Judge Bars DHS From Detaining Refugees Who Don’t Obtain Green Cards

The policy is likely illegal, the judge said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington on Feb. 17, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

A federal judge on March 23 prohibited federal immigration officials from detaining refugees who do not apply for green cards within one year of entering the United States.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement in late 2025 rescinded a 2010 memorandum that said agents could not detain a refugee solely for failure to obtain a green card. In February, the agency said that refugees who did not become lawful permanent residents after one year in the United States could be detained and kept in detention indefinitely.

That policy is likely illegal, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns, based in Massachusetts, said in the new ruling.

“Plaintiffs assert that defendant’s new policy, which effectively equates ‘custody’ with ‘detention,’ is contrary to the law,” Stearns said in an electronic order. “The court agrees that they are likely to succeed on the merits of this claim.”

Refugees, the International Institute of New England, and the Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts said in court filings that the policy change wrongly interpreted the mandate in federal law that refugees return or be returned to federal custody after one year in the country as enabling detention.

Federal law requires refugees to apply for a green card after being in the United States for at least one year.

Plaintiffs said that, left in place, more than 100,000 refugees would be subject to detention, including refugees whose applications are pending before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Federal officials said in memorandums that they analyzed prior policy and determined that under previous administrations, the interpretation of the law had led to “incomplete implementation” regarding refugees.

“Refugees who did not file an application for adjustment or did not return for the required inspection and examination were allowed to remain in the United States without undergoing the full, congressionally mandated, second round of vetting,” they said in the February update. “This created a population of conditional refugees who had not been fully re-screened, with associated public safety and national security risks.”

The judge said that the change, though, was not proper.

“Refugees are not detained upon arrival and thus cannot be ’returned' to detention,” Stearns wrote, adding later that the plaintiffs “are at risk of unlawful and unnecessary detention, a quintessential example of irreparable harm.”

He stayed the new policy as the case proceeds.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

“This ruling is a victory for the refugees we are privileged to serve every day ... brave individuals who followed the law, trusted this country, and deserve to live peacefully and without fear,“ International Institute of New England CEO Jeffrey Thielman said in a statement. ”It is also a win for everyone who believes in the fundamental American values of humanity, due process, and dignity for all.”