Gallego Fights Back Against Trump Administration’s Anti-Family Green Card Policy

Senator asks GAO for legal opinion, kicking off the process for Congress to repeal the Trump administration’s sweeping new policy forcing immigrants to leave the U.S. to apply for green cards WASHINGTON – Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) sent a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), kicking off the process to potentially repeal the Trump Administration’s new policy that quietly changed how immigrants can apply for green cards. Read coverage from The Hill: Gallego kicks off effort to repeal Trump green card policy Last week, the Trump administration announced that most immigrants already living in the United States will now have to leave the country and apply for green cards from abroad. For decades, many immigrants — including people married to U.S. citizens, workers, students, and refugees — have been able to complete the entire green card process without leaving their families, jobs, and communities. The new policy upends that. In response to the new policy, Senator Gallego stated that he would do everything he could to stop it, and this letter is the first step. In the letter, Senator Gallego asks the independent federal watchdog to weigh in on whether the Trump administration’s memo should classify as a rule subject to the Congressional Review Act. If GAO says it falls under the definition of a rule, then Congress would have an opportunity to repeal it. “The new guidance would impact potentially hundreds of thousands of noncitizens and their families in the U.S. per year—representing a major change in policy and therefore satisfying the CRA’s definition of a rule,” writes Senator Gallego. Read the full letter here .