Thousands of refugees who passed extensive U.S. security vetting and have lived legally in American communities for years now face the prospect of detention and renewed screening under a new Department of Homeland Security directive, according to a memo obtained by The Guardian.
The policy, outlined in an internal memorandum, authorizes Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to detain refugees indefinitely for what the administration calls "aggressive rescreening." The move represents a dramatic expansion of federal immigration enforcement powers, affecting individuals who entered the country through the formal refugee resettlement program.
Unlike asylum seekers who arrive at the border, refugees undergo years of background checks and security screenings by multiple U.S. agencies before being admitted to the country. The new directive effectively questions the validity of that entire process, treating previously vetted refugees as potential security threats.
"These are families who have been here for years, working, paying taxes, sending their kids to school," said Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of the nation's largest refugee resettlement agencies. "Many fled persecution in Afghanistan, Syria, and Central Africa. They've already been through the most rigorous vetting process in U.S. immigration."
The memo does not specify which refugee populations will be prioritized for rescreening, though immigration advocates fear the policy could disproportionately affect refugees from Muslim-majority countries and recent Afghan evacuees who fled after the Taliban takeover in 2021.
Legal experts questioned the constitutional basis for detaining individuals who hold legal status in the United States. "Once someone has been admitted as a refugee and is here lawfully, the government can't simply lock them up without due process," said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project. "This policy raises serious Fourth and Fifth Amendment concerns."
The directive comes amid a broader immigration crackdown by the administration, which has also expanded interior enforcement operations and ended temporary protected status for several nationalities. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not publicly disclosed how many refugees could be subject to detention under the new policy.
In Minnesota, home to one of the nation's largest refugee populations, community leaders expressed alarm. The state has resettled tens of thousands of refugees over the past two decades, including Somalis, Hmong, and Liberians who have become integral to communities from Minneapolis to rural towns.
"We're talking about people who have lived here for five, ten, fifteen years," said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "They own homes, run businesses, serve in the military. What legal basis exists for rounding them up?"
The policy has drawn comparisons to the post-9/11 "special registration" program, which required men from predominantly Muslim countries to register with immigration authorities. That program was widely criticized as discriminatory and was eventually discontinued after failing to produce significant security results.
As Americans like to say, "all politics is local"—even in the nation's capital. But this policy will be felt most acutely in the communities across Texas, California, Washington, and the upper Midwest where refugees have rebuilt their lives, often in the very towns that welcomed them as a way to revitalize declining populations.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment on the legal authority cited in the memo or the estimated number of individuals who could be affected.
