Immigration News & Updates
Daily briefings on USCIS policy, court decisions, and enforcement actions affecting immigrants in 2026.
Court Decisions
Judge Carter refuses DOJ request to set aside 20,000 California ballots; DOJ appeals
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter denied a temporary restraining order that would have stopped California officials from processing ballots tied to people federal officials call “likely” noncitizens. In a 26-page ruling he wrote that “once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred,” and said the government can keep prosecuting people who vote illegally instead. Los Angeles County’s preliminary review found that many people on the list do not have active voter registrations. The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal the same evening.
Minnesota judge orders ICE to turn around a van carrying a man re-arrested seconds after his court-ordered release
Milton Saltos Velasquez, an Ecuadorian asylum applicant who passed a credible fear screening in 2023, was told on October 19 he was free under a habeas order, then handcuffed again before he left the Whipple Federal Building. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan wrote that ICE had violated his order and must release Saltos immediately or face sanctions, and agents already on the road to the Kandiyohi County Jail drove him back. MPR has confirmed seven of these instant re-arrests. Bryan has said that treating a re-arrest as a release “would render habeas relief meaningless.”
Policy Updates
CBP One parolees can ask USCIS to reopen denials caused by the April 2025 termination emails, with no fee and no deadline
The class covers people who booked a CBP One appointment, were paroled between May 16, 2023 and January 19, 2025, got the “It is time for you to leave” email in April 2025, and are still in the U.S. If USCIS denied, rejected, closed or referred a case to immigration court between April 1, 2025 and April 21, 2026 because of that email, the class member can file a fee-free request on Form I-290B, or under the Form I-589 instructions for asylum. Parole-based work permits are excluded, and the separate termination notices issued April 21, 2026 still stand. Anyone in removal proceedings generally must have the case terminated first.
DHS suspends visa-free travel for Chinese visitors to the Northern Mariana Islands starting October 30
The Economic Vitality & Security Travel Authorization Program let pre-screened Chinese nationals visit the CNMI for short stays without a visa. DHS cited national security, law enforcement and immigration enforcement concerns and suspended it effective 2 p.m. EDT on October 30 while it reviews the program with the State and Interior Departments. Future visitors will generally need a regular U.S. visitor visa.
Enforcement Updates
Florida ICE arrests nearly doubled this summer, and more than half of those arrested had no criminal record
Deportation Data Project figures through August 6 show about 29,000 ICE arrests in Florida this year, second only to Texas. The summer pace averaged more than 200 a day. Florida law requires state agencies and sheriffs to sign 287(g) agreements, and many arrests begin with a local traffic stop that ends in a transfer to ICE.
Washington advocates say ICE arrests there hit a high in July and have not slowed
Deportation Data Project numbers show about 700 ICE arrests in Washington in July, the most of the current administration. Speakers in Seattle described a father stopped on his way to a plumbing job, a home caregiver arrested at an immigration check-in, and a 19-year-old about to start at the University of Washington. Most were taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.
Organizer of hundreds of staged robberies for U visa applications gets two years in federal prison
Parth Nayi, 29, of Woodridge, Illinois, staged fake armed robberies at stores and restaurants around the country from 2022 to 2024. Thousands of fake “victims” paid him $5,000 to $30,000 each to get police certifications for U visa applications. Judge Mary Rowland sentenced him on October 22 and fined him $50,000, and five others have been convicted. Expect closer USCIS scrutiny of robbery-based U visa petitions.
Analysis
GBH documentary: a Chelsea father arrested minutes after passing his fear interview at the Boston asylum office
Milton Mejia and his wife fled cartel violence in Honduras that killed her sister and his uncle. On September 12, 2025, ICE arrested him at the USCIS Asylum Office in Boston right after he passed a reasonable fear interview, and he was moved to Louisiana, 1,600 miles from his family and lawyer. A Texas judge ordered him deported in January. He is still detained while his appeal is pending, and his wife is struggling to keep their three daughters housed.
What This Means for Your Case
- CBP One parolees: if USCIS denied or rejected your asylum, green card or other case after the April 2025 email, you may be able to reopen it now at no cost. There is no deadline, but the request has to explain how the termination affected the decision, and you still have to prove you qualify.
- Family member in ICE detention: a release order does not always end detention. If you have a habeas case, make sure your lawyer can reach the judge right away if ICE re-arrests your relative at the door.
- Scheduled interviews and check-ins: arrests at asylum offices and ICE check-ins keep happening, even after good results. Go to every appointment, but meet with a lawyer first and leave a family member with your A-number and your lawyer’s phone number.
- U visa applicants: a real crime, honest certification, and a detailed record of how you helped police matter more than ever. Never pay anyone to create a crime or a police report. It is a federal crime and a permanent bar.
