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.
U.S. President Donald Trump said late on Saturday he would hold off on a fresh attack on Iran as long as a deal could be reached quickly to halt Iran'...
Two firefighting helicopters collided while battling a major wildfire in Greece on Sunday, as emergency crews fought to contain blazes that have destr...
A deadly mass crossing from Morocco has placed renewed attention on Ceuta, a small Spanish territory on the North African coast that serves as one of ...
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 1st of August, covering the latest developments.
A tourist aircraft crashed near Peru's UNESCO-listed Nazca Lines on Saturday (1 August), killing all 13 people on board, authorities said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said late on Saturday he would hold off on a fresh attack on Iran as long as a deal could be reached quickly to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said wildfires that swept across France were now under control. Authorities warned that risks remained as Greece and Spain continued battling active blazes across parts of Europe.
Yemen's Houthi-run maritime coordination body on Saturday denied reports that it planned to charge commercial ships transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It said no such decision had been made and that passage through the strategic waterway remains free.
Two firefighting helicopters collided while battling a major wildfire in Greece on Sunday, as emergency crews fought to contain blazes that have destroyed more than 100 homes northwest of Athens.
A deadly mass crossing from Morocco has placed renewed attention on Ceuta, a small Spanish territory on the North African coast that serves as one of the European Union’s most politically sensitive external borders.
Hungary is facing five critical days as record-low water levels in the Danube force the country’s only nuclear power plant to shut down for the first time in more than four decades, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Sunday.
The death toll from the migration crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has risen to 72, while more than 48,300 migrants have returned to Morocco, Spanish public broadcaster RTVE reported Sunday.
Wildfires burning across more than 250,000 acres (around 1,011 square kilometres) in Washington state have prompted evacuations and widespread power outages, with officials warning that high winds and extreme heat are making firefighting efforts more difficult.
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