US President Donald Trump has halted arrivals of refugees already cleared to enter the United States, according to a memo, and will send 1,500 more soldiers to the border with Mexico as part of a flurry of steps to tackle immigration, his spokeswoman said.
"President Trump signed an executive order for 1,500 additional troops for the United States' southern border," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
Following an executive order signed on Monday hours after Trump took office, "all previously scheduled travel of refugees to the United States is being cancelled," said a State Department email to groups working with new arrivals.
The memo asked the UN International Organization for Migration not to move refugees to transit centres and said that all processing on cases has also been suspended.
Executive order
Refugees already resettled in the United States will continue to receive services as planned, it said.
Trump in each of his presidential campaigns has run on promises to crack down on undocumented immigration.
But the refugee move also targets a legal pathway for people fleeing wars, persecution or disasters.
In his executive order, he said he was suspending refugee admissions as of January 27 and ordered a report on how to change the programme, in part by giving "greater involvement" to states and local jurisdictions.
It also revoked his predecessor Joe Biden's decision to consider the impact of climate change in refugee admissions.
DRC, Myanmar refugees
New Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said on Wednesday that the State Department will "no longer undertake any activities that facilitate or encourage mass migration. "
"Our diplomatic relations with other countries, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, will prioritize securing America's borders, stopping illegal and destabilizing migration and negotiating the repatriation of illegal immigrants," Rubio said in a statement.
Biden had embraced the refugee programme as a way to support people in need through legal means.
In the 2024 fiscal year, more than 100,000 refugees resettled in the United States, the most in three decades.
The Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar have been among the top sources of refugees in recent years.
Afghans in limbo
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, voiced alarm at Trump's moves and said that acceptance of refugees was "a core American value."
"The US Refugee Admissions Program has a long history of bipartisan support and is a life-saving tool for the most vulnerable refugees, all while making Americans safer by promoting stability around the world," she said.
The State Department memo said that Afghans who worked with the United States until the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 could still arrive through their separate resettlement programme.
But Shaheen voiced concern that Afghans were also being left in limbo with flights cancelled.
Crack down on resistance
Meanwhile, the US Justice Department directed federal prosecutors "to identify state and local laws, policies, and activities" that attempt to impede immigration enforcement, according to a report.
The Washington Post said a memo by Acting Attorney General Emi Bove instructed federal prosecutors to investigate and potentially take legal action against officials who resist or obstruct immigration enforcement efforts
"Laws and actions that threaten to impede Executive Branch immigration initiatives, including by prohibiting disclosures of information to federal authorities engaged in immigration-enforcement activities, threaten public safety and national security," it said.