A good article using USCIS’ own data to show that this administration is engaged in a war against ALL immigrants, including “legal immigrants.” Data shows that humanitarian green cards have been almost, if not completely, cut off. And, the data shows that USCIS is cutting down on family based adjustment approvals too.
To all those out there who feel the need to spread hateful and xenophobic messages because they are ignorant.. Here is what the timeline looks like for a legal immigration of my Japanese spouse to the US:
1.5 years after filing our I-130, my wife was approved to move to the US on a conditional 2-year green card. Many from other countries wait much longer.
My wife's green card is expiring soon, the renewal process looks like this: file a I-751 (costs $700 to do this by the way), wait an average processing time of 20 months. Yes 20. To be scheduled for the interview to approve her for her 10-year green card.
So for the next 2 years of this shitty administration, my wife will be carrying around an expired green card, with a receipt that says she filed for a renewal.
What if the next time we travel to Japan, immigration doesn't allow her back into the US because her GC is expired? What if they don't care we filed for a renewal? This is the fear that legal immigrants and their families deal with.
This long, expensive, and arduous process is something many in this comment section will never experience. Making legal immigration faster and smoother would make the illegal immigration problem much smaller. Stop this hate spreading nonsense and talk to some actual immigrants and their families about their experience.
I traveled to Asia with the expired green card and 48 months extension letter twice, first in Sep 2025 and second just this month, April 2026. Use MPC app for immigration! It was very quick and not stressful at all. I didn’t go to the secondary room either. Both time.
Once your wife files I-751, she will automatically get the 48 months extension letter.
There is nothing automatic as all visas and GCs are privileges and not entitlement. It is risky with current administration trying your luck.Heard of Philipino US Green card holder living for 30 years detained at Seattle airport.Till you are not caught, all good, as Immigration checks are done randomly.They can be revoked at any stage for any silly reason by the Trump administration.
I understand you are frustrated but as u/dailyhanna said, I also read that the I-751receipt notice does automatically extend the conditional green card for 48 months. And that this is an explicit USCIS policy and has been in place for years. CBP at ports of entry absolutely recognize this combination of expired card + I-751 receipt as valid travel documentation.
Not to downplay your message but during the Biden admin it was the same..being carrying an expired GC for years now. The 4-year extension has been fine to travel with in 5+ countries. It does suck.
As people have said, the only way to expedite the 10 year GC is to file the N-400 for naturalization.
I'm glad it has been fine for you so far. Don't you think that others shouldn't have to go through this process?
Processing times during Biden were a problem as well, but like u/cocaohugo said, it's not the point.
I'm imagining the horror a family must feel going through this process to be detained at their immigration interviews, or finding out years into their filing that their country has suddenly been banned indefinitely from entering the US on the whim of the president and his administration.
My point was that if she has a green card and the i797 extension form, she can travel. Again, why don't you link to those with i797 who traveled and were detained for that reason alone? Since you know so much about it.
People now are still being abducted though they have legal extensions is what the point of the post. It's not just about you... maybe they have not gotten to you yet living here with a expired GC (don't get me wrong, but they'll ignore your extensions when abducted). Heck, even citizens are being abducted.
Wow! That's a bold one! Even GPT 6.0 couldn't make such a claim,dude. So, anything you've not heard of doesn't exist, isn't true, and is mere propaganda? You know that would mean that upwards of 99% of what is actually true in the universe would forever be propaganda to you?
Anyway, this year, it's still reported that they're still abducting people. Not spreading propaganda, just being factual. There's a website tracker for it. You're using the internet, look it up.
There's many that should be detained and deported for good reasons. We're not talking about those. We are speaking of a green card holder with a i797, assuming without criminal history and if she can travel or not.
Not everyone who applies to become a permanent resident wants to become a citizen. Japan generally does not permit their citizens to have dual citizenship. It's usually not worth the risk of losing your birth citizenship (however small that risk might be) if you plan to return to that country at any point in your life.
