Having a green card does not mean you can't be deported

Immigrants who are married to US citizens have long expected that they won't be deported from the country while going through the process of obtaining a green card.

- Alex Woodward, The Independent

But new guidance from Donald Trump's administration explicitly states that immigrants seeking lawful residence through marriage can be deported, a policy that also applies to immigrants with pending requests.

Immigration authorities can begin removal proceedings for immigrants who lack legal status and applied to become a lawful permanent resident through a citizen spouse, according to guidance from US Citizenship and Immigration Services issued this month. The policy also applies to immigrants with pending green cards through other citizen family members. People who entered the country illegally aren't the only ones impacted. Under new guidance, immigrants trying to get lawful status through a spouse or family member are at risk of being deported if their visas expired, or if they are among the roughly 1 million immigrants whose temporary protected status was stripped from them under the Trump administration.

Immigrants and their spouses or family members who sponsor them "should be aware that a family-based petition accords no immigration status nor does it bar removal," the policy states. The changes were designed to "enhance benefit integrity and identify vetting and fraud concerns" and weed out what the agency calls "fraudulent, frivolous, or non-meritorious" applications, according to USCIS.