- Noncitizens of any status: do not register or vote in U.S. elections. The courts are blocking blanket ballot freezes, but individual prosecutions continue.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Supreme Court will not restore immigration judges’ power to pause deportation cases
In an unsigned order with no noted dissents, the justices turned down Baltimore, Columbus and New Haven, which had asked the Court to put on hold a settlement between Texas and the Trump administration that ended administrative closure. Texas sued in June, calling the practice “indefinite amnesty,” and the administration then dropped the rule. Administrative closure let judges take a case off the active calendar while the person pursued a visa, waiver or humanitarian relief elsewhere. For now, those cases stay on the docket.
Boston judge blocks rule cutting refugees’ time to contest termination from 30 days to 10
U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick stayed the October 14 USCIS rule through November 6 in Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans v. Edlow, a class action filed October 26. Refugees who got termination notices between October 14 and October 27 with a deadline under 30 days do not have to answer during the stay, and USCIS cannot end their status for failing to respond. Advocates say about 186,000 refugees could be affected. The judge has not yet ruled on challenges to the freeze on green cards for Biden-era refugees and the re-vetting program.
Federal judge holds Attorney General and DHS Secretary in civil contempt over a man re-arrested after his court-ordered release
Nain Vasquez Gonzalez spent more than three years in immigration custody before the Third Circuit granted him habeas relief. On June 26, agents arrested him again for about 11 hours, saying a facial-recognition match made them think he was someone else. Magistrate Judge J. Maureen Kelly of the Western District of Pennsylvania called the arrest “unauthorized and unlawful,” criticized the missing body-camera footage and shifting explanations, and ordered Todd Blanche, Markwayne Mullin and Philadelphia ICE field office director John Rife to pay his attorney fees.
Policy Updates
Tennessee turns away DACA recipients trying to renew driver’s licenses
Hundreds of DACA recipients say they have been denied renewals since October 1. The Department of Safety and Homeland Security says state law requires proof of a specific, time-limited authorized stay and that “DACA and work permits do not count.” Advocates trace the change to a 2025 special-session law. Reporting indicates TPS holders, asylees and others relying on an EAD are running into the same problem. The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition is collecting cases; no lawsuit has been reported yet.
Enforcement Updates
AP: records back a detained man’s claim that he is a Florida-born U.S. citizen
Phillip James, 39, has paranoid schizophrenia and has been held since ICE arrested him after a New York hearing on January 5. A judge ordered him removed to Jamaica in April, the country he himself names. His mother, a 1988 paternity order and his birth certificate place his birth in Orange County, Florida, and he held U.S. passports issued in 2008 and 2023. The government revoked the passport and says the birth certificate was fraudulent but has not shown evidence. A federal judge in Indiana is weighing his release, and the BIA is reviewing the order.
Report: local police deputized by ICE now outnumber its deportation officers more than two to one
More than 29,000 state and local officers were deputized under 287(g) between January 2025 and October 2026, compared with about 11,600 ICE deportation officers, and the number doubled in the last eight months. Those partnerships produced more than 47,000 immigration arrests through August, about half of them in Florida and Texas. FWD.us says enforcement has shifted from big city operations to routine highway stops, and the Justice Department has offered $3 billion in grants to agencies that join.
Analysis
Pew: 56% of Americans now view ICE unfavorably, the lowest rating of 12 federal agencies
The survey of 5,062 adults, taken September 28 to October 4, found 35% favorable and 56% unfavorable, up from 49% unfavorable a year ago. Republicans still mostly approve, though support slipped from 72% to about two-thirds. Among Democrats, 84% view the agency unfavorably.
What This Means for Your Case
- Removal case with a pending I-130, waiver or U visa: do not count on the judge pausing your case. Ask your lawyer about a continuance, a motion to dismiss, or getting the petition decided before your next hearing.
- Refugees who received a termination notice: if the notice gave you less than 30 days, the court order means you are not required to answer during the stay. Talk to a lawyer anyway and prepare a full response now. The stay currently runs only through November 6.
- Released from detention by a court order: carry a copy of the order and your ID at all times, and keep your lawyer’s number on you.
- DACA, TPS or asylee in Tennessee: check your license expiration date now. Driving on an expired license can lead to a traffic arrest, and in a 287(g) county that can end with an ICE hold.
- Anyone born in the U.S. or who believes they derived citizenship: keep certified copies of your birth certificate and passport somewhere safe, and if ICE ever questions your citizenship, ask for a lawyer immediately.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
BIA: a returned hearing notice is enough, and the court does not have to phone you
The Richland, Washington man gave ICE a correct address and a phone number. His mailbox was full, so the post office sent the hearing notice back, and the judge ordered him removed when he did not show up. On remand from the Ninth Circuit, the Board held that once mail to the only address on record comes back undeliverable, there are no further “reasonably available or practicable steps” the court must take. It rejected the idea that judges should call the number on file, citing overburdened dockets. The decision binds immigration judges nationwide and narrows a Ninth Circuit due process argument for reopening.
