Thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers could find themselves in limbo as the Department of Homeland Security confirmed it has suspended processing some applications for green cards to comply with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump.
The order, issued by Trump in January, called for federal agencies to “vet and screen to the maximum degree possible all aliens who intend to be admitted, enter, or are already inside the United States, particularly those aliens coming from regions or nations with identified security risks.”
The pause on green card applications for refugee and asylum seekers already in the country, first reported by CBS News, is being carried out by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
A DHS spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that the agency is “placing a temporary pause on finalizing certain adjustment of status applications pending the completion of additional screening and vetting.” However, the spokesperson did not address which applications were affected, whether the pause would affect spending at the agency, how long it would last or other questions from NBC News.
The average wait time for green card applications is typically 8 months for a refugee and almost 10 months for an asylum-seeker.
Both refugees and asylum seekers already face a rigorous vetting process. Refugees aren’t even allowed into the U.S. until they have completed a series of interviews, security screenings and medical exams — a process that often takes years to complete.
Those seeking asylum must be physically present in the U.S. and prove they have suffered persecution, or fear that they will, for reasons related to their race, religion, nationality or political opinions. These individuals undergo extensive background and security checks and must sit down with officials for an interview.
After an individual is granted asylum or admitted as a refugee, they must wait one year before applying for a green card. The average wait time for those applications is typically 8 months for a refugee and almost 10 months for an asylum-seeker. Tuesday’s announcement follows another notice this month from Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that it wants to collect data from social media profiles of individuals applying for citizenship. While those applying for visas already have to share their social media handles with the government, the new proposal would force those applying for asylum, permanent residency or naturalization — people who are already legally in the country — to identify their accounts to USCIS. The agency said that vetting of social media accounts is necessary for “the enhanced identity verification, vetting and national security screening.” Critics are calling the proposal a violation of freedom of speech. As USCIS cracks down on some green card applications, the Trump administration is still preparing to launch its so-called gold card program, which would offer citizenship to wealthy individuals in exchange for a direct $5 million payment to the U.S. government. Last week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick bragged that the administration had already raked in $5 billion from the program, despite the fact it hasn’t even officially launched yet. “Yesterday, I sold a thousand,” Lutnick said on the tech podcast “All-In.” According to Lutnick, Elon Musk is currently building the software for an app to handle “gold card” applications, which he expects to launch in two weeks.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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