"Under the new policy, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said that federal immigration officers can and should arrest anyone who has not yet obtained the right to permanent residence, a so-called green card, and subject them to interviews to assess their refugee claims while they are in custody, as first reported by the Washington Post."
"The memo reverses a 2010 Obama administration policy that said failure to apply for a green card within a year of admission to the US was insufficient basis for such an arrest or detention, the newspaper reported."
"In his order, district court judge John Tunheim, who is scheduled to hear further representations Thursday in the class-action lawsuit brought by refugee groups, lambasted the detentions. Refugees have a legal right to be in the United States, a right to work, a right to live peacefully, he wrote."
"Officials said Operation Parris, which targeted about 5,600 refugees in Minnesota who had not yet become permanent residents, was a sweeping initiative re-examining thousands of refugee cases through new background checks and intensive verification of refugee claims."
The Department of Homeland Security authorizes federal immigration officers to arrest refugees who have not obtained permanent residence and to detain them for interviews and re-screening. The policy reverses a 2010 policy that deemed failure to apply for a green card within a year insufficient grounds for arrest or detention. Operation Parris targeted about 5,600 refugees in Minnesota for new background checks and intensive verification of refugee claims. A federal judge blocked further arrests in that case and ordered releases, emphasizing refugees' legal rights to be in the United States, to work, and to live peacefully. The policy treats admission as conditional with mandatory review after one year.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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