Senior Green Card holders face increased pressure to surrender status at US airports
ByBhavika Rathore
Mar 18, 2025 12:21 AM IST
An increase in Green Card holders, especially elderly Indians, face scrutiny and pressure to relinquish their status at U.S. airports.
Immigration attorneys are reporting a rise in the number of green Card holders, including many Indians, facing secondary inspection and even overnight detention at U.S. airports by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. In some cases, individuals are being "pressured" to relinquish their green cards voluntarily. Elderly Indians, who live with their children in the U.S. but spend the winter months in India, appear to be particularly vulnerable to this scrutiny.
Elderly Indian Green Card holders are particularly vulnerable to pressure from Customs and Border Protection, risking their lawful permanent resident status during travel. (Representational image)
Elderly Indian Green Card holders are particularly vulnerable to pressure from Customs and Border Protection, risking their lawful permanent resident status during travel. (Representational image)
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Elderly Green Card holders warned not to surrender their status
According to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), a lawful permanent resident (LPR), or green card holder, who has been absent from the U.S. for over 180 days is considered to be seeking ‘re-admission’ and may be subject to grounds of inadmissibility. While the issue of abandonment (relinquishment) of green card status generally arises when an individual has been outside the U.S. for more than a year, a winter stay in India is now also facing heightened scrutiny.
Attorneys advise the green card holders to never surrender their green cards under any circumstances. Ashwin Sharma who is an immigration attorney si Florida shared with TOI, “I have personally handled cases recently where the CBP has targeted elderly Indian green card holders, particularly grandparents who happen to have spent a bit longer outside the US, and pressured them to sign Form I-407 to ‘voluntarily’ surrender their lawful permanent resident status (green card). And the moment they have tried to push back, they have been met with threats of detention or ‘removal’ by the CBP officers who have been emboldened by Trump to see themselves as judge, jury, and executioner.”
Another lawyer, Kripa Upadhyay, who is also an immigration attorney but based in Seattle strictly advised to not surrender green cards under pressure. She told the media outlet, “Generally, an individual’s green card cannot be revoked by the border unless the person ‘voluntarily’ surrenders (by signing Form I-407). If a green card holder has spent more than 365 days out of the US they are deemed to have ‘abandoned’ their residence. Even if this is the allegation, the green card holder has the right to challenge this in court but they lose this right if they ‘voluntarily’ surrender at the airport!”
Immigration attorney Rajiv S Khanna who is based in Arlington noted, “One of the common scenarios that I have provided consultations on is when green card holders are not living in the US. They may visit every few months and consider that to be sufficient. That is legally incorrect. Maintaining a green card requires establishing and maintaining a permanent home in the US. Anything short of that can be grounds for ‘lifting the green card’ for abandonment," as reported by TOI.
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Green Gard holders advised to learn about their rights
Appointed as the managing attorney at MPZ Law Group, Snehal Batra explained, “Only an immigration judge can take away a green card, so individuals should not sign this form. Unfortunately, people do not realise this because they are afraid, confused or do not understand what they are signing due to language barriers. This is a particular problem for our elderly green card holders who spend winter months in India and may not have sufficient evidence to prove maintenance of permanent resident status. Through documentation such as ownership of property, tax returns and employment one can overcome a presumption of abandonment.”
She shared a recent case where a person was frequently stopped for inspections despite being within the 180 days time frame as he visited India frequently. She added, “He was lucky this time and was admitted into the country but warned by CBP to give up his green card if he was not living in the US on a permanent basis.”
Jesse Bless who is also an immigration lawyer noted similar instances as she told the outlet that “Lawful permanent residents who are outside the US for more than a year (without a re-entry permit) are getting a notice to appear in removal proceedings.”
The co-founder of Siskin Susser, Greg Siskin reminisced, “During the previous Trump administration, there were sky marshals who were passing forms out on planes asking people to surrender their green cards and people were calling and texting from the planes asking what to do. People need to not surrender their cards. But they must be prepared to sit for a while in secondary inspection.” Siskin added, “It is possible a CBP officer could even detain a person overnight. But a person is entitled to a hearing in front of a judge and most judges are not going to be happy about these cases going in front of them so I suspect CBP will cave in if a person is adamant about not surrendering.”
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