Under the new Trump administration policy, immigrants seeking green cards through marriage may be easily deported.
Federal immigration authorities may begin dismissal procedures for immigrants who lack legal status and apply to become residents through spouses, according to new guidelines released Monday by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The policy that comes into effect immediately also applies to immigrants seeking legal permanent residence through other family members.
The USCIS policy manual says immigrants and spouses or families who sponsor them “should be aware that family-based petitions do not have immigration status and will not be removed from office.” USCIS said in a statement to NBC News that the change applies to both pending requests and requests filed on or after August 1.
Immigration policy and legal experts told NBC News that the policy is widely targeted at some of the main ways to immigrates seeking green cards.
“This is one of the most important ways people have to adapt to their legal permanent status,” said Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigration Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School.
The new policy is very broad and seems to have allowed USCIS to start deletion procedures for green card applicants, “at any time in the process,” she said, adding that the waiting time for green card may vary by several factors, including where the application is and the type of family relationship the immigrant has in their application.
According to an NBC News analysis of USCIS data, family members filed nearly 520,000 I-130 petitions on behalf of immigrants, the first step in obtaining the right to residency in the United States through spouses or families.
According to USCIS data, as of June, there were more than 2.4 million I-130 petitions. Among them, more than 1.9 million reviews have been conducted for more than six months, and are also based on USCIS data. It is unclear how many of those seeking green cards include immigrants who lack legal status or lose their identity in the process.
Mukherjee said that in the past, “no one expected to be put into immigration courts” in the process unless there was a serious problem, such as a violation of the criminal law, adding that such changes could “instill fear into immigrant families, even those who are doing everything.”
In its statement, USCIS said the new policy “is committed to ensuring the integrity of the U.S. immigration system through enhanced screening and scrutiny to identify and undermine immigration fraud and threats to our national security and public safety.”
The agency said in a statement that the policy manual update “improves benefits integrity and introduces screening and review opportunities by providing instructions on adjudication and decision-making issues, including the need for face-to-face interviews by USCIS.”
“Fraudulent, deceptive, or other off-site immigration visa petitions erode confidence in family-based approaches and undermine the immigration system in the United States. USCIS must ensure that eligible marriage and family relationships comply with all applicable laws to qualified marriage and family relationships.
Julia Gelatt, deputy director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Institute for Immigration Policy, said the policy changes are in line with the government's massive deportation agenda.
“We see the Trump administration sending messages to unauthorized immigrants in various ways that they should consider giving up their lives in the United States and returning to their homeland,” she said.
She said the policy will not only affect immigrants entering the country illegally, but is now seeking green card status as a means of reservation. In addition, people with their legal visa expired while waiting for green cards, dreamers and thousands of immigrants after the Trump administration moved to cancel temporary legal avenues under the Biden administration.
“There are a lot of people losing their status, and that's taking away one of the ways they might have to be able to stay in the United States,” Gerard said.
Mukherjee said that while how the Trump administration will use the policy remains to be seen, if it is to be actively applied, it will be “a sea change in immigration enforcement that will discourage those who should be eligible for legal permanent status.”