Ninth Circuit dismisses DOJ’s emergency bid to set aside 20,000 California mail ballots
DHS built the list by matching voter rolls against its own records, “third-party software” and Social Security data, then the Justice Department sued on October 15 to have the ballots held until citizenship was checked. Judges Bennett and Sanchez said the court lacked jurisdiction because the government never gave the trial judge a fair chance to rule, and called the emergency “self-constructed.” Judge Bumatay dissented. Los Angeles County called the demand unlawful and said the list does not explain how anyone’s citizenship was checked. The case goes back to the district court.
Policy Updates
November Visa Bulletin: F1, F3 and F4 jump a year, and USCIS opens the Dates for Filing chart
Final action dates for unmarried adult children of citizens (F1) moved from January 22, 2020 to January 22, 2021 for most countries. Married children (F3) and siblings (F4) of citizens each advanced a full year to October 22, 2012. F2A, for spouses and minor children of green card holders, reached October 22, 2026 except Mexico, and is current on the filing chart. USCIS said every family and employment applicant may use the Dates for Filing chart in November, so many people can submit an I-485 this month.
New York county jails billed ICE about $20 million before a state ban takes effect November 25
Orange County Jail alone billed $8.4 million in 2025 and $7.2 million in the first seven months of 2026, after its daily rate per detainee rose from $133 to $233 last November. Broome, Nassau, Niagara, Allegany, Clinton and Montgomery counties also held people for ICE. A state law passed in May bars county jails from detaining people for ICE, with a November 25 compliance deadline, so detainees held in those jails are likely to be moved to federal or private facilities, often far from family and lawyers.
Enforcement Updates
Five green card holders in Florida arrested on federal illegal-voting charges
HSI agents arrested the five on October 21 and 22 in cases brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. They are from Canada, Cuba and Brazil, and several have been permanent residents for decades, one since 1968. Most are charged with voting in 2022 and 2024; one is charged with registering in 2021. DHS says three have prior arrests or convictions.
Colorado clerks train poll workers on what to do if ICE shows up on Election Day
Officials say a visit is unlikely, and about 90% of Colorado voters mail their ballots. Denver workers are being trained to document and de-escalate any encounter, and Boulder County’s clerk asked voters to report sightings or call 911. Three consolidated lawsuits rely on a Civil War-era law that bars armed federal officers at polling places. The Justice Department plans to send observers to Adams County on November 3.
Analysis
Wharton study: an ICE arrest cuts nearby spending by about 7%, and Philadelphia lost an estimated $811 million
Zeke Hernandez matched 5,388 geocoded ICE arrests with foot-traffic and sales data from 5.4 million businesses. After an arrest, visits in the area fell 2.9% and spending fell 6.9%, and the drop did not fade. Nationally he estimates 8.1 billion fewer visits and up to $14 billion in lost spending during the administration’s first year. DHS disputed the findings and said removing criminals makes neighborhoods safer for business.
What This Means for Your Case
- Anyone with a case in immigration court: file Form EOIR-33 within five days of any move, and also update your address with ICE if you report to them. Keep your mailbox emptied. After Chamorro Castillo, a returned notice can lead to a deportation order, and nobody is required to call you first.
- Already ordered removed in absentia: reopening is still possible in some cases, but the evidence has to be strong and specific. Talk to a lawyer before ICE makes contact.
- Waiting on a family petition: look up your priority date against the November Dates for Filing chart. If you are in the U.S. and eligible to adjust, you may be able to file your I-485 this month and get a work permit while you wait.
- Green card holders: do not register or vote in any federal, state or local election, even if a form or official seems to say you can. It can lead to criminal charges and deportation, and it can block naturalization.
- Family member held in a New York county jail: expect a transfer before November 25. Get their A-number now and have a lawyer file anything urgent before the move.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Tenth Circuit: federal courts can review USCIS’s finding that someone was never a refugee
A divided panel revived a lawsuit challenging USCIS’s termination of a woman’s refugee status. The majority treated termination as two steps: whether the person was a refugee when admitted, which is a mandatory legal question courts can review, and whether to terminate anyway, which is discretionary and shielded. The court acknowledged its ruling splits with the Fourth, Eighth and Ninth Circuits, which makes Supreme Court review more likely. It applies in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.