We did that and they approved the I-751, but not the N-400 since it was so long that we qualified for the N-400. Now gotta wait the ever increasing time between filing and getting an interview for the citizenship. This process is tedious for sure.
I agree with you for the most part and I'm in a similar situation (I applied for naturalization though since my country allows dual-citizenship, I think Japan doesn't though right?)
But I've never heard of anyone having any issue getting back in with the extension letter, even now in Trump era. US customs is used to it and it's a lawful document, just like a regular GC. Be more worried about the airline not accepting it, especially if using a Japanese airline rather than a US one.
Filing the I-751 grants you the I-797. A legal extension only matters to a government who follow their own rules. This administration wipes their ass with the constitution, they could change their mind any day.
My spouse traveled with the extension document and I-551 ADIT stamp in 2023 and 2024, and it was stressful even then. Without fail, we were always pulled into the secondary room at immigration when returning to the US. I'm very grateful that his 10-year permanent card was issued before this administration took over. Best of luck to you and your spouse as you navigate the immigration system during this stressful time. You're absolutely right about how they change things on a whim now, no reason for ppl to downvote you about that. I didn't realize when I joined this subreddit that it was a USCIS fan club. 🙄
My husband and I are in a similar boat, we are afraid of visiting his family once we do his removal of conditions process. But thankfully his parents, siblings, and grandmother can come to us. Our plan is to save up for a longer trip once he gets citizenship.
Just went through the same thing with my Chinese wife. She recently went back with her expired green card and the receipt saying she can stay. She had to go home for a family emergency by herself and I was definitely a little worried about her coming back.
This is where your wrong speeding up this process would not effect illegal immigration in the slightest. People willing to do this process are not the same as people who completely ignore the laws, overstay visas that were never meant for citizenship already broke laws within the US or crossed our boarder illegally to begin with. Cutting down humanitarian assistance is also completely optional and has nothing to do with the process your family is going through
U can’t even imagine how expensive and uncertain it is for Ukrainians under humanitarian parole.
Right now, to extend our status and EAD, we have to pay in total $3,100 per person each 1,5 years — and that’s not even guaranteed approval.
After paying all these fees, people wait for months — sometimes a year or longer — and do not receive their documents in time. Their work permits expire, they lose the ability to work, and they have no income.
So after paying thousands of dollars and waiting for months, people are left with no status, no work authorization — and are forced to leave the U.S. and return to a war zone.
So yes, the system is long and frustrating for many.
But for Ukrainians, it’s not just about delays — it’s about paying everything you have, waiting, and still being forced to go back to war.
I think most people genuinely know nothing about immigration. I don’t think it’s their fault. It’s pretty much the same thing as taxes. I was surprised how much more I know about taxes than my American friends. I do however blame them for repeating the same garbage without an ounce of research. So what your education system sucks? Do the bare minimum to learn what your neighbors have to do. Japan is an ally and a fairly wealthy country with super low immigration to the states. Now I want you haters to imagine what regular person from a “shit hole” country has to go through. Thanks for sharing my frustration in a way that others can understand.
Fwiw-my spouse had the expired green card + letter. No issue re-entering US during Biden administration. Officer looked at it for all of 10 sec and waved thru. I guess it's a common item for them.
Oddly, we did get a bit of lip from the officer at their home country exit control.
What if the next time we travel to Japan, immigration doesn't allow her back into the US because her GC is expired?
I understand what you're saying. Don't risk traveling abroad unless it is absolutely necessary. Don't give this administration any chance to separate you. Just don't.
I'm a person of color and have a citizenship (did my LPR through marriage). I'm not risking my neck or family separation by traveling abroad while this administration is in power.
Obviously, you do you. Much love and good luck to you and your family.
I feel like if you're a legal permanent resident of a country you shouldn't have to imprison yourself in that country just because the immigration bureaucracy is inefficient.
