Many had already sold possessions or ended leases in preparation for travel. They had submitted reams of documents supporting their cases, been interviewed by U.S. officials and in many cases already had tickets to fly to America.
As part of Trump's crackdown on both legal and illegal migration, the Republican president has upended the decades-old refugee program that has served as a beacon for those fleeing war and persecution. In October, he resumed the program but set a historic low of refugee admissions at just 7,500 — mostly white South Africans.
A litany of new restrictions was announced after an Afghan national became the suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members last week. The Trump administration also plans a review of refugees let in during the Democratic Biden administration. Trump's administration has cited economic and national security concerns for its policy changes.
About 600,000 people were being processed to come to the U.S. as refugees around the world when the program was halted, according to the administration. Dozens of white South Africans have been let in this year. But only about 100 others have been admitted as a result of a lawsuit by advocates seeking to restart the refugee program, said Mevlüde Akay Alp, a lawyer arguing the case.
“It’s important that we don’t abandon those families and that we don’t abandon the thousands of people who were relying on the promise of coming here as refugees,” said Akay Alp, with the International Refugee Assistance Project.
‘I don’t want to lose her’
Louis arrived in the United States as a refugee in September 2024. He left his wife and two children in East Africa, hoping they could soon be reunited in the U.S.
But that dream faded a few months later with Trump's return to the presidency.
Louis, who insisted on being identified only by his first name out of concern that speaking publicly could complicate his case, was told in January that a request he had made to bring his family to the U.S. had been frozen due to changes in refugee policies.
Now, the family members live thousands of miles apart without knowing when they will be reunited. His wife, Apolina, and the children, 2 and 3 years old, are in a refugee camp in Uganda. Louis is in Kentucky.
“I don’t want to lose her, and she does not want to lose me,” said Louis, who resettled in Kentucky with the help of the International Rescue Committee. “The hope that I had went slowly down. I thought that we would never meet again,” he said referring to the moment when he received the notice.
Louis and Apolina's families applied for refugee status after fleeing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Louis' application, initiated by his parents, was approved, Apolina's, made separately by her parents, was not. They hoped if Louis applied for family reunification in the U.S., that would ease the way to bring over Apolina and the two children.
Apolina thought that, as the wife of a refugee, it would take her no more than one year to reunite with her husband, who now works in an appliance factory and has already applied for permanent residency.
The separation hasn’t been easy for her and the children, who live in a tent in the refugee camp. The younger one, who was 7 months old when Louis left, cries every time he sees his father in a video call. The older one keeps asking where Louis is and when he will see him.
Apolina fears that as time drags on, the children will forget their father.
“I feel terrible because I miss my husband very much,” said Apolina in a phone interview from Uganda. “I pray for him that God enables him to be patient until we meet again.”