When President Donald Trump suspended the refugee program The first day of his current administrationthousands of people around the world who were so close to a new life in America found themselves abandoned.
Many of them had already sold their properties or terminated leases in preparation for travel. They provided a wealth of documents supporting their cases, interviewed US officials, and in many cases had tickets to travel to America.
As part of Trump’s crackdown on legal and illegal immigration, the Republican president upended a decades-long refugee program that served as a beacon for those fleeing war and persecution. In October, the program resumed but hit a historic low for refugee admissions Only 7500 – Mostly white South Africans.
A series of new restrictions It has not been announced yet Afghan citizen He became the suspect in the shooting deaths of two National Guard members last week. The Trump administration also plans to review the applications of refugees who were allowed in during the Democratic Biden administration. The Trump administration has cited economic and national security concerns for its policy changes.
About 600,000 people They were being prepared to come to the United States as refugees around the world when the program was halted, according to the administration. Dozens of white South Africans have been allowed in this year. But only about 100 more were accepted as a result of a lawsuit filed by advocates seeking to resume the refugee program, said Mevlut Akay Alp, an attorney who is defending the case.
“It is important that we do not abandon these families and that we do not abandon the thousands of people who were counting on the promise of coming here as refugees,” said Akai Alp, of the International Refugee Assistance Project.
The Associated Press spoke to three families whose lives have been thrown into disarray by the changing policies.
David’s family waited years for the opportunity to come to the United States. After fleeing the civil war in Syria, they settled in northern Iraq. They hoped to find a home that could provide better medical care for their daughter, who had fallen from the fourth floor of the family’s apartment building.
After being accepted as refugees in the United States, son Abraham and his sister Ava moved to New Haven, Connecticut, in November 2024. His parents and one of his siblings were scheduled to fly out in January.
But just two days before they were to board the plane, mother Hayat Fateh fainted during a medical examination, and her departure was postponed. Muhammad, another brother, did not want to leave his parents behind.
“I said, ‘That’s it. The opportunity is gone.’ “But I had to stay with my father and mother,” Muhammad said.
Nearly a year later, he and his parents are still waiting. Without a residency card, Muhammad cannot work or travel outside his home in the city of Erbil. The family depends on money sent by its relatives abroad.
Muhammad dreamed of a hopeful new life in America: starting a business or finishing his studies to become a petroleum engineer; Marriage and family building.
“Whether it is now, a year from now, two years from now, or four years from now, I will wait and hope to leave,” he said.
In America, Ibrahim often wakes up early to teach people online before going to his job as a math teacher at a private school, then takes care of his sister when he gets home. He said his mother often cries when they talk because she wishes she was in America to help take care of her daughter.
Ibrahim said one of the things he found solace was the welcome he received in the United States, where volunteers stepped in to take him and his sister to frequent doctor’s appointments and help them adjust to their new lives.
“I really appreciate the kindness of the people here,” he said.
Chinese Christian Lu Taizi fled to Thailand more than a decade ago, fearing persecution for his beliefs. He has lived in legal limbo ever since, awaiting resettlement in the United States.
Law said he has long admired the United States for what he calls its Christian character — a place where he feels he and his family “can seek freedom.” He said he is disappointed that people like him and his family who have applied for refugee status legally face so many difficulties going to the United States.
“I oppose illegal immigration. Many of them are fake refugees, or illegal immigrants, and have never faced oppression. I oppose this,” Lu said. “But I hope America can accept people like us, real refugees who have faced real oppression… It’s really disappointing.”
Lu comes from a long line of opposition: he was born into a family described by the Chinese Communist Party as “hostile elements” because of his land ownership and ties to a rival political party. A teacher and poet, Lu became interested in history banned by the Chinese state, praising the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing.
In 2004, Lu was arrested after police found poems and articles he secretly published criticizing Chinese politics and the education system. After his release, Lu became a Christian and began preaching, drawing scrutiny from local authorities. Year after year, officers knocked on his door, warning him not to organize protests or post comments critical of the party.
With the rise of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to power, controls have been tightened. When Beijing arrested hundreds of human rights lawyers in 2015, Lu took his family and fled, fearing that the police would come after him. After traveling through Southeast Asia, Lu and his family settled in Thailand, where they applied for refugee status with the United Nations.
Eight years later, the United Nations informed Lu that the United States had accepted his request. But their first trip, in April 2024, was postponed because the Luo children’s passports had expired. The second appointment, scheduled for January 22, 2025, was canceled without explanation, and the most recent appointment, scheduled for February 26, was canceled shortly after Trump’s inauguration. Low said his application has been postponed indefinitely.
Today, Low lives a meager life as a teacher and pastor in northern Thailand. He is separated from his wife and children in Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, but says he has no choice if he wants to earn money and support his family.
“I strongly support all of Trump’s policies because I believe that only President Trump can dismantle the Chinese Communist Party,” Lu said. “So I have no complaints. I’m just waiting silently.”
Lewis arrived in the United States as a refugee in September 2024. He left his wife and two children in East Africa, hoping to soon be reunited in the United States.
But that dream faded a few months later with Trump’s return to the presidency.
Lewis, who insisted on using only his first name for fear that speaking out would complicate his case, was told in January that his application to bring his family to the United States had been put on hold due to changes in refugee policies.
Now, family members live thousands of miles apart without knowing when they will be reunited. His wife, Apolina, and two children, aged two and three, live in a refugee camp in Uganda. Louis in Kentucky.
“I don’t want to lose her, and she doesn’t want to lose me,” said Lewis, who settled in Kentucky with the help of the International Rescue Committee. “The hope I had was slowly fading. I thought we would never meet again,” he said, referring to the moment he received the notice.
Luis and Apollina’s families applied for refugee status after fleeing war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Luis’s application, submitted by his parents, was approved, while Apolina’s application, submitted separately by her parents, was not approved. They expressed their hope that Luis would apply for family reunification in the United States, which would ease the way to bring Apolina and the two children.
Apolina thought that, as the wife of a refugee, it would take no more than a year to reunite with her husband, who now works in an appliance factory and has already applied for permanent residency.
The separation was not easy for her and her children, who live in a tent in the refugee camp. The youngest, who was 7 months old when Lewis left, cries every time he sees his father on a video call. The elder continues to wonder where Louis is and when he will see him.
Apollina fears that over time, the children will forget their father.
“I feel bad because I miss my husband so much,” Apolina said in a phone interview from Uganda. “I pray that God will give him patience until we meet again.”
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Santana reported from Washington, Kang from Beijing and Salomon from Miami. Associated Press writers Evelyn Musambi in Nairobi, Kenya, and Salar Salim in Erbil, Iraq, contributed to this report.