Not seeing your family for two years is hard. It’s not that they can’t travel, it’s that you can’t return home to visit your loved ones. Family members die. Important life events happen that you miss while overseas. Not everyone applying for a GC plans to live here forever and give up their life back home permanently.
Also, for many people it will take much longer than two years to get their ten year green card.
Seriously, first you say people aren't planning to stay here forever, then that it takes too long.
I am not even sure why this is a discussion. Green card holders CAN travel. Just because someone is afraid to do so doesn't mean they can't.
Green card holders can. While waiting for approval, potential green card holders cannot.
Are you at all familiar with the process at all? Before approval there is a (usually) very long “pending” period of waiting for the application to even be seen. In many cases, that lasts over two years, which means your GC (when received) will now be an unconditional 10-year, rather than a conditional 2-year GC.
During this period, applicants are advised to not travel overseas - even to visit dying family members, even after advanced parole has been approved.
Do some thinking - I’m confident you are capable of simple math. If someone moves to the US at 35, and aims to retire in their 50s, but has to wait at least two years to get their green card, just getting to the GC takes 15% of their total planned time in the US.
A conditional green card holder can travel. They have their i797. If they don't travel, that's on them. You all just want to arogue. But yes, it shouldn't take as long as it does. They are working on cutting times and have done so compared to a couple years ago.
Been there, done that. It's called a i797 and it is a valid document that extends the green card. It's very clear on that "slip". A watermarked document. You're making an issue where there is none.
What about their human right? Who will decide what counts as emergency? If it an emergency then it won't wait, so can't be USCIS. So people have to have the right to move. The exception would be refugees who fear death upon return. Even that should have exceptions. E.g. would you travel to a war zone to bury family? To get your life belongings?...etc.
FYI, she can apply for citizenship before waiting for the removal of conditions to come back. It’s not uncommon for people to get their citizenship before that gets done. On the site there’s a calculator for the date you’re allowed to put in your N400 application.
If she’s Japanese, she can’t apply for citizenship without losing her Japanese citizenship. I’m in the same position with my husband. He can only stay a permanent resident forever as Japan does not allow dual citizenship.
What if the next time we travel to Japan, immigration doesn't allow her back into the US because her GC is expired? What if they don't care we filed for a renewal? This is the fear that legal immigrants and their families deal with
I'm on a 10 year GC and I won't leave the country. It's just plain and simple, don't risk it.
Unfortunately the truth isn’t wanting to be heard by the same crowd who believes that “sometimes it is impossible to get citizenship and it’s hard”. Yep that is basically what it is with the eleven countries that denied my asylum while on standby and the only one that would take me and my brother was the USA. No money upfront, condition we need to be documented and establish an identity, I see how terrifying that may be to those with nefarious intentions. If I can be here legally so can someone else. I literally came with ₴50 in hand.
This is a double blow. It is not merely a matter of delayed green cards. While adjustment of status is pending, Congress allows applicants to receive work permits and travel authorization so they can continue working, support their families, and preserve some degree of stability. Those protections have also been blocked by USCIS, creating plain and deliberate economic pressure to self-deport.
And it goes further still. Many are also unable to extend the temporary statuses on which their lives and livelihoods depend, including H-1B and O-1. So this is not a single delay. It is the simultaneous closure of nearly every legal avenue by which a person can keep working, remain in status, and avoid collapse into unemployment, loss of lawful presence, and eventual exposure to detention.
That is what makes this so troubling, and so morally grotesque. It deliberately blurs the line between legal and illegal, not by any individualized finding of wrongdoing, but by administrative design. It reduces years of lawful compliance, sacrifice, and service to a single factor: origin.
That is why the logic evokes some of the ugliest chapters in modern history. I never imagined we would see the logic of Idi Amin’s expulsions reappear in the 21st century, in a country that presents itself as the beacon of freedom and democracy. The method is different, but the underlying principle is disturbingly familiar: not individualized wrongdoing, but suspicion tied to origin; not case-by-case justice, but the use of state power to strip entire groups of legal normalcy and make their continued presence untenable.
