Washington (Somalia Today) — The Trump administration has ordered a sweeping retroactive review of every refugee admitted to the United States during Joe Biden’s presidency, suspending green card approvals for nearly 200,000 people in a move that throws vulnerable communities into fresh uncertainty.
A memo obtained Monday by The Associated Press says U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will re-check each case to decide whether those admitted still qualify for protection.
Refugees and their advocates fear the process will reopen old wounds and could strip some people of legal status.
The memo, signed by USCIS Director Joseph Edlow and dated Friday, claims the Biden administration prioritized “expediency” and “quantity” over rigorous vetting.
It orders officers to carry out a “comprehensive review and re-interview” of all refugees admitted between January 20, 2021, and February 20, 2025.
Mass re-interviews
USCIS will draw up a priority list for new interviews within 90 days, the document says. Officers must again question refugees about past persecution, current risks, and any grounds of inadmissibility.
The memo instructs officers to revisit who carried out the persecution, whether refugees ever took part in abuses, and any security concerns. It also halts new green card approvals for anyone who arrived during the Biden years.
Even refugees who already hold green cards will face a paper review. If officials rule that someone never qualified as a refugee, the person cannot appeal within USCIS.
However, the government must still place that person in removal proceedings before an immigration judge. Refugees can then argue to keep their status or seek other forms of protection.
“USCIS is ready to uphold the law and ensure the refugee program is not abused,” Edlow wrote. USCIS, the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Advocates promise legal fight
Refugee groups warn that the plan will traumatize families who have already passed years of background checks. They say refugees are among the most thoroughly vetted migrants who enter the United States.
“This plan is shockingly ill-conceived,” said Naomi Steinberg, vice president of U.S. policy and advocacy at HIAS, a resettlement agency.
“This is a new low in the administration’s consistently cold-hearted treatment of people who are already building new lives and enriching the communities where they have made their homes.”
Sharif Aly, president of the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), called the review both cruel and wasteful. “Refugees are already the most highly vetted immigrants in the United States,” he said.
“It would be a tremendous waste of government resources to review and re-interview 200,000 people who have been living peacefully in our communities for years.”
IRAP is already part of a lawsuit challenging Trump’s earlier suspension of refugee admissions. Lawyers expect the new review and green card freeze to become another front in that case or trigger new litigation.
Humanitarian agencies also worry about the personal toll. Many refugees spent years in camps or in hiding before they were allowed to travel. They often had to recount painful stories of war, torture, or threats in multiple interviews.
While the memo does not single out specific nationalities, thousands of Somali refugees were resettled during the Biden administration. For many, this order adds a new layer of uncertainty after escaping decades of conflict and instability in the Horn of Africa.
“People thought the worst was behind them when they landed here,” one advocate said. “Now they fear they will have to relive everything again.”
Long-running refugee rollback
The United States created its modern refugee program under the 1980 Refugee Act. The system has long positioned the country as a global leader in resettlement, even as yearly numbers rose and fell with politics and wars.
Trump sharply cut refugee admissions during his first term, setting record-low ceilings. After returning to office in 2025, he suspended the program again.
He later capped new arrivals at 7,500 people a year — the lowest level since it began. Most of those slots went to white South Africans.
By contrast, the Biden administration tried to rebuild the system after earlier cuts. From October 2021 through September 2024, it admitted 185,640 refugees, including more than 100,000 last year.
The largest groups came from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, and Syria.
Now, all those Biden-era arrivals face a new round of questions. Until the review ends, their path to permanent residency is on hold — and their future in the United States is far less certain than they once believed.
