Refugees

Green cards frozen for 200,000 refugees as Trump orders full re-interviews

Nearly 200,000 refugees in the US face re-interviews, frozen green card processing and possible loss of status

UK announces drastic reduction in protection for asylum seekers, refugees

The measures, modelled on Denmark's strict asylum system, were announced late on Saturday (local time) as PM Starmer comes under pressure from surging popularity for the anti-immigrant Reform UK party

On the Margins of Protection: How refugee rights are being redefined

With right-wing populism on the rise, refugee protection is seen as a problem. This book examines how protection works across contexts, shaped by history and geopolitics

US pushes overhaul of global asylum rules, citing widespread abuse

Trump had earlier said to the global leaders at UN that uncontrolled migration is harming nations, false asylum claims must end, and open borders "experiment" should stop

Arab League condemns Benjamin Netanyahu's 'Greater Israel' remarks

The League considered these statements to be a violation of the sovereignty of Arab states and an attempt to undermine security and stability in the region

Over 1.1 million Afghans deported from Iran, UN rushes aid amid crisis

In response to the worsening crisis, Tom Fletcher, the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator, has allocated $10 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to assist returnees from Iran

UNHCR concerned over widespread return of Afghan refugees from Iran, Pak

UNHCR head in Afghanistan, Arafat Jamal, said that the country is not well prepared to receive this influx of returnees

Sudan civil war overwhelms border town in Chad as refugees find little help

Fatima Omas Abdullah wakes up every morning with aches and pains from sleeping on bare ground for almost two years. She did not expect Sudan's civil war to displace her for so long into neighbouring Chad. There is nothing here, she said, crying and shaking the straw door of her makeshift home. Since April 2023, she has been in the Adre transit camp a few hundred metres from the Sudanese border, along with almost a quarter-million others fleeing the fighting. Now the US- backed aid system that kept hundreds of thousands like Abdullah alive on the edge of one of the world's most devastating wars is fraying. Under the Trump administration, key foreign aid has been slashed and funding withdrawn from United Nations programmes that feed, treat and shelter refugees. In 2024, the US contributed USD 39.3 million to the emergency response in Chad. So far this year, it has contributed about USD 6.8 million, the UN says. Overall, only 13 per cent of the requested money to support refugees in Ch

Support for refugees erodes as funding gaps surge globally and in India

The latest figures from the UNHCR's global report reveal that the number of people displaced across the world had risen to 122.1 million as of April 2025, up from 120 million a year earlier

India not a dharamshala, says SC while denying Lankan Tamil's plea

The bench was hearing a plea challenging the Madras HC order directing a Sri Lankan Tamil to leave India after serving his sentence under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act

Judge orders Trump admin to admit roughly 12,000 refugees amid legal battle

A judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to admit some 12,000 refugees into the United States under a court order partially blocking the president's efforts to suspend the nation's refugee admissions programme. The order from US District Judge Jamal Whitehead followed arguments from the Justice Department and refugee resettlement agencies over how to interpret a federal appeals court ruling that significantly narrowed an earlier decision from Whitehead. During a hearing last week, the administration said it should only have to process 160 refugees into the country and that it would likely appeal any order requiring it to admit thousands. But the judge dismissed the government's analysis, saying it required not just reading between the lines of the 9th Circuit's ruling, "but hallucinating new text that simply is not there. This Court will not entertain the Government's result-oriented rewriting of a judicial order that clearly says what it says, Whitehead wrote Monday. The

UN agencies that provide aid worldwide cut jobs, costs as US funding drops

Several UN agencies that provide aid to children, refugees and other vulnerable people around the world are slashing jobs or cutting costs in other ways, with officials pointing to funding reductions mainly from the United States and warning that vital relief programs will be severely affected as a result. The UN World Food Program is expected to cut up to 30 per cent of its staff. The head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said it would downsize its headquarters and regional offices to reduce costs by 30 per cent and cut senior-level positions by 50 per cent. That's according to internal memos obtained by The AP and verified by two UN officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal personnel decisions. Other agencies like UNICEF, the UN children's agency, and OCHA, the UN humanitarian agency, have also announced or plan to make cuts. One WFP official called the cuts the most massive seen by the agency in the past 25 years, and that as a result, operatio

