Trump administration plans to review refugees admitted under Biden, memo
obtained by The AP says
[November 25, 2025]
By REBECCA SANTANA and ELLIOT SPAGAT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration plans a review of all
refugees admitted to the U.S. during the Biden administration, according
to a memo obtained Monday by The Associated Press, in the latest blow
against a program that has for decades welcomed people fleeing war and
persecution into the country.
The review is likely to sow confusion and fear among the nearly 200,000
refugees who came to the United States during that period. It is likely
to face legal challenges from advocates, some of whom said the move was
part of the administration's “cold-hearted treatment” of people trying
to build new lives in the U.S.
The memo, signed by the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services, Joseph Edlow, and dated Friday, said that during the Biden
years “expediency” and “quantity” were prioritized over “detailed
screening and vetting.” The memo said that warranted a comprehensive
review and “re-interview of all refugees admitted from January 20, 2021,
to February 20, 2025.”
The memo indicated that there will be a list of people to re-interview
within three months.
Advocates of the refugee program say that refugees are generally some of
the most vetted of all people coming to the United States and that they
often wait years to be able to come.
The memo also immediately suspended green card approvals for refugees
who came to the U.S. during the stated time period.
If the agency determines that a person shouldn’t have qualified for
entry as a refugee, the person “has no right to appeal,” according to
the memo, although if they are put in removal proceedings and sent to
immigration court, they can then plead their case there. The memo also
stated that even those who have already received their green card would
be reviewed.
“USCIS is ready to uphold the law and ensure the refugee program is not
abused,” Edlow wrote.
People admitted to the U.S. as refugees are required to apply for a
green card one year after they arrive in the country and usually five
years after that can apply for citizenship.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland
Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
The moves described in the memo are the latest to take aim at the
refugee program, which the administration suspended earlier this year
and later set a limit for entries to 7,500 mostly white South Africans —
a historic low of refugees to be admitted to the U.S. since the
program’s inception in 1980. The Trump administration more broadly has
ramped up immigration enforcement as part of its promise to increase
deportations of illegal immigrants.
[to top of second column]
|
President Donald Trump talks after meeting with New York City
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office of the White House,
Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The Biden administration admitted 185,640 refugees from October 2021
through September 2024. Refugee admissions topped 100,000 last year,
with the largest numbers coming from the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela and Syria.
Refugee advocates slammed news of the review, saying that it will
traumatize people who have already gone through extensive vetting to
make it to the U.S. in the first place.
“This plan is shockingly ill-conceived,” said Naomi Steinberg, vice
president of U.S. policy and advocacy at HIAS, a refugee
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.”
USCIS expects to have a priority list for re-interviews within 90
days, Edlow wrote. His language points to a rigorous revisiting of
why refugee status was granted in the first place.
“Testimony will include, but is not limited to, the circumstances
establishing past persecution or a well-founded fear for principal
refugees, the persecutor bar, and any other potential
inadmissibilities,” he wrote.
Sharif Aly, President of the International Refugee Assistance
Project, an advocacy group, criticized the administration's actions
in a statement late Monday, saying that refugees are “already the
most highly vetted immigrants in the United States.”
“Besides the enormous cruelty of this undertaking, it would also 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,” Aly said.
IRAP is currently part of a lawsuit seeking to overturn the
administration's suspension of refugee admissions.
___
Spagat reported from San Diego.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
