The Trump administration has issued an internal memo authorising the arrest and indefinite detention of refugees who have not yet received their green cards, according to court documents released on Wednesday. The directive reverses a long-standing policy that protected legally present refugees during their first year in the United States.
Under the new policy, refugees must report to the Department of Homeland Security or face arrest and detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Beth Oppenheim, chief executive of the refugee advocacy organisation HIAS, said she had never seen such a measure in 25 years of refugee protection work and warned of 'grave harm' to those who fled persecution.
The memo was disclosed in court filings relating to a lawsuit in Minnesota, where the administration deployed over 3,000 federal immigration officers last year, resulting in thousands of arrests, including many recently resettled refugees. A federal judge temporarily blocked ICE from detaining approximately 5,600 refugees in the state, ruling that they have a legal right to live and work without the terror of arbitrary arrest.
The directive, signed by ICE's acting director Todd Lyons and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Joseph Edlow, orders Homeland Security to 'locate, arrest, and take the alien into custody'. It revokes previous guidance that considered a refugee's failure to adjust their legal status as insufficient grounds for removal or detention.
Lawyers and advocates argue that refugees often cannot control the pace of paperwork processing due to delays, language barriers, and the complexity of the immigration system. Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of Global Refuge, described the policy as a 'stunning betrayal' that weaponises a routine administrative step as a pretext for arrest.
The Trump administration has overhauled the refugee admissions programme, prioritising white South Africans and capping overall admissions. President Trump has questioned whether allowing refugees into the country is in the national interest, disrupting the lives of thousands already approved for resettlement.
