Basics on Supporting Constituents in Overseas Crises
Hi caseworkers,
We’ll keep it short up top here today, because we know that many of you are handling a crisis situation in the Middle East impacting your constituents and their families. We are keeping all of you in our thoughts. As always, a reminder that the casework Teams chats in the House and Senate are your best resource in this kind of situation where agency responses and resources are changing rapidly. If you aren’t on them and you want to be, reach out.
One other quick thing to flag: I hear frequently from caseworkers considering career transitions, especially from retiring Member offices. I am ALWAYS happy to have those conversations — but there are so many other former caseworkers with their own wisdom to share! To help support those of you in this position, we are pulling together an informal happy hour/lunch webinar on career paths post-casework on March 26, signup below.
If you have questions about our work or suggestions for how we can be helpful, please feel free to reply to this email, or reach out to me at anne@popvox.org. Hang in there, guys.
Anne Meeker
Managing Director
POPVOX Foundation
Supporting Constituents Overseas
If your office is getting calls from constituents trying to leave the Middle East and this is a new area of casework for you, start here: Supporting Constituents Overseas. It covers Consular on the Hill contacts, the CACMS registration system, how to screen and escalate urgent cases, and how to set expectations with constituents and families.
What constituents need to know
The State Department is urging Americans in Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the UAE, and Yemen to depart immediately via commercial means — consulates across the region have told citizens not to rely on the government for evacuation, and the State Department hotline is directing callers to shelter in place. Emergency line: +1-888-407-4747 (US) or +1-202-501-4444 (abroad).
The President and the State Department have also said that they are working to use a mix of charter flights, military aircraft, and assisting American citizens with booking commercially-available flights to leave the Middle East; however, many Americans say that they have not received information on these options.
US embassies in Kuwait, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia were closed as of Tuesday, and US citizens were told to stay away until further notice; there are also reports of damage to the US embassies in Riyadh and Kuwait.
Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv remains closed; the US Ambassador to Israel urged American citizens to leave via Egypt, and noted that the US embassy in Israel is not in a position to support constituents looking to leave. The State Department advises Americans to avoid Gaza entirely — no consular services are available there.
European countries have begun arranging charter and military flights for their citizens stranded in the Middle East. Dual citizens may have additional options with their non-US passports.
We are hearing reports that pets and service animals may not be permitted on evacuation flights — constituents traveling with animals should plan to arrange commercial transportation independently.
Broader context
The US is facing its largest Middle East diplomatic drawdown since the Iraq War — embassies closed, and nonessential staff pulled from six countries.
A suspected Iranian drone struck the US consulate in Dubai Tuesday; a fire was quickly extinguished with no injuries.
A retired Major General stranded in the UAE says Americans feel abandoned, attributing the lack of clarity and support to State Department budget cuts.
An American calling the State Department’s emergency line was met with a recorded message saying the US government cannot assist with departure.
A San Antonio couple on vacation in Dubai has had every flight home canceled since Sunday due to widespread airspace disruptions, and despite registering with the State Department’s traveler program and contacting their lawmakers, they remain stranded in their hotel.
With more than 12,000 flights canceled since US and Israeli forces struck Iran on Feb. 28, what some are characterizing as a two-tiered evacuation has emerged: wealthy travelers are paying up to $232,000 for private jets or hiring private security firms to drive them overland to functional airports in Riyadh or Muscat, while tens of thousands of ordinary travelers — including 58,000+ Indonesian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia and 8,000 transit passengers trapped in Qatar — remain stranded with little clarity on when commercial service will resume.
This is an interesting dashboard tool (coded by a music streaming exec in his spare time?!) that layers data on attacks, hotspots, conflict zones, and news with AI-generated insights on what’s going on.
Upcoming Events
The Constitutional Basis for Casework with Dave Rapallo
Wednesday, March 18, 1 PM ET
Safeguarding constituents’ First Amendment right to petition the government for redress from grievances is what caseworkers do — but how much is casework actually enshrined in law, and what does that mean for how far caseworkers can push agency contacts? We’ll be joined by Dave Rapallo, former Staff Director of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and current Federal Legislation Clinic Director at Georgetown, for a discussion of how oversight powers have evolved, practical strategies for dealing with unresponsive agencies, and how to work with committee staff to escalate casework trends to formal oversight.
