Detained Immigrants Sue to Stop Trump-Vance Policy That Dooms Their Applications

A coalition of immigrant rights organizations has filed a class action lawsuit challenging a Trump-Vance administration policy that automatically denies immigration applications from detained noncitizens by blocking their ability to complete required biometrics.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., argues that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has engineered a cruel catch-22. While USCIS requires biometric data—fingerprints, photos, and other identifying information—for immigration applications, the government simultaneously refuses to collect these biometrics from people held in ICE detention centers. The result: applications are denied not on their merits, but because detained immigrants cannot fulfill this mandatory step.

Michelle Mendez of the National Immigration Project calls out the policy as a “deliberately broken process” designed to punish eligible applicants. “Require biometrics, refuse to collect them, then punish people for the gap you created,” she said. “That’s not administration; that’s a trap.”

This policy blocks lawful pathways for survivors of human trafficking, abused children, and those seeking family reunification. Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward describes the rule as “unlawful and cruel,” stripping people of their legal rights and fast-tracking deportations without due process.

The complaint highlights individual stories of harm: a young abuse survivor denied twice because his biometrics were never collected, and a trafficking survivor who missed a biometrics appointment due to detention and now faces deportation.

Federal law mandates USCIS adjudicate properly filed applications, including biometric collection. The lawsuit contends that DHS’s policy violates immigration law, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Fifth Amendment’s due process protections.

The plaintiffs seek to block and vacate the policy, restoring detained immigrants’ access to the immigration relief Congress intended.

This latest move fits a broader pattern of the Trump-Vance administration weaponizing immigration enforcement to undermine legal protections and accelerate mass deportations. Without intervention, more families will be torn apart, and more vulnerable people will be sent back to danger despite having pending lawful claims.

The case is J. Z. et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al., with legal teams from Democracy Forward, the National Immigration Project, and the National Immigrant Justice Center leading the fight.

Read the full complaint here: https://nipnlg.org/news/press-releases/detained-immigrants-challenge-trump-vance-policy-forces-automatic-denial