On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sought to clarify its announcement last week, which stated immigrants seeking permanent residency would have to leave the country to apply for and await their new green cards. The agency claims that there was actually no major change in policy and that only some will have to go back.
Some feel the clarification to be a partial walk-back of an announcement in a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services news release last week, which said individuals would now have to go back to their home countries while they wait, except in “extraordinary” circumstances.
The DHS now claims that it was not a blanket change and that it would be up to individual immigration officers to decide whether someone should be forced to go abroad to gain a green card. Officers have long had this ability, they claimed.
“This was just a reminder to officers of their discretionary authority, which has always existed on a case-by-case basis,” said a DHS spokesperson in the statement. They emphasized that people who overstay visas or come from countries whose citizens are heavy users of public assistance are groups that could likely be affected.
A senior White House Official said that the “effort was meant to be a housekeeping matter, not a change of strategy.”
Many feel details are still scant about who might be affected and how, and thus there is still confusion and fear regarding the announcement. Reports say even people inside the DHS were confused “as to the scope of the change when it was publicized.”
Immigration lawyers had widely expected the announcement to be met with legal challenges from the outset, but the confusing rollout left them wondering about the best way to do so.
“It does make it more difficult to figure out what you’re suing for when you don’t know what this thing really is,” said Benjamin Johnson, the executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “It’s too early to tell right now what will be the most effective way to challenge this in court.”