News & Resources
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT
Spencer Tilger | media@refugeerights.org
Trump Administration Lays Groundwork for Mass Deportation of Resettled Refugees
New Regulation Makes it Harder To Challenge Attempts to Terminate Refugee Status
(New York, NY) – Today, the Trump administration posted a new interim final rule that will make it easier to strip resettled refugees living in the United States of their legal status without due process. The rule, which goes into effect once it is formally published in the Federal Register tomorrow, substantially reduces the period in which refugees can appeal the termination before they lose status from thirty days to ten.
Under this regulation, refugees will lose meaningful due process protections, making it nearly impossible for them to challenge unfair or false accusations before they lose their refugee status and with it their right to work. Until recently, it has been exceedingly rare for refugees to have their status terminated, and previously they had thirty days to respond to such a notice. In that already-limited time, refugees had more opportunity to find counsel, submit evidence debunking the government’s often-baseless accusations, and defend and maintain their status. Absent exceptional circumstances, the law requires agencies to seek public input before imposing significant changes in regulations, but U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has chosen to forego the required notice-and-comment period and impose its new rule immediately.
The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) has been defending resettled refugees against unlawful efforts to arrest, detain, and strip them of their status through litigation and on an individual basis since the administration began targeting them earlier this year. This regulation represents another escalation against immigrants with lawful status and these tactics lay the groundwork for the mass de-documentation and deportation of refugees. IRAP calls on USCIS to rescind the rule immediately and for Congress to exercise its authority to prevent this injustice from being carried out.
Laurie Ball Cooper, IRAP Vice President of U.S. Legal Programs said:
“The Trump administration has been relentless in its efforts to strip immigrants, including refugees, of their legal status and enact its racist and xenophobic vision for America. For months, IRAP has worked to defend refugees facing a government witch-hunt seeking to strip them of status in the United States. Now, it will be impossible for refugees to even fully understand the allegations against them, much less find counsel and contest those allegations, before their status is terminated. The government is reducing this process to mere window-dressing for an effort to strip lawfully present, lawfully admitted refugees of their status and deport them to persecution or worse. Refugees are American community members who have already proven and won their cases for protection. Threatening the safety and stability of our refugee neighbors is an attack on the constitutional rights of every American.”
Background
Beginning in early 2026, the Trump administration started unlawfully arresting and detaining refugees solely because they had not yet received their green cards. IRAP, alongside partner organizations, secured court orders preventing the government from carrying out this policy in Minnesota and nationally. But even once detentions stopped, refugees continued to be called in for aggressive revetting interviews, receiving Notices of Intent to Terminate their refugee status on spurious grounds, and some have been placed in removal proceedings after having their status terminated.
Additional Information
- Read the posted but unpublished regulation: HERE
- Learn more about IRAP’s work challenging the arrest and detention of refugees: HERE
- Read IRAP’s legal explainer about refugee revetting: HERE
- Access Know Your Rights information for refugees living in the United States: HERE
The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) is a global legal aid and advocacy organization working to create a world where refugees and all people seeking safety are empowered to claim their right to freedom of movement and a path to lasting refuge. Everyone should have a safe place to live and a safe way to get there.
###