Trump's executive order to suspend all refugee admissions and halt the US asylum programme, signed hours after taking office, has left adrift dozens in the Chinese city approved for US resettlement.

John's scheduled flight to Los Angeles barely missed the Monday January 27 deadline -- had he been allowed to board, the executive order would have taken effect while he was in the air.

"It was devastating news for the whole family," said the 37-year-old, who fled persecution in an East African country and spoke to AFP using a pseudonym.

"(We had) just a few days remaining."

The order -- despite being up for review in 90 days -- has already caused "pain" and a "huge ripple effect" as asylum seekers in Hong Kong now fear being sent back to square one, according to advocates for refugee rights.

John said he had completed years of stringent US vetting, including security and medical checks.

The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) had "prepared everything" to resettle him, his wife and their children.

"We actually asked (the IOM), 'Is there any way we can buy the ticket for our own and just travel maybe on Sunday?' They say, 'No way possible.'"

- Sleepless nights -

Trump's order temporarily cuts off a legal migration pathway for the estimated 37.9 million refugees fleeing wars, persecution or disasters around the world.

In his order, Trump said the United States had been "inundated" and could not absorb migrants in a way that protects Americans' safety and security. In the 2024 fiscal year, more than 100,000 refugees resettled in the United States, the most in three decades.

James, who was cleared for US resettlement this month after waiting 14 years in Hong Kong, said it was "not fair" to halt all arrivals.

"First time we heard the news, I wasn't able to sleep... until now it's still difficult," said James, 31, who fled an East African nation and asked to use a pseudonym for safety.

"How many millions of people doesn't sleep... because of what (Trump) signed?"

John and James belong to the tiny fraction of the 15,800 asylum seekers living in Hong Kong who successfully jumped through all the hoops for resettlement, typically in the United States or Canada.

Both men said they were given short notice, forcing them to quit their jobs, end home leases and bid farewell to friends.

Social worker Jeffrey Andrews at the Christian Action Centre for Refugees estimates there were up to 50 people similarly "on the way out".

Typically up to 70 refugees would leave for the United States every year, he said.

But he said "panic set in" as refugees started calling about cancelled flights, with the centre also receiving walk-in requests for help.

Re-doing the approval process would be a "logistical, technical and bureaucratic nightmare", he warned.

"I thought this is the year we're going to say goodbye to more people," Andrews said, citing an upward trend last year.

"But now it's turned upside down."

- Community in 'pain' -

Justice Centre Hong Kong, a non-profit group helping refugees, has seen the order "affect families that we know" -- including one that was "packed and ready", said executive director Lynette Nam.

"When people get a chance to go and they know they're in the pipeline, it creates a lot of hope... Then all that hope disappears overnight," she told AFP.

And Nam said it was "doubtful" the 90-day review period would change the policy enough to make a difference.

The suspension is a "significant setback for families in our community, many of whom have been waiting for years", said Branches of Hope, another Hong Kong non-profit.

Uzma Naveed, an outreach coordinator at the Centre for Refugees, said the abrupt shift left the asylum seeker community "in a really painful place".

"I had families who came to me and they were like, 'I'm done,'" said Naveed, who went through refugee vetting herself.

"I was also feeling the same thing... but I cannot say that to them."

Stuck in Hong Kong again and looking for a new job, John said he hoped someday to be an all-American "big truck driver".

"You just need to wait for another decision from the president in the future."