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

Protesters take to the streets in December 2025 as they march in freezing conditions through a neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where many Somali, Latino and Hispanic immigrants live and work.

Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images

Immigrants who arrived in the United States as refugees could be detained a year after arriving here, under a new Department of Homeland Security policy.

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

The move marks another attempt by the Trump administration to further limit legal pathways to resettlement in the United States. Last year, the administration set the lowest cap on record for the number of refugees it would admit to the United States.

And USCIS later announced it would review the status of everyone admitted to the United States as a refugee under the Biden administration, essentially reopening those cases and risking losing 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 who the U.S. government itself has taken in after years of extreme scrutiny,” said Beth Oppenheim, CEO of HIAS, one of the resettlement organizations. “They were promised safety and the opportunity to rebuild their lives. Instead, DHS is now threatening them with arrest and indefinite detention.”

The memo was filed as part of documents submitted in a federal court case related to refugees arrested in Minnesota. In it, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons direct their agencies to “detain and inspect” refugees who do not “voluntarily return to DHS custody for inspection and examination” in order to be a lawful permanent resident after one year of stay in the country.

The policy reverses previous guidance that did not consider failure to apply for a green card as grounds for deportation. It also says refugees may be held in detention while their green card applications are being reviewed. Agency leaders say the new policy is necessary to prevent immigration fraud, identify national security threats and check people’s criminal backgrounds.

“This detention and inspection requirement ensures that refugees are re-examined after one year, aligns post-admission review with that applied to other applicants for admission, and promotes public safety,” the memo said.

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. Over the past 12 months, the Trump administration has cut critical funding to organizations that help refugees resettle in the United States, including green card and citizenship application assistance services. Refugees must apply for permanent residency or a green card after staying in the county for at least one year.

Refugee resettlement organizations estimate the new policy could impact tens of thousands of refugees, primarily those who arrived under the Biden administration. After undergoing extensive screening to arrive in the United States, they will now fear being affected by processing delays at USCIS.

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

“It breaks the trust of the people the United States has legally admitted and promised protection,” he said.

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

In fiscal year 2025, 38,000 refugees were resettled in the United States. For this fiscal year, the Trump administration set a historically low cap for refugee admissions at 7,500, with admission priority given to white South Africans.

The memo was filed in federal court in Minnesota as part of an ongoing lawsuit regarding the rehabilitation, apprehension and detention of refugees who have not yet received green cards. Last month, a federal judge ordered the release of Minnesota refugees and granted a temporary stay of detentions, which he said had been carried out “without warrant or reason,” 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 quickly began referring their cases to ICE.