Washington, DC — Last Friday, the Trump Administration announced in a memo from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that immigrants seeking green cards, including those already living in the United States, would have to apply from outside the country.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice: “The Trump administration is expanding its mass deportation campaign to purge, kick out and keep out as many immigrants as possible, no matter the cost to our families, our economy and our values. Make no mistake: the administration is aware of the pain and chaos they are creating, but don’t care – it’s by design. The green card policy announcement is another aggressive sign that the Trump-Miller mass deportation and anti-immigrant crusade takes precedence over all else.”
While there are many key details and likely legal challenges to come, below are three of the key, bigger picture takeaways:
- While the Policy Rollout was Chaotic and Confusing, the Underlying Motivations are Clear and Consistent: Friday’s announcement immediately triggered important questions and concerns – with essential clarifications already being made (such as potentially exempting H-1B holders). But the amateur hour rollout and confusion over key details shouldn’t distract from larger scope and motivations: it’s another reminder that this administration is aiming to restrict and purge “legal” immigrants in addition to undocumented immigrants. In the New York Times, Hamed Aleaziz quoted David Bier of the CATO Institute saying, “The legal immigration agenda is an extension of their illegal immigration agenda” and former DHS official Amanda Baran saying, “The focus on ‘illegal’ immigration was a lie meant to distract from their true goal of reducing immigration of all kinds, and we are now watching that vision become reality.”
- Part of a Larger Pattern to Create More Targets for Deportation and Removal: Notably, if the policy was to go into effect, those who failed to travel overseas to apply from overseas (and wait out the long backlog away from their families, jobs and communities) would presumably trigger an unlawful presence bar and become subject to detention and deportation. Like the effort to strip or block legal status from TPS holders, DACA recipients, travel ban country visa holders and other categories, it’s part of a pattern to make as many individuals as possible deportable.
- The Harms and Implications for Economy and Families are Staggering: From spouses of U.S. citizens and parents of U.S. citizen children to deeply rooted workers and community members trying to do things “the right way,” the potential harms to our families, communities, and the economy are staggering.