Policy Updates
The 75-country immigrant visa ban is gone on paper, but spouses and children are still stuck abroad
A federal judge ordered the January ban lifted in August, and the State Department’s website now says it is no longer in effect. Lawyers say consulates are slow-walking the cases anyway, pointing to a processing pause for new public-charge “training” that sends even approved applicants back through extra screening. One Army veteran’s Colombian wife and two children have been waiting in Argentina for nearly a year and keep getting asked for more financial evidence. The ban covered more than 280,000 pending applicants, many of them spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and green card holders.
Enforcement Updates
60 Minutes: people deported to Ghana are being sent on to the countries judges said they must not return to
Moussa Diawara, a Malian Christian convert with no criminal record, won withholding of removal in 2012 and drove for Uber near Houston until ICE arrested him at home on July 11. Three weeks later he was on a flight to Ghana; within days Ghanaian officials put him on a plane to Mali, and his DHS bag tags already listed Mali as the destination. Seventeen of the 19 people from that flight whom 60 Minutes reached said they were sent to countries judges had ruled off limits, including Niger, Nigeria, Gambia and Guinea. DHS called the paperwork a clerical error and said Ghana gave diplomatic assurances.
Sen. Padilla makes an unannounced visit to the ICE hold rooms in downtown San Diego
Padilla said calls to his office show enforcement is “up significantly” and that officials would not confirm a 45-day “Operation Safe California” reportedly ordering arrests regardless of criminal history. An October 16 letter from Padilla, Schiff and four San Diego-area House members asked Secretary Mullin who is being targeted and whether agents have been told to make arrests near schools, citing incidents near John Marshall Elementary and San Diego City College. DHS said ICE is not going to schools to arrest children.
New Orleans ICE region logs 45,000 arrests, second only to San Antonio relative to population
The field office covering Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee made more than 45,000 arrests from January 2025 to early August 2026, about 670 for every 10,000 noncitizens. A senior ICE official described a shift to quieter, one-at-a-time arrests at traffic stops, before dawn and at airports. A New Orleans lawyer said police cameras and license plate readers are helping ICE find people.
Two more restaurant workers detained on their way to a bus stop in Montclair, New Jersey
Advocates say agents in an unmarked SUV took two Upper Montclair restaurant workers off Bloomfield Avenue Thursday morning, after arrests on October 13, 15 and 16 and five construction workers detained in September. Local police said they were not notified. A community bail fund posted bond for one of the September detainees, who is expected to be released.
Analysis
ProPublica: a Texas Hill Country town signed a 287(g) deal, and its police handed over the equivalent of 10% of its residents
Ingram, a town of about 1,900 beside the Guadalupe River that was 45% Latino, joined ICE’s program while still rebuilding from last year’s flood. Reporters spent four months with the officer who suggested it, following traffic stops for rolled stop signs and window tint that ended with people handed to immigration agents. More than 29,000 local officers nationwide have signed on since the program was revived in January 2025.
Why withholding of removal no longer means what it used to
Withholding protects a person only from being sent to the country named in the judge’s order. ICE says it has deported about 25,000 people to dozens of third countries, many of which receive U.S. aid in return. If those countries pass people along, the original protection is gone in practice. The Supreme Court hears the third-country removal case on December 9.
What This Means for Your Case
- You have withholding of removal or CAT protection: keep a copy of the judge’s order with you and with family. If ICE tells you it plans to send you to a third country, tell the officer right away that you fear harm there and ask for a lawyer. A fear claim and an emergency stay have to come before the flight.
- Waiting on an immigrant visa from one of the 75 affected countries: answer every State Department request completely and fast, especially for the Affidavit of Support and proof of income. If the case has stalled with no answer, ask a lawyer whether a mandamus lawsuit makes sense.
- Refugee whose status USCIS terminated: in the Tenth Circuit states you can now ask a federal court to review whether you were a refugee at admission. Deadlines matter, so act quickly.
- Living in a town or county with a 287(g) agreement: a routine traffic stop can now end in ICE custody. Fix equipment and tint problems, carry the documents you lawfully have, never give false information, and do not run.
- Family member detained: write down the time and place, get their A-number, and call a lawyer before any transfer. Habeas and bond options depend on where they are held.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Supreme Court asked to pause the Texas deal that wiped out administrative closure
Baltimore, New Haven, Columbus and Centro Legal de la Raza want the justices to suspend the June 22 judgment by Chief Judge Reed O’Connor, entered the same day Texas sued, that vacated the 2024 rule letting immigration judges take cases off the active calendar. The Solicitor General and Texas filed oppositions on October 22, arguing the cities lack standing, and the challengers replied the next day, calling the arrangement collusive. The judgment does not put already-closed cases back on calendar, but it blocks new closures. Justice Alito can rule alone or refer the application to the full Court, and no deadline has been set.
