NPR.

This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Julia Ritchie.

And I'm Adrienne Ma.

Right now, the Trump administration's policy on green cards is causing a lot of confusion among would-be immigrants.

A few weeks ago, it made a big announcement saying, quote,

from now on, an alien who

is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a green card must return to their home country to apply,

except in extraordinary circumstances. What was your reaction to that announcement?

I might have to leave to maybe get a green card, and I have to stop doing my job, and that doesn't make any sense.

I almost had a panic attack, and then I was like, I thought we were over this.

You know who else almost had a panic attack? The American business lobby.

After they complained about the policy, the administration backpedaled.

In a statement, the agency that handles green cards told us, quote, this policy will have no

noticeable impact on highly qualified applicants and skilled professionals who have followed the law,

unquote. But this is kind of vague, right? And so it's not really comforting to those still

hoping for a green card. I honestly have never been more scared.

That's the thing is that I feel like I'm completely powerless,

and that the only thing I can do is really wait and see.

We asked listeners to tell us if and how they are affected by this policy shift.

So today on the show, we hear from some of them.

They wanted to share their stories, but not their names. Each of them told us they were

afraid talking publicly could hurt their chances of getting a green card. After the break,

...