The suspension of the United States Refugee Assistance Program has been devastating for LGBTQI+ refugees, and the global impact continues to be felt. The United States has retreated from their role as the world’s leading resettlement country, and the right to seek asylum is also being systematically dismantled, despite this right being protected by international and US law.
The US administration temporarily halted asylum decision-making on November 28, 2025. Although the temporary asylum adjudication pause was lifted for some countries, they remain paused for individuals from the 39 countries on the administration’s travel ban list. Asylum seekers have since reported widespread cancellations of interviews. At the same time, asylum decisions continue to be granted to some of the individuals we support, underscoring the inconsistency and shifting policy signals within the current US asylum system. Additionally, the administration plans to review all asylum decisions made during the Biden administration. These policy shifts abandon decades of US leadership in building responsibility-sharing between well-resourced donor and resettlement countries and those on the front lines of mass migration.
Requests from the US: A Growing Call for Safety
The increase in requests for help received from the United States is staggering. These requests include both citizens and non-citizens, including asylum seekers, refugees, permanent residents, people with no legal status, temporary residents, and others. These requests illustrate that, even within the United States, people seeking pathways to safety are being challenged by an increasingly hostile environment. The three most common types of support requested were for international relocation, shelter and housing assistance, and letters of support.
We do not collect state-level location data in our requests for help, but, after reviewing requests for help received in the first quarter of 2025 following the inauguration of the current US administration, we observed that 80% of requests for help from the United States originated from red states. Although Canada’s immigration jurisprudence has begun to recognize the need to consider up-to-date dangers faced by LGBTQI+ individuals in their country of citizenship, including the United States, the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement creates significant barriers for individuals in the United States who wish to seek asylum in Canada.
Facing Political Realities in the United States
Following the November 5, 2024 election, requests for help from the United States surged, with nearly three-quarters of US requests for help from 2024 received in the final weeks of the year. Our data shows troubling trends with regard to the lived experiences of LGBTQI+ people in the US in recent years. In 2023, we received over 1,900 requests from individuals seeking our assistance from the United States, representing a 523% increase from 2022. In 2022, the majority of individuals seeking help from the US were asylum seekers from other countries – in 2023 that trend was reversed. The following year, 2024, one out of every five requests for help originated from the United States; in 2025, this increased to one out of every three requests. 2025 was the second year in a row where the largest single source of requests for help was the United States. In cases where an individual requesting help disclosed their gender identity to us, the largest groups seeking assistance were trans women and trans men.
Although US citizens are asking for support, our data also shows that non-citizens are still seeking support from within the United States. We received 427 requests for help from non-US citizens within the United States in 2025. This represents an exponential increase over time, from 38 requests for help in 2023 and 94 in 2024, excluding cases where citizenship was not reported.
The political realities of the US today are severe. Travel bans have been imposed by the US administration on countries around the world. Individuals who felt protected have had their status revoked, and others are experiencing severe financial hardship because of significant cuts to refugee and asylum support programs. Rainbow Railroad’s Housing and Livelihood Assistance Fund is one of the tools deployed to respond to this reality. It provides emergency cash assistance grants directly to LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and other LGBTQI+ migrants who have been affected. In 2025, the fund supported 131 people.
Even amidst a worsening climate, our community is still mobilizing in support of LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and migrants in the United States. Through the team we have built and the partnerships we rely on, we have been able to witness real moments of resilience and progress on an individual level. After 9 months in detention, one of the individuals we supported gained her freedom and a new start with the assistance of her volunteer Community Support Team, a powerful reminder of what community-building can make possible.
Despite many challenges, we continue to intervene to support people facing an increasingly hostile asylum policy landscape in the United States. After individuals we support have found a way into the US, many spend time in detention centers as they await decisions on their case. Our volunteer Community Support Teams (CSTs) represent the strength of grassroots efforts to help individuals who are the targets of regressive anti-LGBTQI+ and xenophobic policies. In one case, we mobilized volunteers and worked with a church to show up in strong support of Michel — an LGBTQI+ asylum seeker — at a bond hearing. The Immigration Judge cited this support when setting an extremely low bond, enabling Michel’s release to his CST who temporarily hosted him after his release from detention before church-sponsored housing was ready. Mobilized by Rainbow Railroad, this community-level intervention was the difference between freedom and continued ICE detention in hostile conditions.
Rainbow Railroad developed its Information Services and Referrals Program in response to the growing number of requests for help we receive from LGBTQI+ people around the world. The program is designed to connect as many people as possible with critical resources and affirming support wherever they are, recognizing that not everyone is able to access international relocation.
Through our Support Referral Network, we connect individuals directly with trusted partner organizations that provide vital services, including mental health support, medical care, shelter, asylum information, and legal representation. In addition to these referrals, Rainbow Railroad offers tailored queer competent guidance including consultations, letters of support, practical advice, and emotional support.
A key part of this work is the development of information packages – curated technical guides that help people identify and access assistance in their country of residence. In 2025, we deployed information packages for several countries including Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Türkiye, Uganda, and the United States. These packages include practical information, support channels, and trusted contacts for LGBTQI+ people at-risk, helping individuals navigate options that are often difficult to find or inaccessible due to underground operations. As requests for help increase, Rainbow Railroad continues to strengthen and expand this program to ensure more LGBTQI+ people can access support, information, and community wherever they are.
It has been two years since Rainbow Railroad began work on the Queer Forced Displacement Initiative (QFDI), a project to co-create an international network on LGBTQI+ forced displacement. To date we have held five regional roundtables in the critical displacement corridors of Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, Türkiye, and Kenya, and an international academic symposium in Mexico City, engaging over 350 people across civil society, UN agencies, governments, academia, and affected communities. These consultations were designed to surface the pressing, region-specific challenges facing LGBTQI+ displaced communities. What emerged was both sobering and galvanizing: a consistent picture of entrenched systemic failures – from hostile legal environments and state impunity, to the chronic under-resourcing of frontline civil society – alongside a powerful, unified mandate for change. As one participant described, this network represents "the missing jigsaw" in the global struggle for LGBTQI+ refugee rights.
This innovative multi-stakeholder project is now ready for its next phase. We are partnering with LGBTQI+ grassroots organizations, refugee-led groups, and human rights defenders around the world to build this coordinated network dedicated to LGBTQI+ forced displacement. We are grounding our work in community expertise, driven by people with lived experience, and orienting it toward long-term systems change. In May 2026, Rainbow Railroad hosted the final conference that launched the Global Queer Forced Displacement Network in Bangkok, Thailand, transforming years of consultation into coordinated, sustained action. Together, we will build a global network that will empower coherent, community-led responses to LGBTQI+ forced displacement.
Read more of our insights in our 2025 Annual Report: Understanding the State of Global LGBTQI+ Persecution.