A new Trump administration directive on green card applications has triggered confusion and alarm among immigration attorneys, families and employers in California, where more people received green cards from inside the United States in 2023 than in any other state.
Issued shortly before Memorial Day, the policy memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services appeared to sharply limit a long-used process known as adjustment of status, which allows eligible immigrants already living in the United States to apply for lawful permanent residency without leaving the country. The directive said such approvals should be granted only in “extraordinary” circumstances, raising fears that many applicants could be required to return to their home countries and wait for their cases to be processed through U.S. consulates abroad.
Days later, after widespread concern from immigration lawyers and affected communities, the Department of Homeland Security sought to play down the scope of the change. The department told The New York Times the policy was not a blanket rule and said USCIS officers have always had discretion in deciding adjustment applications.
But attorneys said the memo has already created uncertainty for people who believed they were following the rules.
“That’s a CYA,” said Patrick Kolasinski, a Modesto-based immigration attorney, arguing that the administration appeared to be responding to public backlash and trying to reduce the risk of litigation. He said changing the policy in this manner is “completely illegal.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not answer CalMatters’ questions about whether it had reversed course after the memo’s release. An unnamed department spokesperson told The New York Times that people who overstay visas and applicants from countries whose citizens are considered high users of public assistance could be among those most affected.
The directive could have major implications in California, including Southern California and the Inland Empire, where many families include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, visa holders and immigrants with pending cases. In 2023, 112,100 Californians received green cards through adjustment of status, representing nearly one in five such approvals nationwide, according to federal data.
The groups potentially affected include relatives of U.S. citizens, mixed-status families, international students, laid-off tech workers and other temporary visa holders already living in the country. Family-based applicants make up the largest share of new green card recipients; in 2023, about 64% of green cards went to people qualifying through a family relationship with a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, according to DHS.
A key unanswered question is whether the new approach will be applied to people who already have applications pending. Lynn Damiano Pearson, director of legal strategy at the National Immigration Law Center, said some immigration attorneys have reported that USCIS officers recently asked applicants why they were seeking green cards from inside the United States and whether anything would prevent them from applying from their home countries instead.
“People are being questioned about consular processing in a way that seems to flow directly from this new memo,” Damiano Pearson told CalMatters, adding that advocates fear the administration may try to apply the policy retroactively.
DHS did not directly answer whether pending applications would be affected. In a written statement, the department said the policy “will have no noticeable impact on highly qualified applicants and skilled professionals who have followed the law.” The spokesperson declined to be identified.
Adjustment of status has existed since Congress created it in 1952, and it has been used by Democratic and Republican administrations for more than seven decades. More than 500,000 people use the process each year. The new memo characterizes that pathway as exceptional rather than routine.
Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said he expects the policy to be challenged in court.
“This memo is wrong. It’s reprehensible. It’s illegal,” Joseph said. “I’m 100% sure that it’s going to be litigated.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office also indicated it is watching the issue closely.
“The Trump administration continues to wage a campaign against legal immigration, putting up barriers and pushing out immigrants who are trying to follow the established process to obtain permanent residence,” said Nina Sheridan, a spokesperson for Bonta. “We’re monitoring where the administration goes next with its latest attempt to flout longstanding law and policy, and we are evaluating our options.”
DHS told CalMatters the memo “restates longstanding law and policy” that it said had been “disregarded by the Biden Administration.”
Immigration lawyers said one major concern is that some applicants allowed their original visas to expire while waiting for green card interviews, which can take years because of federal backlogs. In many cases, they were permitted to remain in the country while their applications were pending. Attorneys now worry that those same applicants could be denied and placed in removal proceedings.
Advocates also fear some people could be detained during or after routine immigration appointments. Last year, some immigrants were taken into custody at scheduled appointments and held for months. Damiano Pearson said it is too early to know how frequently that could happen under the new policy but said attorneys cannot rule out the possibility.
Forcing applicants to complete the process overseas could create additional hardships. Consular processing is often slow, and in some countries visa processing has been stopped entirely. The State Department has halted visa processing in more than 70 countries.
For people who have overstayed visas, leaving the United States can trigger automatic bars that prevent them from returning for three to 10 years. Attorneys said it remains unclear whether USCIS officers would consider those consequences when deciding whether applicants must leave the country.
“This is not about buying a plane ticket and waiting a little bit longer,” said Ben Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “For many people, consulate processing is not realistic or safe, and for others it can mean months or years of separation from U.S. citizen spouses, children, employers, and communities.”
The uncertainty has left attorneys scrambling to advise clients with upcoming interviews.
Kolasinski said some of his clients are frightened because they do not know how individual officers will interpret the memo.
“You walk in, and you have no idea what kind of officer you’re going to get and what they’re operating under,” he said.
His advice to applicants with scheduled immigration interviews is to bring legal representation.
“Nobody should be doing anything with immigration these days without a lawyer present,” Kolasinski said.
Original source: CalMatters
