USCIS Policies Upend Decades of Practice, Penalizing Eligible Immigrants for Seeking Permanent Residence from Within the United States
Boston — Immigrant families, workers, educators, unions, and immigrant rights organizations filed a lawsuit today, challenging two Trump-Vance administration policies that make it significantly harder or impossible for eligible immigrants already living in the United States to obtain lawful permanent residence — commonly known as a green card — without leaving the country.
The lawsuit challenges new policies from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that fundamentally alter the longstanding process known as “adjustment of status,” which Congress created to allow eligible immigrants already in the United States to apply for permanent residence without having to leave their families, jobs, and communities to pursue a green card abroad.
The challenged policies are:
- Adjustment of Status Policy, issued in May 2026: USCIS directs immigration officers to treat an applicant’s decision to seek permanent residence from within the United States, rather than leave the country for consular processing, as a negative factor in deciding their application. It also requires applicants to demonstrate “unusual or even outstanding” considerations to overcome that negative factor.
- Evidence, Requests for Evidence, and Notices of Intent to Deny Policy, issued in August 2026: Allows USCIS officers to deny applications without giving applicants an opportunity to provide additional evidence — including people who filed their green card applications before the new policies existed.
The policies change the rules for people who have followed the legal process to seek permanent residence and put them at risk of losing their ability to live and work in the United States, being separated from their families, and having their careers and education disrupted.
The organizational plaintiffs serve immigrants across the country who are pursuing permanent residence, including educators and researchers, health care workers, service workers, and people whose spouses and other close relatives are seeking green cards. The individual plaintiffs include people who have built careers, raised children, pursued their education, and established lives in the United States, but whose ability to remain with their families and communities is now threatened by the challenged policies. They are the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and its Harvard University Chapter (Harvard AAUP) and Boston University Chapter (BU AAUP); Service Employees International Union (SEIU); SEIU Local 509; 32BJ SEIU; Americans for Immigrant Justice (AI Justice); and individual green card applicants Areli Esmeralda Rojas Correa, Miriam Esther Moreno Coto, Maria Francisca Guardado, Ikechi Obinna Nwaozuzu, Derly Sierra Palacios, and Julieth Melissa Camargo Figueroa.
Plaintiffs are asking the court to block and ultimately set aside the policies and require USCIS to adjudicate affected green card applications consistent with controlling precedent. They are represented by Democracy Forward, the American Immigration Council, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and Colombo & Hurd.
“By weaponizing the green card process and threatening immigrant professors, researchers, and students with sudden deportation or forced family separation, this administration is sabotaging scientific innovation and turning our universities into hostile environments for the global talent that drives our country forward. Trump’s assault on immigrants is not only cruel and inhumane, it weakens the global competitiveness of our higher education institutions,” said Todd Wolfson, President of the American Association of University Professors.
“Immigrant faculty and students are essential to the success and vitality of U.S. higher education and research. By making it even more difficult for international scholars to work and live here, these cruel and counterproductive new policies reflect both the Trump administration’s larger anti-immigrant crusade and its unconstitutional war on universities. But the U.S. cannot be a global leader in education while cutting off the globe, and we will always stand up for members of our academic community when they are illegally threatened by this lawless administration,” said Kirsten Weld, co-president of the Harvard University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
“BU AAUP condemns the Trump administration’s new green card policies, which impose onerous and opaque rules on our international faculty and students. The revised regulations jettison precedent and due process and threaten the ability and freedom of faculty and students to research, teach, and learn. They harm valued members of our community and interfere with Boston University’s stated mission as an international research institution. More, in targeting noncitizen scholars and imposing external rules that seek to limit who can research and teach at American universities, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services strikes at academic freedom—the core principle of higher education,” said Mary Battenfeld, co-president of the Boston University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
“SEIU’s 2 million members include physicians, long-term care workers, janitors, security officers, airport workers, and others. Many SEIU members are foreign-born U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and immigrants authorized to work in the United States. We oppose any policy that makes it harder for working people to do their jobs and provide for their families,” said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Rocío Sáenz. “If implemented, this directive will impact people who are following the rules and navigating an immigration system and process already full of red tape. Our government should make it easier, not harder, to keep families together and workers in their jobs so they can continue contributing to their communities and our economy.”
This directive disrupts legal immigration and pathways to permanent residency, threatening our members’ ability to earn a living, and further straining our healthcare system if these workers are forced to leave the United States, said David Foley, President of SEIU Local 509 “It is clear that the focus of this administration has never been on keeping our communities safe, but rather on expelling as many immigrants as possible from our communities by any means necessary. The people affected are our union siblings, our family members, and our friends. They deserve dignity and the opportunity to remain with their families while they navigate their path toward permanent residency.”
“The Trump administration’s animosity towards immigrants is so deep that they are now punishing those who have been working their way to becoming permanent legal residents by following the same rules followed by countless immigrants for generations. As a union with a majority immigrant membership, we object to the harm this could do to families and communities everywhere, and we deplore the administration’s determination to close the doors on immigrants in every way they can as a thoroughly un-American act of naked cruelty,” said Manny Pastreich, President, 32BJ SEIU
“Congress created a process that allows eligible people who are already living in the United States to pursue permanent residence without uprooting their lives and leaving the country. The executive branch cannot rewrite that system and then treat people’s lawful actions as a reason to deny them said permanent residency,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “These policies are changing the rules on families, workers, students, and others who have followed the legal process and built their lives here, putting them at risk of separation from their loved ones and communities. We are proud to represent our clients in challenging these unlawful policies and protecting the process Congress established.”
“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. But under these new, radical policies, the Trump administration is trying to reverse decades of practice and punish people for using a legal pathway that Congress created,” said Leslie Dellon, a senior attorney for business immigration at the American Immigration Council. “This is a major shift with very real consequences: spouses and parents separated from their families, workers forced to leave their jobs, students and researchers yanked away from their work, and people potentially stranded abroad for months or even years waiting for a consular appointment. At a time when our immigration system is already buried in years-long backlogs, the Trump administration is creating even more uncertainty and disruption for people who are simply trying to follow the rules.”
“Our immigration system should embody the values that define America: fairness, transparency, due process, and adherence to the rule of law. AILA is litigating this case on behalf of our more than 18,000 members and the individuals, families, and businesses they represent because no administration should be permitted to rewrite the rules unilaterally or place itself above the law. The Constitution established checks and balances for a reason. We urge the courts to continue serving as a safeguard against executive overreach, and we call on Congress to exercise its oversight authority to protect the integrity of our immigration system and ensure it serves the national interest while remaining true to our shared values,” said Jeff Joseph, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
“These policies do more than disrupt individual green card cases. They create uncertainty for the highly skilled professionals who drive American research, health care, education, and innovation. If the United States wants to remain competitive in attracting and retaining global talent, it cannot make lawful permanent residence more arbitrary and less predictable for people who are already building lives here,” said Sarah Wilson, Partner & Federal Immigration Litigation Practice Leader.
The consequences are already significant. According to the complaint, the challenged policies threaten families with prolonged separation, workers with the loss of employment and work authorization, students and educators with disruptions to their studies and careers, and employers and communities with the loss of people who have built their lives in the United States.
The case is American Association of University Professors et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al.
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