Lawsuit Challenges New US Green Card Policies
Washington — Immigrant families, workers, university educators and advocacy organizations have filed a lawsuit challenging two new U.S. immigration policies that they say could force some eligible green card applicants to leave the country to pursue permanent residence, potentially separating them from their families and jobs.
The lawsuit challenges policies issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in May and August that changed how the agency handles adjustment-of-status applications. The process allows eligible immigrants already in the United States to seek lawful permanent residence without applying for an immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate abroad.
The plaintiffs are asking a federal court to block the policies and ultimately set them aside, arguing that USCIS should process affected applications under existing legal precedent.
The case remains pending, and the allegations have not been adjudicated.
According to the lawsuit, the May policy directs USCIS officers to treat an applicant’s decision to seek permanent residence from within the United States, rather than through consular processing abroad, as a negative factor when exercising discretion.
The plaintiffs contend that applicants must then demonstrate “unusual or even outstanding” circumstances to overcome that negative factor.
A second policy issued in August allows USCIS officers in certain cases to deny applications without first giving applicants an opportunity to provide additional evidence, according to the lawsuit.
The challengers also argue that the policy applies to applications that were already pending when it took effect, creating uncertainty for applicants who filed under the previous procedures.
“For decades, people who met the requirements to apply for a green card from inside the United States were able to do so without having that choice count against them,” said Leslie Dellon, senior attorney for business immigration at the American Immigration Council.
Dellon said the new policies amount to “a major shift with very real consequences,” including possible family separation, job disruption and lengthy waits abroad for consular appointments.
The plaintiffs include the American Association of University Professors and its chapters at Harvard University and Boston University; the Service Employees International Union and two affiliates; Americans for Immigrant Justice; and six individual green card applicants.
They are represented by Democracy Forward, the American Immigration Council, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and Colombo & Hurd.
The individual plaintiffs are seeking permanent residence through family- and employment-based pathways. The organizations involved represent educators, researchers, health care workers, service workers and other immigrants seeking permanent residence in the United States.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said Congress created a process allowing eligible immigrants already in the United States to seek permanent residence without uprooting their lives.
“The executive branch cannot rewrite that system and then treat people’s lawful actions as a reason to deny them said permanent residency,” Perryman said.
The lawsuit could have broader implications for employment- and family-based immigrants who are legally eligible to seek permanent residence while living in the United States.
The case, American Association of University Professors et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al., was filed October 5 and remains pending. No court has yet ruled on whether the challenged USCIS policies are unlawful. (Source: IANS)
