The Trump administration has given immigration officers wider powers to detain legal refugees awaiting green cards, ordering their return to custody for renewed vetting one year after entering the U.S.
In a memo dated 18 February and in a federal court filing, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said refugees must be brought back into government custody for “inspection and examination” a year after admission.
“This detain-and-inspect requirement ensures that refugees are re-vetted after one year, aligns post-admission vetting with that applied to other applicants for admission, and promotes public safety,” the memo stated.
U.S. law requires refugees to apply for lawful permanent resident status after one year in the country. The memo authorises immigration authorities to detain individuals for the entire duration of the re-inspection process.
The change marks a shift from the 2010 memorandum, which said failure to obtain permanent residence was not a “basis” for removal or a “proper basis” for detention.
The decision has prompted criticism from refugee advocates. AfghanEvac’s president Shawn VanDiver called the directive “a reckless reversal of long-standing policy” and said it “breaks faith with people the United States lawfully admitted and promised protection.”
HIAS, formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, said the policy “will cause grave harm to thousands of people who were welcomed to the United States after fleeing violence and persecution.”
A 59-year-old Cambodian national, Lorth Sim, died on Monday while being held at the Miami Correctional Facility in Indiana, marking at least the seventh death in U.S. immigration custody this year, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) saying staff found him unresponsive in his cell and that the cause is under investigation.
Earlier this month, Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian woman who lost dozens of family members in Gaza, was hospitalised for three days following a seizure in U.S. immigration detention. The 33-year-old, whose mother is a U.S. citizen, claimed she was chained during her hospitalisation, according to reports.
Detention levels have climbed sharply under President Donald Trump, reaching about 68,000 people this month, an increase of roughly 75% since he took office last year according to Reuters.
During the same period, detainees filed more than 20,200 federal habeas lawsuits seeking release, and judges have issued thousands of rulings since October finding that the government’s detention practices violated federal law according to reports.
Court records show that at least 4,421 detainees won their cases in recent months, while many others were released or transferred before rulings were issued according to Reuters.
"It is appalling that the Government insists that this Court should redefine or completely disregard the current law as it is clearly written," U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston of West Virginia said 4 February when he ordered the release of a Venezuelan detainee in the state.
The expanding caseload has strained the system, with more than 700 Justice Department attorneys appearing in immigration-related habeas matters and some assigned to more than 1,000 cases, reflecting the pressure created by the administration’s broader detention strategy.
U.S. District Court Judge John Tunheim in January temporarily blocked a recently announced policy targeting the roughly 5,600 lawful refugees in Minnesota awaiting green cards.
In a written ruling, Tunheim said federal agents likely violated multiple federal statutes by arresting some refugees to subject them to additional vetting.
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