USCIS and ICE directed agents to detain refugees who miss one-year green-card deadline

On February 18, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons issued a joint memo directing immigration agents to "detain and inspect" refugees who do not present themselves to DHS custody within one year of arrival to apply for a green card. The memo rescinds 2010 ICE guidance under which a refugee's failure to apply for permanent residency within a year was not itself grounds for detention, and states that refugees may be held in immigration detention while their green-card application is pending. CNN reported that the memo frames the one-year review as "conditional" and "mandatory," a requirement the administration says aligns post-admission vetting with that applied to other immigration applicants.

The memo was filed as part of a federal court case concerning refugees already arrested in Minnesota, and follows the administration's earlier reduction of the annual refugee admissions cap and a separate USCIS review reopening the cases of refugees admitted under the Biden administration. Resettlement organization HIAS called the policy "a transparent effort to detain and potentially deport thousands of people who are legally present in this country," adding that the affected refugees "were promised safety and the chance to rebuild their lives."

Updates

2026-02-27 — Judge granted preliminary injunction blocking Operation PARRIS [4][5]

On February 27, 2026, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim converted an earlier temporary restraining order into a classwide preliminary injunction barring DHS and ICE from arresting or detaining Minnesota refugees who have not yet adjusted to lawful permanent-resident status under the February 18 memo, finding plaintiffs likely to succeed on statutory, due-process, Fourth Amendment, and Administrative Procedure Act claims.

2026-03-23 — Massachusetts federal court stayed nationwide enforcement of the memo [6][7]

On March 23, 2026, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns granted an unopposed motion in A. v. Noem (D. Mass., 3:26-cv-30031), staying nationwide enforcement of both the February 18 memo and the December 18, 2025 rescission memo it built on, extending nationwide the protection the Minnesota court had granted refugees in that state. Plaintiffs were six refugees together with the International Institute of New England and Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts; the government did not oppose the motion.