New Trump administration order could lead to the detention of thousands
of legal refugees
[February 20, 2026]
By STEVE KARNOWSKI and TIM SULLIVAN
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Trump administration has issued a sweeping new
order that could lead to the arrest of tens of thousands of refugees who
are lawfully in the United States but do not yet have permanent
residency, overturning years of legal and immigration safeguards.
A memo filed by the Department of Homeland Security ahead of a Thursday
federal court hearing in Minnesota says refugees applying for green
cards must return to federal custody one year after they were admitted
to the U.S. for review of their applications.
DHS “may maintain custody for the duration of the inspection and
examination process,” said the memo, which was filed Wednesday.
Advocacy and resettlement groups slammed the order, which will likely
face legal challenges and could sow confusion and fear among the nearly
200,000 refugees who came to the United States during the Biden
administration.
The order is the latest in a series of immigration restrictions by the
Trump administration, which has upended longstanding policies toward
refugees, including dramatically reducing the number admitted into the
country. A memo obtained by The Associated Press late last year said the
administration was planning a review of all refugees admitted to the
U.S. during the Biden administration, and immediately suspended green
card approvals for refugees who arrived during those years.
The administration has cited national security and economic concerns for
its changed policies. Experts say refugees let into the country already
undergo extensive vetting.
The new order came hours before U.S. District Judge John Tunheim heard
arguments Thursday on whether he should extend a temporary order that
protects Minnesota refugees lawfully in the U.S. from being arrested and
deported. Tunheim’s order applies only in Minnesota, but the
implications of the new national policy was a major part of the
discussion anyway.
How many people could be arrested under the new order was unclear.
Justice Department attorney Brantley Mayers said during Thursday's
hearing that the government should have the right to arrest refugees one
year after entering the U.S., but indicated that would not always
happen.
“That's a discretion call for DHS to make,” he said, a comment met with
skepticism by attorneys for the Minnesota refugees.
Tunheim did not rule Thursday, saying he’d issue a written decision on
whether the temporary order would be extended.
After the hearing, Democratic U.S. Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota said at
a news conference outside the courthouse that the government "failed to
offer any coherent argument for their policy in either law or fact.” She
wasn’t in court for the hearing, but said she'd been briefed about it.
“And so we will continue the fight for justice in the courts,” Smith
said, flanked by attorneys and refugee rights supporters, including U.S.
Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Advocacy groups decry the new order
Immigration advocates quickly pushed back against the new policy, with
HIAS, an international Jewish nonprofit serving refugees and
asylum-seekers, calling it “a transparent effort to detain and
potentially deport thousands of people who are legally present in this
country, people the U.S. government itself welcomed.”
“They were promised safety and the chance to rebuild their lives.
Instead, DHS is now threatening them with arrest and indefinite
detention," Beth Oppenheim, the group's CEO, said in a statement.
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Hundreds of people attend a rally in the rotunda of the Minnesota
State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, to urge
leaders to support economic recovery in the wake of the Trump
administration's immigration crackdown in the state. (AP Photo/Steve
Karnowski)
Tunheim blocked the government from targeting the Minnesota refugees
last month, saying the plaintiffs in the case were likely to prevail
on their claims “that their arrest and detention, and the policy
that purports to justify them, are unlawful.” His Jan. 28 temporary
restraining order will expire Feb. 25 unless he grants a more
permanent preliminary injunction.
The judge previously rejected the government’s claim that it had the
legal right to arrest and detain refugees who haven’t obtained their
green cards within a year of arriving in the U.S.
“Mandating detention would lead to an illogical result,” Tunheim
wrote, since refugees can’t even apply for green cards until they’ve
been in the U.S. for a year. The government's interpretation, he
said, means nearly all refugees would face detention unless
immigration officials conducted their review at exactly the one-year
mark, which he called “nonsensical.”
Refugee rights groups sued the federal government in January after
the government launched Operation PARRIS, an acronym for
Post-Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening.
It was billed as a “sweeping initiative” to reexamine the cases of
5,600 Minnesota refugees who had not yet been granted permanent
resident status, or green cards. The agencies cited fraud in public
programs in Minnesota as justification.
Operation PARRIS was part of the Trump administration's immigration
crackdown targeting Minnesota, including a surge of thousands of
federal officers. Homeland Security called it the largest
immigration enforcement operation ever. It sparked mass protests
after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens. White House
border czar Tom Homan announced last week the surge was ending,
though a small federal presence would remain.
Judge notes that refugees are extensively vetted
The lawsuit alleges that ICE officers went door to door under
Operation PARRIS arresting refugees and sending them to detention
centers in Texas, without access to attorneys. Some were later
released in Texas and left to find their own way back to Minnesota,
they said.
Tunheim noted in his order that refugees are extensively vetted by
multiple agencies before being resettled in the U.S. He wrote that
none arrested in the operation had been deemed a danger to the
community or a flight risk, nor had any been charged with crimes
that could be grounds for deportation.
Tunheim stressed that the refugees impacted by his order were
admitted into the U.S. because of persecution in their home
countries. He prohibited further arrests under Operation PARRIS and
ordered that detainees still in custody from it be released and
returned to Minnesota.
“They are not committing crimes on our streets, nor did they
illegally cross the border. Refugees have a legal right to be in the
United States, a right to work, a right to live peacefully,” he
wrote.
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