At a time when 11 million immigration applications are pending with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Donald Trump administration announced earlier that it would take time to go back on older Green Card cases and find out if any undeserving people got permanent residency during the Biden administration. A New York Times report confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security has identified at least 50 Green Card holders through a new unit dedicated for this purpose.As of the first week of May, about 2,890 cases have been reviewed and 80% of those came clean — requiring no further action.
Not everybody should be worried
USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said people being re-vetted included those arrested and convicted of various crimes, including sexual assault, domestic violence, driving under the influence and possession of drug paraphernalia. Some “admitted to membership in an organization suspected of illegally or illicitly obtaining export-controlled information and technology for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” Kahler said. Also, those who lied to the USCIS for getting a Green Card are on the radar. Those who did not commit either of these frauds need not be worried, the USCIS said.But experts raised an alarm that this is a meaningless exercise, as Green Cards are only granted after a series of thorough vetting and the fact that only a handful of cases came out as suspicious among a huge pool proves that all these cases were subjected to review in the first place.The new unit which is reviewing and re-vetting the Green Card cases is called ‘Tactical Operations Division’. It has several units including LPR Operations, Denaturalization and Refugee Revetting. NYT reported that the unit, headed by Daniel Andrade, has 40 immigration officers working only on re-vetting.
Can Green Card holders be deported?
Yes, Green Card holders can be deported if they are convicted of any crime or if it is proved that they obtained the status through fraud. But deportation is not immediate. They usually get the chance to appear before an immigration judge.