The Trump administration is enacting major, discriminatory and open-ended changes to the immigration system.
On November 27, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a memo announcing a new guidance allowing for negative, country-specific factors to be considered when vetting individuals from the 19 countries targeted in the June travel ban (PP 10949). A few days later, on December 2, USCIS published another memo announcing an indefinite pause on all immigration applications filed by individuals from the travel ban countries. These policy changes are clearly and blatantly based in discrimination on the basis of national origin, and must be halted.
The impact of these harmful, bias-driven policies is already being deeply felt by members of the targeted communities, including Iranians. Application of these new policies will lead to many already-vetted visa holders, along with green card holders, being arbitrarily denied benefits and potentially even arrested and deported by ICE.
Reports have revealed that naturalization interviews and citizenship ceremonies have been abruptly canceled over the last week. Some reports indicated that officers directly asked individuals attending a naturalization ceremony at Faneuil Hall in Boston, MA what country they were from, “and if they said a certain country, they were told to step out of line and that their oath ceremonies were canceled.” This kind of direct targeting is based entirely on national origin, and it is deeply alarming and anti-American.
Likewise, The New York Times detailed how Iranian-born Raouf Vafaei, who has been in the U.S. for eight years, was just days away from being sworn in as a U.S. citizen when he received a four sentence email informing him that his ceremony was canceled. Vafaei described feeling excited for his ceremony, and that his mother even purchased a new dress for the event. However, now it remains unclear when he will reach this key milestone of securing citizenship in the land he is proud to call home. NIAC has likewise received many similar reports from members of the community.
In recent weeks, Iranians who have filed applications for various immigration benefits have also reported receiving Notices of Intent to Deny noting that Iranian heritage is now considered a negative factor. The letters state “USCIS has determined that the positive discretionary factors do not outweigh the country-specific negative discretionary factors USCIS has identified in your request for a change of status.”
NIAC has also heard from Iranians who described living in limbo for years awaiting progress on a visa application only to have their interviews canceled with no indication as to when they will be rescheduled. Additional stories shared with NIAC include asylum applicants who fear what will happen given the administration’s indefinite pause on asylum claims. These changes have left many Iranians in deep uncertainty regarding their futures, putting them at risk of losing job offers, student slots and even putting them at risk of potential arrest and deportation.
In tandem with its recent policy changes, USCIS also announced the creation of a specialized unit dedicated to revisiting past, approved immigration screening and vetting. According to the agency, the unit will “draw on the full spectrum of classified and nonclassified screening and vetting capabilities and provide a more thorough supplemental review of immigration applications and petitions.” Tasked with reviewing both pending applications as well as with re-reviewing approved applications, this unit will turn the recent policy changes into active harm.
Hundreds of thousands of individuals could be put at risk by these recent changes. As stated in the Dec. 2 memo, USCIS will provide a list of individuals for review, interview, re-interview, and referral to ICE and other law enforcement agencies within 90 days. This process will explicitly target individuals from the 19 travel ban countries, including Iran, and even applies to approved green card holders who received their permanent residence since 2021. The memo notes that the re-interview process will be applied to anyone deemed “unable to establish their identity,” which could be interpreted very broadly, given that the June travel ban declared screening and vetting in the targeted countries deficient. It is not clear what will happen to the individuals who are on the forthcoming USCIS-generated list, and if they will be at risk of near-term arrest.
Taken together, the indefinite pause, re-examination process, screening unit, and coordination with ICE enforcement dangerously increases the risk of delays, denial of benefits, and the potential for even more arrests and deportations of individuals who have long since been vetted and made their lives in American communities. The discriminatory targeting of communities wholesale must be stopped before more harm is done.