New Hampshire

Feds put ‘severely disruptive’ restrictions on applying for green cards

Published

1 hour ago

May 23, 2026

Feds put ‘severely disruptive’ restrictions on applying for green cards

In a monumental shift in policy, the federal government plans to bar noncitizens from changing their immigration statuses except in extraordinary circumstances.

Local immigration attorneys say the move by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will impact thousands of people in the middle of the process and those planning to adjust their statuses in Massachusetts, and millions of foreign nationals nationwide. That includes students, temporary visa holders, and tourists, say attorneys.

Adjustment of status is when a noncitizen lawfully in the U.S. tries to switch to lawful permanent residence, known as a green card. It has been routine within the USCIS for decades. Adjustment of status has long allowed noncitizens to do so within the US without having to return to their country of origin.

“It’s extremely disruptive and is only going to further burden and complicate the system. It makes no sense,” said Robin Nice, a local immigration attorney.

Todd Pomerleau, a local attorney who has won cases before the Supreme Court, said that the USCIS “can’t eliminate statutory protections nor can it rewrite regulations while going through the proper channels. Otherwise, we’ll sue them in court.”

USCIS released a memo on Friday saying that the system has been abused. Specifically, the memo says the process that allows green card applicants to remain in the U.S. while applying was never intended to replace the system of applying for a visa from abroad. It instructs officers to treat adjustment of status applications as an exceptional, discretionary benefit, and that it is now “an extraordinary form of immigration relief.”

The agency says that even if applicants meet requirements for permanent residence when they’re about to apply in the US, they must leave the U.S. when their current visa ends, and wait for the State Department to process their case.

“It affects every person within the United States that is seeking adjustment of status. It affects students, it effects temporary protected status holders, it affects business visa holders,” said Annelise Araujo, a lawyer who runs an immigration practice in Boston.

Given the backlog of cases, attorneys say noncitizens will have to wait abroad for an indefinite period of time, and potentially be ineligible to return.

USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said the change is about “returning to the original intent of the law.”

“This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes. When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the U.S. illegally after being denied residency,” he said in a statement. Kahler said nonimmigrants, like students, temporary workers, or people on tourist visas, come to the U.S. for a short time and for a specific purpose, and they must leave after.

Nice said the policy will drive immigrants “underground” and force them to pay thousands of extra dollars annually in renewing temporary statuses and work permits, since they won’t want to go abroad.

Araujo said the policy change will have a large impact on students. F-1 student visa holders can currently apply for green cards with limitations.

“They may change what their goals are, right? They may decide that they want to permanently stay after they’ve entered the United States and they may look for a job here. And that’s why adjustment of status exists,” she said.

Both Nice and Araujo said USCIS is wrong that this has previously been standard policy.

Araujo said the change will also impact people on work visas, like CEOs of multinational corporations, or on specialized visas, like an H-1B, a visa for foreign nationals with specialized knowledge in fields like technology, engineering, healthcare or finance.

“They can go from a non-immigrant intent, which was the intent they had at the time they applied to enter, to a immigrant intent after they’ve been in the United States,” she said. Noncitizens told they can’t have a path to a green card and work lawfully may start considering other countries.

Pomerleau recommended noncitizens thinking of adjusting their status or in the middle of it consult with an immigration attorney.

“This is just yet another sign of the government trying to make things difficult for people that are even able to follow the laws that Congress created,” said Pomerleau.

Source link

New Hampshire

Best New Hampshire schools for athletes? According to one study, these are top 25

Published

13 hours ago

May 23, 2026

Press Room

Best New Hampshire schools for athletes? According to one study, these are top 25

New Hampshire has long carried an athletic pedigree in the high school landscape.

Total number of sports: 35

1. Bedford High School

Total number of sports: 34

Source link

New Hampshire

New Hampshire police plan to charge

Published

1 day ago

May 22, 2026

Press Room

Following the arrest of more than 50 people after a “takeover” at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire during the hot weather on Tuesday, the police chief tells WBZ-TV his department is seeking to charge those who organized the event.

Flyers posted on various social media sites advertised a “Hampton Beach Takeover.” The result was that on Tuesday, thousands of kids, many of them high school seniors skipping school, congregated at Hampton Beach.

When the skies opened and it started rain around 4:30, the group of teens ran onto Ocean Boulevard, where police say that fights broke out. Fifty people were arrested for charges, including alcohol possession and disorderly conduct.

Beach takeovers like this are not uncommon. WBZ-TV has covered several similar situations on Revere Beach in Massachusetts.

Local Hampton business owner Kristen Statires said this has become an annual issue, happening on the first hot weather day of every season since the pandemic.

“And the police know about it, we know about it, so we were expecting it. Like we knew it was going to happen,” she said.

When the kids ran into the street, she closed her shop doors and shut down for the day.

In a phone call with WBZ, Hampton Police Chief Alex Reno said his department already knows the two groups of people behind organizing the beach takeover, and plans to file the appropriate charges.

“It would be an aggressive move on the police’s part, but it would certainly send a message,” said WBZ legal analyst Jennifer Roman.

Reno said his department was continuing to gather evidence and is working with law-enforcement partners across New England and even at the federal level to determine the appropriate charges before issuing arrest warrants. The hope is that charging the organizers creates a deterrent for any future similar behavior.

In:

Source link

New Hampshire

Nashua Man Had Baggies Of Cocaine, Fentanyl, And Meth Inside Coalition Apartment Building, Concord Cops Say

Published

2 days ago

May 22, 2026

Press Room

Nashua Man Had Baggies Of Cocaine, Fentanyl, And Meth Inside Coalition Apartment Building, Concord Cops Say

CONCORD, NH — The fifth person arrested during a drug raid at the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness apartment building downtown is due back in court for a probable cause hearing next month.

Wilkie Gabriel Reyes Reynoso, 27, of Kendrick Street in Nashua, was arrested on May 14 on three felony counts of possession of a controlled drug.

On May 13, just before midnight, police executed a search warrant at an apartment in the Coalition’s new building on South State Street. The warrant was for the apartment and anyone located inside, according to an affidavit.

Also Read

Earlier in the evening, Denise Davenport, 57, who listed the address as her residence despite being trespassed from all Concord Coalition properties, was picked up on an electronic bench warrant as well as two felony counts of acts prohibited-sale of controlled drugs.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department and Concord District Court and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains how to request the removal of a name from New Hampshire Patch police reports.

Officers arrived at the apartment and detained multiple people.

Reyes Reynoso was accused of possessing a baggie of fentanyl, a baggie of methamphetamine, and two baggies of cocaine. He also had a cell phone vape, a cell phone, and $295 in cash, the affidavit said. Reyes Reynoso was processed and held on preventative detention.

Crystal Marquis Credit: Concord Police Department

Crystal Marquis, 46, of Concord, on a resisting arrest or detention charge.

Brittany Price Credit: Concord Police Department

Brittany Price, 29, of Concord, on a Merrimack County Sheriff’s Department warrant on a theft by unauthorized taking charge, as well as warrants from the Hooksett police, Brentwood District Court, and two Franklin District Court warrants. Another man, in his late 40s, was detained but has not been charged, according to police documents. According to the affidavit, “(he) was searched and nothing was located on his person.”

Reyes Reynoso was deemed “indigent” by Judge Ryan Guptill and given a public defender. He was released on personal recognizance after being arraigned on May 14 and is due back in Concord District Court for a probable cause hearing on June 8.

Source link