Latest news with #RefugeeAct
NDTV
06-05-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Fresh Blow To Trump Administration, Judge Orders To Admit 12,000 Refugees
A judge on Monday ordered President Donald Trump's administration to admit around 12,000 refugees into the United States, a blow to the government's efforts to re-shape America's immigration policy. The order clarifies the limits imposed by an appeals court ruling which allowed the Trump administration to suspend the refugee admissions system, but said it must admit people already granted refugee status with travel plans to the United States. The Trump administration argued at a hearing last week that it should only have to admit 160 refugees who were scheduled to travel within two weeks of an executive order in January halting the system. But US District Judge Jamal Whitehead overruled the claim on Monday, saying "the government's interpretation is, to put it mildly, 'interpretive jiggerypokery' of the highest order. "It requires not just reading between the lines" of the appeal decision "but hallucinating new text that simply is not there," Whitehead wrote in his order. Whitehead had originally blocked Trump's executive order halting refugee admissions, ruling in February that it likely violated the 1980 Refugee Act. But his decision was overruled by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals a month later. "Had the Ninth Circuit intended to impose a two-week limitation -- one that would reduce the protected population from about 12,000 to 160 individuals -- it would have done so explicitly," Whitehead wrote. "This Court will not entertain the government's result-oriented rewriting of a judicial order that clearly says what it says," he added. The lawsuit had been brought by Jewish refugee non-profit HIAS, Christian group Church World Service, Lutheran Community Services Northwest and a number of individuals. Those nonprofits said in their February lawsuit that several people who had been about to travel, having sold all their belongings in their own country, were abruptly left in limbo by Trump's order. Refugee resettlement had been one of the few legal routes to eventual US citizenship, and had been embraced by former president Joe Biden, who expanded eligibility for the program to include people affected by climate change. Trump's White House campaign was marked by vitriol about immigrants. He has also pushed a vigorous program of deportations, with highly publicized military flights taking handcuffed people to countries in Latin America.
New Indian Express
06-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Judge orders Trump to admit 12,000 refugees into US
WASHINGTON: A judge on Monday ordered President Donald Trump's administration to admit around 12,000 refugees into the United States, a blow to the government's efforts to re-shape America's immigration policy. The order clarifies the limits imposed by an appeals court ruling which allowed the Trump administration to suspend the refugee admissions system, but said it must admit people already granted refugee status with travel plans to the United States. The Trump administration argued at a hearing last week that it should only have to admit 160 refugees who were scheduled to travel within two weeks of an executive order in January halting the system. But US District Judge Jamal Whitehead overruled the claim on Monday, saying "the government's interpretation is, to put it mildly, 'interpretive jiggerypokery' of the highest order. "It requires not just reading between the lines" of the appeal decision "but hallucinating new text that simply is not there," Whitehead wrote in his order. Whitehead had originally blocked Trump's executive order halting refugee admissions, ruling in February that it likely violated the 1980 Refugee Act. But his decision was overruled by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals a month later.
RTHK
06-05-2025
- Politics
- RTHK
Court orders US to admit 12,000 refugees
Court orders US to admit 12,000 refugees Residents of Norfolk, Virginia, rally in front of the city's federal building holding pro-immigrant signs, protesting against the Trump administration's deportations. Photo: NurPhoto via AFP A US judge ordered President Donald Trump's administration to admit around 12,000 refugees into the country in a blow to the government's efforts to re-shape America's immigration policy. The order on Monday clarifies the limits imposed by an appeals court ruling that allowed the Trump administration to suspend the refugee admissions system but said it must admit people already granted refugee status with travel plans to the United States. The Trump administration argued at a hearing last week that it should only have to admit 160 refugees who were scheduled to travel within two weeks of an executive order in January halting the system. But US District Judge Jamal Whitehead overruled the claim, saying "the government's interpretation is, to put it mildly, 'interpretive jiggerypokery' of the highest order. "It requires not just reading between the lines" of the appeal decision "but hallucinating new text that simply is not there," Whitehead wrote in his order. Whitehead had originally blocked Trump's executive order halting refugee admissions, ruling in February that it likely violated the 1980 Refugee Act. But his decision was overruled by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals a month later. "Had the Ninth Circuit intended to impose a two-week limitation – one that would reduce the protected population from about 12,000 to 160 individuals – it would have done so explicitly," Whitehead wrote. "This court will not entertain the government's result-oriented rewriting of a judicial order that clearly says what it says," he added. The lawsuit had been brought by Jewish refugee non-profit HIAS, Christian group Church World Service, Lutheran Community Services Northwest and a number of individuals. Those nonprofits said in their February lawsuit that several people who had been about to travel, having sold all their belongings in their own country, were abruptly left in limbo by Trump's order. Refugee resettlement had been one of the few legal routes to eventual US citizenship, and had been embraced by former president Joe Biden, who expanded eligibility for the program to include people affected by climate change. Trump's White House campaign was marked by vitriol about immigrants. He has also pushed a vigorous program of deportations, with highly publicized military flights taking handcuffed people to countries in Latin America. (AFP)