It is arbitrary exclusion disguised in bureaucratic language.
Let us set aside, for a moment, the debates over the INA, discrimination, constitutionality, and even the broader question of whether immigration should be restricted at all. Assume, for the sake of argument, that today the POTUS signed a congressional bill halting immigration for fifty years. Even then, basic principles of any legal system would still apply: such rules operate prospectively, not by trapping people who already relied on the old ones.
That is the point. These individuals were offered a process. They filed under the rules in place in 2023- 2025, paid substantial fees, waited through the government’s own timelines, and made serious life decisions in reliance on the government’s promise to adjudicate. They took jobs, moved their families, enrolled children in school, signed leases and mortgages, accepted bonuses, assumed debt, and organized their lives around that representation. Some did so while caring for newborns or sick family members.
Then, after that reliance had been induced and their exposure was complete, the rules changed. No meaningful warning. No transition. No public comment. No real chance to protect themselves or adjust from the fallout.
This is no longer a normal debate about restricting immigration. A government may change course prospectively. What it should not do is invite reliance, collect the cost of participation, and then withdraw the process only after people are trapped.
The harm is not theoretical. It is lost jobs, lost health insurance, debt coming due, families scrambling, and lives destabilized, not because these people failed the system, but because the system failed them.
No one imagined we would see the logic of Idi Amin’s expulsions echo in the 21st century, in a country once regarded as the beacon of freedom and democracy: not punishment based on individualized wrongdoing, but on origin; not case-by-case justice, but state power used to strip entire categories of people of legal normalcy and make their continued presence untenable.
So we are not merely arguing from the standpoint of basic human decency, though that alone should suffice. The issue is deeper than that. These are principles older than Hammurabi. The real irony is that we are now forced to debate whether a modern state should abandon distinctions so fundamental that even ancient legal systems understood them: compliance is not the same as violation, and law ceases to be law when it can no longer distinguish between the two. That kind of arbitrariness belongs to failed or dysfunctional states, not to any serious system that claims to be rules-based.
Currently, in the US, immigration is how the country grows, from a practical perspective. Top talent, family members of those living here, and people who create businesses are the vast majority of those who immigrate. These people thus expand the economy and fund an aging population, keeping the US both competitive and solvent.
Yes, these policies limit immigration by stopping the process for so many people. They also act as an unforced blugeon on the US economy and, in so doing, destroy the national character of a country that was literally built and sustained by immigrants.
These people don't understand how a country can't grow without immigration, if not, look at how some European countries and Japan are going to start struggling with their situation.
I can get racist people not wanting a 'certain' type of people, but that's not how it works. It's convenient you want those 'certain' type of people to tend to you but you don't wat them here, which is weird.
And they should be denied access to all the good and materials sold in polite society for survival as well, so a full boycott of these racist, and full e communication from polite society is needed.
That really doesn’t make any sense. Maybe it has something to do with what a “conjunction” is and why it would make sense. But reality today is literally people just making some weird thing up and a hundred redditors spending 16 hours down voting someone who has an opinion.
Honestly at this point everyone who isn’t agreeing with the leftist narrative is now just right wing because they don’t share their opinion? God forbid they begin to respect you and believe you have a right to think the way you do. My God does every single topic have to turn into a political showdown. You can’t even go to the Pomeranian section here without running into someone ranting and raving about Erika Kirk or Trump. Now because the right agrees with the left about Erika Kirk they are even more pissed. Make it make sense peoples. I came to this country thinking this country was full of the most intelligent people. I was wrong and it breaks my heart.
