U.S. immigration officials are detaining illegal aliens during green card interviews, turning what is typically a final step toward legal status into a point of arrest for some applicants.
Immigration attorneys reported that in recent weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have detained people at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field offices immediately after marriage-based green card interviews, sometimes on the same day the underlying petition was approved.
San Diego immigration attorney Jan Joseph Bejar described one client who had entered the United States legally as a child, later overstayed a visa, and applied for permanent residency through marriage to a U.S. citizen, who was arrested by ICE after his interview.
Bejar stated that a USCIS officer told the client, “Your case is perfectly fine. There is nothing wrong with it,” and the agency approved the petition that day.
In another case highlighted in recent reports, an applicant in Cleveland who has lived in the United States for 25 years and was seeking a green card through marriage was detained by ICE during her interview even though her petition was approved.
She remained in ICE custody because of a prior removal order tied to her parents missing a court hearing years earlier.
A USCIS spokesman, Matthew J. Tragesser, defended the approach in a statement: “The Trump administration has been abundantly clear: aliens must respect our laws or face the consequences. Overstaying a visa is an immigration law violation that can result in deportation.”
Immigration advocates and attorneys warn these arrests could deter otherwise eligible applicants from pursuing legal status.
“People are afraid to file for adjustment, people are afraid to go to their interviews,” Bejar said, arguing that the tactic may push more immigrants to avoid the formal system.
Attorneys noted that immigration law has long contained provisions allowing “immediate relatives” of U.S. citizens, including spouses, to adjust status despite certain visa overstays, one reason the arrests have alarmed advocates.
Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute, stated that there was a carve-out in immigration law intended for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, including spouses. “This was or is the legal path for them to adjust their status,” she added.
