No green card for refugees in US? Trump admin to re-interview asylum seekers admitted under Biden, says report

The Trump administration is reportedly planning a review of all refugees admitted to the US during the Biden administration, according to a memo obtained Monday by The Associated Press. This comes as a latest blow against a program that has for decades welcomed people fleeing war and persecution into the country.

The review is likely to trigger confusion and fear among the nearly 200,000 refugees who came to the US during that period. It is likely to face legal challenges from advocates, some of whom said the move was part of the administration's “cold-hearted treatment” of people trying to build new lives in the US.

What does the memo say?

The memo, signed by the director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, and dated Friday, stated that during the Biden administration, “expediency” and “quantity” were prioritised over “detailed screening and vetting.”

The memo said that warranted a comprehensive review and “re-interview of all refugees admitted from January 20, 2021, to February 20, 2025.”

The memo indicated that there will be a list of people to re-interview within three months.

The memo also immediately suspended green card approvals for refugees who came to the US during the stated time period.

“USCIS is ready to uphold the law and ensure the refugee program is not abused,” Edlow wrote.

People admitted to the US as refugees are required to apply for a green card one year after they arrive in the country and usually five years after that can apply for citizenship.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement

The moves described in the memo are the latest to aim for the refugee program, which the administration suspended earlier this year and later set a limit for entries to 7,500 mostly white South Africans — a historic low of refugees to be admitted to the US since the program’s inception in 1980.

The Trump administration more broadly has ramped up immigration enforcement as part of its promise to increase deportations of illegal immigrants.

The Biden administration admitted 185,640 refugees from October 2021 through September 2024. Refugee admissions topped 100,000 last year, with the largest numbers coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela and Syria.

Refugee advocates slammed news of the review, saying that it will traumatise people who have already gone through extensive vetting to make it to the US in the first place.

“This plan is shockingly ill-conceived,” said Naomi Steinberg, vice president of US policy and advocacy at HIAS, a refugee resettlement agency.

“This is a new low in the administration’s consistently cold-hearted treatment of people who are already building new lives and enriching the communities where they have made their homes.”

The USCIS expects to have a priority list for re-interviews within 90 days, Edlow wrote. His language points to a rigorous revisiting of why refugee status was granted in the first place.

“Testimony will include, but is not limited to, the circumstances establishing past persecution or a well-founded fear for principal refugees, the persecutor bar, and any other potential inadmissibilities,” he wrote.

Sharif Aly, President of the International Refugee Assistance Project, an advocacy group, criticised the administration's actions in a statement late Monday, saying that refugees are “already the most highly vetted immigrants in the United States.”

“Besides the enormous cruelty of this undertaking, it would also be a tremendous waste of government resources to review and re-interview 200,000 people who have been living peacefully in our communities for years,” Aly said.

IRAP is currently part of a lawsuit seeking to overturn the administration's suspension of refugee admissions.

(With inputs from the Associated Press)