BOSTON, MA — A lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Boston is challenging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s “Refugee Detention Policy” which allows for the arrest and detention of refugees who haven’t obtained permanent resident status, commonly called their “green card.”
Six refugees, Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, and the International Institute of New England (IINE), represented by Democracy Forward and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), filed the lawsuit challenging the policy that allows for the warrantless arrest and mandatory detention of lawfully admitted refugees. Those refugees have lived in the United States for at least one year and don’t have a “green card” or do not have a pending application for permanent resident status. Those targeted include refugees even the government has no reason to believe are deportable or have committed any criminal violation.
Oftentimes, the words “refugee” and “immigrant” are used interchangeably but they are not the same. A refugee is a person forced to flee their country due to a fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or social group, or due to armed conflict and violence.
In the U.S., a person is granted refugee status prior to entering the country and after undergoing a rigorous vetting process including background and medical checks, a process that takes anywhere from 18 months to three years. Upon entry, they immediately have legal rights and are on track to become permanent residents and eventually, citizens.
However, they cannot apply for their “green card,” until they’ve lived in the U.S. for at least one year. At that point, they are required to file an application but the government has never authorized their arrest or detention to make them do that, that is until the new policy announced last month.
The policy targets not only those who need time to complete their applications and medical exams, but also up to 100,000 refugees who have pending applications, according to IINE. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), however, has refused to adjudicate them, leaving more than 100,000 in limbo.
IINE has offices in Boston and Lowell, Mass., as well as in Manchester, NH.
Jeff Thielman, International Institute of New England President and CEO, told Manchester Ink Link that IINE serves about 4,000 people in the two states, with 484 clients in Manchester. The vast majority of people they serve are refugees. He said services they provide include teaching people English, resettling refugees, helping people gain employment and, occasionally testifying at immigration hearings.
“Filing lawsuits, that’s not our thing,” Thielman said. However, he said the new policy is “such an egregious violation of our clients’ rights and of the U.S. Constitution that we simply had to stand up right now.”
Thielman said, to his knowledge, none of their refugee clients have been detained by ICE but “this action allows them to be detained.”
The new policy, he said, clearly targets refugees. IINE’s clients, he said, are living in fear. “It puts incredible stress on them and their families,” he said.
“We think that is unlawful and a frightening tactic,” he said. “It’s terrible.”
He said if the Trump administration follows through with the policy, he anticipates that, like in Minnesota, masked ICE agents will begin detaining people in the state’s largest city.
“Litigation is not our standard method of advocacy, but when the federal government directly targets refugees — resilient, hardworking community members who escaped persecution and were promised safety by our nation—we must stand up and speak out,” Thielman said in a news release announcing the lawsuit. “IINE is committed to fighting for the rights and protection of refugees, and we know our commitment is strengthened by a majority of Americans across the country, who recognize, too, the importance of welcome and humanity.”
Refugee status does not expire after one year, but the Trump-Vance administration now claims that on the 366th day after arrival, refugees who have not yet received their green cards must be arrested and detained indefinitely, according to the filing. By freezing applications and then using the agency’s delay as a basis for detention, the Trump-Vance administration is creating a trap in which refugees are penalized for the government’s own failure to act.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, challenges two recent agency memoranda that reverse more than 45 years of settled practice and reinterpret federal immigration law to subject refugees to detention. Under the new policy, refugees who were lawfully admitted after extensive vetting, and who remain in lawful status, must be arrested without a warrant and detained even if they have not been charged with any crime or immigration violation.
“I fled death threats and waited nearly a decade to resettle as a refugee in the United States,” said plaintiff Mona C. “My family has worked hard to restart our lives, but now I am worried that ICE might arrest me. Who will take care of my children if I am arrested and detained? We came to the U.S. to live in peace and safety, not to relive the horrors of our past.”
Mona C. was born in Syria but moved to Iraq, where she married Hamad B., who is also a plaintiff. After being threatened due to their religion, Mona C. and her husband fled to Turkey in 2014 and applied for refugee status in the U.S. Along with her husband and son, Mona C. applied for adjustment of status – their green cards – in March of 2025. Their applications are still pending.
In January 2026, Hamad B. was in Texas, working with a friend to deliver packages. While in his friend’s vehicle, Hamad B. and his friend were stopped at a border patrol checkpoint. Immigration officers asked him if he was a U.S. citizen. He told them he wasn’t, but he showed an expired work permit and offered to provide more documentation proving his lawful admission. But officers refused, and instead arrested Hamad B. and his friend and eventually sent them to a detention facility in another state, where Hamad was held for more than three weeks, until he was released after filing a habeas petition in federal court.
Detention was a terrible experience. Hamad B. was terrified that he would be removed to Iraq or another country despite his valid refugee status. Because the government still has not made a decision on his pending application, he fears being arrested and detained again as a result of the new policy and he fears the same could happen to his wife and son.
During the three weeks her husband was detained, Mona C. lived in constant fear, frightened about what would happen to her husband and if he would be sent back to Iraq and worried about her two young children, one of whom is a U.S. citizen. Mona C. does not work, so while her husband was detained, they had no income. She is terrified that ICE might arrest her or even her son next and that there will be no one to care for her children.
Another plaintiff, Jean A., was born in a refugee camp in Rwanda and came to the U.S. as a refugee in September 2022. He lives with his mother and three of his siblings in Massachusetts.
His older brother is still in a refugee camp because his application for refugee status was paused due to President Trump’s shutdown of the refugee program in January 2025.
Jean A’s mother started the process for his family to come to the U.S. in 2012. He and his family submitted their adjustment applications in the spring of 2024, but they have not received a request for an interview or a decision on their applications. When Jean A. heard on the news that all refugees without green cards would be at risk of arrest and being sent to jail, he became very worried. He was driving for a rideshare service when he learned the news but went straight home because he was afraid of being arrested.
“Refugee families often waited years for resettlement and were promised safety and an opportunity to build their lives here in the U.S.,” said Rabbi James Greene, CEO of Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts. “With this policy, DHS is threatening them with arrest and detention for an indefinite period without any cause, crime, or reason. The Bible’s most often repeated commandment is to welcome the stranger – it is our central value and a pillar of Jewish tradition. To allow this policy to come into effect would be a rejection of the values that we hold most dear. We stand with our clients, and with all refugees who would be harmed by this horrific policy.”
Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward said that for more than 40 years the U.S. has honored its commitment to refugees by providing safety, stability, and a lawful path forward. “This policy betrays that promise – it attempts to transform a routine administrative process into a tool for mass arrest and detention of people who followed the law, were thoroughly vetted, and were admitted into our country to rebuild their lives here,” Perryman said. “The Constitution does not permit the government to jail people without statutory authority or due process. We are asking the court to stop this unlawful policy immediately, and will continue to use every legal tool available to protect people from the cruelty of this administration.”
“The Trump administration is clear it intends to take its terror campaign against refugees in Minnesota national,” said Ghita Schwarz, Senior Director of U.S. Litigation at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). “Refugees were brought to this country by the U.S. government to restart their lives in safety and are now being threatened with mandatory arrest and detention. All Americans should be concerned about this lawless push to imprison people who have done nothing wrong.”
The lawsuit contends that without immediate court intervention, lawfully admitted refugees remain at risk of arrest and prolonged detention despite having done nothing wrong.