Pak deputy PM visits Kabul as crackdown on Afghan refugees intensifies

Pakistan announced to further tighten the noose around Afghan refugees as Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday began his day-long maiden trip to Kabul to reset the frayed ties. Dar, who is also the foreign minister, would hold delegation-level talks with Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi after he was invited by his counterpart for the visit. According to the Foreign Office, Dar would also call on Acting Prime Minister Mullah Hassan Akhund and meet Acting Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. A high-level delegation accompanied Dar and his parleys would cover the entire gamut of Pak-Afghan relationship, focusing on ways and means to deepen cooperation in all areas of mutual interests, including security, trade, connectivity, and people-to-people ties. The trip came as a drive against illegal Afghan refugees intensified, with Pakistan making it clear that the only way for Afghans to stay in the country was to have entered legally with a

Here's all you need to know about ruling blocking Trump's refugee ban

President Donald Trump's effort to suspend the system for resettling refugees in the US is on hold after a federal judge in Seattle blocked it. US District Judge Jamal Whitehead, a 2023 appointee of former President Joe Biden, found that while the president has broad authority over who comes into the country, he cannot nullify the law passed by Congress establishing the program. The Justice Department indicated it would consider a quick appeal, saying Trump's actions have been well within his authority. Here's what to know about the case. What is this lawsuit about? Trump halted the nation's refugee resettlement program as part of a series of executive orders cracking down on immigration, saying cities had been taxed by record levels of migration and couldn't absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees. He barred refugees from coming to the US, and the administration began cutting off funding for agencies that support refugees. The refugee program, created by ..

Seattle judge blocks Trump's effort to halt refugee admissions system

A federal judge in Seattle blocked President Donald Trump's effort to halt the nation's refugee admissions system Tuesday. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by major refugee aid groups, who argued that Trump's executive order suspending the federal refugee resettlement program ran afoul of the system Congress created for moving refugees into the US. Lawyers for the administration argued that Trump's order was well within his authority to deny entry to foreigners whose admission to the US would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. US District Judge Jamal Whitehead said in his ruling after the hearing Tuesday that the president's actions amounted to an effective nullification of congressional will in setting up the nation's refugee admissions programme. The president has substantial discretion ... to suspend refugee admissions, Whitehead told the parties. But that authority is not limitless. The plaintiffs include the International Refugee Assistance Project on .

Trump wants Egypt to accept more refugees, floats plan to 'clean out' Gaza

President Donald Trump said Saturday he'd like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they are accepting from the Gaza Strip potentially moving out enough of the population to just clean out the war-torn area to create virtual clean slate. During a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump said he discussed his vision on a call earlier in the day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and would speak Sunday with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt. I'd like him to take people. I'd like Egypt to take people, said Trump. You're talking about, probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, You know it's, over.' Speaking about the effects of Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, Trump said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king, I'd love for you to take on more, cause I'm looking at the whole

Syrians in Germany show no rush to leave as their labour is in demands

Syrian employers, trade unions and business associations are now speaking up to stress how much they are needed in a German economy facing deep labour shortages

Refugees return to Syria as rebels appoint caretaker prime minister

In a brief address on state television on Tuesday, Mohammed al-Bashir, a figure little known across most of Syria, said he would lead the interim authority until March 1

Mizoram govt plans to relocate displaced refugees to single location

The Mizoram government is planning to relocate all refugees taking shelter in different parts of the state and to bring them in one place, according to Lalmuanpuia Punte, political adviser to the chief minister. Punte on Thursday convened a meeting with officials of south Mizoram's Lawngtlai district to discuss issues concerning over 2,000 Bangladeshi refugees taking shelter in the district. He told the meeting that proper guidelines should be formulated to prevent the refugees from settling and shifting anywhere they want. Punte said that the government is taking steps to relocate and bring the refugees together in one place rather than be scattered in different villages for administrative convenience. The plan will also help the government in providing humanitarian assistance in a more convenient way, he said. Punte further said that plans are afoot to relocate 2,014 refugees from Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) currently taking shelter in different villages in Lawngtl

Refugees don't want to return to Syria, Lebanon sees exodus as opportunity

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians refugees have returned to their country since Israel launched a massive aerial bombardment on wide swathes of Lebanon in September. Many who fled to Lebanon after the war in Syria started in 2011 did not want to go back. But for officials in Lebanon, the influx of returnees comes as a silver lining to the war between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed more than 3,000 people and displaced some 1.2 million in Lebanon. Some in Syria hope the returning refugees could lead to more international assistance and relief from western sanctions. 'I wasn't thinking at all about returning' Nisreen al-Abed returned to her northwest Syrian hometown in October after 12 years as a refugee in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. The airstrikes had been terrifying, but what really worried her was that her 8-year-old twin daughters need regular transfusions to treat a rare blood disorder, thalassemia. I was afraid that in Lebanon, in this situation, I wouldn't be able to get bloo