If you only have a few seconds, read these lines:

• Several dozen social media accounts are repeating the same audio claiming that permanent residents will be barred from entering or leaving the United States starting March 21 or 22, 2025  due to a supposed executive order from Donald Trump.
• This is false: the President did not take that action. It is also false that the new executive order prohibits permanent residents from entering or leaving starting from April 25, 2025.
• The assistant commissioner from CBP, Hilton Beckham told Factchequeado that, “Green card holders who have not violated any U.S. laws, committed fraud in their application, or failed to apply for a re-entry permit after an extended period of travel have nothing to fear when entering or leaving the country.”

More than fifty accounts in TikTok and Instagram (like this, this and this) repeated the same audio: “starting this Friday, March 21st, or Saturday, March 22nd (2025), anyone who is a permanent resident would not be able to leave the United States. Or on the contrary (sic), anyone who is outside the country with a permanent residence would not be able to enter due to a new executive order.” However, this is false. 

Also, through our Factchqueado WhatsApp chatbot (+1 646-873-6087), we were asked if another similar  Instagram post was true, stating that “it’s official” that permanent residents will not be able to leave or re-enter the United States starting from April 25, 2025. The content from this message is also false.

This misinformation has also circulated on a network of 38 Spanish language accounts, gathering up to 21 million views, as identified by Alexios Mantzarlis director of Security, Trust and Safety Initiative of Cornell Tech. The majority of the accounts involved have generic names like noticasdeusas, noticiasdeldiausa1 or noticias._ofical, but eight of them impersonate Telemundo and Univision.

According to our research at Factchequeado, we tell you that:

• It is not true that there is a new executive order that prevents permanent residents entering or leaving the U.S. starting from March 21 or 22, or April 25, 2025. Factchequeado reviewed the White House website in the News and Executive Orders section and found nothing regarding this.
• There are no recent changes to the border policy for green card holders, according to the most recent official communications from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which we reviewed at this link.
• Any presidential order must appear in the Federal Register, the official journal of the United States government where laws, executive orders and federal regulations are published. Until now (March 26, 2025), no changes have been recorded in immigration policy regarding permanent residents.
• Transportation Security Administration (TSA), for both domestic and international flights, has not changed its guidelines regarding required documentations or immigration status.

*After the publication of this article, Costumes and Border Protection (CBP) responded to Factchequeado that they are revoking permanent residencies for people who are violating immigration laws, but not the ones who have not committed any crimes. 

“The Trump Administration is enforcing immigration laws, something the previous administration failed to do. Those who violate these laws will be prosecuted, detained and removed as necessary.”, said CBP Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham. “Green card holders who have not violated any U.S. laws, committed fraud in their application, or failed to apply for reentry parole after an extended period or travel have nothing to fear when entering and exiting the country,” he stated.

• No, there was no new executive order preventing permanent residents from leaving or entering the U.S. starting mid-March 2025
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JD Vance’s statement is true, but it does not imply that all permanent residents are at risk

The viral content is circulating after recent statements by Vice President JD Vance, who in an interview with Fox News on March 13, 2025, said: “A green card holder does not have an indefinite right to be in the United States.”

Vance’s remarks come against the backdrop of the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident and Columbia University graduate student who was detained by immigration agents on Saturday, March 8, for participating in pro-Palentinian protests. Khalil was sent to a Louisiana detention center, and a federal judge in New York, Jesse Furman, ordered the federal government not to deport him. The Trump administration is seeking to revoke his immigration status on the grounds that he poses a threat to national security, drawing criticism from civil rights organizations and legal experts, who warn of the risks of limiting free speech and due process. 

As of March 26, 2025, Vance’s statements had not been reflected in a change in immigration law, nor had they been translated into an executive order applicable to all green card holders. 

Viral content on social media coincides with the spring season, which can cause confusion or anxiety among families planning to travel.

What rights does a person with permanent residence in the United States have?

The recent arrests of people with legal status after returning to the United States have raised red flags among immigration lawyers. On March 7, 2025, Fabian Schmidt, a permanent resident of New Hampshire, was detained by CBP agents after returning from a trip to Luxembourg. He is currently being held in a detention center in Rhode Island, “in legal limbo,” said his attorney, David Keller. 

“The administration said from the beginning that it would focus on violent criminals, and that’s not what we’re seeing,” Enrique Mesa, an immigration attorney, told the local NPR station in the Cape Cod, Coast and Islands region of Massachusetts. “All we see is them questioning hard-working residents,” he added. 

Immigration attorney LaToya McBean Pompy told CNN that the biggest change she sees in her green card clients is fear: “They were never afraid before, but today, they are afraid.”
According to David Leopold, former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Khalil’s case has highlighted the vulnerability of all non-citizens. “It’s routine for permanent residents to be deported if they’re convicted of certain crimes,” he explained.

Therefore, permanent residents in the United States should be aware of these three rights, primarily: 

• They are not required to sign Form I-407, which implies the voluntary renunciation of their permanent resident status, even if offered by an Immigration officer at the port of entry, says attorney Jose Jordan, interviewed by Telemundo. 
• If pressured to do so, they can refuse and seek legal advice before signing any documents, according to a document from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), a nonprofit organization titled “The Rights of Legal Permanent Residents.”
• They also have the right to remain silent and to speak to an attorney if they are detained or questioned at a port of entry. 

Reasons for revoking a permanent residence

If you have a valid permanent residence permit and a valid passport from your country, current laws do not prevent you from leaving or entering the United States. However, a green card can be lost in any of the following cases, according to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA): 

• Having serious crimes (drugs, fraud, violence) 
• Lying or committing fraud in immigration processes
• Leaving the country for a long time without permission (more than 1 year)
• Engaging in activities that are dangerous or threaten national security 
• Using false documents to obtain a green card

Valid visas have also been cancelled, here are some cases:

In addition to immigration detentions of people with permanent residence, there have been other cases of non-citizens who hold some type of visa to legally reside in the United States. For example, Lebanese kidney transplant specialist Dr. Rasha Alawieh was deported to Lebanon despite having an H-1B visa for highly skilled workers and despite the fact that, following her detention, a court order temporarily prohibiting her deportation had been issued. 

Additionally, in February 2025, Conecta Arizona, a Factchqueado partner, documented cases of people whose US tourist visas were revoked by CBP when they attempted to enter the country through Arizona. 

Before traveling, you can check whether the required documentation has changed on the official websites tsa.gov and cbp.gov. 

*This article was updated on April 8, 2025, to include a response to a Factchqueado user who, through our chatbot, inquired about the veracity of an Instagram post with similar content. 

**This story was updated on March 31, 2025, to include CBP’s response to Factchqueado and the fake TikTok accounts from Telemundo and Univision spreading misinformation about travel with a green card. 

This article was produced by our media partner Factchequeado, a media outlet dedicated to fact-checking and building a community of Spanish speakers fighting disinformation in the United States. Would you like to take part? Help us verify the information you receive by sending it to our WhatsApp: +16468736087 or http://factchequeado.com/whatsapp

This article was translated from the Spanish by Julie Armenta, a Spanish-language major at the University of Nevada, Reno.