Green Card Holders Targeted for Deportation by New ‘Removal Apparatus’

The Department of Homeland Security is seeking to deport at least 50 green card holders through a new unit dedicated to revetting thousands of immigrants with permanent residency across the country, according to internal data obtained by The New York Times.

Those cases represent a small fraction of the total number of green card holders who have been reviewed so far. About 2,890 cases had been reviewed or were still being assessed as of May 7. Eighty percent of those cases were deemed as requiring “no further action.” More than 500 green card holders were still under review.

The figures reveal the early results of the Trump administration’s efforts to screen green card holders suspected of committing fraud or posing threats. {snip}

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The Trump administration has said it is necessary to revet broad groups of immigrants because of lax screening standards under the Biden administration. But the effort is coming under criticism by some former homeland security officials under Democratic and Republican administrations who have questioned the use of resources and pointed out that the internal figures show only about 2 percent of green card holders reviewed were deemed potentially deportable.

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Tens of thousands more green card holders across the country have been identified for review, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly. Officers working for the unit have been tasked with reviewing criminal records and applications submitted by green card holders to find indications of potential fraud, the person said.

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The agency had more than 11 million pending applications for a variety of immigration benefits at the end of September, according to the latest data from U.S.C.I.S. That backlog has continued to grow over the years, roughly doubling since the end of 2019.

The unit tasked with reviewing green card holders is part of a new division within the agency called the “Tactical Operations Division,” according to documents reviewed by The Times. It has several units, including “LPR Operations,” “Denaturalization” and “Refugee Revetting.” {snip}

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