Today, the Trump administration published a Presidential Determination in the Federal Register that limits refugee admissions to the U.S. to 7,500 in 2026. Most slots will be allocated to white Afrikaners from South Africa and “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands.”

The new limits represent a 94% reduction from the 125,000-person target set during the Biden administration, and a decrease still from the 70,000-80,000-person ceilings established under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Our new brief examines the implications of the cap for LGBTQI+ refugees awaiting resettlement in the U.S. It provides information on increasing global threats to LGBTQI+ people, the vulnerabilities they face in transit countries, and how limited data collection obscures the needs of LGBTQI+ refugees.

US annual refugee resettlement ceilings and number of refugees admitted,
1980-present

Pennsylvania has several laws that criminalize or enhance criminal penalties for certain behaviors of people living with HIV. Three of those laws enhance penalties for “prostitution and related offenses” based on a person’s HIV status.

Our new study finds that, since 2015, women have accounted for 53% of individuals involved in criminal cases and 67% of convictions related to HIV-related prostitution offenses, despite making up only 28% of people living with HIV (PLWH) in Pennsylvania. White women, who are just 5% of PLWH, accounted for 29% of prostitution-related HIV cases, while API women, at 0.2% of PLWH, made up 10% of these cases.

Share of "Prostitution and Other Related Offenses" cases and convictions with HIV enhancements in Pennsylvania by gender

Earlier this month, Ayden Scheim, Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute, presented at the Oslo Trans Health Conference 2025, a two-day international conference focused on advancing research-based and community-informed transgender-affirming approaches to health. Ayden presented research on access to care for transgender and gender diverse people from intersectional and global perspectives.

The Williams Institute’s Global SOGIESC Seed Grants Program is designed to encourage new empirical research focused on LGBTI+ populations in the least developed, low- and middle-income countries and amplify the voices of researchers from those regions. The program also aims to strengthen research capacity among participants by supporting networking and knowledge exchange (including a colloquium to present research findings) and providing mentorship, where needed, from Williams Institute scholars.

Join us for an afternoon in Palm Springs, including a discussion on upcoming research about LGBTQ older adults and what's at stake for all LGBTQ people in the current legal and policy landscape. Hosted by Henry Jung, Mark DeAngelis, and Ryan Leaderman.

The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law is an academic research institute dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.