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Trump administration cancels travel for refugees already cleared to resettle in the US

Refugees who'd been approved to travel to the United States before a Jan. 27 deadline suspending America’s refugee resettlement program have had their travel plans canceled by the Trump administration

Farnoush Amiri,Rebecca Santana
Wednesday 22 January 2025 09:48 EST
Trump
Trump (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

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Refugees who had been approved to travel to the United States before a Jan. 27 deadline suspending America's refugee resettlement program have had their travel plans canceled by the Trump administration.

Thousands of refugees are now stranded at various locations around the globe.

The suspension was in an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Monday. It left open the possibility that people who had undergone the lengthy process to be approved as refugees and permitted to come to the U.S., and had flights booked before that deadline, might still be able to get in under the wire.

But in an email reviewed Wednesday by The Associated Press, the U.S. agency overseeing refugee processing and arrival told staff and stakeholders that “refugee arrival to the United States have been suspended until further notice.”

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