Immigration Act of 1990 codifies a foreign-policy deportation ground for green-card holders

President George H.W. Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-649) on November 29, 1990, enacting the most comprehensive revision of U.S. immigration law since 1965. The law codified INA § 237(a)(4)(C), authorizing the Secretary of State to deem any noncitizen deportable if their presence or activities would have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences" for the United States. A safeguard in INA § 237(a)(4)(C)(ii) specified that noncitizens could not be deported solely for beliefs, statements, or associations that would be lawful for U.S. citizens — but the provision required the Secretary of State to personally invoke this exception. The foreign policy removal ground lay largely dormant for 36 years until Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked it against Mahmoud Khalil in March 2026.