Can ICE Arrest Green Card Holders? What the Supreme Court Ruling Changed in 2026

Arzoo Connor • October 30, 2026

ICE can arrest and initiate removal proceedings against a lawful permanent resident.

Having a green card does not make you immune from immigration enforcement. What the Supreme Court changed in June 2026 is specifically what happens at the border when a green card holder returns from international travel — and the change made an already vulnerable situation significantly more dangerous for people with certain histories.

I want to explain what the ruling actually did, who is most affected, and what every green card holder needs to understand before making any international travel decisions.

What the Supreme Court ruling changed

Before June 2026, when a lawful permanent resident returned to the United States from international travel, border officers needed clear and convincing evidence of a disqualifying ground before they could treat that person as an applicant for admission rather than someone returning home. That distinction matters enormously because the legal rights of someone being treated as a returning resident are significantly stronger than the rights of someone being treated as an applicant for admission.

The Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 in June 2026 that suspicion of a crime — not proof, not a conviction, just suspicion — is now enough for a border officer to treat a returning green card holder as someone seeking admission. That shifts the burden onto the green card holder to establish their admissibility, rather than onto the government to prove they should not be let in.

In practical terms this means a green card holder returning from a trip abroad with any criminal history — an old arrest, a charge that was dismissed, a minor conviction from years ago — faces a meaningfully higher risk at the port of entry than they did before this ruling.

What can trigger a problem at the border

Any criminal record is worth reviewing with an immigration attorney before you travel internationally. The categories that have always been most serious in the immigration context include drug offenses of any kind, crimes involving moral turpitude, domestic violence offenses, and any crime that could be classified as an aggravated felony under immigration law. That last category is broader than most people realize — immigration law defines aggravated felony differently than state criminal law and some offenses that seem minor under state law carry significant immigration consequences.

Prior removal orders or periods of unlawful presence in your history also matter. If you had any immigration court proceedings before you received your green card, those records exist in the EOIR system and can be raised at the border.

The key point is that a border officer now has broader discretion to act on any of these things, and the threshold for doing so has been lowered.

What about green card holders who are already in the United States

The Supreme Court ruling specifically addresses what happens at the border when returning from international travel. It does not directly change what happens to green card holders who are inside the United States and have not traveled internationally.

That said, ICE enforcement priorities in 2025 and 2026 have broadened significantly. Green card holders with criminal histories have always been subject to removal if their conviction falls into a removable category. That enforcement has been more active recently, not less. If you have a green card and a criminal record, you should talk to an immigration attorney about what your record means for your immigration status regardless of whether you are planning to travel.

What green card holders should do before any international travel

If you have a green card and you are thinking about traveling internationally, talk to an immigration attorney before you book the ticket. Not at the airport, not when you land — before you make the decision to go.

Bring your complete criminal history to that conversation. Everything. Arrests that were dismissed, charges that were reduced, old misdemeanors. An attorney who knows immigration law can tell you which items on your record are likely to cause problems and which are not. That assessment is much cheaper than the alternative.

Given the current enforcement environment and the Supreme Court ruling, the advice I am giving my clients is simple: if you have any criminal record of any kind, do not travel internationally without talking to us first. The risk calculus changed in June 2026 and it changed in a direction that makes caution more important, not less.

If you have questions about your green card and your immigration history, call us before your next trip. A consultation may be the most important thing you do this year.

Attorney Arzoo Connor

ARC Legal Services | Fort Worth, TX | Hablamos Español

469-200-0158 | arclawoffice.com

This post is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Every immigration case is different. Please consult a qualified attorney about your individual situation.

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Can I Get a Green Card If I Entered the United States Without Inspection?

By Arzoo Connor • October 30, 2026

Whether you can get a green card after entering the United States without inspection depends on several factors — whether you have a qualifying family member, how long you have been here, whether you have any prior removal orders, and your specific immigration history. There is no single yes or no answer. But there are paths that exist for some people in this situation, and there are specific reasons why others cannot use them, and understanding which category you are in is the most important thing you can do right now. This is the question I hear most in my office in Fort Worth. People who have been here for ten, fifteen, twenty years. People who have US citizen children, US citizen spouses. People who built lives here and want to know whether there is a legal path forward. Here is the honest answer. What 'entered without inspection' means and why it matters Entering without inspection means crossing into the United States without going through an official port of entry or without being admitted by an immigration officer. No visa. No stamp. Just crossing. This matters for green card purposes because the standard path to a green card — called adjustment of status — generally requires that you were inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States. If you entered without inspection, you were not admitted. That creates a barrier to adjusting status inside the country that people who entered with a visa and overstayed do not face in the same way. When a path to a green card may exist despite entering without inspection The most common situation where a path exists is through a provision called 245(i). This is a law that allows certain people who entered without inspection — or who have other technical bars to adjustment of status — to still apply for a green card inside the United States, as long as they had a family petition or labor certification filed on their behalf before April 30, 2001, and they pay a penalty fee. If you have a family member who filed for you before that date, this may apply to you. The date cutoff is firm and there is no exception to it. Another situation is parole in place for military families. If you are an immediate family member — spouse, child, or parent — of someone on active duty in the US military or a veteran, you may be eligible for parole in place, which gives you a form of admission that then allows you to apply for adjustment of status. This is a specific and limited exception, but it is a real one. There is also consular processing — leaving the United States and applying for an immigrant visa at a US consulate abroad. This is sometimes an option, but it requires understanding the unlawful presence bars before you go. If you have been in the United States unlawfully for more than 180 days and you leave, you trigger a bar on returning. More than one year unlawfully, and it is a ten-year bar. Whether a waiver of that bar is available depends on your qualifying relatives and the hardship your absence would cause them. When there is no direct path currently available If you entered without inspection, you do not have 245(i) eligibility, you do not have a military family connection, and your only option would require leaving the country and triggering an unlawful presence bar — and you do not have qualifying relatives who could support a hardship waiver — then there may not be a straightforward path to a green card right now. That is a hard answer to hear and I give it plainly because the alternative — spending money on an application that does not succeed, or making decisions about leaving the country without understanding the consequences — is worse. Some people in this situation have other options: cancellation of removal if they end up in immigration court, U visa if they have been a victim of a qualifying crime, VAWA if they have been abused by a US citizen or LPR spouse or parent. Those are separate conversations worth having. Why you need an attorney to assess your specific situation The analysis of whether a path exists depends on facts that are specific to your case. When exactly you entered. Whether you have had any prior immigration court proceedings. Whether anyone has ever filed any petition for you. Whether you have any criminal history. Whether you have qualifying family members and what their status is. I have sat across from people who came in and were certain they had no options and found a path they did not know existed. I have also sat across from people who were certain they qualified for something and had to tell them the specific facts of their situation meant they did not. There is no substitute for having someone look at your actual file. A consultation will tell you honestly where you stand and what, if anything, can be done. Call us. Attorney Arzoo Connor ARC Legal Services | Fort Worth, TX | Hablamos Español 469-200-0158 | arclawoffice.com This post is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Every immigration case is different. Please consult a qualified attorney about your individual situation.