Unions and advocates sue over two USCIS green card policies

Centre · 1Labor unions, university faculty groups and immigrant advocates filed a lawsuit on October 5 in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts challenging two Trump administration immigration policies. 1 Centre · 2The plaintiffs are the American Association of University Professors and its Harvard and Boston University chapters, the Service Employees International Union with two affiliates (SEIU Local 509 and 32BJ SEIU), Americans for Immigrant Justice, and six individual green card applicants. 1 2 Centre · 2The May 2026 policy directs USCIS officers to treat an applicant's choice to seek permanent residence from within the US, rather than through consular processing abroad, as a negative factor; the Times of India says applicants must show "unusual or even outstanding" considerations to overcome it. 1 2

Centre · 2The August 2026 policy gives officers greater authority to deny some applications without first requesting more evidence or issuing a notice of intent to deny, and it applies to applications pending when it took effect. 1 2 Centre · 1The complaint makes six claims: that the policies exceed USCIS's authority, improperly apply new standards to pending cases, are arbitrary and capricious, violate rulemaking requirements, conflict with immigration precedent, and violate due process. The court has not ruled on them. 1 Centre · 1The plaintiffs ask the court to temporarily block the policies and ultimately strike them down, and to order USCIS to decide affected applications under controlling Board of Immigration Appeals precedent. 1

Centre · 1Adjustment of status is a major route to permanent residence: according to DHS figures cited in the complaint, 782,800 of roughly 1.36 million people who became lawful permanent residents in fiscal year 2024 (57 percent) did so this way. 1 Centre · 1Two plaintiffs illustrate the claims. Maria Francisca Guardado, who has lived in the US since 1998, was denied on September 2 as a matter of discretion despite being found eligible. Miriam Esther Moreno Coto, in the US about 26 years with three citizen children, says an officer repeatedly asked at a July interview why she was not applying abroad; her case is pending and her son has autism. 1 Centre · 2Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward, which represents the plaintiffs, said the executive branch cannot rewrite the system and treat lawful actions as a reason to deny residency. AAUP president Todd Wolfson said the administration is "weaponizing the green card process". 1 2

Centre · 1SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Rocío Sáenz said the union has 2 million members, many of them foreign-born, and opposes policies that make it harder for working people to do their jobs. 2 Centre · 1USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler, quoted by Newsweek as reported by the Times of India, called the suit "yet another frivolous attempt to disrupt the Trump administration's commitment to enforce our country's immigration laws as intended by Congress" and said USCIS will keep applying long-standing law and prior immigration court decisions. 2 Centre · 1The May memorandum describes adjustment as an "extraordinary" form of discretionary relief and says Congress generally expected certain temporarily admitted or paroled immigrants to leave once their stay's purpose ended if they wanted permanent residence; it does not require every applicant to leave. 1