World Relief Condemns Trump Administration’s Needless and Reprehensible Relitigation of Recently Resettled Refugees

USCIS memo threatens to destabilize over 200,000 lawfully-present members of U.S. communities

Contact: Lauren Rasmussen, media@wr.org, 802.310.4255

BALTIMORE, Md. – Today, reports of an internal memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) indicated that the Trump administration would halt the processing of applications for Lawful Permanent Resident status for refugees resettled by the Biden administration between the years of 2021 and 2025, leaving an estimated 200,000 individuals in limbo while their cases are being readjudicated. World Relief is deeply grieved by this decision, which will inevitably generate alarm among many individuals who will fear being returned to the countries where they faced persecution for reasons such as their faith, their association with the U.S. military and their peaceful opposition to authoritarian political movements. 

Under U.S. law, refugees are legally defined as people who have fled a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their race, religion, political opinion, national origin and/or membership in a particular social group. Refugees enter the United States lawfully with an indefinite legal status after undergoing a thorough overseas vetting process, then are allowed and required by law to apply for their Lawful Permanent Resident status, also known as a “green card,” one year after arrival. The memo circulated today seeks to halt processing for these individuals’ Lawful Permanent Resident status and subject individuals who were already lawfully admitted to additional interviews.

“Refugees admitted under the U.S. refugee resettlement program have undergone some of the most rigorous vetting of any immigrant lawfully admitted into the United States, yet this sweeping re-interview initiative is nothing less than a calculated effort to strip lawful status from thoroughly-vetted, law-abiding people,” said Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief. “It is a moral and ethical betrayal of due process at a time when the Trump administration is attempting to lower the standard for refugee admissions to include Afrikaners and others who do not meet the legal standard of a ‘well-founded fear of persecution’ that past refugees have been required to meet.”

Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last July, refugees who have not yet been granted Lawful Permanent Resident status are no longer able to qualify for SNAP benefits. This indefinite delay in processing Lawful Permanent Resident applications from refugees will also indefinitely delay their eligibility for this vital nutritional support for which refugees have long qualified under the law. Furthermore, it will prevent refugees from filing petitions for certain family-based visas, deferring family reunification. 

“Just in time for Thanksgiving, when many Americans remember Pilgrims who fled religious persecution in England and sought religious freedom in the United States, our government is subjecting more than 100,000 Christian refugees resettled by the prior administration — many of whom fled religious persecution on account of their faith — to needless, retraumatizing additional scrutiny, leading many to fear they could be returned to persecution,” said Matthew Soerens, Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. 

World Relief will be working through its network of local offices, affiliates and church partners to help provide resettled refugees with support as this new policy is implemented. 

“One thing that we’ve seen consistently over the past year is that, despite dramatic rehauls of longstanding immigration policies, American Christians are standing in the gap for their refugee neighbors,” said World Relief’s Senior Vice President of U.S. Programs, Aerlande Wontamo. “We’re very troubled by today’s news, but we also want to assure the brave women, men and children who have been rebuilding their lives in communities across the United States that we will continue to stand with them, as will many American citizens who have enthusiastically welcomed them.”