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Refugee services still wonder what future holds
ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — Commonwealth Catholic Charities is part of the world's largest refugee resettlement agency, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It places international refugees in the Roanoke, Richmond, and Hampton Roads areas. Kristen Larcher, director of refugee and immigration services at CCC says the impacts of President Donald Trump's order pausing refugee entry came 'fast and furious.' Trump ordered a pause on refugee arrivals in January, ending reimbursements for programs like the CCC's. His order included a 90-day review, which would have landed on April 27. Then in February, that review was seemingly scrapped when the state department terminated grant agreements with the ten resettlement agencies in the U.S. 'I don't really know what that means, I don't see after a termination that now they would come back and revisit how this is going to look,' said Larcher. 'What I have heard from the network USCCB is that helping refugees might resurface in the future but it might look different and it might not happen through these ten agencies.' The Trump administration argued in the January 20 order that 'The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans.' Roanoke Police looking for missing girl 'I think cities are well prepared and have always been,' Larcher responded in an interview Tuesday. 'I mean the 1980 Refugee Act, it's not a new program, it's been around for decades.' The order says refugee admissions can resume when they align 'with the interests of the United States.' Larcher and her team continued to offer 90-day services to refugees who arrived before January 20, despite not receiving reimbursements from the federal government. The CCC Roanoke office had to let go nine of its 17 member staff. They typically help about 315 refugees in one fiscal year (October to September). By January, 88 arrived, so Larcher's team started looking for alternatives funding. 'Past donors, churches, volunteers,' she explained. 'We had to pull together funds pretty quickly to cover those expenses that are promised to refugees coming through the reception and placement program.' The funding helps provide housing when they get to the U.S. and education in conversational English and other typical American life skills. The program also helps refugees find work so they can get on their feet after their first 90 days. The U.S. is still helping refugees who came to America before the order. 'Losing the reception and placement program is like losing one engine,' Larcher explained. 'We're still operating on this other engine. Funding does come through the Office of Refugee Resettlement and that's a completely different program that allows us, as I said before, to work with refugees for 3, 4, 5 years. That's the ongoing refugee services that go beyond the first 90 days.' As of right now, Larcher says they expect to have that funding next fiscal year. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Al Jazeera
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
'How far can a president go?'
But even a legal victory may not be enough to restore the US refugee system. Temple University's Ramji-Nogales told Al Jazeera that, even if legal challenges prevail, there are myriad other ways the Trump administration could render the programme nearly ineffective. "If they can't stop it completely, they can really lower the numbers and really inflict damage on the programme and its ability to function going forward," she said. The 1980 legislation created an annual process for the president to set admission ceilings: a maximum number of refugees that can be allowed into the US. Since 1990, refugee admissions have averaged about 65,000 per year. Still, the 1980 Refugee Act sets no minimum on the number of refugees that must be permitted. The late President Jimmy Carter set the highest bar, with an admissions ceiling of more than 230,000. Trump, meanwhile, capped admissions for fiscal year 2020 at 18,000, marking a historic low. For 2021 — the year his first term ended — he proposed an even smaller number: 15,000. It is unclear just how far Trump can legally go in minimising the programme during his second term, according to Opila, the lawyer at the American Immigration Council. "There isn't a ton of case law about the sort of boundaries" the president might face, Opila said. For its part, the Trump administration has indicated there is at least one group it is willing to prioritise in refugee admissions: white Afrikaners from South Africa. In an executive order in February, Trump said the US "shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation". South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, however, has said Trump's claims of anti-white discrimination are false. It is unclear what the effect of all these changes will be, according to Ramji-Nogales. She noted there has traditionally been bipartisan support for the refugee programme, as it overlapped with religious interests and efforts to promote US "soft power" abroad. That was true even when public sentiment towards refugees dipped at various points in recent decades, she said. But Trump has faced little opposition from his own Republican Party so far during his second term. "What happens next depends on what happens in the midterm elections and depends on what happens with the next presidential election," Ramji-Nogales said.
