Married to an American citizen was once considered among the most secure positions a foreign national could occupy under U.S. immigration law. That assumption is now being tested, as attorneys and families affected by the Trump administration's immigration overhaul describe a landscape where even that long-standing protection has lost much of its force, according to reporting by NPR.

"Life has become a lot more difficult for Americans who are married to somebody who is not born in this country," said Ashley DeAzevedo, executive director of American Families United, an organization that advocates for U.S. citizen spouses and immediate family members engaged in immigration processes.

Her group, which supports roughly 1.4 million people inside the United States and another 300,000 abroad — individuals who have either left the country or are trying to enter — has seen its membership grow over the past year as rapid policy shifts ripple through the immigration system.

Among the measures introduced since President Trump returned to office: a pause on immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries, heightened scrutiny during green-card interviews, and a broader definition of who qualifies as a deportation target. Those changes have landed on all categories of immigrants, including people pursuing legal status through marriage to an American.

"We saw so many of our members make the decision to self-deport, to leave the country for fear of this indefinite detention," DeAzevedo said. "We saw some members who had their spouses detained — and that was something we had not experienced previously because there was always this prioritization of who was going to be detained."

Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, acknowledged that the government has always reviewed marriage-based applications carefully. What has changed, she said, is that applicants are now being caught up in sweeping enforcement actions that previously left them alone while their cases were pending.

"This group of individuals have always had a special place under the law," Dalal-Dheini said. "Spouses of U.S. citizens aren't subject to the immigrant quotas. They don't have to have a cap. Spouses of U.S. citizens don't [have to have maintained] their legal status here in order to adjust. And so the law has considered them to be a privileged class. But this administration is treating them like all other immigrants."

Officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services push back on that characterization, arguing that earlier administrations failed to apply adequate scrutiny to marriage-related petitions and that the agency is simply following the law. USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler told NPR the identity and background checks required of anyone seeking immigration benefits demand a rigorous process — "one that prioritizes the safety of the American people by more thoroughly screening and vetting all aliens."

Kahler was explicit that initiating a spousal petition offers no immunity from removal. "A pending or approved Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, does not confer any immigration status. All aliens are expected to comply with U.S. immigration laws," he said. "Those who entered without inspection or who remain in the United States beyond their permitted stay are illegal aliens who may be subject to immigration enforcement action."

The scale of marriage-based immigration makes the policy stakes considerable. Department of Homeland Security figures from 2024 show approximately 343,000 people obtained green cards through a spousal relationship — roughly a quarter of all approvals that year. Family and fiancé petitions together account for nearly half of all green-card grants, a share that doubles when children and parents are included. Over the previous decade, spousal green cards have ranged between 200,000 and 340,000 annually.

Processing times in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026 averaged 13 months for family-based petitions and seven months for fiancé cases, figures broadly consistent with early 2025 benchmarks before the new policies took hold. During that same quarter, agencies approved 167,401 immediate relative petitions and 8,612 fiancé petitions.

Those aggregate numbers, however, may obscure hardships concentrated among applicants from countries facing visa holds or travel restrictions. One illustrative case involves a green-card holder who has lived in the United States for roughly 30 years and is married to a U.S. Army soldier. Born in one of 39 nations covered by a travel ban enacted last year, she filed for citizenship last year, but her application has yet to be reviewed. Notably, the ban contains no carve-out for spouses of military personnel.

The couple is now grappling with what to do with their house and whether they would have to travel separately, the woman said, speaking on condition of anonymity because her husband is in the Army and her immigration case is pending. "We are due to [move] to Germany," she said. "We were actually due to leave in July but had to push it to October to see if we can get [my citizenship] done."

This article is based on reporting by NPR. All facts, figures, and attributions reflect the original source material.