Greenbelt, MD, January 18, 2022 – On a press call today, asylum seekers and advocates discussed the importance of work permits for asylum seekers and where efforts stand in the fight to protect the ability of asylum seekers to work legally. The call featured remarks from the Asylum Seekers Advocacy Project (ASAP), the International Refugee […]
International Refugee Assistance Project
State and Local Officials From All 50 States Sign Bipartisan Letter Urging Biden Administration to Increase Refugee Admissions
New York, NY, September 21, 2021 – Today, the Refugee Advocacy Lab published a letter signed by more than 300 state and local elected officials from all 50 states and the District of Columbia urging President Biden to resettle at least 125,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2022. In the bipartisan letter, the officials expressed their strong support for resettling refugees […]
IRAP Denounces Biden Admin Decisions to Extend Title 42 Expulsions, Implement Expedited Removal
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indefinitely extended Title 42, a policy that effectively prevents all asylum seekers from requesting protection at the U.S. border, in violation of domestic and international law. The decision marks a calamitous reversal of the Biden Administration’s previous openness to phasing out the inhumane policy for families. The extension also […]
Advocacy Groups Release Recommendations for Expanded Community Sponsorship Program for Refugees
Today, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), and the Niskanen Center published a joint paper offering recommendations to the Departments of State (DOS) and Health and Human Services (HHS) as they design an expanded community sponsorship system that includes a new private sponsorship program for refugees. President Biden’s Executive Order 14013, issued February 4, 2021, directed the Secretaries […]
IRAP Calls for Emergency Increase in Refugee Admissions
New York, NY, March 1, 2021 – The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) calls on President Biden to immediately sign the Proposed Emergency Presidential Determination (PD) and allow for additional refugees to be admitted this Fiscal Year. The Biden Administration recently submitted the Report to Congress on the Proposed Emergency Presidential Determination, which emphasized the urgent need for increased […]
Appeals Court Affirms Ruling Blocking Trump from Giving States and Localities Ability to Stop Refugee Resettlement
Greenbelt, MD, January 8, 2021 – Today, a U.S. court of appeals affirmed a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit HIAS v. Trump, which blocked an executive order that—for the first time in the history of the U.S. refugee resettlement program—would have allowed state and local officials to prevent refugees from being resettled in their jurisdictions. The […]
IRAP Condemns New Proposed Rule Exploiting Public Health Concerns to Further Restrict Asylum
July 9, 2020 – Today, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security proposed a new regulation that would further gut the asylum system in the United States. IRAP strongly condemns the proposed regulation for using the current COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to deny protection in the United States to those fleeing persecution and […]
Major Settlement Secures Relief for Refugees Left Behind by Trump Refugee Ban
Seattle, WA, February 10, 2020 – Today, the government entered into a major settlement with plaintiffs in Jewish Family Service v. Trump, which challenged the Trump administration’s refugee ban issued on October 24, 2017. The executive order had imposed new restrictions on refugees, including suspending admission of refugees from 11 countries and family members of refugees who are […]
IRAP Files Lawsuit for Documents on Executive Order Banning Refugees from Certain Localities
New York, NY, September 30, 2019 – Today, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation to compel the release of documents related to how last week’s Executive Order on Enhancing State and Local Involvement in Refugee Resettlement was crafted by the Trump Administration. The order would give state and local governments the authority to block refugee resettlement […]
IRAP & RAICES File Challenge to Trump’s Latest Attack on Asylum Seekers
Washington, DC, July 1, 2019 – Last week, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) filed a lawsuit on behalf of several asylum seekers who have been deported or are at imminent risk of being returned to the countries from which they fled. The lawsuit […]
Court Orders Govt. to Resume Processing Central American Minors in Terminated Humanitarian Program
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, March 5, 2019 – On March 1, a Northern California federal court ordered the U.S. government to resume processing applications of approximately 2,700 children and others in the Central American Minors (CAM) Parole program. The court’s decision granted in substantial part the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction in S.A. v. Trump. The […]
IRAP Condemns Trump’s Announcement to Restrict Asylum Seekers’ Right to Claim Asylum
NEW YORK, NY, Nov. 2, 2018 – Yesterday, President Trump announced plans to sign an executive order that may include banning asylum seekers from being able to claim asylum in the United States if they do not cross the U.S. border at an official port of entry, even though some asylum seekers have been turned […]
IRAP Denounces President Trump’s Decision to Once Again Reduce Refugee Admissions to Historical Low
NEW YORK, NY, Sept. 17, 2018 – Today, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the Presidential Determination for refugee admissions for the upcoming fiscal year. The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) at the Urban Justice Center strongly condemns his proposal, which further reduces last year’s resettlement quota – already a historical low – to merely 30,000. The President has […]
IRAP Condemns US Congress’ Failure to Protect Afghan Wartime Partners
New York, NY, July 24, 2018 – The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) at the Urban Justice Center strongly condemns Congress’ failure to authorize additional visas for Afghan wartime partners in recent defense legislation. The Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program provides a pathway to safety for local allies who worked as linguists or in other […]
District Court Sides with Iranian Refugees Unlawfully Denied Asylum
SAN JOSE, CA, July 11, 2018 – Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California sided with plaintiffs in Doe v. Nielsen, which challenges the mass denials of Iranian religious minority refugees who abandoned their homes in Iran and traveled to Vienna at the invitation of the U.S. government to complete processing […]
IRAP: Beyond effects on individuals, SCOTUS decision on Muslim ban will have far-reaching, devastating consequences
New York, NY, June 26, 2018 – Today, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in the landmark case, Trump v. Hawaii, which challenges the President’s Muslim ban as unlawful and discriminatory. In their decision, five of the nine Judges sided with the government that the President was within his rights to ban people from certain nations […]
Ninth Circuit denies motion by government, allows refugee ban lawsuit to continue
Seattle, WA, March 29, 2018 – Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion by the government to dismiss the appeal and vacate the injunction in JFS v. Trump, which challenges the Trump administration’s October 24 ban on refugees that suspended the admission of refugees from 11 countries and stopped the follow-to-join process for […]
IRAP Statement in Response to Government’s Updated Refugee Restrictions
NEW YORK, NY Jan. 30, 2018 – On Monday, the Trump Administration announced additional security enhancements as a result of its 90-day review of the security screenings applied to nationals from eleven countries deemed “higher risk”, most of them majority Muslim. The review period, which had been ordered in a memo as part of the […]
IRAP Praises Hawaii Order Expanding Categories of People Allowed to Travel Under Muslim Ban
NEW YORK, NY, July 14, 2017 – Last night, a federal judge in Hawaii ruled that the Trump administration’s interpretation of the Supreme Court order, which partially allowed the travel and refugee ban to go into effect, was too limited. The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) at the Urban Justice Center praises Judge Watson’s ruling, which significantly expands […]