Immigrants with pending green card applications should not leave the country, and should speak with an attorney about their specific case, before making any move in response to a new federal policy memo, the president and CEO of the International Institute of New England told CTN, as the guidance sows confusion among visa holders and humanitarian parolees across the region.
Jeffrey Thielman, who leads one of New England’s largest refugee and immigrant resettlement organizations, said his staff has been fielding a surge of anxious calls since the guidance was announced, and that no one should depart the United States to pursue a green card abroad without first seeking legal advice.
“Our first advice to every single one of our clients, and to anyone who has a pending green card application or is filing a green card application, is to talk to a lawyer to get advice,” Thielman said. “Don’t take steps now to leave the country to go through this processing. Talk to your lawyer about your specific case.”
The memo in question was issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on May 22, 2026.
USCIS said adjustment of status is a matter of discretion and administrative grace, and directed that immigrants applying must generally do so through consular processing with the Department of State outside the United States. The directive frames adjustment of status as an “extraordinary form of relief” rather than an automatic entitlement. (The full USCIS announcement is available at uscis.gov.)
Thielman said the volume of inquiries since then has been significant. “We have a lot of people that are calling our attorneys, and sometimes our case managers, asking what to do,” he said. “Our answer right now is, it’s not clear.”
His guidance to worried clients, he said, is to hold off on any drastic step — above all, leaving the country — until the picture clears. “Let’s just not do anything. It’s not clear what to do at this point. So the best thing is not to do anything,” Thielman said. “We’ll tell you what to do when we have more information. So yes, many people are concerned, and many people are calling our staff.”
Asked which categories of immigrants the memo affects, Thielman said his reading suggests it affects people in the United States on a temporary basis. “My understanding of the memo is that it applies to people who are temporarily in the United States on visas,” he said. “So it could be student visa holders, it could be people that are here on work visas, and it could impact people who have overstayed their visa.”
He added a particular note of concern for humanitarian parolees. “It would certainly impact people, humanitarian parolees, who are here on a temporary basis,” Thielman said. “But you can’t adjust your status from a humanitarian parole to a green card without other steps — an employment reason or a family relationship.”
Not every client is affected.
“We have refugee clients, for example, that are not impacted by this policy,” Thielman said, while noting that others “who have filed marriage green cards, or whatever the case may be,” may fall within its reach. The uncertainty over exactly who is covered, he said, is itself part of the problem. “We’re not clear on who it’s going to impact,” he said. “We know it’s focused on people who are temporarily in the United States.”
CTN’s Emmanuel Paul asked Thielman about the range of people who might be caught up in the change, including those who came seeking asylum and later became eligible to apply for a green card, those who obtained legal status through marriage, and those who arrived on a visitor visa and later adjusted their status.
Thielman argued the memo rests on shaky legal ground and predicted court challenges. “This policy is going to be challenged in the courts,” he said. “It hasn’t gone through what we call a proper Administrative Procedure Act review, a proper publishing of the policy so that people can comment on it.”
He returned to that argument in explaining why he believes the guidance will ultimately fail. “We think this is contrary to law because Congress has voted several times to allow people temporarily in the United States to apply for permanent resident status or green cards,” he said. “We also believe this is a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, because they just announced this guidance last week, on May 22nd. There was no notice to people. There was no chance for people to give a comment on it. So we think the policy eventually is not going to survive in the courts.”
For applicants who have already filed, Thielman said the path forward remains unsettled.
“We question whether or not the policy could be implemented for those who have already filed green cards, but we’ll see what the courts say,” he said.
He closed with the same message he opened with — and made clear that the warning was about leaving the country, not about abandoning a case. “That said, I go back to what I said earlier,” Thielman said. “Talk to your attorneys.”
The scope of the memo remains contested beyond IINE’s offices. The American Immigration Council said USCIS has issued conflicting messaging that has created confusion and panic for applicants, employers, and practitioners, and that the agency’s press release went further than the memo itself in suggesting most temporary visa holders would need to leave the country. Some attorneys have also noted that the new policy may be less applicable to dual-intent visa categories such as H-1B and L-1 workers and their dependents.
Sources: Interview with Jeffrey Thielman, president and CEO of the International Institute of New England, conducted by CTN.
This article was originally written in English. The French and Haitian Creole versions were produced using AI translation software; errors may occur, and the English version is authoritative. CTN also uses AI to convert text to audio.
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