Class Action Challenges Indefinite Freeze on Permanent Residency Applications, Mass Re-Vetting of Lawfully Admitted Refugees, and a New Rule Slashing Time to Defend Refugee Status
Boston, Mass. — The International Institute of New England, alongside fellow refugee advocacy organizations and four individual plaintiffs, filed a class action lawsuit challenging three sweeping Trump-Vance administration policies that block lawfully admitted refugees from obtaining permanent residency, subject them to mass re-vetting, and make it easier for the federal government to terminate their refugee status. The plaintiffs also seek emergency relief to prevent the administration from implementing these policies while the case proceeds, given reports of notices of intent to terminate refugee status.
The lawsuit challenges actions by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that dramatically rewrite longstanding immigration protections. For decades, the government could terminate refugee status only with 30 days’ notice and an opportunity to respond. The Trump-Vance administration’s new policies instead let the government revoke refugee status with only 10 days’ notice. Those unable to defend themselves in this shortened period are subject to removal and detention.
In addition to the International Institute of New England, plaintiffs in the case include Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA), Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, African Communities Together (ACT), HIAS, Refugee Council USA, and four individuals from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Colombia, and Iraq who fled persecution or were unlawfully detained while waiting for a decision on their green card applications. They are represented by Democracy Forward, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), and pro bono counsel.
The challenged policies include:
- An indefinite freeze on green card applications: A November 2025 policy halts processing of lawful permanent residence applications submitted by refugees admitted during the Biden administration, preventing them from obtaining the protections available to eligible refugees under federal law.
- Mass re-vetting of previously admitted refugees: The same policy directs USCIS to review and re-interview refugees who already completed extensive screening before being lawfully admitted to the United States, exposing them to possible termination of their refugee status.
- A drastic reduction in due process protections: An October 14, 2026 rule cuts the time refugees have to respond to a notice of intent to terminate their status from 30 days to just 10 days. The Trump-Vance administration implemented the rule immediately, overturning a 45-year-old protection.
Under the new policies, refugees who have lived in the United States for years, many of them with families, jobs, and pending applications for permanent residence, are not only blocked from moving forward on their path to citizenship but may suddenly lose work authorization, be put in removal proceedings, and face potentially indefinite detention, separation, or even deportation from their families and communities. These attacks on refugees are already having devastating consequences for families and communities across the country.
According to DHS’s own estimates, about 113,000 refugees have pending applications for permanent residency, and the new termination rule could affect as many as 186,000 refugee cases.
“What the federal government is attempting to do—strip refugees of their legal protections—is, at its core, un-American,” said Jeff Thielman, President & CEO of the International Institute of New England. “As a nation, we cannot claim to value justice, lawfulness, and humanity and then allow our government to deport its community members without due process. IINE is proud to join our fellow plaintiffs in fighting back against this unconstitutional cruelty.”
The lawsuit argues that the administration’s actions violate the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Administrative Procedure Act by attempting to subject lawfully admitted refugees to mass revetting and a blanket hold on adjustment of status, which Congress never authorized. It also warns that the new rules threaten thousands of refugees nationwide and undermine the commitments Congress established in the Refugee Act of 1980 to provide protection and stability to people fleeing persecution.
“The Trump-Vance administration is trapping refugees in cruel legal limbo by blocking their path to permanent residency while simultaneously making it easier to strip them of their lawful status and the protections they are eligible for,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “These are people who fled persecution, underwent years of rigorous vetting, and have built lives, families, and communities in the United States. Instead of honoring our nation’s longstanding commitment to protecting refugees, this administration is threatening to uproot them and send them back to the very dangers they escaped. These inhumane and unlawful policies violate fundamental due process protections, and we are going to court to stop them.”
“Refugees fled violence and persecution, passed the most extensive vetting of anyone who comes to this country, and did everything the law asked of them,” said Hussein Elbakri, Senior Staff Attorney, U.S. Litigation, IRAP. “Now, the Trump administration is freezing their green card applications, re-vetting them for no reason, and giving them just ten days to save their status before sending them back to danger. These actions are an outrageous betrayal of the fundamental promise of protection this country has made to refugees, and are part of a broader effort to strip immigrants of their legal status and enact a racist and xenophobic vision of who gets to be American. We’re suing to stop it now.”
The plaintiffs ask the court to block the challenged policies while litigation proceeds, including by issuing an immediate administrative stay of the new refugee status termination rule. The lawsuit also seeks to permanently invalidate the unlawful policies.
The case is PANA et al. v. USCIS et al and the legal team includes Erez Reuveni, Jennie Kneedler, Cynthia Liao, Steven Bressler, and Robin Thurston from Democracy Forward, and Hussein Elbakri, Lupe Aguirre, Dalia Fuleihan, Kimberly Grano, Ghita Schwarz, and Pedro Sepúlveda Jr. from IRAP.
Read the complaint here.
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