The Trump administration issued a sweeping Department of Homeland Security order requiring that tens of thousands of lawfully present refugees return to federal custody one year after admission to the United States for green card application review, potentially enabling mass detention of refugees who fled persecution. The memo, filed ahead of a Thursday federal court hearing in Minnesota, states DHS “may maintain custody for the duration of the inspection and examination process,” directly contradicting established legal protections refugees have received under prior administrations and upending longstanding immigration safeguards that have governed refugee resettlement for decades.

Advocacy and resettlement organizations condemned the order as unlawful detention of people the U.S. government itself admitted legally. HIAS, an international Jewish nonprofit serving refugees, stated the policy constitutes “a transparent effort to detain and potentially deport thousands of people who are legally present in this country,” after those refugees were promised safety and the opportunity to rebuild their lives. Democratic U.S. Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota declared the government “failed to offer any coherent argument for their policy in either law or fact,” while U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar joined refugee rights supporters opposing the measure at a courthouse news conference.

The order represents the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown targeting Minnesota, which included Operation PARRIS, a “sweeping initiative” purportedly to reexamine 5,600 Minnesota refugees without permanent resident status. Federal agents conducted door-to-door arrests, sending refugees to detention centers in Texas without access to attorneys, with some later abandoned in Texas to find their own way home. U.S. District Judge John Tunheim blocked the government from targeting Minnesota refugees in January, ruling the plaintiffs were likely to prevail on claims that “their arrest and detention, and the policy that purports to justify them, are unlawful,” and noting refugees undergo extensive vetting by multiple agencies before resettlement and none arrested had been deemed dangerous or charged with deportable crimes.

Judge Tunheim previously rejected the government’s legal rationale as producing illogical results, writing that mandating detention would be “nonsensical” since refugees cannot apply for green cards until one year after U.S. arrival, making nearly all refugees subject to detention under the administration’s interpretation. Trump’s broader immigration restrictions have suspended green card approvals for refugees admitted during the Biden years and dramatically reduced the number of refugees admitted to the country, citing national security and economic concerns despite expert consensus that refugees undergo rigorous background screening before entry.

The new order applies nationally but was filed specifically before Minnesota federal court arguments on whether Judge Tunheim’s temporary protective order for Minnesota refugees would be extended beyond its February 25 expiration date. Justice Department attorney Brantley Mayers indicated the government would have discretion whether to arrest refugees at the one year mark, a claim met with skepticism by refugee attorneys and legal observers monitoring whether the courts would tolerate mass preventive detention of legally admitted refugees facing no criminal charges or flight risk.

(Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/judge-weighs-extending-protections-refugees-050548010.html)