But details remained scant after officials said last week that, with “extraordinary” exceptions, people seeking permanent residency must first leave the country.
The Department of Homeland Security sought on Friday to clarify its announcement last week that immigrants seeking permanent residency would have to return to their home countries to await their green cards, claiming there was no major change in policy and that only some will have to go back.
The clarification appeared to be a partial walk-back of an announcement in a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services news release last week. Despite a longstanding policy of allowing immigrants to remain in the country while they wait for their green cards, it said individuals would now have to go back while they wait except in “extraordinary” cases.
But on Friday, the Homeland Security Department said it was not a blanket change and that it would be up to individual immigration officers to decide whether someone should be forced to go abroad to gain a green card. They said that officers have long had such discretion.
“This was just a reminder to officers of their discretionary authority, which has always existed on a case-by-case basis,” a D.H.S. spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson declined to provide a name. The person pointed to people who overstay visas or come from countries whose citizens are heavy users of public assistance as groups that could be affected.
It was a substantial shift from last week’s announcement, but was unlikely to reduce confusion or fear, as details are still scant about who might be affected and how. Even some inside the Homeland Security Department were confused as to the scope of the change when it was publicized.
Though announced with a news release, a senior White House official said this week that the effort was meant to be a housekeeping matter, not a change of strategy. The official discussed internal deliberations on the condition of anonymity.