Donald Trump's administration moved on Saturday to play down the impact of a controversial green card rule in the United States, after days of criticism from immigrants, businesses and lawyers who warned it could force hundreds of thousands of applicants to leave the country mid‑process. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) insisted the policy change at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was merely a restatement of existing law, not a sweeping new crackdown.
The alarm began last week when USCIS quietly issued fresh guidance on how people already in the US can obtain permanent residency. The agency's memo appeared to sharply curtail the long‑standing 'adjustment of status' route, which lets many immigrants sponsored by American employers or relatives complete the transition to a green card without leaving US soil.
