to become a petroleum engineer; getting married and starting a family.

“Whether it’s now, a year from now, two years from now, four years from now, I’ll wait and hopefully go,” he said.

In America, Ibrahim often wakes up early to tutor people online before going to his job as a math teacher at a private school, and takes care of his sister when he returns home. He said his mother often cried as she spoke because she wished she were in America to help care for her daughter.

Ibrahim said that the welcome he received in the United States was a consolation. Volunteers stepped in to take him and his sister to frequent doctor appointments and helped them adjust to their new life.

“I really appreciate the kindness of the people here,” he said.

A Chinese pastor wonders when his turn will come after a decade in limbo Chinese Christian Lu Taizhi fled to Thailand more than a decade ago for fear of persecution for his beliefs. He has been living in legal limbo ever since, waiting to settle in the United States.

Lu said he has long admired the United States, which he called its Christian character, a place where he felt he and his family could “seek freedom.” He said he was disappointed that people like him and his family who legally applied for refugee status faced so much difficulty getting to the United States.

“I oppose illegal immigration. Many of them are fake refugees or illegal immigrants; they have never faced oppression. I am against it,” Lu said. “But I hope America can accept people like us, real refugees who face real oppression… It’s really disappointing.”

Lu comes from a long line of oppositionists: He was born into a family branded “hostile elements” by the Chinese Communist Party because of their land ownership and ties to a rival political party. Lu, a teacher and poet, became interested in history banned by the Chinese state, and in 1989 wrote paeans to Tiananmen’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing.

In 2004, Lu was arrested after police discovered poems and articles he had secretly published criticizing Chinese politics and the education system. After his release, Lu converted to Christianity and began preaching, drawing scrutiny from local authorities. Over the years, civil servants knocked on his door, warning him not to organize protests or post comments critical of the Party.

Controls were tightened after Chinese leader Xi Jinping came to power. When Beijing arrested hundreds of human rights lawyers in 2015, Lu fled with his family, worried that the police would catch him. After traveling throughout Southeast Asia, Lu and his family settled in Thailand, where he applied for refugee status with the United Nations.

Eight years later, the UN notified Lu that the United States had accepted his application. However, their first flight in April 2024 was postponed due to Lu’s sons’ passports expiring. The second one, scheduled for January 22, 2025, was canceled without any explanation. The last one, planned for February 26, 2025, was canceled shortly after Trump took office. Lu said his application has been suspended indefinitely.

Today, Lu ekes out a meager living as a teacher and priest in Northern Thailand. He is separated from his wife and children in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, but says he has no choice if he wants to earn money and support his family.

“I am very supportive of all of Trump’s policies because I think only President Trump can dismantle the CCP,” Lu said, using an acronym referring to the Chinese Communist Party. “So I have no complaints. I just wait quietly.”

‘I don’t want to lose him’ Louis came to the United States as a refugee in September 2024. He left his wife and two children in East Africa, hoping they could soon be reunited in the United States.

However, this dream faded a few months later when Trump returned to the presidency.

Louis, who insisted on being identified only by his first name out of concerns that speaking publicly could complicate his case, was told in January that his request to bring his family to the United States had been frozen due to changes in refugee policies.

Family members now live thousands of miles apart, not knowing when they will be reunited. His wife, Apolina, and their children, ages 2 and 3, are in a refugee camp in Uganda. Louis in Kentucky.

Louis, who settled in Kentucky with the help of the International Rescue Committee, said, “I don’t want to lose him, and he doesn’t want to lose me.” “My hope gradually faded away. I thought we would never meet again,” he said, referring to the moment he received the notification.

Louis and Apolina’s families applied for refugee status after fleeing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Louis’ application, initiated by his parents, was approved, while Apolina’s application, filed separately by her parents, was rejected. They hoped that Louis applying for family reunification in the United States would ease the path to bringing Apolina and the two children.

As the wife of a refugee, Apolina thought it would not take more than a year to be reunited with her husband, who now works in a white goods factory and has applied for permanent residence.

Separation was not easy for him and the children living in tents in the refugee camp. The little one, who was 7 months old when Louis left, cries every time he sees his father on a video call. The older one keeps asking where Louis is and when he will see him.

Apolina is afraid that as time goes by, the children will forget their father.

“I feel very bad because I miss my husband so much,” Apolina said in a telephone interview from Uganda. “I ask God to be patient with him until we meet again.”