Washington, 25 November 2025 (dpa/MIA) - US President Donald Trump's administration plans to review the status of many refugees admitted to the US when Joe Biden was president, CNN reported on Monday, citing an internal memo and a person familiar with the matter.

The review reportedly covers refugees who arrived between 2021 and 2025, Biden's presidential term. Around 235,000 people were admitted under the affected programme, according to the report.

Part of the plan is to re-vet and re-interview some of the refugees to ensure that they "don't pose a national security or public safety threat," CNN said.

The New York-based International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) sharply criticized the content of the memo, as reported by news agency Reuters, calling it a "shameful move to bully the most vulnerable."

"Besides the enormous cruelty of this undertaking, it would also be a tremendous waste of government resources to review and re-interview 200,000 people who have been living peacefully in our communities for years," IRAP said. Refugees admitted through the US resettlement programme were already subject to extensive vetting, it added.

The Trump administration has taken a hard line on migration, targeting people without legal status as well as individuals who have sought protection from political persecution or violence, including from countries such as Venezuela and Haiti.

Officials often portray migrants in broadly criminal terms, while critics argue that people without legal status in the US are statistically less likely to commit crimes than US-born people due to fear of deportation.

The Trump administration also drew criticism for sharply reducing the annual cap on refugee admissions and signalling a preference for white South Africans. The ceiling will drop to 7,500 refugees per year, down from 125,000 previously.

MIA file photo