Trump administration strips deportation protections from spouses of U.S. citizens

The Trump administration has formally reversed a decades-long operational norm protecting spouses of U.S. citizens from deportation enforcement. USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler told NPR on July 6 that pending spousal petitions do not shield immigrants from removal. The shift includes visa pauses for 75 countries and heightened interview scrutiny. Around 1.4 million people in the U.S. with marriage-based petitions now face uncertainty previously reserved for other noncitizen populations.