> Visa applicants can often be located in the US

Since 9/11, one cannot apply for a US visa if they’re in US. In the context of US immigration, “visa” grants entry, “status” grants stay. If you’re in US, and need to change “status” to a different category (business/leisure, student, etc), you have two primary choices: (1) apply for “change of status” in US, or (2) leave US, apply for a new “visa” in the new category, and enter US using that new “visa”.

Thank you! Many people comment without realizing this.

Your entry into the states (visa) and your stay (status) in the states are two completely different things. When you enter with a visa, the CBP officer note your status and its validity date on your I-94.

All a visa does is afford you the opportunity to present yourself at the port of entry and request to enter, it bears no guarantee nor right to enter.

Does this even have to be a citizenship issue? The DHS is providing evidence that could alter the judgement of many of these people's cases. Do you have to be American to request that evidence be vetted? If anything, one wrong algo and you can re-open or close buckets of cases at once.