Department of State

Trump Creates 'State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention' Designation via Executive Order

| Importance: 7/10

President Trump signed Executive Order 14348 on September 5, 2025, creating a new ‘State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention’ designation that empowers the Secretary of State to blacklist foreign countries determined to be involved in or supporting wrongful detentions of U.S. nationals. …

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State Department orders expanded visa screening protocols at all consulates

| Importance: 7/10

On June 18, 2025, a Department of State cable delivered guidance to consulates worldwide requiring implementation of new expanded screening protocols within five business days, after which they could begin reopening visa appointments that had been halted since May 27, 2025. The fifth business day …

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Trump Expands Travel Ban to 19 Countries and Bans Harvard Students from Entry

| Importance: 8/10

President Trump signed an executive order expanding travel restrictions to 19 countries, while simultaneously ordering that students and scholars from Harvard University be barred from entering the United States. The Harvard ban represented an unprecedented use of immigration authority to punish a …

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Reagan Orders Coast Guard Interdiction of Haitian Refugees, Establishing Maritime Asylum Denial

| Importance: 7/10

President Ronald Reagan issues Executive Order 12324, authorizing the U.S. Coast Guard to interdict vessels carrying undocumented migrants in international waters and return passengers to their country of origin without asylum screening. Though framed neutrally, the order specifically targets …

Ronald Reagan U.S. Coast Guard Immigration and Naturalization Service Jean-Claude Duvalier Department of State immigration asylum racism interdiction detention +1 more
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Refugee Act of 1980 Establishes Systematic Asylum Process, Becomes Target of Enforcement Capture

| Importance: 8/10

President Jimmy Carter signs the Refugee Act of 1980, the first comprehensive reform of U.S. refugee policy since the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. The legislation adopts the United Nations definition of refugee as anyone with a “well-founded fear of persecution” based on race, …

Jimmy Carter Edward Kennedy U.S. Congress United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Department of State immigration refugee-policy asylum cold-war institutional-capture
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