Kristina Cooke is a reporter for Reuters.

Posts By This Author

Trump To Reopen Cases of Thousands of Already-Admitted Refugees

by Ted Hesson, Reuters, by Kristina Cooke, Reuters 11-26-2025
Afghan refugees queue outside a distribution and donation center at Liberty Village on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey on Dec. 2, 2021. REUTERS/Barbara Davidson/Pool via ReutersConnect

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered a broad review of all refugees who entered under former President Joe Biden, an internal U.S. government memo seen by Reuters said, an unprecedented move that could reopen cases of thousands who sought U.S. protection.

The order would apply to about 233,000 refugees who entered between Jan. 20, 2021 and Feb. 20, 2025, according to the memo signed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joe Edlow. It also orders a halt to all processing of applications for permanent residence for refugees who entered under Biden.

Read More

U.S. Sending 1,600 Immigration Detainees to Federal Prisons

by Sarah N. Lynch, Reuters, by Kristina Cooke, Reuters 06-08-2018

The badge of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Fugitive Operations team is seen in Santa Ana, California, U.S., May 11, 2017. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson. 

Kevin Landy, a former ICE assistant director responsible for the Office of Detention Policy and Planning under the Obama administration, said the move to house so many detainees at once in federal prisons was “highly unusual” and raises oversight concerns.

Read More