Legal refugees now face long detention after DHS reinterprets law on applying for a green card after a year

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a policy memo in February 2026 that could lead to the detention of refugees legally in the United States. This new policy reinterprets Section 209 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, stating that DHS may arrest and detain refugees who have lived in the U.S. for at least one year and have not yet acquired lawful permanent resident status. Approximately 100,000 refugees are at risk for such arrest and detention under this policy, which rescinds a 2010 DHS policy that limited the agency's ability to arrest refugees. The new interpretation means every refugee could face imprisonment unless immigration officials review and approve their green card applications at exactly the one-year mark.