Labor unions, university faculty groups and immigrant advocates are suing the Trump administration over two immigration policies they say make it harder for some immigrants already living in the United States to obtain green cards without leaving the country. The lawsuit, filed October 5 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, challenges policies the U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued in May and August. They affect adjustment of status, the process that allows eligible immigrants in the United States to apply for permanent residence without leaving the country to obtain an immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate abroad. The challengers argue that the two policies work together to change the rules for people already seeking permanent residence, and that someone who filed prior to their implementation could now be judged under the new standard and potentially denied without first receiving an opportunity to provide additional evidence addressing it.
The May policy directs USCIS officers to consider whether an applicant chose to seek a green card from within the United States rather than through consular processing abroad. Meanwhile, the August policy gives USCIS officers greater authority to deny some applications without first asking applicants for additional evidence or notifying them of an intended denial. It applies to new applications as well as applications that were pending when the policy took effect.
The Trump administration has tightened parts of the legal immigration system as it pursues its mass deportation campaign, making a series of changes affecting how immigrants obtain permanent residence. Those include the repeal of a Biden-era public-charge regulation and new USCIS guidance on determining whether some green card applicants are likely to become dependent on government benefits. The administration says the public-charge changes are intended to promote self-sufficiency and enforce immigration law.
The American Association of University Professors and its Harvard Faculty and Boston University chapters; the Service Employees International Union and two affiliates, SEIU Local 509 and 32BJ SEIU; Americans for Immigrant Justice; and six individual green card applicants brought the lawsuit. The organizations represent or serve academics, doctors, researchers, service workers and other immigrants seeking permanent residence, as well as people whose close relatives are seeking green cards. Newsweek has contacted USCIS, and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), for comment via email.
Adjustment of status allows certain eligible immigrants already in the United States to apply for permanent residence without leaving the country. Consular processing, the alternative at issue in the lawsuit, generally requires applicants to complete the immigrant visa process through a U.S. Embassy or consulate abroad.
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