'1.2 million Indian Americans, their families in limbo': US lawmakers criticize new green card policy

US lawmakers and immigration advocates have strongly condemned the Trump administration’s new policy of requiring green card applicants to submit their applications from their home countries, calling the move “reckless and wrong.” Democratic lawmakers said they would use all avenues to challenge what they described as a “reprehensible” decision by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services and work to reverse the policy, as reported by PTI.

USCIS did not specify which groups would be exempt, only suggesting that the policy may not apply to asylum seekers.

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USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said in a statement Friday that people who “provide an economic benefit or are in the national interest will likely be able to continue on their current journey.”

It was not immediately clear whether those exemptions would extend to skilled foreign workers on H-1B visas, the AP reported.

“This has thrown 1.2 million Indian-Americans and their families into limbo after following every law, paying taxes and waiting legally for decades,” Ajay Bhutoria, former White House adviser to President Biden and immigration advocate for the Trump administration’s new green card processing policy, told PTI Videos.

Watch the video here:

Bhutoria said various groups would file lawsuits against the new policy.

The previous policy allowed foreign workers to change from nonimmigrant to immigrant by applying for “adjustment of status” within the US.

“This reckless policy shows a staggering disregard for the human cost it imposes on hundreds of thousands of people each year. We will continue to fight this reprehensible decision and push for its reversal,” Congresswoman Grace Meng, chair of the Asia Pacific American Caucus, said in a statement.

“Trump just made legal immigration more difficult — on purpose. America is able to attract top researchers, doctors and engineers because of our work visa programs,” Congressman Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., said on X.

“Forcing these immigrants to leave the U.S. now before applying for citizenship will deprive us of their innovation, their tax dollars and their contributions to our economy,” Stanton said.

David J Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, described the policy as “illogical” because it will drive talented people to other countries and make America a less competitive place to do business.

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In a blog post, Bier said the majority of legal immigrants — 56 percent — have adjusted their status in the United States since 1980, arguing that the policy is by no means reserved for emergency situations.

USCIS said it only grants green cards to people in the country under “extraordinary circumstances.”

“There are hundreds of thousands of green card applicants in the US. They are nurses and doctors, teachers and engineers, mechanics and farmers. The Trump administration wants to drive them out of the country until their cases are heard,” said Joaquin Castro, a Texas congressman.

“It’s reckless and wrong — and it will divide husbands and wives, parents and children, and fracture communities. All to fuel the admin’s mass deportation machine,” said Castro, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“The new White House policy requiring green card applicants to apply from outside the US is a capricious attack on legal immigration. It will hurt families, leave us with fewer doctors, teachers and scientists, and hurt America’s competitiveness in AI,” said Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera in a post on X.

“This new policy will force thousands of LEGAL immigrants, including spouses of US citizens, to leave their homes, families and jobs for weeks or even months to obtain a green card outside the US. This is an absurd and cruel policy,” said Congressman Chuy García of Illinois.

Todd Schulte, president of the immigration advocacy group FWD.us, pointed out that the majority of people who are approved for green cards each year will adjust their status from the United States “as established by law since the 1950s”: “The Trump administration’s claim that this is a return to the original intent of the law is patently false.

The process was expressly created by Congress and has been reaffirmed several times over the decades, he said. “This is another abuse of power to try to dictate through a press release rather than go through the process required by law.”

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Earlier Friday, USCIS spokesman Kahler said, “From now on, an alien who is temporarily in the U.S. and wants a green card must return to his or her home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances.”

“Nonimmigrants, such as students, temporary workers, or people on tourist visas, come to the U.S. for a short period of time and for a specific purpose. Our system is designed so that they leave when their visit is over,” USCIS said.

“Their visit should not act as the first step in the green card process,” he added.