New Trump rule could put refugees on 10-day countdown clock to stay in the US

Refugee advocates say the Trump administration is trying to sabotage protections and make it impossible for people to defend themselves

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The Trump administration is aiming to speed up mass removals of refugees, a policy decision that has been described as a “new low in a parade of lows” by advocacy groups.

The move upends a “core principle that refugee resettlement represents permanent protection,” according to Naomi Steinberg, vice president of refugee and immigration policy at the humanitarian nonprofit HIAS.

“If this policy is allowed to go into effect, America can no longer claim to be the place of refuge and hope that it once was,” she said in a statement to The Independent.

A government notice, filed by the Department of Homeland Security Tuesday, claims there was “insufficient” evidence to support the admission of a “majority” of refugees in Minnesota who entered the country during the Biden administration.

Homeland Security said there was an “alarming erosion” of refugee program integrity during that time, when refugees “who are improperly admitted may not have their identity fully confirmed and vetted due to an incomplete record” and could “pose a risk to national security and public safety.”

“This raises concerns about the integrity of the refugee program and calls into question the eligibility for refugee status of aliens admitted to the United States during this time,” the agency said.

A 10-day countdown clock is a “wholly insufficient” amount of time for refugees at risk of losing their protections to secure an immigration lawyer and collect records from the country they fled, she added.

It will now be “nearly impossible” for refugees to challenge unfair or false allegations against them before losing their status as protected refugees, according to the International Refugee Assistance Project.

“The government is reducing this process to mere window-dressing for an effort to strip lawfully present, lawfully admitted refugees of their status and deport them to persecution or worse,” she added.

“The families we serve are already anxious, and this rule gives them every reason to be,” she said.