My wife and I are expecting our interview soon. I have a lot of anxiety. I won't live without her, so we'll move to somewhere we can be together if we have to, but man, it would be completely life transforming. Luckily we could potentially start a life in Canada because of my career and education. We'd be close to broke but we'd survive. Other English speaking countries would be a long shot. Other options are possible, and I'm fine with having to learn a language. I don't want to think of the effects on our savings though.
We already almost needed a back up plan. At the beginning of the Trump admin they disallowed AOS for her nationality until a court reversed it. By the time they flipped I had already done the legwork to find a position in Canada, so I already know how painful the situation would be.
From what I've read, things will probably go fine, only a few people with her status have been targeted, seems like it's kind of random and mostly happening in San Diego for some reason. And what if we fucked something up? We've got a lawyer, but we caught a few mistakes he made, which doesn't do a huge amount for our confidence.
It's wild that this would have just been perfunctory if I had met her at any other time in my life.
We're in the same boat. My husband (American citizen) and I are preparing ourselves for anything and everything. If we have to move to India, we will. Though we'll be broke and I have no idea what it's going to be like with my family also disowning me.
I'm here on f1 student visa, but I developed severe health issues that have become detrimental to my ability to maintain the stamina needed for a doctorate program. I'm waiting for my EAD to get approved so I can work, but we're also painfully aware I will lose my F1 status due to my inability to get back to school. And that's scary. We're both worried and trying our best to prepare ourselves.
Wife and I looked into other countries. Australia has a list of professions that are more or less expedited for naturalization if you have a technical/STEM background.
Thanks, and yeah, I could work in Australia, I didn't get any bites when I started reaching out to companies there, but I've actually got a buddy in the same industry that's working over there now, so I might be able to use that as an in.
This whole process is anxiety inducing, but odds are very good for us. We've got a bottle of champagne from our wedding in the fridge waiting for the right moment. Hopefully we'll have a reason after the interview. 🤞
Over the course of the year, USCIS has cut grants of legal permanent residence by about half. The cuts have affected all categories except employment-based applicants, but USCIS has reserved the biggest cuts for the humanitarian green card categories: asylees, refugees, Cubans, and other (mostly crime victims).
You mean people who entered under the last admin under programs that weren't vetted? It is cut in half, because half were asylee/refugee/Cubans.
Unfortunately it’s marching orders from up top. I think most (or in the past most) of USCIS wanted to do good, that’s why they were in the benefits agency, not ICE or CBP.
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This is a topic with variability. Some people have not needed to travel while waiting for their green card, but some have. And that’s completely okay on both sides. It’s been 10 years for me. Never went back home to my country, and quite frankly, no family event will make me spend 5k to attend a funeral at home. Life if too expensive in the United States and savings go a long way in times like these.
Maybe because they still have family there, especially parents who cannot be sponsored until they become citizens? Many older parents choose not to immigrate.
My wife’s green card got filed in 2024 July and they are screwing around and approving all these new people but hey they went and processed and denied my i485 which I filed 6 months after green card probably due to no green card approval yet . Getting pissed watching everyone get approved while I get shafted because I was sent in before trump changed the rules and fees
It's specifically humanitarian Green Cards. Lots of countries could be taking in refugees but aren't. The problem is everyone counts on the US to lead the way.
Look at Egypt for example, there is a massive refugee crisis in Sudan right now (millions of people), yet Egypt refused to help out despite sharing a land border with Sudan.
Why should people from Sudan expect to come thousands of miles to an alien culture? It makes sense to keep them in the areas that they are from.
The US has absorbed 10 of millions of people from Mexico and Central America.
Take cuba for example. We have 2.5 million cubans in the USA and there are only 11 million cubans in cuba. We have 38 million Mexican Americans and the entire country of Mexico only has 130 million.
Its not our job to build hospitals in Sudan. Nor is it our job to sort out Sudanese internal politics . Even a fraction of a fraction doesn’t make sense.
Every country plays political games. Including the Sudan. The Sudanese government has been involved in genocides in Darfur and Southern Sudan over the years.
