Trump halts U.S. refugee programme: Who is affected?

NAIROBI - President Donald Trump has halted the resettlement of refugees from overseas by suspending an admissions programme indefinitely, causing flights to be cancelled and spreading fear among those who hoped to build new lives in the United States.

Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and calling for a review in three months to determine whether the programme sufficiently benefits Americans.

"The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, ... in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees," said the order.

"This order suspends the USRAP (United States Refugee Admissions Program) until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States," it added.

Here's what you need to know about refugee admissions to the United States.

What is the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP)?

The United States has the largest refugee resettlement programme in the world and has admitted over 3 million refugees over the last five decades.

After the fall of South Vietnam to communist forces in 1975, the United States granted entry to hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asian refugees.

The country's first official federal effort to resettle refugees, known as the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), was not created until passage of the Refugee Act of 1980.

However, in recent years, USRAP has come under increasing scrutiny, and the number of people allowed into the U.S. has fluctuated based on global events and U.S. priorities.

During President Barack Obama's administration, the war in Syria and the related 2015 migration crisis in Europe prompted the U.S. administration to accept fewer refugees leading to a decrease in admissions.

During his first term, Trump introduced a ban on refugees from certain Muslim countries and sharp cuts to overall refugee admissions, sparking fresh debate over the national security implications of refugee policy.

However, conflict in countries including Afghanistan and Ukraine prompted President Joe Biden to revitalise the refugee programme, including with the creation of a Welcome Corps initiative allowing U.S. citizens to privately sponsor refugees.

How many refugees are admitted to the U.S. every year?

The number of people who can be admitted to the United States as refugees each year is established by the president in consultation with Congress.

During his tenure, Biden set the ceiling at 125,000 refugees annually from 2022 to 2025, and U.S. State Department data shows there were 25,465 admissions in 2022, 60,014 in 2023 and 100,034 in 2024.

Where do most refugees to the U.S. come from?

The United States has consistently received refugees from Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America, though the total number of admissions has changed dramatically for some regions since USRAP was created.

In 2024, the top ten countries of origin of refugees to the United States were: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Syria, Myanmar, Guatemala, Somalia, Nicaragua, Iraq and Sudan.

Rights groups say refugees from these countries are likely to be the most affected by Trump's USRAP suspension.

What does the suspension of USRAP mean for refugees?

Since Trump signed the executive order, the U.S. government has cancelled departures for thousands of refugees who had already been cleared for travel.
Around 100,000 refugees around the world had been fully vetted and were ready to travel to the U.S. as of mid-January.

This includes nearly 1,660 Afghans already approved for entry. The group includes unaccompanied minors awaiting reunification with their families in the U.S. as well as Afghans at risk of Taliban retribution because they fought for the former U.S.-backed Afghan government.

Dozens of refugees who arrived in Australia by boat a decade ago and expected to resettle in the United States have been affected by the freeze on refugee admissions.

Trump has also ordered a 90-day pause in foreign development assistance, a move that could affect humanitarian efforts around the world, including in Afghanistan, where relief operations are already stretched thin.

Trump's secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said that the aid pause would not affect life-saving aid defined as "core medicine, medical services, food, shelter, subsistence assistance and supplies", and was focused on aid programmes involving abortion, family planning or "gender ideology."

(Reporting by Nita Bhalla; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa.)