DHS tells a federal court it has dropped its Newport, Oregon detention center, and Oregon ends its lawsuit
In Friday’s filing, DHS confirmed it has abandoned plans for a detention center at the Newport airport and has no current plans to build one anywhere in Oregon. It agreed to give city leaders at least 30 days’ notice through August 1, 2027 if it revives the project. The plan surfaced a year ago when the Coast Guard rescue helicopter was moved out to make room; a separate lawsuit over the helicopter continues.
Policy Updates
From November 3, every air traveler to the U.S. must attest they have not been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for 21 days
Under a CDC Ebola order, airlines must collect a paper or electronic attestation from passengers on flights from any foreign country departing at or after 11:59 p.m. EST on November 3. The requirement covers U.S. citizens and green card holders as well as visa holders, and includes passengers who only transited through a Congolese airport. Airlines must deny boarding to anyone who cannot sign it, with narrow exceptions. Reporting on the order says it runs until December 18, 2026, unless changed.
Enforcement Updates
Detainee dies at the Folkston, Georgia ICE complex as a hunger strike enters its third week
ICE says staff found Luis Sandoval, 48, of El Salvador, with a ligature around his neck early Friday at the D. Ray James processing center; he was pronounced dead at 2:28 a.m. He had been arrested by ICE Newark on October 2 and was still waiting for his first hearing. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating. Andrei Gerdiukov, a Russian asylum seeker held at the complex, says dozens of detainees have refused food for nearly three weeks to demand faster processing, and that strikers were put in solitary and threatened with force-feeding. The Guardian counts Sandoval as the 60th person to die in ICE custody in this administration.
Internal reviews: ICE failed to monitor a suicidal detainee before his death in Pennsylvania
Chaofeng Ge, a 32-year-old Chinese national, died on August 5, 2025 at the GEO Group’s Moshannon Valley processing center. The Post reports that internal reviews found multiple policy violations and missteps by staff, including a failure to monitor him after he was identified as a suicide risk. A family lawsuit says no one at the facility could speak Mandarin with him.
Nine arrested in a targeted ICE operation in Hackettstown, New Jersey
DHS says those arrested included people with criminal records and people with final removal orders, and identified five of the nine, from Honduras, Mexico and Guatemala. In its statement the agency stressed that “a pending application or work authorization does not, by itself, confer lawful immigration status.” Several of those named are being held pending removal proceedings.
Analysis
How a respected immigration judge lost her job: a firsthand account from Annandale
Karen Donoso Stevens, appointed in 2016 and a former ICE trial attorney, heard high-stakes deportation cases at the Annandale Immigration Court in Virginia. The Post uses her account to give a rare inside look at the Justice Department’s campaign to rewrite the rules of the immigration courts. She is not alone: a Princeton and Cal State Long Beach court-watching report released October 19 estimates that about one in six immigration judges has been removed since January 2025, leaving many dockets reassigned.
Fresno’s Catholic bishop says the church “will not be silent” about Central Valley raids
Bishop Joseph V. Brennan, who leads a diocese of 1.2 million people, criticized the “indiscriminate nature” of this month’s arrests and wrote that parishioners “have been taken away abruptly and with little or no information coming from federal agents.” He and Catholic scholars interviewed by the Times stress that the church accepts a government’s right to control its borders. A Fresno City Council member has said the deportations have cut school attendance and kept workers home.
What This Means for Your Case
- Your court case was administratively closed: it stays closed for now, but the government can still move to put it back on calendar. Keep your address current with the court and USCIS, and check your case status on the EOIR portal with your A-number.
- Waiting on an I-130 or other petition with a case in court: new administrative closure is off the table unless the Supreme Court acts. Ask a lawyer about continuances, a motion to dismiss, or asking USCIS to speed up the petition.
- A pending application or work permit is not status: a pending I-485, asylum case or EAD does not stop an arrest by itself. Carry copies of your receipts and court papers, and know whether you have a final order.
- Traveling abroad in November: if you have been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or even changed planes there, within 21 days of your flight to the U.S., expect to be denied boarding. Plan your route and timing around it.
- Relative detained in Georgia or anywhere else: if they have medical or mental health needs, tell the facility in writing and have their lawyer do the same. Keep copies, because that record matters if care is refused.
- Your judge was removed or your case was reassigned: a new judge may schedule things differently. Check your hearing date often and file evidence early.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Full Fifth Circuit: detained immigrants who entered without inspection have no constitutional right to a bond hearing
Sitting en banc, the court reversed a July panel decision that had required bond hearings within 90 days of detention. Judge Cory Wilson wrote for the 10–7 majority in Sosnava Rodriguez that people never lawfully admitted get only the process Congress provides, and that they can end their detention “at any moment by agreeing to leave the country.” The three plaintiffs had each lived in the U.S. at least 14 years, had U.S. citizen children, and were handed to ICE by Texas troopers after traffic stops. Judge Leslie Southwick, dissenting, said the ruling builds an “impenetrable wall between the Constitution and these long-term residents.” The Supreme Court has already agreed to hear a separate challenge to the mandatory detention policy.
