Refugee advocacy organizations have filed a class action lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging that a series of recent policy changes have thrown refugees into a state of legal uncertainty, preventing them from securing permanent residency and making it easier to strip them of their protected status.
The lawsuit, lodged Monday in a Massachusetts federal court, names the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as defendants. It contends that these agencies have launched what the plaintiffs describe as a coordinated campaign against refugees who have already undergone extensive vetting and resettled in the United States.
“This lawsuit challenges these actions, which, taken together, keep refugees from obtaining lawful permanent residency—a status to which they are statutorily entitled—and place them at risk of termination of their refugee status with no meaningful opportunity to be heard,” the complaint states.
At the heart of the dispute is a November directive from the Trump administration ordering immigration officers to re-interview all refugees admitted under the previous administration. That mandate has effectively frozen all pending green card applications, leaving many refugees in a state of indefinite limbo. The lawsuit characterizes the reinterview process as a “baseless fishing expedition,” noting that refugees are already among the most thoroughly screened immigrants entering the country.
Compounding the issue, DHS earlier this month issued a new regulation that slashes the appeal window for refugees facing termination of their status from 30 days to just 10. The agency justified the change as necessary to “restore integrity to the immigration system,” bolster national security, and curb fraud. However, the plaintiffs argue that the shortened timeline denies refugees adequate opportunity to contest the revocation of their status, thereby violating their constitutional right to due process.
“These actions are the latest in a systematic effort to implement policies that are hostile to refugees, with the end goal of terminating their refugee status and expelling refugees en masse,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote.
The lawsuit is brought on behalf of several refugee advocacy groups and four individual refugees from Afghanistan, Colombia, Ethiopia, and Iraq, all of whom have pending applications for lawful permanent residence. They are seeking an immediate injunction to halt enforcement of the contested policies while the broader legal challenge proceeds, including a temporary pause on the new status revocation rule.
“These are people who fled persecution, underwent years of rigorous vetting, and have built lives, families, and communities in the United States,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, one of the groups representing the plaintiffs.
The Trump administration has made overhauling the U.S. refugee program a key priority since the president returned to office. It has proposed a cap of 17,500 refugee admissions for the upcoming fiscal year under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program—a sharp reduction from previous levels. President Trump has argued that the program should be primarily reserved for white South Africans, a stance that has drawn criticism from refugee advocates and lawmakers. Meanwhile, the administration’s broader immigration agenda has faced a series of legal challenges, including calls for a special counsel probe into unrelated matters and political maneuvering ahead of upcoming elections. The Hill has reached out to USCIS for comment on the lawsuit.
