The Trump administration’s effort to slow legal migration is now reaching a group that was long seen as relatively protected: spouses of U.S. citizens. Lawyers and affected families say the result is more fear, more delays, and in some cases a decision to leave the country rather than risk detention.
That shift is reshaping family life for couples who expected marriage to offer a clear path through the immigration system. According to www.npr.org, some spouses have been separated from American partners, while others are avoiding contact with immigration authorities altogether.
Why marriage cases are feeling the pressure
The administration has rolled out a wide set of policy changes since President Trump returned to the White House last year. Those moves include pausing immigrant visas for people from 75 countries, increasing scrutiny at green-card interviews, and widening the group targeted for deportation.
Ashley DeAzevedo, executive director of American Families United, said the impact has been especially hard on U.S. citizen spouses. “Life has become a lot more difficult for Americans who are married to somebody who is not born in this country,” she said.
DeAzevedo said the organization’s membership has grown over the last year as more families seek help. She said it now has about 1.4 million people seeking support in the U.S. and about 300,000 outside the country.
What the government is saying
The administration argues that marriage-based cases should face stronger review and says U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is simply following the law. In a statement to www.npr.org, USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said identity and history checks for people seeking immigration benefits require a rigorous process.
Kahler said the process “prioritizes the safety of the American people by more thoroughly screening and vetting all aliens.” He also said a pending or approved Form I-130 does not confer immigration status and does not protect someone from deportation.
| Marriage-Based Immigration Snapshot | Figure | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Spouses who received green cards in 2024 | About 343,000 | Roughly a quarter of all green-card approvals |
| Average processing time for family petitions | 13 months | Reported as broadly in line with early 2025 wait times |
| Average processing time for fiancé petitions | 7 months | Reported as broadly in line with early 2025 wait times |
| Immediate family relative petitions approved in the first quarter of the 2026 fiscal year | 167,401 | Includes family sponsorship cases |
| Fiancé petitions approved in the first quarter of the 2026 fiscal year | 8,612 | Separate from family relative petitions |
Families caught in limbo
DeAzevedo said some members have chosen to self-deport because they fear indefinite detention. She also said some families have seen spouses detained, something she said her group had not experienced before because there had always been a clear prioritization for who would be detained.
The effects are not limited to the people applying for green cards or citizenship. In some cases, U.S. citizen spouses and their families are trying to make major life decisions while immigration cases remain unresolved.
Es, a green-card holder married to a U.S. citizen, said her case has been stalled by the travel ban affecting people from one of 39 countries. She said the delay has disrupted her plans to move to Germany with her Army husband and forced the couple to rethink housing, travel, and arrangements for their two young U.S. citizen children.
“That’ll mess up his readiness [for military service],” Es said. “He’ll be thousands of miles away and he has to think about his job and will be worried about us and that is just not fair.”
A pathway that still matters
Spousal and fiancé petitions remain one of the main ways U.S. citizens interact with the immigration system. Homeland Security data from 2024 shows that about 343,000 people received green cards through spouses, and the total roughly doubles when other immediate family members such as children and parents are included.
Even so, the administration says pending marriage-based petitions do not shield anyone from enforcement. USCIS has said that people who entered without inspection or stayed beyond their permitted period can still face immigration action, even if they are married to U.S. citizens.
For many couples, that leaves the marriage process in a far more uncertain place than it once was, with families trying to navigate detentions, travel bans, and delayed decisions at the same time.
