DHS Cuts the Time Refugees Have to Contest Loss of Status From 30 Days to 10, Citing 'Erosion' of Vetting Under Biden
The rule takes effect Wednesday with no advance notice-and-comment period. The administration says Biden-era screening was thin. Refugee groups say families could miss the notice entirely. At least 185,000 admitted refugees are under review.
The Trump administration is shortening the window refugees get to respond when the government moves to end their legal status, Fox News reports, citing the Associated Press.
The change. The new rule takes effect Wednesday and skips the usual advance public notice-and-comment process. It cuts the time to answer a notice of intent to terminate refugee status from 30 days to 10.
The administration's case. DHS says a review of refugee processing under the Biden administration found an "alarming erosion of integrity," with people admitted as refugees "when their identities, eligibility for refugee classification, and admissibility were determined based on incomplete records." The document says speed was put ahead of quality, with fewer robust interviews and some eligibility questions left out. A Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman, Zach Kahler, said the agency is "ensuring that refugee status is reserved only for those who were eligible under the law." The administration has ordered a review of at least 185,000 refugees admitted under Biden who still have green card applications pending.
The pushback. Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of Global Refuge, said families went through interviews, background checks and years of waiting abroad, and that 10 days is "wholly insufficient to find a lawyer, translate documents or get records out of a country they were forced to flee." She said some may not receive the notice before the deadline passes. HIAS vice president Naomi Steinberg said the move tries to upend the idea that resettlement is permanent protection. Critics argue tens of thousands of people could face deportation.
Background. Last month the administration set a fiscal 2027 refugee ceiling of 17,500, with most slots going to Afrikaners from South Africa. The Biden administration's fiscal 2025 ceiling was 125,000.
Note for readers: the claim of weak vetting under Biden comes from DHS and USCIS, and advocates dispute it. Fox's report does not say how many refugees are likely to be affected by the shorter window. The article's publication time was not shown on the copy we read.