A Washington federal judge on Tuesday delivered a major blow to President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending the U.S. refugee program, blocking the administration from halting refugee admissions and freezing federal funds for resettlement services. The ruling, issued from the bench by U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead, comes amid mounting legal challenges against Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
Court Sides with Refugees Left in Peril
Judge Whitehead’s preliminary injunction effectively pauses Trump’s sweeping order, siding with refugee advocates who argued the ban was an unlawful overreach that stranded thousands of vulnerable individuals—including families separated by war and political persecution.
At the center of the lawsuit is a Congolese refugee whose wife and newborn child remain stuck abroad, unable to reunite with him in the United States. The plaintiffs, a coalition of refugee families and nonprofit organizations, argued that Trump’s directive unlawfully disrupted a 50-year-old resettlement program established by Congress under the Refugee Act of 1980.
The suspension, they noted, immediately affected an estimated 20,300 refugees—including Afghan and Iraqi allies who risked their lives assisting U.S. forces overseas and were already approved for resettlement.