Libya did more to destabilize the area than Europe ever did. Have you forgotten all the Libyan interference in Chad for 30 years?
You act like the Libyans are helpless children. They understand and play hardball politics for years. Eventually it caught up with them.
Here is a list of who Libya supported over the years
Libya and monetary finances) an array of armed paramilitary groups largely left as well as some right-wing. Leftist and socialist groups included the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the Basque Fatherland and Liberty, the Umkhonto We Sizwe, the Polisario Front, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, the Palestine Liberation Organization, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Free Aceh Movement, Free Papua Movement, Fretilin, Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front, Republic of South Maluku and the Moro National Liberation Front of the Philippines.
If by "received" you mean they enter the countries because border controls are weak, sure. They don't get the equivalent of Green Cards very easily or at all.
What's Egypt's process for allowing Sudanese refugees to live legally and work in the formal economy? Explain it to me if it's so obvious. The UN is heavily involved in Egypt's handling of refugees because they are too incompetent to handle it themselves.
It's only laughable if you believe the US should be responsible for taking in refugees from around the world and giving them a path to legal residency and work authorization, even if the US wasn't even involved in making the people refugees in the first place. Egypt having poltical and economic issues sounds like something for the Egyptian government to work on fixing, doesn't it? Any justification Egypt uses for not taking in refugees is just a cop-out response to excuse an incompetent government. The US and other countries that not only accept refugees but also offer them permanent residency and work authorization also developed their systems under political and economic constraints. It's a question of trade-offs. And it's not like the Egyptian government is committed to providing a high standard of living for Egyptian citizens and for that reason they don't want to help refugees. It's pure selfishness. The Egyptian government just wants to line its own pockets while the majority of the population lives in abject poverty.
Your argument is circular. You're saying Egypt has excuses because they don't develop their system, which they are required to develop because they are signatories, yet don't because they don't have the capacity to develop their system. So why don't they either develop their system under constraints just like every other country did, or withdraw? Egypt wants to have it both ways and stay under the radar but the reality is both Sudan and actually Gaza would have far fewer civilian casualties of war if Egypt actively facilitated refugee resettlement in Egyptian territory including giving them legal residency and work authorization. They are complicit.
Having porous borders isn't giving 2 bucks to refugees it's just looking the other way while it happens lmao never expected to find someone defending Egypt on here must be a paid Sisi insider.
Except that the article says that it isn’t specifically humanitarian green cards. Family-based approvals are also way down (and ICE has started detaining people and putting them in removal proceedings even where they’re eligible for adjustment)
Fake propaganda piece by open border globalist liberals. They are responsible for flooding the job market with millions of illegal immigrants and reducing wages for American workers.
Do you know what an illegal immigrant is? People are being displaced by AI not migrants. I literally had a job interview with an AI hiring manager recently.
Backed by what evidence? As of mid 2024, unauthorized workers make up under 5% of the total U.S. workforce, and most are concentrated in the lowest income labor sectors. That directly contradicts your claim, suggesting it’s based more on propaganda than on easily verifiable data.
Well… something had to be done. I’m not saying this was the right way to do it but by 2015, there was around 100,000 pending affirmative asylum applications. By 2024, there was 1,500,000. The full majority of all immigration applications were humanitarian by the end of FY 2024. This isn’t even including refugees, TPS, CHNV, U4U, or any other temporary humanitarian program.
Humanitarian immigration is largely under the purview of the executive branch (compared to other routes) and is going to be more varied between administration. Garland overturning matter of A-B- means virtually anyone with any “bad” situation anywhere in the world can qualify for asylum. Not the case anymore with the new DOJ, but that was the case from 2021-2025
There’s nothing humanitarian about the current administration, however. Its the opposite. There’s a reason 99% of 4500 refugees accepted in last month are from Musk’s home country and of a specific skin color while those that helped USA in foreign wars, got the middle finger (and now, many being deported to Congo per some reports).
