Overview
- A Nov. 21 USCIS memo signed by Director Joseph Edlow mandates re-interviews for refugees admitted from Jan. 20, 2021 to Feb. 20, 2025.
- The order covers roughly 200,000 to about 233,000 people and will reexamine persecution claims, the persecutor bar, and other potential inadmissibilities.
- USCIS may terminate refugee status, and those found ineligible have no direct administrative appeal, though they can contest removal before an immigration judge.
- Green-card adjudications for this cohort are paused immediately; refugees typically apply for permanent residence after one year and may seek citizenship after five.
- DHS defends the move on security grounds as advocates decry it as cruel and retraumatizing, with legal challenges expected and a priority re-interview list due within 90 days alongside a sharply reduced refugee cap focused on White South Africans.