\n Trump administration plans to review refugees admitted under Biden, memo obtained by The AP says\n <\/p>\n
\n\tWASHINGTON: The Trump administration plans a review of all refugees admitted to the US during the Biden administration, according to a memo obtained Monday by The Associated Press, in the latest blow against a program that has for decades welcomed people fleeing war and persecution into the country.
\n\tThe review is likely to sow confusion and fear among the nearly 200,000 refugees who came to the United States during that period. It is likely to face legal challenges from advocates, some of whom said the move was part of the administration\u2019s \u201ccold-hearted treatment\u201d of people trying to build new lives in the US
\n\tThe memo, signed by the director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, and dated Friday, said that during the Biden years \u201cexpediency\u201d and \u201cquantity\u201d were prioritized over \u201cdetailed screening and vetting.\u201d The memo said that warranted a comprehensive review and \u201cre-interview of all refugees admitted from January 20, 2021, to February 20, 2025.\u201d
\n\tThe memo indicated that there will be a list of people to re-interview within three months.
\n\tAdvocates of the refugee program say that refugees are generally some of the most vetted of all people coming to the United States and that they often wait years to be able to come.
\n\tThe memo also immediately suspended green card approvals for refugees who came to the US during the stated time period.
\n\t\u201cUSCIS is ready to uphold the law and ensure the refugee program is not abused,\u201d Edlow wrote.
\n\tPeople 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.
\n\tUS Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
\n\tThe moves described in the memo are the latest to take aim at the refugee program, which the administration suspended earlier this year and later set a limit for entries to 7,500 mostly white South Africans \u2014 a historic low of refugees to be admitted to the US since the program\u2019s inception in 1980. The Trump administration more broadly has ramped up immigration enforcement as part of its promise to increase deportations of illegal immigrants.
\n\tThe 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.
\n\tRefugee advocates slammed news of the review, saying that it will traumatize people who have already gone through extensive vetting to make it to the US in the first place.
\n\t\u201cThis plan is shockingly ill-conceived,\u201d said Naomi Steinberg, vice president of US policy and advocacy at HIAS, a refugee resettlement agency. \u201cThis is a new low in the administration\u2019s consistently cold-hearted treatment of people who are already building new lives and enriching the communities where they have made their homes.\u201d
\n\tUSCIS 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.
\n\t\u201cTestimony 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,\u201d he wrote.
\n\tSharif Aly, President of the International Refugee Assistance Project, an advocacy group, criticized the administration\u2019s actions in a statement late Monday, saying that refugees are \u201calready the most highly vetted immigrants in the United States.\u201d
\n\t\u201cBesides 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,\u201d Aly said.
\n\tIRAP is currently part of a lawsuit seeking to overturn the administration\u2019s suspension of refugee admissions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trump administration plans to review refugees admitted under Biden, memo obtained by The AP says
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