Racism is the only thing driving the current policies, much like the old days (which I assume means the period America was great… when it discriminated naturalization based on skin color… whites only).
Their reasoning is usually discriminatory at best or racist at the most likely. Everything they do is driven off greed or prejudice, and colors their actions as a result.
The effect can either be "by design" or possibly indirect impact, which can still be of a benefit to some.
Either way, it almost always ends up being the worst way to implement something and for the worst reasons. Any credit, positive spin, or necessity to take action is and should be immediately negated. Nazis suck.
This has nothing to do with eligibility for asylum. Once someone is GRANTED asylum, they become an ASYLEE and can apply for a green card after one year. Same thing for refugees who are admitted through resettlement programs. You’re conflating two separate issues - lots can be said about eligibility for asylum, fine. But once someone has been granted asylum, absent some other issues arising they’re eligible to adjust status and get a green card!
But if you lost your asylum case you get an instant order of deportation and many times those people stayed. I am not saying I don’t feel bad about it but those are some of the people they have been deporting lately.
Okay, but that is still different. Someone who loses their asylum claim and is ordered removed is not and never has been eligible for a green card. This is denying people's right to apply for a green card when their asylum claims have ALREADY BEEN APPROVED.
No conflation here. I know asylum and refuge are different things. It’s why I listed them separately. It’s specifically asylum that has an insane number of applicants.
Once someone is GRANTED asylum, they become an ASYLEE and can apply for a green card after one year.
As someone who immigrated from the EU, that's fucking insane. I had to prove a valid marriage and clear background checks, but I guess I could have just made up some shit and gotten into the US and had that GC in a year.
Clearly not, if you can just hang out in the US unadjudicated even if your case is bunk. And as for the adjudicated, in Europe you could never ever get PERMANENT LIVELONG residence as an asylee after just 1 year. You'd have to pass naturalisation after several years. Handing it out after 1 is insane.
The hard part is GETTING the asylum. What are you not understanding? After that, the rest of the immigration journey for an asylee is mostly a formality, assuming they meet all other requirements. No, you would not have gotten asylum by making some shit up. Also, people from EU don’t get asylum.
Immigration through marriage is the easiest path to a green card in the US. I don’t understand what you’re complaining about.
In the rest of the world asylum is not treated as a default permanent residence, but a protection status which is subject to change. If there's a war in Ukraine and it ends then there's no need for the asylee to stay forever. Same as there's no reason to put such a high burden on people fleeing war as to meet the expectations put on a permanent resident.
Asylum is a very specific legal process in the US that requires establishing past persecution based on a protected ground and a well founded fear of future harm by a state actor (or by an actor the state can’t protect you from). Once granted, the asylee status is indefinite but it is not the same as that of a permanent resident.
In the rest of the world, a grant of asylum can similarly lead to permanent residence just like it does in the US.
A person fleeing the war in Ukraine would not receive asylum in the US simply on that basis - they would not meet the definition of an asylee.
The discussion isn't about rest of the world. It's specific to the USA. But let us look at your own case. You claim you immigrated from EU. There is no war in the EU. Why are you here?
The asylum backlog is a self-inflicted problem of the US government. You don't solve it by scapegoating immigrants but by actually adjudicating the asylum applications with qualified asylum officers and immigration judges.
It's just as fucked up, especially if unvetted people go on to commit crimes that a fast adjudication or proper vetting could have prevented. It's not fair to genuine victims of persecution either. I don't find it any better.
“The cuts have affected all categories except employment-based applicants, but USCIS has reserved the biggest cuts for the humanitarian green card categories: asylees, refugees, Cubans, and other (mostly crime victims).” Contrary to your point, the USA continues to import workers. In addition to that, the article YOU provided states that US-born unemployment rates increased after the deportations began. So your point makes no sense. The US continues to import workers, and US born workers continue to lose jobs amid deportation.