Life After Casework: A Casework Navigator Happy Hour Panel
Thursday, March 26 at 4 PM ET
Congressional caseworkers build highly transferable skills — navigating federal agencies, managing complex caseloads, advocating for people in crisis, and working across institutions. This conversation will explore how those strengths translate into careers in senior Congressional roles, federal agencies, health care, policy organizations, social services, and more!
Craigslist for Casework
Are you seeing sustained or systemic issues with USCIS responsiveness? AILA would love to connect with offices seeing this issue to evaluate the scale of some reports. Email me at anne@popvox.org and I’ll put you in touch.
We are thinking of putting together a webinar on options to support constituents reaching out about frozen federal grants. If this is something you’re seeing, let us know what questions you have and what information would be most helpful.
Want to respond to this notice, or have a notice you’d like us to run in two weeks? Drop me a line at anne@popvox.org.
Casework News
If your office is navigating the rapidly shifting immigration landscape, AILA’s Immigration Rundown newsletter is one of the best resources to stay current — subscribe here.
If you’ve ever felt like the work you do doesn’t make the news — this piece is for you. Kevin Kosar, a scholar at AEI makes the case that the “secret Congress,” the part that quietly gets things done for real people, is more functional than its reputation suggests.
AI agents are set to eliminate the friction that public services have long relied on to manage demand — making it nearly effortless for constituents to navigate bureaucracies, file appeals, and claim benefits at scale. They’ll likely do this before governments manage to modernize their own fragmented systems, bringing real convenience for constituents, but serious unresolved questions remain around sovereignty, equity, accountability, and democratic legitimacy that governments need to get ahead of now.
Agree or disagree with the substance, this letter from Rep. Ramirez [D, IL] to Secretary Noem about detention center conditions and practices is an example of how casework helps offices fact-check agency claims.
Agency News
Immigration
A DHS proposed rule (Feb. 23) would extend the asylum work permit waiting period to one year, expand processing timelines from 30 to 180 days, and pause new applications when backlogs exceed 180 days — a threshold already being exceeded. DHS acknowledges the pause could last 14 to 173 years. Public comments open until April 24, 2026.
A proposed HUD rule would require all household members receiving federal housing assistance to prove legal immigration status and mandate that housing authorities report undocumented residents to DHS — advocates estimate it could displace 100,000+ people, including 37,000 children, from mixed-status families.
The Trump administration is arguing in federal court that a father who left his toddlers for thirty minutes in 2010 should be deported under a law targeting violent criminals — a position that, if successful, could expose thousands of immigrant parents to deportation for minor child neglect convictions.
Colorado Democrats are pushing back on ICE’s plans to reopen a dormant 1,200-bed prison as an immigrant detention center, raising concerns about transparency around a $39 million contract, detainee access to legal counsel, and health and safety standards.
Separately, ICE appears to be taking steps to close its detention center at Fort Bliss.
A federal appeals court has rejected a request to block the IRS from sharing immigrant taxpayer data with ICE. The ruling comes despite significant concerns about the program — including the acting IRS commissioner resigning in protest — and court filings revealing the IRS erroneously shared data on thousands of people while only being able to verify roughly 47,000 of the 1.28 million names ICE submitted.
A federal judge has again temporarily blocked the policy requiring Members of Congress to give seven days’ notice before visiting ICE detention facilities — reinstated quietly after an ICE officer fatally shot a US citizen in Minneapolis and only disclosed after three Minnesota Members were turned away.
The partial DHS shutdown has suspended Global Entry — used by 13 million+ members and funded primarily by member fees, not taxpayer dollars — creating inconsistent airport experiences nationwide. Affected constituents can use the Mobile Passport Control app as an alternative at customs checkpoints.
Roundup of how immigration enforcement actions have ripple effects across other agencies and federal programs, including shifting rulemaking on federal grants, and program impacts at HUD, SSA, DOL, HHS, USDA, GSA, IRS, and SBA.
