Utterly unfair, I am sorry.

But you have been through academic politics; which is worse than some reeducation camps. Right?
This is not fair of me to say, but reset your attitude. For your sake. They were wrong. That is over. You are now a refugee. You could be starving on the backside of Sudan, but you have now gotten across the vast oceans and are in the USA.
So, now, an idea -- I can be totally wrong. So take this for what it costs.
Find the prof in your field of study and find his or her last 2-5 or at least one grant application.
One that got $1M or more.
Better something like $16M from NIH.
Use those applicaitons as models. The format, structure, question, research area as model. Like a company would look at a business model. Southwest airlines competed against driving, not other airlines. One type of plane. Simple maintenance. Secondary airports. Ultra low prices. Low costs. The same model at Nucor Steel. Largely electrically fired mini mills to start. Hired the construction guys who built the mill to work the mill when it was done. Tiny HQ staff. In many ways same model as Southwest in airline transport - the low costs model.
So in you case, you model the super successful profs proposal model. You come up with a new question, his or her framework, explanations, etc. And apply everywhere. In mass.
Make a dozen of these applications to the sponsor organizations that have big $.
All while you do ANYTHING legal to pay the bills. And with ALL ENERGY – you are a happy winner. You will be good to everyone else, who is in more trouble than you. Which is most of humanity. You hold the door for them. Help them onto the bus. Smile. Hear the story of heartbreak THEY have.
Is this fair to you? No. But YOYO – you’re on your own. You know that. Only G-d is on your side.
Hang in.
You live like a maniac saving $, which you have already done for years.
Put the gentle touch on good people you know. You need a little help. But make sure it is a little. Keep a list of every dime you owe them. And send them a working diary note each week on what you are doing. It will keep you grounded, working, busy, thinking of good things and people, and keep the ‘dark thoughts’ away. Never stay with anyone over three days, if you can help it, help around the house, you know the drill. Be KING Please and Thank you, over and over.
Do not let the anger, which is more than justified, own you. Squash that bastard. He is trying to take your life with anger and resentment. Tell him, fuck you, asshole, there is a little kid who needs a remission I am praying for!!! so I do not have a fucking minute for pity on a man put on Earth in the 21st century and dealing with crap from political folks. ONWARD.
Put out all the effort you can to exploit your education and find your spot.

NO
Now you can say, no.
And kill all that I said here.
YOU PROBABLY SHOULD SAY NO
And you probably should say no! And I’d say, good, you need YOUR path. Because this is my set of stupid ideas. You need yours. You have to own it. You have to find and get YOUR freedom.
I think I know what you thought. If you worked the path they set out, the doors would open. Toughest of tough lessons. They lied. Like they lie to the other kids. But you were not a kid, so it hurts double, or 10x. They lied to you to keep you at school and keep you coming.
Do not let the anger go from you to them.
Diffuse the anger as new wisdom. You now see through WALLS compared to other people. You know a smile is the only way. Turn this into you going for purpose. And be honest, a huge mistake, but it seemed right at the time. Now you know.
Here is your big win.
They have written you off.
They think this will bury you. They didn’t realize you are a seed. hehehe
Watch what grows.
They think you are weak and will not win on your terms in your life.
Here is to your successful research or other project in one year and you winning.
There is some poor guy on the backside of a mountain near the Koh-i-Baba in the cold that would sell his soul to get to the USA and start as a janitor.
You got the ocean passage done.
Take if from a guy that has been dead 3 dozen times and has had a major University on the West Coast pull the same crap. The same crap. Believe me, I know a 10th of what you know.
Yours is worse.
But you can get back.
YOYO. You’re on your own.
Gut it out.
All you have to win is tomorrow.
Hang in.