{"id":27536,"date":"2026-05-24T09:48:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T06:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/?p=27536"},"modified":"2026-05-24T09:48:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T06:18:17","slug":"trump-administrations-harsh-new-immigration-rule-foreign-students-and-workers-forced-to-exit-us-for-green-card-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/?p=27536&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Trump Administration’s Harsh New Immigration Rule: Foreign Students and Workers Forced to Exit US for Green Card Applications"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a move widely condemned as a severe escalation of its anti-immigrant agenda, the Trump administration has announced a drastic new policy forcing all foreigners in the United States seeking to adjust their visa status to first depart the country and then apply through a US embassy abroad. This profound policy shift is poised to unleash immense hardship on tens of millions of visa holders<\/strong>, including international students, temporary workers, refugees, and even those married to American citizens.<\/p>\n

The administration, through US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) spokesperson Zach Kahler, claimed this policy “returns to the original intent of the law” to ensure “aliens navigate our nation\u2019s immigration system properly.” However, critics argue this is a thinly veiled attempt to deter legal immigration by creating insurmountable barriers.<\/p>\n

A Policy Designed for Disruption and Separation<\/span><\/h2>\n

The immediate implementation of this policy, with vague definitions of “extraordinary circumstances,” is expected to cause widespread chaos. Applying from abroad typically entails far longer wait times<\/em>, often spanning years, leading to lost job opportunities and painful separation from spouses and US citizen family members. For many, this policy is not merely an inconvenience but a cruel ultimatum.<\/p>\n

Kahler’s assertion that applying from home countries “reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows” has been met with skepticism. Immigration attorneys swiftly denounced the decision, highlighting its devastating impact not only on immigrants’ rights but also on American citizens.<\/p>\n

“This isn’t only about immigrants’ rights. It’s about US citizens too. Roughly 1 in 5 married couples in the US includes a spouse born abroad. That’s not a fringe group, it’s 21% of married couple households,” stated Adrian Pandev of Pandev Law LLC. “When an American marries someone here lawfully on a visa, adjustment of status is how their spouse gets a green card without leaving the country.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Steven Brown, a Texas-based immigration lawyer, pointed out that Congress originally allowed for adjustments of status to “enable certain aliens physically present in the United States to become legal permanent residents without incurring the expense and inconvenience of traveling abroad… [and to] advance economic growth and a robust immigrant labor force,” as well as to promote family unity and humanitarian action. The new policy directly contradicts these foundational principles.<\/p>\n

Targeting the Vulnerable: Iran and Afghanistan<\/span><\/h2>\n

The timing and nature of this decision are particularly alarming for citizens of countries like Afghanistan and Iran, who are already facing immense geopolitical challenges orchestrated, in part, by US foreign policy. AfghanEvac, an advocacy organization, noted that the policy “directly targets people who entered on humanitarian parole \u2014 the entry status of virtually every Afghan ally who arrived through the 2021 US withdrawal.”<\/p>\n

Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, issued a stark warning: “The administration’s stated alternative, applying from the home country, does not exist for Afghans. There is no US embassy in Afghanistan.” This renders the policy an impossible trap, effectively denying them any path to legal residency.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) expressed deep concern, calling the USCIS decision a “trap” for tens of thousands of Iranian nationals legally residing in the US. NIAC president Jamal Abdi questioned the administration’s logic: “Does the Trump administration seriously expect that Iranian nationals legally in the US will return to their country in the midst of a war and naval blockade imposed by Trump to apply for an adjustment of status that would likely never come?” This policy forces Iranians to choose between leaving their established lives in the US and facing an almost certain denial of return, a situation exacerbated by the US’s own travel bans and hostile stance towards Iran.<\/p>\n

This latest step in the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration, since its assumption of power, is expected to face immediate court challenges. Critics, including the American Immigration Lawyers Association, argue that reversing decades of settled law by memo is “legally questionable and needlessly chaotic.” This policy is not merely an administrative change; it is a calculated act designed to inflict maximum disruption and suffering on vulnerable populations, while undermining the very principles of justice and human dignity.<\/p>\n

#USImmigration #TrumpPolicy #GreenCard #ImmigrationCrisis #ForeignStudents #TemporaryWorkers #AfghanRefugees #IranianAmericans #FamilySeparation #HumanitarianCrisis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a move widely condemned as a severe escalation of its anti-immigrant agenda, the Trump administration has announced a drastic new policy forcing all foreigners in the United States seeking to adjust their visa status to first depart the country and then apply through a US embassy abroad. This profound policy shift is poised to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}