Refugees in the U.S. could be arrested under a new immigration memo

Immigrants who came to the U.S. as refugees could be detained within a year of arriving here under a new policy from the Department of Homeland Security.

Refugees must either get a green card within a year, or “present themselves to the agency” to avoid detention, according to a Feb. 18 memo from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The move marks yet another attempt from the Trump administration to further limit legal pathways to resettle in the United States. The administration last year set the lowest-ever cap for refugees it would admit into the U.S.

And USCIS later announced that it would re-review the status of everyone who had been admitted into the U.S. as a refugee under the Biden administration, essentially reopening those cases and risking the loss of legal refugee status.

“This policy is a transparent effort to detain and potentially deport thousands of people who are legally present in this country, people the U.S. government itself welcomed after years of extreme vetting,” said Beth Oppenheim, CEO of HIAS, one of the resettlement organizations. “They were promised safety and the chance to rebuild their lives. Instead, DHS is now threatening them with arrest and indefinite detention.”

The memo was filed as a part of documents submitted in a federal court case tied to refugees who were arrested in Minnesota. In it, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow and ICE acting Director Todd Lyons direct their agencies to “detain and inspect” refugees who do not “voluntarily return to DHS custody for inspection and examination” to be a legal permanent resident at the one-year mark of being in the country.

The policy rescinds prior guidance that did not treat the failure to apply for a green card as grounds for deportation. It also states that refugees may be placed in immigration detention while their application for a green card is being considered. The agency leaders say the new policy is needed to prevent immigration fraud, identify national security threats and vet people for criminal histories.

“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 states.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the policy.

The new policy sent shockwaves through an already weakened refugee resettlement system. In the past 12 months, the Trump administration has cut off key funding to organizations that assist refugees resettling in the U.S., including services that help with green card and citizenship applications. Refugees are required to apply for permanent residence, or a green card, after they’ve been in the county for at least a year.

Refugee resettlement organizations estimate this new policy could impact tens of thousands of refugees, mostly those who entered during the Biden administration. After going through extensive vetting to arrive in the U.S., they will now fear they could be affected by delays in processing at USCIS.

Shawn VanDiver, president of the organization AfghanEvac, called the memo “a reckless reversal of long-standing policy” that treats refugee admission as conditional.

“It breaks faith with people the United States lawfully admitted and promised protection,” he said.

Groups that work with refugees warn there are several reasons why refugees may not have adjusted status quickly after arriving in the U.S., including a complex immigration system and backlogs at USCIS itself.

In fiscal year 2025, 38,000 refugees were resettled into the U.S. For this fiscal year, the Trump administration set a historic low ceiling for refugee admissions of 7,500, with the priority for admission going to white South Africans.

The memo was filed in Minnesota federal court as a part of an ongoing lawsuit over the revetting, arrest and detention of refugees who have not yet received a green card. Last month, a federal judge ordered the release of refugees in Minnesota and granted a temporary pause on detentions, which he said had been made “without warrants or cause,” while the case played out.

The arrests came after USCIS in January launched an investigation into 5,600 refugees in Minnesota, who had not yet received their green cards, and swiftly began referring cases to ICE.