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Refugees who were approved to travel to the United States before the Jan. 27 deadline to suspend the US refugee resettlement program have had their travel plans canceled by the Trump administration.
Thousands of refugees are now stranded in different locations around the world.
The suspension is contained in an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on Monday. It left open the possibility that people who had gone through the long process of being granted refugee status and allowed to come to the US, and had flights booked before that deadline, could still get under the wire.
But in an email reviewed by The Associated Press on Wednesday, the U.S. agency that oversees refugee processing and arrivals told staff and stakeholders that “refugee arrivals to the United States have been suspended until further notice.”
Those affected include more than 1,600 Afghans who have been approved to resettle in the U.S. under a program the Biden administration established after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. That number includes those who worked with U.S. soldiers during the war, as family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel.
Trump’s order gave the agency until Jan. 27 before it began halting all processing and travel. Now, however, the time in the order appears to have been moved up. It was not immediately clear what prompted the change.
Refugees are different from people who come directly to the US-Mexico border with the goal of eventually seeking asylum in the US. Refugees must live outside the US to be considered for resettlement and are usually referred by the United Nations to the State Department.
They undergo extensive screening before entering the country. Once there, they are usually connected with a resettlement agency that helps them adjust to life in the U.S., which includes helping them find jobs and enroll their children in school.
Antonio Gutierrez, a Chicago community organizer, said the expanded authority President Donald Trump has given ICE agents to detain and deport undocumented migrants has fears in his community that agents could enter schools and churches and families could be separated.
