In the past few months, immigration lawyers in the United States have reported several dozen cases of arrests of foreign spouses of Americans during interviews at US Citizenship and Immigration Services offices.
Scores of such cases belong to San Diego alone, while cases have also been reported in New York City, Cleveland and Utah, according to an NBC report citing immigration lawyers and local news.
This marks an “unprecedented” diversion from a decades-long policy, the news outlet reported quoting lawyers, whose clients are panicked that they might be detained even when they are eligible to obtain legal permanent US citizenship and have no history of crime.
Why are Trump officials arresting green card applicants?
The detentions of green card applicants is one of the latest tactics of the Donald Trump administration to target legal ways for immigration as it tightens scrutiny of those who seek permanent residency.
Defending the arrests, officials have said several of them happened because the people had fallen out of status by overstaying their visas.
However, experienced attorneys argue that this has never been an issue and the Congress grants exceptions to spouses of American citizens looking for permanent residency.
Are the arrests legal?
According to immigration laws, immediate relatives of US citizens, such as spouses, have legal rights to get a green card even if they were in the unlawful immigration status at the time of filing for permanent residency.
“There was a carve-out that was intended for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, including spouses. This was or is the legal path for them to adjust their status. This is going about doing things ‘the right way,’” Julia Gelatt, the associate director of the US immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute, was quoted as saying by NBC News.
Since the process to obtain green cards takes months, people “could very easily fall out of status right in the process of waiting for that green card through their marriage”, she said.
How many green card arrests have been made so far?
The exact number of arrests of green card applicants is not easy to quantify, attorneys cited by NBC News said. However, several spouses of US citizens fall in the category of overstaying their visas — a category due to which green card arrests are being made.
Hundreds of thousands of people are currently at the same stage of their green card application processing, according to United States Citizenship and Immigration Service data, meaning that more arrests could come in the upcoming days.
What’s the stance of Trump administration?
In a statement to NBC News earlier in November, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said that unlawful immigrants will face arrests.
The ICE said it “is committed to enforcing federal immigration laws through targeted operations that prioritise national security, public safety, and border security.”
“Individuals unlawfully present in the United States, including those out of status at federal sites such as USCIS offices, may face arrest, detention, and removal in accordance with US immigration law,” its statement said.
Key Takeaways
- The recent arrests mark a shift in immigration enforcement, targeting even those eligible for legal permanent residency.
- Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens have specific legal rights that should protect them from deportation under current immigration laws.
- The arrests have caused panic among applicants and raised questions about the legality of the current administration’s tactics.