Did U.S. President Donald Trump propose a bill that bans all lawful permanent residents, also known as green card holders, from re-entering the U.S., if they leave? No, that's not true: As of June 11, 2025, Lead Stories found no such bill on the website of Congress. An earlier June 2025 White House proclamation about new travel restrictions did not mention the purported measure.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok where it was published on June 10, 2025. It opened:
Breaking news: Trump moves to ban green card holders from re-entering the U.S.
The voice-over continued:
Under the proposed policy, every international trip could carry legal risks. Green card holders, even those who have lived in the US for decades, would be required to submit full travel plans, undergo background checks and secure government approval before leaving. Even short family visits could be blocked. A missing form, a processing delay or a flagged record could lead to complete denial of re-entry. A simple visit to aging parents or attending a funeral could turn into weeks of detention or even permanent exile. Families now face an impossible choice, stay trapped inside the US or risk losing everything just to see loved ones abroad. And the bigger cost? Green card holders make up 20% of America's healthcare, tech and small business workforce. Locking them out could cost billions and severely weaken the economy. Congressional debate is heating up. If passed, millions could lose their stability overnight. Whose side are you on?
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot by Lead Stories)
The post reviewed in this fact check was published shortly after the June 4, 2025, White House proclamation (archived here) announcing a new travel ban that went into effect five days later (archived here). Yet, the proclamation did not say the Trump administration was banning all green card holders from returning to the U.S., and the White House later clarified (archived here) that green card holders were exempt from the ban, among several other categories (archived here).
A search across the Congress website for the keywords seen here (archived here) did not produce confirmation that, as of June 11, 2025, there is a new Republican-sponsored bill in either of the two chambers proposing that lawful permanent residents be either banned from entering the U.S. or required to obtain the government's approval for their travel plans before leaving the country.
When reached for comments via email on June 11, 2025, a White House spokesperson declined to comment on what that person described as "hypothetical legislation" whose existence was not proven.
The requirement to receive government approval for travel plans mentioned in the video on TikTok appears to be consistent with a reentry permit application (archived here) that must be completed only by those permanent residents who plan to spend a year or more abroad.
Green card holders have more procedural protections compared to people entering the U.S. on temporary visas (archived here), but according to immigration authorities (archived here), they are still not guaranteed automatic entry into the country, unlike U.S. citizens. If permanent residents spend too much time abroad, their green card may become invalid as a result of the overseas stay's duration, or a Customs and Border Protection officer may decide that a person abandoned their permanent residency in the U.S. or find other grounds to deny reentry.
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