Waiting for your Green Card? This is why the process is held up

The Trump administration continues to implement strict immigration measures, which have now extended to applicants for permanent residency, commonly known as the Green Card.

Over the last few weeks, Immigration Enforcement Services has detained Green Card holders and other lawful residents, including Columbia grad student Mahmoud Khalil, and Tufts University PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk. The chilling footage of Ozturk’s arrest has gone viral on social media, with the video depicting a group of plain cloth officers seizing her belongings, immobilizing her hands, and ushering her into an unmarked car.

Both Khalil and Ozturk were transported from the state where their arrest took place to an ICE detention facility in Lousiana, against court orders released after their arrest. Neither of these students has been accused of a crime, and instead, the federal government has justified their treatment by stating that they have engaged in activities supportive of Hamas.

Pause in Green Card processing

According to a CBS News report, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has paused the processing of Green Card applications submitted by certain individuals, without making changes to their process public. The change impacts many immigrants seeking a Green Card who entered the United States as refugees or were granted asylum.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that the pause in processing for some seeking permanent residency is “necessary” to comply with two executive orders issued by President Trump.

One of the orders, issued by President Trump in January, states that to protect Americans, the United States must “be vigilant during the visa issuance process” to ensure that foreign nationals approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans or national interests.

The executive order signed by President Trump on his first day in office, says that authorities “must ensure” that authorities verify that immigrants “admitted” or “otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.”

Increased scrutiny for foreign nationals

This order forms part of the legal apparatus that has led to the detention of Green Card and student visa holders who participated in Pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses. Including hostile attitudes to “government” allows federal authorities vast discretion into who they detain and revoke the residency permit. Additionally, these rules greatly undermine the expressive freedoms of immigrants, who could see their right to stay in the country revoked if they are found to harbor “hostile attitudes.”

The text emphasizes that these measures should particularly focus on “foreign nationals from regions or nations with identified security risks.”

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