President Donald Trump’s administration authorized agents from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain refugees who entered the country legally, but still have not completed the process of obtaining permanent residence – the so-called green card – after one year of admission.
The change is contained in a memo dated February 18, attached by government lawyers to a federal lawsuit and obtained by the American press. The text directs ICE agents to place in custody refugees who, even though recognized as legally admitted, have not formalized their adjustment to permanent residence within the stipulated period.
According to the document, the measure is justified by “security concerns” and aims to expand the government’s capacity to monitor and review cases of immigrants admitted through asylum programs.
Refugees are people who have undergone screening and security checks before they are allowed to enter the U.S., often because of the risk of persecution in their home countries. Under the traditional rule, these individuals can apply for a green card after one year in American territory.
The new guideline, however, treats the absence of a green card after this period as a sufficient factor to allow detention, which, in practice, expands the scope of ICE operations also on immigrants in legal status.
‘Bureaucratic delay’
Refugee advocacy organizations and immigration lawyers say the measure could affect people who were unable to complete the process for administrative reasons, such as delays in analyzing documents, difficulties accessing the system or lack of legal guidance.
Experts also point out that the change could increase the insecurity of families who were already established in the US, with a fixed job and residence, and who may now be the target of detention actions even without criminal charges.
Migratory hardliners
The expansion of ICE’s powers comes amid a the Trump administration’s broader strategy of tightening immigration policies, with greater focus on inspection, detention and status review – including for people who entered the country legally.
In recent months, the White House has advocated stricter measures as part of a discourse that associates immigration with public and national security risks, central theme on the president’s political agenda.
The guideline was included in a federal lawsuit, which indicates that the This issue could generate new clashes in the courts. Lawyers say that the detention of recognized refugees can be questioned based on legal guarantees of the immigration system itself and international principles of refugee protection.
So far, the government has not detailed how many people may be affected by the new guidance, nor how ICE will apply the policy in different states.
*This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Jovem Pan.
