A memo written last week by the director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ordered the review of all refugees admitted to the US during the Biden administration — the latest in several Trump administration policy changes targeting legal immigration.
The memo, signed by USCIS director Joseph Edlow, further ordered a halt to all green card applications for the refugees.
Permanent residents who came as refugees during the Biden presidency and already granted green cards will also have their statuses reviewed, the memo says.
KPBS obtained a copy of the memo.
Refugee groups condemned the new policy, saying it will re-traumatize people who've already endured hardships to make it to the US.
"The reports of this policy are deepening distress for our clients, who fled persecution and conflict in Afghanistan, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and other countries facing ongoing humanitarian crises," said the International Rescue Committee in a statement Tuesday.
"This unprecedented action marks a dramatic departure from U.S. law and longstanding humanitarian commitments," Refugee Council USA said in a statement. "It represents a severe threat to the safety, stability, and dignity of people who fled persecution, conflict, or violence and to whom our country promised freedom, safety, and a permanent new home."
The Associated Press estimates the policy will affect almost 200,000 people.
The memo says the reviews are necessary, claiming the Biden administration prioritized admitted large number of refugees over security screening and vetting.
Refugee groups said that isn't true.
"Refugee admissions undergo rigorous inter-agency vetting, security and medical checks, and in-person interviews before even departing for the United States — and are scrutinized when at their ports of entry and yet again when they apply for green cards one year after arrival," RCUSA said.
Data from the Department of Homeland Security shows the policy will mostly impact refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela and Syria.
'A slap in the face'
The policy is causing anxiety and uncertainty among Afghans who relocated to the US after the country fell to the Taliban in 2021.
Mohammad Rahimi is the executive director of the El Cajon-based nonprofit Afghan Family Services. He told KPBS he's receiving calls from Afghans across the country.
"Our community's in shock right now," Rahimi said Tuesday. "You see a high level of anxiety, uncertainty, disappointment ... we just believe that the Trump administration turned its back on Afghan refugees."
Rahimi said Afghans brought to the U.S. as refugees already endured years of waiting as their applications were screened.
"They suffered a lot — they sacrificed," he said. "They waited for like three (or) four years to make it to the United States. It is an insult and it is a slap in the face (to) the most vulnerable people in this country — who came to this country legally and have legal status and legal rights to stay in this country."
It's the latest move by the administration designed to scrutinized immigrants legally living in the U.S.
Earlier this month another leaked policy memo outlined a plan for USCIS to consider the nationality of immigrants in the U.S. applying for green cards who are from countries affected by Trump's travel ban.
Coming from a country on the travel ban list — mostly those in Africa and the Middle East — would be considered "significant negative factors" on immigration requests.
On his first day back in office Donald Trump ordered a halt to all refugee resettlement.
Data from the State Department shows the effect. Almost 38,000 refugees were admitted to the U-S during the last four months of the Biden Administration. As of last month, the Trump Administration has admitted 506.
