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  "description": "A policy memo issued by the Department of Homeland Security last week says refugees who haven’t applied for a green card within one year of arriving in the U.S. can be detained.",
  "path": "/new-trump-administration-policy-puts-refugees-living-in-san-diego-at-risk-of-detention/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-26T20:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.panasd.org",
  "tags": [
    "New Trump administration policy puts refugees living in San Diego at risk of detentionA policy memo issued by the Department of Homeland Security last week says refugees who haven’t applied for a green card within one year of arriving in the U.S. can be detained.KPBS Public Media",
    "http://web.archive.org/web/20260226212458/https://www.kpbs.org/news/border-immigration/2026/02/26/new-trump-administration-policy-puts-refugees-living-in-san-diego-at-risk-of-detention",
    "Gustavo Solis",
    "Charlotte Radulovich",
    "_issued by the Department of Homeland Security_",
    "lived in a temporary refugee camp",
    "_a report by Brookings Institution_",
    "_targeted refugees in multiple ways during his second term_"
  ],
  "textContent": "**KPBS Public Media**\n\n New Trump administration policy puts refugees living in San Diego at risk of detentionA policy memo issued by the Department of Homeland Security last week says refugees who haven’t applied for a green card within one year of arriving in the U.S. can be detained.KPBS Public Media\n\nSource: Wayback availability API\n\nhttp://web.archive.org/web/20260226212458/https://www.kpbs.org/news/border-immigration/2026/02/26/new-trump-administration-policy-puts-refugees-living-in-san-diego-at-risk-of-detention\n\nBy Gustavo Solis / Investigative Border Reporter\nContributors: Charlotte Radulovich / Video Journalist\n\nPublished February 26, 2026 at 6:00 AM PST\n\nA new policy memo from the Trump administration is spreading panic throughout San Diego’s refugee population.\n\nThe memo, _issued by the Department of Homeland Security_ last week, says refugees who haven’t applied for a green card within one year of arriving in the U.S. can be detained.\n\nThis is the first time in memory that the federal government has threatened detention based on the timing of a green card application. In fact, the DHS memo says the previous policy, “was not considered a proper basis for detention.”\n\n“This is really causing terror in the community,” said Maria Chavez, immigration legal director at the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, or PANA.\n\nSan Diego has a history of welcoming refugee populations – dating back to the Vietnam War era when over 50,000 Vietnamese nationals lived in a temporary refugee camp in Camp Pendleton.\n\nSince then, San Diego has become the headquarters of multiple resettlement agencies, including Jewish Family Service and the International Rescue Committee. Between 1983 and 2004, San Diego received more refugees than Miami, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas and Phoenix, according to _a report by Brookings Institution_.\n\nWhen refugees resettle in the United States, they can adjust their status to become legal permanent residents by obtaining a green card.\n\nThe Trump administration’s official rationale for detaining refugees is so the federal government can again vet them to ensure they are not a threat to public safety, according to the DHS memo.\n\nBut part of what makes the new policy so controversial is refugees already go through multiple rounds of extensive vetting, Chavez said. Unlike asylum seekers, who apply for protection after they enter the country, refugees are vetted before they set foot in the United States.\n\n“There’s a very rigorous vetting process that goes through the United Nations,” Chavez said. “From there, refugees are resettled in different countries, the United States being one of them.”\n\nFollowing the UN vetting process, our federal government does its own vetting before a refugee can board a plane bound for the United States. Refugees are also re-vetted when they apply for work permits, she added.\n\nThose who help refugees adjust to life in the United States said there are a number of reasons why they would put off applying for a green card.\n\n“Just because they arrived to the United States, doesn’t mean they’re handed everything on a silver platter,” Chavez said. “They still have to figure out housing, they still have to figure out food and work. And yes, they do have some help, but that doesn’t mean anything is easier for them.”\n\nGiven the new policy memo, Chaves says every refugee should begin the application process as soon as possible.\n\nPresident Trump has _targeted refugees in multiple ways during his second term_. During his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order that temporarily halted the entire refugee program.\n\nThe administration has also made helping refugees resettle in the United States much more difficult by defunding nonprofits that provided direct aid to refugee populations.\n\nIt’s unclear how many people in San Diego County could be detained under the new DHS policy. Data from San Diego County shows more than 5,000 refugees arrived in San Diego last year — mostly from Afghanistan, Haiti and Syria.\n\nHowever, the county’s data is likely an undercount because their data only includes refugees brought to San Diego under federal resettlement programs.\n\nThe data does not include people who were resettled in one county but later moved to San Diego or people who were resettled in San Diego but have since moved away. The data also does not track whether people have already applied for a green card, a San Diego County spokesperson said.\n",
  "title": "New Trump administration policy puts refugees living in San Diego at risk of detention",
  "updatedAt": "2026-02-26T23:58:47.928Z"
}