Refugees can be detained by ICE, Trump administration rules
The Trump administration has given ICE officers power to detain any legal refugee who is waiting for a green card. This, the government memo says, is to ensure they are “re-vetted,” as part of an expansion of the ongoing crackdown on immigration in the USA.
The Department of Homeland Security said that refugees must return to government custody for “inspection and examination” a year after admission into the county, in a memo.
“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 department said in the memo.
Under American law, a refugee is required to apply for lawful permanent resident status a year after they arrive in the country. The memo would allow ICE to detain people for the duration of the re-inspection process. This is a change of pace from a 2010 memorandum where failure to obtain lawful permanent resident status was not a “basis” to remove someone from the country nor a “proper basis” to detain them, according to Reuters.
Refugee advocacy groups have criticised the measure. The policy is a “a reckless reversal of long-standing policy,” said AfghanEvac’s president Shawn VanDiver, adding that it “breaks faith with people the United States lawfully admitted and promised protection.”
The “move will cause grave harm to thousands of people who were welcomed to the United States after fleeing violence and persecution,” HIAS, previously known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society said.
The current administration has been defined by its crackdown on immigration. This month, according to Reuters, 68,000 people have been in ICE detention, 75% more than when he took office in 2025.
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