IRS
A refund offset — when the IRS seizes your tax refund to pay outstanding debts like unpaid taxes or child support — can be checked in advance, and if losing your refund would cause genuine financial hardship, you may be able to request an Offset Bypass Refund before it occurs, but timing is critical.
The IRS is seeking public comment through March 22 on proposed updates to its Voluntary Disclosure Practice — a program that allows non-compliant taxpayers to come forward and avoid criminal prosecution — with key changes including a streamlined penalty framework and a three-month deadline to pay all amounts owed after approval.
The IRS has terminated its collective bargaining agreement with its largest union, the National Treasury Employees Union, allowing the agency to change working conditions without negotiating — worth watching during filing season, as 1,000+ employees have already been reassigned to frontline roles they have no prior experience in.
Healthcare
The Trump administration is proposing new ACA rules that would introduce low-premium “catastrophic” plans with deductibles as high as $31,000 for families — a move the administration says increases consumer choice and lowers premiums, but that critics warn would shift enormous costs onto patients, erode coverage protections, and could result in up to two million people losing coverage by 2027.
The Trump administration is rolling out a major Medicare and Medicaid fraud crackdown — including withholding $259.5 million in Minnesota Medicaid funding and freezing enrollment for certain medical equipment suppliers.
FEMA
FEMA has paused reimbursements for approved long-term recovery projects despite having $9.6 billion in its Disaster Relief Fund — a fund typically exempt from shutdown restrictions.
FEMA has failed to reimburse over $1 billion promised to hospitals across all 50 states for COVID-19 expenses dating back to 2020, leaving health systems in a prolonged funding crisis.
However, FEMA did release millions in pending disaster aid for North Carolina on March 4.
Defense Department
The Defense Department issued new Unified Facilities Criteria in Dec. 2025 establishing mandatory habitability standards for military unaccompanied housing — covering HVAC, ventilation, moisture mitigation, and plumbing — with required remediation timeframes for health and safety issues like mold, fulfilling a 2024 NDAA requirement.
The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency’s background investigation backlog dropped to an all-time low of roughly 100,000 cases in Jan. 2026 — a 65% decrease from early 2025 and down from a peak of 725,000 in 2018 — though new leadership told Congress that significant reforms are still needed to fully modernize the vetting system by 2028.
Federal Workers
For offices tracking federal workforce changes, GAO’s new report found that in the first half of 2025, roughly 134,000 federal employees separated (6% of the workforce) while only 66,000 were hired, and 144,000 were approved for deferred resignation — one of the most significant periods of federal workforce contraction in recent memory.
Federal retirees are facing significant delays receiving their 1099-R tax forms from OPM — compounded by phone customer service issues, paper shortages, and ink shortages — after the agency switched to digital-first delivery, leaving many annuitants without documents they need as the filing deadline approaches.
Miscellaneous
PolicyEngine developed a multi-agent AI system that turns tax and benefit policy rules into working code in 90 minutes instead of 2-3 weeks, potentially speeding up how quickly tools like benefits screeners reflect policy changes.
Speaking of those benefit policies, new academic research underlines what caseworkers have known for years: that the experience of administrative burden is more likely to make people think negatively of government.
A recent policy brief from New America warns that AI tools making it easier for residents to access government services will increase demand rather than reduce workloads, urging agencies to plan for higher volume instead of treating AI as a cost-cutting tool.
The Washington Post has compiled a searchable database of nearly 1,000 colleges across 45 states that offer free tuition programs, making it a useful resource for anyone helping students or families explore affordable higher education options.
Is 2-1-1 part of your toolkit to refer constituents to appropriate resources? For a local perspective, a Greater Cleveland 211 advisory board member highlights how the helpline serves as both a crisis lifeline and a pathway to long-term stability, and argues that its real-time call data can help policymakers and service providers identify community needs and gaps.
North Carolina’s new Hurricane Helene rebuilding program (Renew NC) is showing early signs of repeating the same problems – rigid rules, local government capacity shortfalls, and lack of temporary housing support – that left thousands of Florence and Matthew survivors waiting years for help.
Casework Navigator Newsletter
Get tools and tips to level up your casework, as well as the latest casework news and agency updates.