Los Angeles judge partly blocks suspicion-free immigration stops and certifies a class
U.S. District Judge Maame Frimpong granted in part the preliminary injunction sought in Vasquez Perdomo v. Mullin, the ACLU of Southern California case that began with the June 2025 arrest of three men at a Pasadena bus stop. She also certified a class. Both orders are sealed, so the exact limits on agents in the Central District of California are not yet public. The Supreme Court stayed an earlier restraining order in the case in August 2025, and the government is expected to seek review again.
Policy Updates
CRS report: TPS terminated for 13 of 17 countries, covering about 1.1 million people
The terminated designations include Venezuela (about 627,750 beneficiaries across two designations), Haiti (353,160) and Honduras (70,070), along with Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria. Only El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine and Lebanon remain designated. After the Supreme Court’s June ruling that terminations are largely unreviewable, the remaining lawsuits have little room to keep protections in place.
Citizenship approvals down 72% this year as the naturalization backlog passes 800,000
USCIS approved about 173,000 naturalization applications in the first eight months of 2026, down 72% from a year earlier, and pending cases rose from about 500,000 to more than 800,000. Officials describe tougher vetting: tax-return review, a deeper good moral character inquiry, interviews with neighbors and co-workers, and priority for re-reviewing cases approved under the prior administration. Some ceremonies have been canceled. More applicants whose cases stalled after the interview are now suing to force a decision.
State Department tells asylum officers parts of Mexico and Central America are safer than some U.S. cities
Internal country assessments for Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, sent to USCIS, compare violent-crime rates favorably with Baltimore, Houston and Memphis and say people, including victims of abuse and extortion, can move freely within each country. That goes directly to internal relocation, a common reason to deny asylum. The same department warns Americans not to travel to Honduras at all. The annual human rights report, which adjudicators usually rely on, is still delayed.
Enforcement Updates
Green card holders who applied for citizenship are the main targets of California’s voting prosecutions
Federal authorities charged 28 permanent residents in California this week. Only six face the misdemeanor of voting as a noncitizen; the other 22 face felonies, mostly for denying on naturalization forms or at the interview that they had registered or voted. One man, a resident for 40 years, is accused of claiming citizenship when he registered in 2007, likely through the DMV; he says he never voted. A San Diego woman was arrested right after her October 15 naturalization interview. DHS said it reviewed naturalization records to build the cases.
ICE agents tackle a U.S. citizen student with disabilities on his walk to school in Santa Maria
The 20-year-old, who has limited speech and lives in a group home, was tackled from behind Wednesday morning, questioned about his citizenship and held in a vehicle before agents released him. He walked to school crying, and staff called an ambulance; a city council member says he needed wrist surgery. ICE said agents thought he matched a target and that he “assumed a fighting stance.” He had his Real ID with him, but agents never asked for it.
U.S. citizen held at gunpoint in Charlotte during an arrest targeting his brother
Atilio Portillo, a citizen since 2013, says agents boxed in his pickup Wednesday, broke its windows and pointed a gun at his face. He and his nephew were handcuffed for nearly 30 minutes while agents checked their status. ICE says the target was his brother, a Salvadoran national it says entered illegally in 1988. Video shows an officer drawing a handgun. Siembra NC says it has documented similar arrests of citizens in the state.
Analysis
Court watchers sat in on nearly 3,600 hearings and describe “procedural removal”
Observers in 13 states documented judges ending cases through pretermission, denying asylum on the papers without hearing testimony, often at master calendar hearings meant for scheduling. In 235 third-country removal hearings they watched, 90% took place at master calendars, and judges ordered removal in 58%. The report says about one in six immigration judges has been removed since January 2025, and a recent Board decision lets judges pretermit even when DHS has not asked them to.
What This Means for Your Case
- Relative detained in Texas, Louisiana or Mississippi: after the Fifth Circuit ruling, a habeas petition arguing a constitutional right to bond is much harder there. Ask a lawyer now about other routes, including statutory arguments and whether your relative was ever admitted or paroled, and keep track of any transfer, because the circuit where the person is held matters.
- Applying for citizenship: pull your voter registration history before you file or interview. If a DMV ever registered you, or you ever checked a citizenship box, a lawyer must review it before you answer those questions. A false “no” is a felony, and it is often worse than the registration itself.
- Naturalization stuck after the interview: once 120 days have passed since the interview, a federal court lawsuit to force a decision is an option. Talk to a lawyer about timing.
