As published in the Immigration Daily on March 3, 2026
What is a refugee? A person fleeing persecution. If coming to the US, a person who has been vetted constantly over a long period of time and when finally admitted, welcomed to the country and sponsored by private organizations to become acclimated to be a productive member of society.
So it was shocking to read the horror story inflicted by ICE on a refugee who had done all the right things since being admitted to this country. As reported in the January 29, 2026, New York Times article, “They Had Done Everything Right. ICE Detained Them Anyway,” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/us/politics/ice-minnesota-refugees.html, a refugee Eritrean single mother of three in St. Paul, Selamawit Mehari, was taken from her apartment by ICE in the presence of her 13-year-old son and an older daughter who produced papers proving their mother was in the US lawfully, but they took her away anyway. The next day, chained at the wrists, waist and ankles, the mother was hustled off on a plane to a detention center in Texas. She spent five days in custody. Before Texas, she was told by ICE in Minnesota that she would be transferred to Texas and deported and whether she wanted to take her kids with her. An officer explained that she had been detained because she had not adjusted her status and her case would be reassessed. In Texas, she was given prison garments, rubber slippers and locked in a frigid room with other women with mattresses on the floor and thin metallic sheets to huddle under. She lost track of time. At some point, she was questioned for three hours with an interpreter on the line. The questions were the same questions that she had answered when she was approved to come to the US as a refugee. At the end of five days, she was released along with other refugees without money or identification and had to make her way from Texas back to Minnesota. Later that day, the family learned that her green card had been approved. The day after release, she still did not have her documents or her favorite gold chain which had been confiscated (at the price of gold these days, one hopes that ICE returned the chain).
Further shocking in the article were assertions that more than 100 refugees with no criminal records from about a dozen countries had been arrested in Minnesota by immigration agents in recent weeks and flown to detention centers in Texas for interviews.
And yet all became clear in a February 18, 2026, submission by the government to Judge John R. Tunheim of US District Court in Minnesota in the case of UHA v. Bondi, 26-CV-417-J RT-DLM containing a same-day USCIS/ICE memo, “Detention of Refugees Who Have Failed to Adjust to Lawful Permanent Resident Status” Feb 18 USCIS ICE Chamorro Memo.pdf – Google Drive, outlining how any refugee who had lived in the US for at least one year and not yet acquired permanent resident status could be arrested and detained by DHS.
The memo cites authority under the refugee adjustment statute, INA §209 (a) (1), that unadjusted refugees return or be returned to DHS custody for inspection and examination for admission to the US – that refugees may be considered to have voluntarily returned to custody by submitting an application to adjust status and appearing at scheduled interviews or appointments pertaining to their adjustment of status application – but if a refugee does not voluntarily return at the one-year mark, the statute provides that the alien shall be returned to DHS custody requiring DHS to locate, arrest, and take the alien into custody (page 3).
The statute clearly contemplates a process under which a refugee who has not acquired permanent resident status through other means and has been physically present in the US for at least one year should file for adjustment of status to permanent residence. The memo itself acknowledges filing to adjust status and appearing at scheduled interviews or appointments as compliance with the requirement of voluntarily returning to custody. The statute does not contemplate detention under such circumstances.
So the standard way in which refugees “return” is through applying for adjustment of status. However, they are not allowed to apply for adjustment of status until one year has passed since their admission as refugee. 8 CFR 209.1. On application, the average time for adjudication on adjustment of status is 12 months according to USCIS current processing times. https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/. Is an adjustment applicant protected from detention during the waiting period? Apparently not, if the similar shanghaiings of Ms. Mehari and three other refugees mentioned in the New York Times article who had already applied to adjust status are examples.
How vetted are refugees before coming to the country? Heavily. The US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) includes biometric and biographic checks occurring at multiple stages throughout the process, including at the time of the preliminary resettlement support center interview, before applicants’ departure to the US, and on arrival in the US at the port of entry. Among the various checks are the Department of State Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS) during prescreening by the resettlement support center including name checks on the applicant’s primary names as well as on any variations. Interagency checks vet applicants through biographic data, including names, dates of birth, and other data points of all refugee applicants within designated age ranges. Before or at the time of USCIS interview, biometric checks are initiated which include FBI fingerprint check through next-generation identification, DHS automated biometric identification system (IDENT), and Department of Defense biometric record check. Applicants then go through a USCIS refugee interview in which highly trained USCIS officers conduct extensive in-person, overseas interviews with all refugee applicants crosschecking many lines of inquiry and developing lines of questioning. National security concerns are handled under the USCIS Controlled Application Review and Resolution Process (CARRP) and enhanced review on certain refugee cases is done by the USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS). Prior to flying to the US, applicants are further subject to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vetting and inspection before being admitted to the country. https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/refugees/refugee-processing-and-security-screening
So these are individuals who should be given the presumption of not being threats against the interests of the United States. If the memo was due to the actions of Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, D.C in November 2025, the memo should be withdrawn because the circumstances of his reported case do not indicate that Mr. Lakanwal’s entry into the country was based on anything but the truth or that he was a secret sympathizer with America’s enemies. The known facts are that he helped the CIA in Afghanistan in an elite counterterrorism Zero Unit; was airlifted to the US under humanitarian parole in “Operation Allies Welcome” the month after the US military withdrew from Afghanistan; applied for and was granted asylum under the Trump administration in April 2025; and was reported to be struggling with psychological and economic problems, frustration and depression. A caseworker said that she personally believed that he was suffering from both PTSD from his work with the US military and possibly manic-depressive, mostly depressive. National Guard shooter’s social posts, messages reveal turmoil – The Washington Post.
The memo states that refugees may voluntarily appear for inspection by showing up in an immigration office or complying with scheduled appointments, yet this writer has not read or heard of USCIS sending out appointments for refugees to appear directly after one year of their admissions – neither has he heard that refugees can just appear at a USCIS office without appointment. Security guards at federal buildings typically turn away those without appointments, and even if making it past security, immigration officers usually do not have time or the means to accommodate those without appointments.
The nation should not be stigmatizing, detaining, attempting to deport, and transporting refugees to distant states in wretched conditions as this is treatment not even meted out to the worst criminals or suspected foreign agents. The memo appears to have only been contrived to terrorize the refugee community and to discourage their further legal stay in this country. It should be immediately withdrawn.
