If you have an upcoming green card interview and you overstayed your visa, you are facing what may be the most difficult decision of your immigration journey: attend the interview and risk detention, or skip it and risk denial for abandonment.
This is no longer a hypothetical concern. Since early November 2025, immigration attorneys have reported that ICE agents have been detaining green card applicants during routine interviews at USCIS field offices. Immigration lawyers are calling this a new escalation of the current administration’s practice of targeting groups of immigrants who, under previous administrations, were not prioritized for enforcement.
The Current Situation: ICE Arrests at USCIS Interviews
Beginning in November 2025, immigration attorneys and families across Southern California began reporting a shocking development: foreign-born spouses attending marriage-based green card interviews were being detained by ICE immediately after the interview. San Diego has become the epicenter of this enforcement trend, with one attorney observing 39 arrests on a single day during a week in mid-November.
Some USCIS offices have received written guidance with instructions about notifying ICE when a person of interest comes in for an interview, including a directive to notify ICE agents when an interview is close to ending. According to reporting, ICE and an investigative division at USCIS pre-screen cases for potential arrests and use the interviews as opportunities to make them.
This is not limited to San Diego. Similar arrests have occurred recently in Salt Lake City. While San Diego remains the most severely impacted location, similar patterns are emerging elsewhere—attorneys in San Francisco have reported multiple cases of ICE appearing at or near marriage-based interviews. In one reported case, a Colombian national and green card applicant was arrested by ICE at a USCIS Field Office in San Francisco on October 22. In all reported cases, applicants perceived their interviews to be progressing normally before ICE unexpectedly entered and detained them.
The Abandonment Risk: What Happens If You Skip Your Interview
USCIS denies the benefit request as abandoned if the requestor fails to appear for a required interview or biometrics appointment. This is not discretionary—it is how USCIS handles no-shows under current regulations.
Under the general abandonment principles described in the USCIS Policy Manual, if you fail to appear and do not properly reschedule, your case can be denied for abandonment. The consequences of abandonment are severe. A denial due to abandonment may not be appealed. While you may file a motion to reopen, time is limited and your record is now at risk. You lose that pending application and its priority date, and you may have to refile (if still eligible) under harsher policies or higher fees.
If you fail to attend your scheduled appointment and do not inform USCIS ahead of time, your application may be denied, and you may need to go through the entire process again, losing out on both money and time.
Who Is Most at Risk?
Visa overstays with significant unlawful presence. Individuals who accrue more than 180 days, but less than one year, of unlawful presence are barred from being re-admitted or re-entering the United States for three years; those who accrue more than one year of unlawful presence are barred for ten years. Long overstays consistently trigger ICE attention, and determining whether you are inadmissible after accruing unlawful presence can be complex.
Prior removal orders, including in absentia orders. ICE may resurrect cases from years ago. Many people do not know they have an outstanding removal order from a case decided in absentia. If you are ever detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and you have an outstanding order of removal on your record, even if it was issued without your presence in court, ICE can use that order to take you into custody and deport you from the United States immediately. You would not be allowed to see an immigration judge first.
ESTA or Visa Waiver Program overstays. ESTA overstays are high-risk because ESTA means no court hearing. A Visa Waiver Program overstay renders the alien removable, and the INA prevents a Visa Waiver Program overstay from contesting removal on any basis other than an application for asylum. This means immigration officials can issue an order of removal without the usual court process, which becomes part of your permanent immigration record.
Prior denied applications or withdrawn asylum cases. These can create exposure that surfaces when your name appears in government databases. If you have a pending asylum or TPS application, that may increase flagging risk, especially if a prior denial or removal order exists.
- Multiple entries or fraud suspicion. ICE can still arrest if other red flags exist, including prior removal, criminal history, multiple entries, or fraud suspicion.
How to Check for Prior Removal Orders
Call the Department of Justice’s Automated Case Information System (ACIS) at 1-800-898-7180 to verify hearings and court decisions.
File a FOIA request with EOIR. The EOIR holds all records of current deportation, removal, and/or exclusion proceedings, including immigration judges’ orders and decisions. The results of an EOIR FOIA provide only immigration court records.
File a separate FOIA request with ICE for enforcement records. ICE records include the I-213 Record of Deportable Alien, bond obligor and investigation records, and SEVIS records.
- File a FOIA request with USCIS. USCIS records include an individual’s immigration records plus applications, apprehensions, birth certificate, arrival and departures from the U.S.
Why Attorney Representation Is Now Essential
Given the recent surge in detentions, anyone with a visa overstay, prior removal order, criminal history, or any immigration complications should not attend a green card interview without the assistance of an experienced immigration attorney.
An attorney can run comprehensive background checks before your interview, including FOIA requests to EOIR, ICE, and USCIS. They can assess your specific risk factors based on local trends and current policies, accompany you to your interview, and respond immediately if ICE becomes involved with bond requests, stays of removal, or other emergency measures.
Bringing a lawyer may reduce your statistical risk. This is no longer a process you should navigate alone. The decision whether to attend should never be made in a vacuum—it should be based on a risk assessment, local trends, and current policies, not old assumptions.
Contact the Law Office of Matthew W. Peterson
If you have an upcoming USCIS interview and you overstayed your visa, the decision whether to attend requires careful analysis of your specific circumstances—not assumptions based on how things worked in previous years.
Contact the Law Office of Matthew W. Peterson at 617-295-7500 to schedule a consultation as soon as possible, especially if your interview date is approaching. We can review your immigration history, check for unknown removal orders, assess your enforcement risk, and help you make an informed decision about how to proceed.
This article provides general information, not legal advice.
Sources:
KPBS, ICE agents arrest green card applicants in San Diego: https://www.kpbs.org/news/border-immigration/2025/11/25/ice-agents-arrest-green-card-applicants-in-san-diego
Newsweek, Green Card Applicant Arrested by ICE at USCIS Appointment (San Francisco): https://www.newsweek.com/green-card-applicant-arrest-ice-uscis-10970619
USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 1, Part E, Ch. 9 (Decision Procedures): https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-1-part-e-chapter-9
USCIS, Unlawful Presence and Inadmissibility: https://www.uscis.gov/laws-and-policy/other-resources/unlawful-presence-and-inadmissibility
EOIR FOIA Request Information: https://www.justice.gov/eoir/freedom-information-act-foia
EOIR Request a Record of Proceeding: https://www.justice.gov/eoir/ROPrequest
ICE FOIA Request Information: https://www.ice.gov/foia
- 8 CFR 103.2 (Submission and adjudication of benefit requests): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-8/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-103/subpart-A/section-103.2