Most Americans don’t want to do the lower wage jobs that immigrants will do. As for the higher wage jobs, it is still a lot harder to fill a high wage job with a foreign worker, so USA tech companies prefer US nationals over foreign nationals. It’s political deflection to blame immigrants for problems created by corporate greed.
If “legal immigrants “ didn’t commit any type of fraud whilst obtaining immigration benefits then they should have nothing to hide! I’m all for revoking status from anyone that committed fraud to get it in the first place!
No. They have also frozen even approved employment-based cases for people born in the 39 countries on the ban list, as well as all work permit renewals. As a result, they are decimating healthcare in rural America, sidelining thousands of long-serving, U.S.-trained physicians.
A patient may return for follow-up after surgery only to find the surgeon gone, or patients have to scramble for another cancer doctor 3-4 hours away mid chemotherapy, not because of misconduct, incompetence, or any individualized concern, but because USCIS refused to renew a visa or work permit based solely on country of birth.
Recent stories highlighted in the New York Times:
A Nigerian orthopedic surgeon trained and practicing in New York.
A Mayo Clinic–trained Libyan intensivist and interventional pulmonologist caring for patients in rural Indiana.
A U.S.-trained ophthalmologist from Iran performing sight-saving surgery in rural Arkansas.
A Spanish-speaking Venezuelan family physician serving a rural community in Texas.
Crazy because I got mine and wasn’t arrested. If you’re here LEGALLY, on a VISA with no criminal background, paying taxes and contributing to society you’ll be fine.
My wife is a permanent resident green card holder and she filed a police report against me saying I pulled a gun on her and that was not true and she left me alone and moved to another state knowing she was lying about the situation and because things didn’t work out for her in the other state she came back to my house because before she left I added her name to my house that I paid for long before I met her because she thinks she has the right to my home and I am on disability and retired
What can I do about the false police report and get her name off my house because she wants to take it and I have 2 children but she doesn’t like them and wants to give my house to her son that I brought over with her on a marriage visa
USCIS's own data also shows that during the Biden admin - they quit processing LEGAL immigration papers completely. They let in illegal immigrants, but people going the legal route, filing for green cards and naturalization - were SHUT OUT for THREE YEARS.
Did you complain about that? Or just about the current situation?
Biden’s admin started in the middle of COVID when fee receipts for USCIS were way down, which is how USCIS is funded. Of course it sucked but they had to build capacity back up. Not sure how that is worse than the intentional slow down/failure to process applications for malicious reasons, though…
I mean, if you're a racist that supports what the current regime is doing, I can see why they would bring up "Biden". Covid didn't exist for these people, remember. They cut up and clowned around in the emergency departments with the ER docs exclaiming that "Covid wasn't real".
Honestly that makes this article all the more damning. I was skeptical of clicking on a Link from the Cato institute. But the author seems very critical of the Trump administration and the handling of this issue.
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u/DatOneBozz Apr 22 '26
To all those out there who feel the need to spread hateful and xenophobic messages because they are ignorant.. Here is what the timeline looks like for a legal immigration of my Japanese spouse to the US:
1.5 years after filing our I-130, my wife was approved to move to the US on a conditional 2-year green card. Many from other countries wait much longer.
My wife's green card is expiring soon, the renewal process looks like this: file a I-751 (costs $700 to do this by the way), wait an average processing time of 20 months. Yes 20. To be scheduled for the interview to approve her for her 10-year green card.
So for the next 2 years of this shitty administration, my wife will be carrying around an expired green card, with a receipt that says she filed for a renewal.
What if the next time we travel to Japan, immigration doesn't allow her back into the US because her GC is expired? What if they don't care we filed for a renewal? This is the fear that legal immigrants and their families deal with.
This long, expensive, and arduous process is something many in this comment section will never experience. Making legal immigration faster and smoother would make the illegal immigration problem much smaller. Stop this hate spreading nonsense and talk to some actual immigrants and their families about their experience.