Lawsuit challenges new US green card rules

Washington: Immigrant families, workers, university educators and advocacy groups filed a lawsuit challenging two new US immigration policies that they say could force some eligible green card applicants to leave the country to pursue permanent residence and separate them from their families and jobs.

The lawsuit targets policies issued by US Citizenship and Immigration Services in May and August that changed how the agency handles applications for adjustment of status, the process that allows eligible immigrants already in the United States to seek lawful permanent residence without applying for an immigrant visa at a US consulate abroad.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to block and ultimately set aside the policies and require USCIS to adjudicate affected applications under what they contend is controlling legal precedent.

The case remains pending, and the allegations have not been adjudicated.

Under the May policy, according to the lawsuit, USCIS officers are directed to treat an applicant's decision to seek permanent residence from inside the United States instead of pursuing consular processing abroad as a negative factor when exercising discretion.

The plaintiffs say applicants must demonstrate "unusual or even outstanding" considerations to overcome that negative factor.

The second policy, issued in August, allows USCIS officers in certain circumstances to deny applications without first giving applicants an opportunity to submit additional evidence, according to the lawsuit.

The challengers say that policy also applies to applications that were already pending when it was issued, raising concerns among applicants who filed their cases under the earlier procedures.

"For decades, people who met the requirements to apply for a green card from inside the United States were able to do so without having that choice count against them," said Leslie Dellon, a senior attorney for business immigration at the American Immigration Council.

Dellon said the new policies represented "a major shift with very real consequences," including possible family separation, job disruption and lengthy waits abroad for consular appointments.

The plaintiffs include the American Association of University Professors and its chapters at Harvard University and Boston University; the Service Employees International Union and two of its affiliates; Americans for Immigrant Justice; and six individual green card applicants.

They are represented by Democracy Forward, the American Immigration Council, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and Colombo & Hurd.

The individual plaintiffs include people pursuing permanent residence through family and employment pathways. The organisations involved in the case represent educators, researchers, health care and service workers and other immigrants seeking permanent residence in the United States.

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said Congress had established a process allowing eligible immigrants already in the country to seek permanent residence without uprooting their lives.

"The executive branch cannot rewrite that system and then treat people's lawful actions as a reason to deny them said permanent residency," Perryman said.

The lawsuit could have broader implications for employment- and family-based immigrants who are legally eligible to seek permanent residence while living in the United States.

The case, American Association of University Professors et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al., was filed October 5 and remains pending. No court ruling has yet determined whether the challenged USCIS policies are unlawful.

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