Pew Research: They Followed the Rules. Now the Rules Have Changed.

They are already here — working, raising families, paying taxes, living legally in the United States. Under a new Trump administration guidance memo, they may soon be forced to leave the country just to apply for the permanent residence they've already earned.

The memo targets a process called "adjustment of status," which has long allowed immigrants living legally in the U.S. to become permanent residents without leaving the country. A new Pew Research Center analysis shows exactly how many people that puts at risk. In fiscal year 2024, 58% of the 1.36 million green cards granted went to people already living inside the United States — not to new arrivals. That is the group this memo puts in jeopardy.

The impact is not evenly distributed. Among Cuban immigrants who received green cards in 2024, 87% did so through adjustment of status. Among Mexican immigrants, 65%. Chinese and Indian immigrants followed at 66% and 61%. These are not abstractions. They are neighbors, coworkers, and family members who followed the rules — and are now being told the rules have changed.

For many, leaving the U.S. to apply abroad is not a neutral procedural shift. It can trigger federal re-entry bars that prohibit return for years — or permanently. The administration calls the memo a return to the law's original intent. What it looks like in practice is the dismantling of a pathway millions of families have relied on for decades.

Leading Ladies Vote believes in an immigration system grounded in humanity and in the reality of who is already here. This is not a legal technicality. It is someone's life.

🔗 Read the full Pew Research report: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/06/02/majority-of-new-green-cards-have-gone-to-immigrants-already-living-in-us/