The Trump administration is ordering the review of all refugees admitted to the U.S. during the Biden administration, according to a memo reviewed by NBC News. It is the latest in a series of actions taken by the administration to dismantle the U.S. immigration system.
The decision would potentially affect more than 200,000 refugees who began the process of legally immigrating to the U.S. over the last four years. In order to receive refugee status, applicants first must go through an extensive vetting process that often takes years to complete and begins one to two years before they arrive in the U.S.
The memo calls for a “comprehensive review and a re-interview of all refugees admitted from January 20, 2021, to February 20, 2025,” including green-card holders. It cites a finding by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that the Biden administration “potentially prioritized expediency, quantity, and admissions over quality interviews and detailed screening and vetting.”
Applicants who are not found to meet the definition of a refugee under the re-review will have no right to appeal the decision, according to the Nov. 21 memo. Spouses, children and other family members would also lose their immigration status if the original applicant is retroactively denied.
Shawn VanDiver, the founder of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of U.S. veterans and advocacy groups, called the decision “unprecedented and cruel.”
“These individuals have already passed the most exhaustive vetting processes in the world — multiple agencies, biometric checks, layered security reviews. They rebuilt their lives here. They trusted the system,” VanDiver said in a statement. “It’s even worse that it comes during the week of Thanksgiving, when families across the country should be resting easy, not being thrust back into fear.”
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending the entire U.S. Refugee Admissions Program until admissions “aligns with the interests of the United States.” The executive order also placed an emphasis on the need to “ensure public safety and national security” and to “only admit refugees who can fully and appropriately assimilate into the United States.”
Refugee admissions to the U.S. for fiscal year of 2026 have since decreased to a historical low of 7,500 under the second Trump administration, with the majority of admissions allocated to Afrikaners from South Africa, a white ethnic minority group that controlled South Africa during apartheid, as well as “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands.” The admission of the Afrikaners was based on claims, which have been discredited, that white South African farmers were being killed in large numbers.
“For four straight years, the Biden administration accelerated refugee admissions from terror and gang-prone countries, prioritizing sheer numbers over rigorous vetting and strict adherence to legal requirements,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said of the Nov. 21 memo. “This reckless approach undermined the integrity of our immigration system and jeopardized the safety and security of the American people. Corrective action is now being taken to ensure those who are present in the United States deserve to be here.”
Under U.S. law, refugee status is granted to the most vulnerable populations fleeing persecution for reasons including race, religion, political opinion, national origin and/or membership in a particular social group.
The World Relief organization said they are “deeply grieved” by this decision, which they said will inevitably generate alarm among many individuals who will fear being returned to their home countries.
“It is a moral and ethical betrayal of due process at a time when the Trump administration is attempting to lower the standard for refugee admissions to include Afrikaners and others who do not meet the legal standard of a ‘well-founded fear of persecution’ that past refugees have been required to meet,” Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief, said in a statement.
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