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.
France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Friday that 70,000 security forces would be mobilised th...
Greece’s parliament has passed a bill banning under-15s from using social media from 1 January 2027, as the country steps up efforts to prote...
Israel has ordered security forces to seal off Hebron and prepare a full closure of the West Bank after a shooting near the city wounded at le...
Saudi Aramco has ordered staff to evacuate its headquarters amid escalating Houthi attacks on the kingdom. Two people were killed in an attack on Dammam airport, while Iran's IRGC Navy claimed strikes on seven vessels and warned the U.S. of a wider response.
Russian strikes on Ukraine overnight killed at least two people and injured 15 others, including two children, Ukrainian authorities said. Meanwhile, Russia said it had intercepted the vast majority of 630 Ukrainian drones launched towards Moscow.
Russia is willing in principle to resume peace talks with Ukraine and the United States in November, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said after President Vladimir Putin met U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg.
Super typhoon Champi is set to batter Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture from Friday (23 October), bringing violent winds, torrential rain and waves up to 11 metres high, as airlines cancel flights and organisers scrap a major festival.
If you tried to visit a government website in Europe on Wednesday and found it down, you weren’t alone. Agencies across the continent pulled their sites offline after serious security flaws were discovered in PHP, the programming language quietly running behind most of the world’s websites.
Greece’s parliament has passed a bill banning under-15s from using social media from 1 January 2027, as the country steps up efforts to protect children online. The new law will require platforms to enforce age restrictions.
Israel has ordered security forces to seal off Hebron and prepare a full closure of the West Bank after a shooting near the city wounded at least five Israelis. Soldiers killed the two gunmen.
France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Friday that 70,000 security forces would be mobilised throughout the country to keep order on Saturday, adding there have been calls for looting and violence from the ultra-left.
Missile and drone attacks have put Saudi Arabia on high alert, disrupting life in Riyadh and testing a new defence pact with Türkiye and Pakistan as regional tensions escalate.
Romanian authorities are searching for missing crew members following an incident involving a ship in the Black Sea. Romanian President Nicusor Dan attributed the incident to Russian escalation.
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