Green cards frozen for 200,000 refugees as Trump orders full re-interviews

Nearly 200,000 refugees in the US face re-interviews, frozen green card processing and possible loss of status

The Trump administration is preparing to review every refugee admitted to the United States during the Biden years, according to a memo shared with several media organisations on Monday. The move marks the latest blow for a programme that has, for decades, offered protection to people fleeing war and persecution.

 

Nearly 200,000 refugees who arrived during that period are expected to face confusion and anxiety as the process begins. Advocacy groups say the review is likely to be met with legal challenges, arguing it reflects what they describe as a pattern of “cold-hearted treatment” towards people trying to rebuild their lives.

   

What does the memo outline?

 

The memo, signed by Joseph Edlow, Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and dated Friday, stated that the previous administration put “expediency” and “quantity” ahead of thorough screening.

 

According to the document, USCIS will conduct a full review and “re-interview of all refugees admitted from January 20, 2021, to February 20, 2025.”

 

A priority list of individuals set to be re-interviewed will be created within three months. The memo also freezes green card approvals for refugees who entered during that timeframe.

 

“USCIS is ready to uphold the law and ensure the refugee program is not abused,” wrote Edlow.

 

Under existing rules, refugees must apply for a green card after one year in the United States and can seek citizenship five years after that.

 

Requests for comment sent to USCIS, the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House were not immediately answered.

 

How are refugee groups responding?

 

Shawn VanDiver, President of AfghanEvac, condemned the move. “We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the newly revealed directive by USCIS,” said VanDiver. “Families who survived war, persecution, and the chaos of America’s withdrawal now find themselves forced back into instability by their own government. These individuals have already passed the most exhaustive vetting processes in the world, multiple agencies, biometric checks, layered security reviews. They rebuilt their lives here. They trusted the system.”

 

“This is unprecedented and cruel. And it’s even worse that it comes during the week of Thanksgiving, when families across the country should be resting easy, not being thrust back into fear,” he said.

 

“While Washington plays politics, real people are paying the price,” he added.

 

What do the key directives in the USCIS memo say?

 

The memo orders the following steps with immediate effect:

 

• Freeze on all pending Form I-485 green card applications filed by refugees admitted between January 20, 2021, and February 20, 2025

• Mandatory re-interview of all principal refugees admitted in that period

• Review and potential re-interview of derivative refugees, including spouses, children, and follow-to-join applicants

• Fresh assessment of whether each individual met the refugee definition at the time of admission 

 

What legal authority is the agency citing?

 

The memo cites:

 

• INA § 101(a)(42), defining who qualifies as a refugee

• INA § 207 and § 209, covering termination of refugee status and adjustment to lawful permanent residence

• Claimed USCIS authority to revisit and potentially undo past refugee admissions

 

What consequences could refugees face?

 

According to the document:

 

• USCIS may terminate refugee status for principal and derivative applicants

• Green cards may be denied even where approval has already been granted

• There is no direct appeal if a refugee-based green card application is denied; the only option is to contest removal in immigration court

• Refugees facing removal may renew their green card claim before an immigration judge

 

What new conditions does the memo lay out?

 

The memo adds:

 

• USCIS has 90 days to identify priority cases for re-interviews

• The freeze on green card processing remains until another memo lifts it

• Only the USCIS Director or Deputy Director can authorise exceptions

• The agency will revisit all inadmissibility grounds, including those previously waived

• The review will include the persecutor bar

• The agency states the need to ensure refugees “pose no threat to national security or public safety”

 

What is the wider context for this move?

 

The move comes against a broader backdrop of tighter immigration control. Earlier this year, the administration suspended the refugee programme and later set an annual admissions cap of 7,500, mostly for white South Africans, the lowest level since the programme began in 1980.

 

The administration has repeatedly pledged to increase deportations of undocumented immigrants and has stepped up enforcement measures across several programmes.

 

Between October 2021 and September 2024, the Biden administration admitted 185,640 refugees. More than 100,000 arrived last year, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela and Syria.

 

Advocates say the new review will retraumatise people who already endured extensive checks before being allowed into the country.

 

“This plan is shockingly ill-conceived,” said Naomi Steinberg, Vice President of US Policy and Advocacy at HIAS. “This is a new low in the administration’s consistently cold-hearted treatment of people who are already building new lives and enriching the communities where they have made their homes.” 

 

What happens next?

 

Edlow wrote that USCIS expects to prepare the priority list for re-interviews within 90 days. His memo indicates that the agency intends to re-examine the core reasons refugee status was granted.

 

“Testimony will include, but is not limited to, the circumstances establishing past persecution or a well-founded fear for principal refugees, the persecutor bar, and any other potential inadmissibilities,” he wrote.

 

Sharif Aly, President of the International Refugee Assistance Project, criticised the plans. He said refugees are “already the most highly vetted immigrants in the United States.”

 

“Besides the enormous cruelty of this undertaking, it would also be a tremendous waste of government resources to review and re-interview 200,000 people who have been living peacefully in our communities for years,” said Aly.

 

His organisation is part of a lawsuit challenging the administration’s earlier suspension of refugee admissions.