The Syrian displacement crisis is one of the world’s largest refugee crises. The situation escalated during the Syrian Civil War (2011-2024), when millions were displaced internally and abroad due to war, repression, and economic collapse under Bashar al-Assad’s rule. Assad’s regime deliberately used displacement as a weapon through sieges, chemical attacks, and the deliberate targeting […]
Author: USCRI
Amid Worsening Humanitarian Crisis in Myanmar, Advocates Call for Extension and Redesignation of TPS
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), Campaign for a New Myanmar, and 156 allied organizations are calling on the Administration to extend and redesignate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Myanmar (Burma). As the humanitarian situation in Myanmar deteriorates, TPS offers life-saving protections to those who cannot safely return home. TPS is a critical […]
Immigration Litigation: Nationwide Injunctions
You may have seen recent headlines stating that executive actions have been blocked by a federal judge. For instance, on February 25, a federal judge in Seattle blocked parts of an executive order indefinitely suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), and on April 14, a federal judge in Boston blocked the Department of Homeland […]
Starvation Closing In: Urgent Help Needed in Kenya’s Refugee Camps
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) voices grave concern over the most recent in a series of devastating cuts to food rations, which have affected over 700,000 refugees in Kenya’s Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps and Kalobeyei Settlement. These cuts are a direct consequence of the withdrawal of life-saving humanitarian assistance by the […]
Children of Men: Wastelands and Hope
Note: Spoilers and details of violence ahead. “Borders will remain closed. The deportation of illegal immigrants will continue.” These are the opening lines of Children of Men. This cinematic essay was directed by Alfonso Cuarón and released in 2006. Over the years, it has been heralded as a premonition. Its imagery has been […]
The 1951 Refugee Convention: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
For a backgrounder on the refugee definition, see “Defining ‘Refugees’—An Exclusionary Legacy.” The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, amended by the 1967 Protocol, defines a “refugee” as any person who “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, […]
Honoring World Refugee Day
In May of 1939, a boat of German Jews aboard the St. Louis plead for asylum in the United States. They were denied entry and returned to Europe. 254 of the passengers were killed in the Holocaust. This unconscionable past haunts us. We made a commitment to ‘never again’. Never again would we force someone […]
Standing with Refugee Children
What does it mean to become a refugee before you’ve even had the chance to grow up? From Syria to Sudan, Myanmar to Afghanistan, children around the world are being displaced at unprecedented levels. Some are too young to understand why they’re running; others carry memories of war, persecution, or violence no child should ever […]
When the Law is Not Enough: The Persecution of LGBTQ+ Colombians
June is Pride Month in commemoration of the anniversary of the Stonewall riots, an uprising against the state-sponsored persecution of queer-and-trans people. Today, more than fifty years later, queer-and-trans people remain persecuted. On paper, Colombia has some of the strongest protections in the Americas for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LBGTQ+) individuals. But it […]
Termination of TPS for Cameroon and Nepal Puts Lives at Risk
Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Cameroon (published June 4, effective August 4, 2025) and Nepal (published June 6, effective August 5, 2025). These actions disregard ongoing humanitarian crises and place thousands of lives at risk—individuals who have built families, contributed to the economy, and strengthened […]
