Thanks all the people who shared their harrowing stories with me, to the immigration attorneys who patiently answered so many questions and to my stellar editor @noayachot.bsky.social

Though they make up one of the largest refugee groups in the world, Palestinians are largely excluded from the international refugee system. This state of limbo since 1948 has created bureaucratic barriers unique to them–a hellscape of exile, statelessness and erasure.

Palestinians aren't allowed to register as "Palestinian" with USCIS and are officially required to claim citizenship of a neighboring country, even if they've never been to that country.

Mike Casey, a US diplomat who helped resettle this refugee in the US said: “If I tried to justify it saying they can’t go back to Gaza because of Israeli threats, it would have never been approved.” Casey and has since resigned from the Office of Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem.

The only refugee from Gaza who I could find had been resettled in the US in the past 14 months had to prove persecution by someone other than Israel, even after surviving an airstrike on their home while their family was inside.

Despite the scale of Israeli state violence against Palestinians, it is rarely considered in US refugee and asylum claims.

Though the US took in more refugees in 2024 than any other year since 1995, it has hardly resettled anyone from Gaza since the start of the war.