Trump administration’s new rule: Undocumented immigrants can still be deported if they apply for green cards through spouses or relatives

The Trump administration announced a new policy: Immigrants who apply for green cards through spouses or other family members may face the risk of initiation of deportation proceedings. The new policy takes effect immediately. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) told NBC that the change applies to currently pending applications as well as those filed after August 1st. Immigration policy and legal experts say the new policy closes a key avenue for immigrants to apply for green cards and adjust their status.

New guidance released by USCIS on the 4th states that federal immigration authorities can initiate deportation proceedings against immigrants who lack legal status and apply for lawful permanent residence through spouses or other family members. Immigrants and their sponsoring spouses or family members “should understand that family-based applications neither confer immigration status nor prevent removal.”

Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, said the new policy appears to authorize USCIS to initiate deportation proceedings “at any stage of the green card application process.” Mukherjee also noted that, in the past, unless there were serious issues like criminal violations, “no one would have considered the possibility of being sent to immigration court during the application process.” While it remains to be seen how actively the Trump administration will implement this policy, if it is implemented vigorously, “it will fundamentally change immigration enforcement practices, and even those who are eligible to adjust to lawful permanent status may be deterred by fear.”

An NBC analysis of USCIS data indicates that in the first half of 2025, nearly 520,000 I-130 green card applications were filed by family members on behalf of immigrants. As of June, there were over 2.4 million I-130 applications pending, of which over 1.9 million had been pending for over six months. It is unclear how many of these applications involve immigrants who lack legal status or have lost their status during the adjudication process.

A USCIS statement stated that the new policy “is committed to ensuring the integrity of the U.S. immigration system through enhanced screening and vetting to prevent, detect, and combat immigration fraud and threats to national security and public safety.” Julia Gelatt, deputy director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, said the policy change is consistent with the administration’s mass deportation agenda. “The Trump administration is doing everything it can to send a message to undocumented immigrants to consider giving up their lives in the U.S. and returning to their home countries.”

Glatt noted that this policy affects not only those immigrants seeking green card status after entering the country illegally, but also others whose legal visas expire while awaiting a government decision on their green card status, Dreamers, and the hundreds of thousands of immigrants whose legal status is in jeopardy after the Trump administration eliminated a temporary legal pathway established by the Biden administration.

“A lot of people are losing their status,” Gelatt said. “This policy takes away one of the ways they have to stay in the United States.”