- TPS holders from a terminated country: do not wait for litigation. Find out now whether you qualify for asylum, family petitions, cancellation of removal or another status.
- Asylum applicants from Mexico or Central America: expect the government to argue you could have moved somewhere else in your country. Your evidence should show why that was not safe or reasonable for you specifically.
- U.S. citizens in mixed-status families: carry proof of citizenship, stay calm, and do not physically resist. Record the encounter if it is safe, and get a lawyer to request the records afterward.
- Court notice for a master calendar hearing: treat it as if your case could end that day. Bring your full application and evidence, and never go without a lawyer.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Judge orders DHS to stop door-to-door voting interviews aimed at likely citizens in nine states
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin found that Homeland Security Investigations agents knocking on doors to ask about immigration status and recent voting likely violates the Voting Rights Act’s ban on voter intimidation. Her order bars “elections-related field operations and field interviews” in nine states, including California and New York, where agents know or should suspect the person is a U.S. citizen, and it lasts until polls close on Election Day. She pointed to a “high likelihood of error” in the target lists, built partly from commercial data. The order is stayed until 5 p.m. today so the government can appeal.
Nashville court blocks immigration status checks in Tennessee’s HIV/AIDS safety-net program
Chancellor I’Ashea Myles issued a temporary restraining order stopping the Tennessee Department of Health from requiring providers in the federally funded Ryan White program, and the companion HOPWA housing program, to verify patients’ immigration or citizenship status. The state had told providers on October 1 that a new state law required the checks, with criminal penalties for employees who skip them. Nashville CARES argued federal law exempts communicable-disease programs from status checks and that hundreds of patients could lose medication and insurance help. The order covers every provider statewide; a hearing is set for November 4.
21 states and D.C. back the challenge to ICE’s warrantless arrests in the D.C. Circuit
The amicus brief in Escobar-Molina v. DHS argues that federal law allows a warrantless civil immigration arrest only when an officer has probable cause that the person is here unlawfully and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained, and that DHS officers routinely skip the escape-risk step. A D.C. federal judge partly granted a preliminary injunction in December 2025, and the government appealed. The states describe students staying home from school, farmworkers missing work and people avoiding clinics and courthouses because of masked, unidentified agents.
Policy Updates
November Visa Bulletin: F2A final action date jumps to October 22, 2026
Spouses and minor children of green card holders (F2A) now have a final action date of October 22, 2026 for every country except Mexico, which advances to April 22, 2026. F2B, adult unmarried sons and daughters of permanent residents, moves to August 22, 2020, with Mexico and the Philippines unchanged. On the employment side, EB-2 for most countries advances to April 1, 2025 and EB-3 to June 15, 2024. USCIS had not yet said which chart adjustment applicants may use in November, so check that before filing an I-485.
Enforcement Updates
Six charged in Massachusetts ring accused of arranging sham marriages for green cards
Prosecutors say Jennifer Gonzalez, 43, a U.S. citizen, ran the operation for about 12 years, arranging 18 to 20 marriages a year at $38,000 to $40,000 each and earning more than $6 million. The other defendants are accused of helping her or of entering sham marriages themselves. U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said the investigation is continuing and that people who got status through the scheme could face charges. In August, prosecutors in New York charged 11 people over a scheme tied to about 1,000 marriages.
Bronx food pantry founder detained at 26 Federal Plaza on a 2008 removal order
Aleksander Nilaj, who runs the Open Hand pantry that serves about 8,000 people a month in the Pelham Parkway area, was taken into custody during an immigration hearing in Manhattan and is being held at Delaney Hall in Newark. DHS says he came from Albania 20 years ago, overstayed, and was ordered removed by an immigration judge in 2008. He is not accused of any crime. Rep. Ritchie Torres has visited him, and his lawyer is filing a habeas petition. The pantry says it will not reopen without him.
Analysis
What Matter of A-V-O- means for people with an aggravated felony seeking a green card
In a September 17 precedent, the Board of Immigration Appeals held that an aggravated felony conviction does more than make someone deportable: because it permanently bars the good moral character needed to naturalize, it also makes the person inadmissible as “permanently ineligible to citizenship.” The Board overruled its 2000 decision in Matter of Kanga, which had limited that ground to draft evasion, and made the new reading prospective. Even writing from the enforcement side, Stimson notes the courts of appeals still have to decide whether it holds. For anyone with an old fraud or theft conviction hoping to adjust status, the loss amount and the date of conviction now matter more than ever.
