特朗普政府5月22日的美国公民及移民服务局公告将大幅限制身份调整，这一自1952年《移民与国籍法》以来可用的途径允许符合条件的合法入境者，包括公民配偶，无需离开美国即可获得绿卡。2024年，近140万人获得绿卡，其中58%是在美国境内完成，因此拟议转向境外领事处理将影响多数新的永久居民。
对家庭的冲击将尤其巨大，因为美国公民的直系亲属——配偶、父母和子女——构成身份调整申请人的多数。实际障碍相当大：75个国家的签证处理已暂停，这些国家的国民占2024年身份调整申请的40%以上；印度等地的领事预约等待时间可能超过一年；任何非法居留超过一年者一旦离境将自动面临十年再入境禁令。
该政策备忘录要求官员更严格审查申请，美国公民及移民服务局也已发出更多补充证据要求，使合法移民即使可能被法院阻止也变得更昂贵、更缓慢且更不可预测。更广泛的统计策略似乎是威慑：官员承诺驱逐2000万或更多无证移民，尽管估计全国最多只有1400万，而阻止部分申请人合法化身份在行政上可能更容易。
The Trump administration’s May 22 USCIS announcement would sharply curtail adjustment of status, a route available since the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act that lets eligible legal entrants, including spouses of citizens, obtain green cards without leaving the United States. In 2024, nearly 1.4 million people received green cards, and 58% did so from inside the country, so the proposed shift to consular processing abroad would affect a majority of new permanent residents.
The disruption would be especially large for families because immediate relatives of U.S. citizens—spouses, parents and children—make up a majority of adjustment-of-status applicants. Practical barriers are substantial: visa processing is paused in 75 countries whose nationals supplied more than 40% of 2024 adjustment applications, consular waits in places such as India can exceed a year, and anyone unlawfully present for more than one year faces an automatic ten-year re-entry ban upon departure.
The policy memo tells officers to scrutinize applications more aggressively, and USCIS is already issuing more requests for evidence, making legal migration costlier, slower and less predictable even if courts may block the change. The broader statistical strategy appears to be deterrence: officials have promised to deport 20 million or more unauthorized immigrants despite estimates of at most 14 million in the country, while preventing some applicants from legalizing status may be administratively easier.
Source: The Trump administration’s big move to limit legal immigratio
Subtitle: A new policy restricting green-card applications could wreak havoc
Dateline: 5月 28, 2026 03:24 上午 | CHICAGO