It's the Brian Laird Show on WNYC. I'm Kusha Navidar filling in for Brian today. Happy Friday, everyone.

Coming up on today's show, WNYC and Gothamist education reporter Jessica Gould will be here to talk about

what it's taking for New York City public schools to comply with the new class size restrictions

and why that might include closing some schools. Fred Kaplan, who writes a column for Slate called War Stories, will update us

on the situation with Iran and the buildup of U.S. troops in the Middle East. And to end the show

today, we want to hear about your Lunar New Year celebrations as we learn more from a Chinese

Zodiac expert about what to expect in the year of the firehorse.

But first today, immigration.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration issued a memo directing immigration officers to detain

lawful refugees who aren't yet permanent U.S. residents.

It's the latest policy to limit the legal pathways to naturalizations.

In fact, those legal pathways are themselves now ways in which aspiring residents are targeted, arrested, detained, and potentially deported.

Much of this work is happening through an agency within the Department of

Homeland Security called the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or U.S.C.I. For two decades,

USCIS was seen as the friendlier side of DHS. It didn't make arrests or participate in sweeps.

U.S.C.S. officers filed immigration paperwork, conducted interviews, and administered the pathways to citizenship or permanent residency. But as my next guest has reported, the nature of that agency has changed.

Aspiring citizens and green card holders, including here in New York, appear at scheduled meetings to move their process along, only to find out they are going to be arrested.

So what is going on inside USCIS and are the legal pathways to citizenship still safe?

Joining us is Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker, staff writer, and the author of

Everyone Who Is Gone is Here, The United States, Central America, and the making of a crisis.

Jonathan, welcome back to the show.

Hey, Jonathan, you with us?

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