Featured Brief On June 4, 2025, the Trump administration issued a travel ban suspending the entry of nationals from 19 countries. Unlike travel bans during the first Trump administration, this travel ban barred the entry of follow-to-join asylee families, many of whom have spent years apart under the stress of uncertainty. When we realized that […]
Category: USCRI Programs
No Shelter: India’s Selective Abandonment of its Refugees
By: Anum Merchant, USCRI Policy Intern (Winter 2026) Edited by Alexia Gardner, Policy Analyst In 1947, millions of people crossed the borders between the newly independent India and newly formed state of Pakistan. The Partition would become the largest mass migration in human history, and one of the most violent as well. On both […]
Indefinite Separation – What Asylee Families Are Facing
In this policy brief, we share with you the experiences of 25 families from Afghanistan, Venezuela, and Cuba. They represent countless children, spouses, and parents. They are fathers who have yet to meet their sons in person. They are wives who face gender apartheid who have lived as a de facto single parent for years. [...]
Country Conditions: Ukraine February 2026
On February 24, 2026, Ukraine enters its fifth year of war after a full-scale Russian invasion of the country began in 2022. As war rages on, civilian casualties and mass displacement continue to impact people both in and from Ukraine. USCRI’s situation update will cover the mass displacement crisis, the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, and […]
Policy and Advocacy Newsletter: VOLUME 9 | ISSUE NO.6 February 20, 2026
Featured Brief Double displacement occurs when people who have already been uprooted once are forced to flee again. As extreme heat, rising sea levels, and intensifying storms reshape the planet, millions will find themselves displaced multiple times over. Refugees are among the most vulnerable to climate shocks. By 2050, the United Nations predicts that many […]
Refugees Twice Over: Climate Migration and ‘Double Displacement’
By: Alexia Gardner, USCRI Policy Analyst, and Anum Merchant, USCRI Policy Intern Extreme weather continues to drive new large-scale displacement, with 2024 ranked among the highest years recorded. From typhoons to droughts, climate-related disasters threaten people’s ability to sustain themselves in their homeland, forcing them to seek safety elsewhere. Marginalized communities, despite contributing little to the burning of fossil fuels, will disproportionately face the devastating effects […]
SITUATION UPDATE: MYANMAR (BURMA) FEBRUARY 2026
photo by Aung Khant Si Thu Five Years After the Coup: Why are Displacement and Suffering on the Rise in Myanmar? Myanmar is facing one of the most complex humanitarian crises in the world. Five years since the junta seized power from democratically elected members of the country’s previous ruling party, the situation continues […]
A Conversation with the Dalai Lama – From the Archives
By Will Evans, Policy Analyst In 1959, twenty-three-year-old Tenzin Gyatso and a small Tibetan entourage fled Lhasa and trekked for weeks across the Himalayas before reaching safety. The Prime Minister of India at the time, Jawaharlal Nehru, insisted on providing asylum to the group, citing moral and humanitarian grounds. Tenzin Gyatso is now better known as His Holiness the Dalai Lama. For 66 years, he has lived in exile, unable to return […]
Family Separation as Policy: The Human Cost for Children
A child who is separated from their parent or caregiver does not experience a policy decision; rather, they experience fear, confusion, and a complete collapse of the world they trust. Globally, family separation—particularly the forced or involuntary separation of parents and children—is a profound human rupture. It is measured in the enduring trauma of sudden […]
IMW 2025 Report: The Role Of Mexican Youth Leadership Supporting Migrant And Refugee Integration
Intercultural Mobility Week is a national event led by USCRI Mexico’s Network of Committees for Integration and Welcome (ReCIBE), a national youth-led advocacy platform embedded in 7 higher education institutions in Mexico. The network works to: · Promote the integration of people in mobility. · Foster intercultural dialogue and a culture of peace. · Create […]