News Recap: June-July 2025

News
Written By Paul Costigan

We’ve been keeping track of the latest developments in the refugee resettlement and immigration landscape. Catch up on what you may have missed below, and learn more about ways to get involved at the end of this post.

Congress and the State Department 

The reconciliation bill, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, was signed into law on July 4, impacting refugees and immigrants in the U.S.  The comprehensive spending and tax legislation significantly limits newcomers’ access to public benefits, raises fees to apply for lawful status, and substantially increases funding for immigration enforcement. 

NOTE: Service providers should continue to help refugee families apply for SNAP and Medicaid benefits. No process or policy has been put in place by the appropriate federal department as yet (i.e.: SNAP > Dept of Agriculture), so no changes have taken place. MO-ORA has requested policy clearances from Family Support Division on various areas of the Reconciliation Bill. See FSD memos for any changes that may occur. 

Congress also passed a spending cuts package. Included is rescinding $800 million of the $3.2 billion appropriated in Fiscal Year 2025 for Migration and Refugee Assistance within the State Department. The funding had been used to support the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and provide overseas humanitarian assistance through the State Department, according to the letter. 

The State Department issued Reduction in Force (RIF) notices to over 1,300 employees – including the vast majority of staff from the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and every federal employee at the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE). 

 

Travel Ban 

The administration issued a travel ban, which went into effect on Monday, June 9. The ban bars travel to the U.S. by citizens of 12 countries mainly in Africa and the Middle East and partially restricts the entry of citizens from seven other countries.  

Although the ban is not supposed to apply to refugees, the administration is using the ban to block refugee arrivals. 

Less than a month after its initial implementation, the State Department was also considering expanding its travel ban to 36 additional countries, 25 are African nations. The countries have been informed of their potential inclusion in the travel ban, and they were given 60 days to align with the standards to avoid restrictions.   

 

U.S. Refugee Admissions Program 

Pacito v. Trump continues to play out in the courts while the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program largely remains paused. This lawsuit was filed by IRAP on behalf of CWS, HIAS, Lutheran Community Services Northwest, and several refugee plaintiffs, challenging the ongoing refugee ban and fighting for the resumption of the refugee admissions program and the resettlement of more than 100,000 refugees who have been conditionally approved for resettlement by USCIS.  

So far in the case:  

  • Judge Jamal Whitehead has ordered the Trump administration to resettle 160 “injunction-protected” refugees.  

  • Judge Whitehead has established a framework for reviewing and processing over 12,000 stranded refugees who had travel to the U.S. cancelled.  

  • Judge Whitehead has asserted that the travel ban does not apply to any injunction-protected refugees (including several who are ready to be resettled if not for being held up by the ban), citing in part the travel ban’s text itself which explicitly excludes refugees. 

  • The implementation of the framework is currently delayed after the government made an emergency appeal for relief. 

  • Oral arguments in the case are set for September 16 in the Ninth Circuit. 

Some refugees are arriving and being served by resettlement agencies, in large part due to Pacito v. Trump. But tens of thousands of refugees who had been approved for resettlement remain stranded overseas in unsafe conditions. 

Meanwhile, the administration also plans to have resettled 1,000 White South Africans in the U.S. before the end of September. 

 

Humanitarian Parole and Temporary Protected Status 

In June, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent termination notices to nearly 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans who were granted temporary protections through the parole program created by the Biden Administration. The cancellation of the program comes after the Supreme Court granted a request to end the protections last month. Work permits associated with the program will be canceled and the termination notice instructs parolees to return these permits to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 

On July 7, the administration announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras and Nicaragua. The termination, which will take effect on September 8, pending litigation, will result in the revocation of protection from deportation and work authorization of approximately 72,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans.  

On July 21, a court of appeals ruled that the administration can revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans and Cameroonians living in the U.S. while litigation challenging the termination of the program works its way through the courts. Around 11,700 Afghans and 5,200 Cameroonians will be impacted by the decision. The termination goes into effect immediately for Afghanistan and on August 4 for Cameroon. 

USAHello updates their TPS pages within 1–2 days after policy changes. 

 

U.S. Citizenship 

At the end of June, the Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. Casa, a challenge to the Trump administration’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented parents and those on certain temporary visas, causing more uncertainty among immigrant communities. The Supreme Court decision did not rule on the constitutionality of the executive order. Instead, the decision rejects the nationwide injunctions that had blocked the order, paving the way for the policy to be enforced, at least temporarily, in most states. The birthright citizenship restrictions do not take place everywhere immediately.  

The justice department issued a directive to strip naturalized Americans of citizenship for criminal offenses. The administration has codified its efforts to strip some Americans of their U.S. citizenship in a recently published justice department memo that directs attorneys to prioritize denaturalization for naturalized citizens who commit certain crimes. 

 

Deportation 

On June 23, the Supreme Court lifted a nationwide injunction preventing the administration from swiftly removing people to so-called “third countries” where they have no ties. An April 18 district court ruling had required the government to offer people facing third-country removal adequate notice and a chance to make the case that they would face persecution if removed to the third country. This unsigned decision from June 23 puts that ruling on hold while litigation proceeds in the lower courts. 

 

In Missouri 

On June 30, Governor Kehoe vetoed 208-line items totaling $2.2 billion from the state budget previously passed by the House and Senate. In addition, 32 items totaling $211 million in general revenue were withheld. This included the $2.5 million allocated for refugee and immigrant workforce projects around the state. The Governor’s office expressed concern about the overall size of the budget passed by the General Assembly and that this provision would be duplicative of other refugee resettlement services. 

According to ORR Policy Letter 25-04 which, starting in Fiscal Year 2026, will no longer allow utilizing Replacement Designees (such as MO-ORA) to distribute RSS and other funds to organizations across the state, the legislature agreed to accept funds from ORR beginning in FY26. This survived the governor’s veto. MO-ORA is working with the Department of Social Services to administer those funds on behalf of DSS for FY26. 


How to Get Involved:  

Paul Costigan
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