New DHS memo outlines plan to detain refugees for further vetting

"The new policy rescinds a 2010 memo that said failing to apply for status as a lawful permanent resident within a year of living in the United States is not a basis for detaining refugees who entered the country legally. Two Trump administration officials wrote in the new directive that the previous guidance was incomplete and that the law requires DHS to detain and subject those refugees to a new set of interviews while in detention."

"The Department of Homeland Security issued a memo Wednesday stating that federal immigration agents should arrest refugees who have not yet obtained a green card and detain them indefinitely for rescreening - a policy shift that upends decades of protections and puts tens of thousands of people who entered during the Biden administration at risk."

""I am concerned that the Feb. 18 memo and the indiscriminate detention of refugees in Minnesota are the opening salvos in an attack on refugees resettled all over the United States," said Laurie Ball Cooper,the organization's vice president for U.S. legal programs."

The Department of Homeland Security directed immigration agents to arrest legally resettled refugees who have not obtained green cards and detain them indefinitely for rescreening, reversing decades of protections. The directive rescinds a 2010 memo that had disallowed detention solely for failing to apply for lawful permanent resident status within a year. Two Trump administration officials wrote that prior guidance was incomplete and that law requires detention and new interviews. The memo surfaced in a court filing ahead of a Minnesota hearing where a judge temporarily blocked ICE from detaining thousands. Rights groups and resettlement organizations are challenging the policy in court.

Read at The Washington Post