- USCIS will now review older immigration approvals for fraud rather than only focusing on new applications.
- The agency is widening fraud reporting channels and adding tip lines with support from ICE and CBP.
- Fraud referrals have increased by 138% since early 2025, leading to more arrests and deportations.
(UNITED STATES) — USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow announced on April 19, 2026, that the agency will review older immigration approvals, including some green card cases, for fraud and widen fraud reporting channels with support from ICE and CBP.
Edlow said USCIS intends to look back at older cases instead of limiting scrutiny to new filings. He also said the agency is preparing additional tip lines, widening the paths for outside complaints to reach investigators.
The shift points to post-approval enforcement, not only front-end vetting. A green card approval, under existing USCIS policy, can still face rescission, revocation or termination if the government later concludes the person was not eligible when the benefit was granted.
USCIS already has legal tools to reopen approved matters. In permanent residence cases, the agency can rescind lawful permanent resident status if it finds the person was ineligible at the time of approval, including through fraud or willful misrepresentation.
Those findings can carry consequences beyond the original case. USCIS policy states that obtaining an immigration benefit through fraud or willful misrepresentation can trigger inadmissibility, affecting later applications for adjustment, naturalization and other immigration benefits.
If USCIS rescinds permanent residence, the case can move into deportation proceedings. Agency guidance says USCIS may issue a Notice to Appear after rescission unless another lawful status applies or another disposition fits the case.
Edlow also tied green card eligibility to self-sufficiency and said people who cannot support themselves should not expect permanent residence. USCIS policy on public charge, however, remains forward-looking and based on the totality of the circumstances, with officers weighing factors such as income, health and skills rather than applying a single income bar.
The agency enters this phase with a fraud system already in place. USCIS announced in 2025 that it was adding special agents with law-enforcement authority under DHS, including the power to make arrests, carry firearms and execute warrants.
That buildout gives USCIS a more active investigative role than the agency has traditionally projected in public. Edlow’s remarks fit that structure, with USCIS working alongside ICE and CBP while inviting new tips that can open or deepen case reviews.
Since January 20, 2025, USCIS has made 33,000 fraud referrals, a 138% increase over the prior administration average. The agency has investigated 21,000+ cases, and it deemed 65% of them fraudulent.
USCIS also conducted 7,000 site visits and 26,000 social media checks during that period. Edlow described the push as a “war on fraud” and linked it to deeper vetting, social media scrutiny, stricter citizenship testing and referrals in national security or public safety cases.
One recent operation shows how the new posture can work on the ground. Operation Twin Shield, launched in Minneapolis-St. Paul, targeted 1,000+ cases and identified marriage fraud, H-1B misuse and student visa abuses, with outcomes that included denials, Notices to Appear and arrests carried out with ICE partners.
The practical reach extends well beyond a single program. USCIS examines full immigration histories, including prior approved, denied or unadjudicated filings such as asylum applications, F-1 records tied to `I-20`, visitor visa filings tied to `DS-160`, marriage-based petitions and employment petitions.
That means old inconsistencies can surface during a later filing even if the earlier case appeared settled. Differences across forms, interviews, tax filings, travel history or prior statements to immigration officers can become central when officers revisit the record.
Marriage-based filings sit high on that risk list, along with employment petitions, asylum-related benefits, investor filings and cases built on questionable documents. Also identified were H-1B and OPT users, prior asylum filers, family-sponsored applicants and CHNV or TPS beneficiaries, with 600,000+ suspicious `I-134A` forms noted.
Pending applications are likely to face closer review as the agency emphasizes retrospective vetting. Petitioners should expect more requests for evidence, more scrutiny of prior-file history and less tolerance for omissions that might once have passed without challenge.
Naturalization and renewal filings carry added exposure because they often force USCIS to reopen the underlying immigration record. A weakness in the original green card case can become more serious when the applicant seeks the next benefit and officers reexamine earlier statements and supporting documents.
No new statute underlies Edlow’s announcement. The change lies in how aggressively USCIS uses existing Immigration and Nationality Act provisions and agency policy on fraud review, rescission, revocation and removal referrals.
Outside tips now appear set to play a larger role at the front end of those reviews. Expanded fraud reporting channels can start an inquiry, and once officers open the file, they can compare old applications, interview records and supporting evidence across years of contact with the immigration system.
People with older Notices to Appear, overstays or complicated filing histories face particular pressure if they return to USCIS for a new benefit. Counsel becomes more important in those cases because a response may require not only explanation of discrepancies but also waivers or legal arguments tied to the original grant.
FOIA requests can also take on new importance as applicants and permanent residents prepare for that review. Obtaining prior filings, checking what the government file contains and matching dates, addresses, work history and family information can help prevent a later conflict from becoming a fraud allegation.
Employers and family sponsors also face a sharper compliance burden. A petition that once seemed closed can come back into focus if USCIS sees contradictions in payroll records, job duties, claimed residence, financial support or earlier filings submitted on the beneficiary’s behalf.
Edlow’s message from Washington was direct: old approvals are no longer treated as closed chapters when fraud is suspected. How many rescissions follow remains to be seen, but USCIS has signaled that past immigration benefits, including approved green card cases, now sit inside an enforcement system with wider fraud reporting channels and a stronger investigative arm.
