“The Trump administration is clear it intends to take its terror campaign against refugees in Minnesota national,” said Ghita Schwarz, senior director of US litigation at the International Refugee Assistance Project. “All Americans should be concerned about this lawless push to imprison people who have done nothing wrong.”
Filed against the Department of Homeland Security, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the suit challenges a Feb. 18 memo ordering detention of refugees who have been in the country for more than a year but have not applied for permanent residency.
The directive, issued jointly by USCIS and ICE, asserts that refugee admission is “conditional” and says refugees once again become “applicants for admission” after a year. The memo maintains that detention, including potentially prolonged detention, is necessary to allow the government to reexamine refugees for fraud or public safety concerns.
The plaintiffs say the policy conflicts with longstanding guidance requiring refugees to apply for permanent residency after a year, while making clear that refugee status does not expire at that point.
According to the suit, the memo rescinds a 2010 ICE directive stating failure to apply for permanent residency was “not sufficient grounds” for removal and “not a proper basis” for detention.
The suit argues the policy violates the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and the Fifth Amendment’s guarantees of due process and equal protection, safeguards that apply to noncitizens physically present in the United States. It also alleges violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act, under which plaintiffs argue lawfully admitted refugees cannot be treated as “applicants for admission.”
Advocates say many refugees have been unable to adjust their status because of a backlog of more than 100,000 green card applications.
By pausing those applications and then citing the lack of permanent resident status as a basis for detention, the administration is “creating a trap in which refugees are penalized for the government’s own failure to act,” the International Institute of New England said.
“Refugee families often waited years for resettlement and were promised safety and an opportunity to build their lives here in the United States,” said Rabbi James Greene, chief executive officer of Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, the other organization bringing the lawsuit. “To allow this policy to come into effect would be a rejection of the values that we most hold dear.”
The plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Forward and the International Refugee Assistance Project.
A US Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson said in a statement that federal law requires refugees to undergo a full inspection and to “return or be returned to … custody” after a year in the United States.
“Once again the media is sensationalizing long established immigration law,” the spokesperson said. “This is not novel or discretionary; it is a clear requirement in law. The alternative would be to allow fugitive aliens to run rampant through our country with zero oversight. We refuse to let that happen.”
The refugees bringing the lawsuit include people from Afghanistan and Rwanda, as well as families who said they fled persecution in Iraq and Sudan.
Among them is a Sudanese refugee, identified in the lawsuit as Abdo F., who has struggled to complete his green card application because of medical requirements and financial constraints. Abdo, who has Parkinson’s disease, worries that detention would interrupt his access to the medication and treatment, according to the complaint.
The complaint also includes a married couple, identified as Mona C. and Hamad B., who fled Iraq and were admitted as refugees in 2023 before resettling in North Carolina.
In January, Hamad was arrested at a Border Patrol checkpoint and detained for more than three weeks despite presenting documentation of his refugee status, according to the lawsuit.
During that time, Mona said she feared he would be deported, according to the lawsuit.
“I fled death threats and waited nearly a decade to resettle as a refugee in the United States,” said Mona, who has several children, including a 2-year-old daughter who is a citizen, according to the lawsuit. “We came to the U.S. to live in peace and safety, not to relive the horrors of our past.”
Lila Hempel-Edgers can be reached at lila.hempeledgers@globe.com. Follow her on X @hempeledgers and on Instagram @lila_hempel_edgers.