Children are facing immigration judges alone, and most are losing
Since the federal contract for children’s legal services lapsed July 31, more than 20,000 children have lost funded representation. Vera Institute data show 55% of unaccompanied children’s cases completed in 2026 never had a lawyer of record, up from 38% in 2024, and 84% of cases closed in August ended in an order to leave. An ABA attorney described a 7-year-old in Harlingen, alone on a Webex hearing, ordered to depart within 30 days. In San Antonio, a family brought a 6-year-old to court to ask for more time after her lawyer withdrew.
What This Means for Your Case
- Someone comes to your door asking whether you voted: you do not have to answer questions about your status or voting, and you do not have to open the door without a judicial warrant. Ask for a card, say you will have a lawyer contact them, and call one.
- F2A families: if you are the spouse or child of a green card holder with a priority date before October 22, 2026, your visa may be available in November. Get your documents ready now, and confirm which USCIS chart applies before filing.
- Old conviction and a pending or planned green card case: after Matter of A-V-O-, an aggravated felony can block adjustment, not just trigger removal. Have a lawyer read the actual judgment and restitution order before you file anything.
- Marriage-based cases: if anyone offered to “arrange” your marriage for a fee, talk to a lawyer before your interview. Prosecutors are now going after the people who got status, not only the organizers.
- Old removal order and a check-in or hearing coming up: do not walk into 26 Federal Plaza, or any ICE office, without a lawyer reviewing whether the case can be reopened first.
- A child without a lawyer: ask the judge for more time to find counsel at the first hearing, and never skip a hearing. A missed date means a removal order.
- Filing deadlines: starting today, deadlines tied to an age, such as turning 21, no longer roll to Monday when they fall on a weekend. File early.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Tenth Circuit: ICE cannot reset the six-month detention clock with each re-arrest
Kaveh Abedi came to the U.S. as a child asylee from Iran, won Torture Convention protection in 2002 after a drug conviction, and complied with supervision for more than 20 years. ICE re-arrested him in his Kansas front yard in June 2025, saying removal to a third country was now possible, and promised a prompt informal interview that never came for months. Judge Carolyn McHugh wrote that ICE broke its own regulations, that a detainee does not have to prove prejudice when a due process rule is violated, and that Zadvydas does not create a “resettable” six-month grace period for repeated detentions. The ruling binds federal courts in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.
DOJ asks two Minnesota federal judges to step aside from immigration-related cases
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. filed motions asking Judges Patrick Schiltz and John Tunheim to recuse, citing their interviews with the New York Times about Operation Metro Surge. One case seeks to revoke the citizenship of a Somali American man convicted on a terrorism charge in 2009; the other charges a South African green card holder with voting illegally in 2024. Schiltz has said ICE violated hundreds of court orders during the surge and that his comments were within judicial ethics rules. The judges decide the motions themselves.
Administration asks the Supreme Court to let Big Bend border wall construction resume
On October 2, Judge Kathleen Cardone halted construction across the roughly 500-mile Big Bend project, finding opponents likely to win their argument that the DHS Secretary’s environmental waivers exceeded his authority because the area is not one of “high illegal entry.” The government filed an emergency application Wednesday. The injunction covers Big Bend National Park and private and state land up and downriver.
Policy Updates
San Francisco moves to add $1.8 million for immigrant legal defense as Bay Area arrests climb
Supervisor Jackie Fielder’s proposal would pay for immigration attorneys, accompaniment to ICE appointments and the city’s rapid-response hotline, including $125,000 for the Bay Area Habeas Network. It has the backing of the full board and Mayor Daniel Lurie, and a vote could come November 4. Mission Local counted six Bay Area immigration arrests in a week, four involving physical force. A UC Law San Francisco habeas expert said ICE now appears to be arresting more people at homes, traffic stops and workplaces than at courthouses and check-ins.
Enforcement Updates
Families say seriously ill Florida detainees are being lined up for deportation to Africa
Relatives and the Workers Circle say detainees at Krome in Miami and the Broward Transitional Center were told Mexico will not accept them because of their medical conditions, so they will be sent to Africa; one attorney named the Central African Republic and Burundi. The wife of a 41-year-old Cuban man with uncontrolled diabetes and pancreatitis, ordered removed in 2015, says Cuba will not take him either. DHS called the story false and said every detainee is medically cleared before travel. A September inspector general report found Krome holding 1,102 people in space for 882.
Video shows ICE agents surrounding a Providence father as his two children cling to him
The man, a Guatemalan who told the Globe he entered about three years ago and is working on his status, said he was being followed while driving his children to a sitter and hit a curb trying to get away. Agents patted him down, photographed him and told him to report to ICE on Wednesday, he said, threatening to arrest his whole family if he did not. The Globe reports he has no criminal record in Rhode Island. An agent is seen gripping pepper spray as he orders a bystander to back up.
Analysis
Deportations reach about 660,000 a year, short of the one-million goal, report finds
MPI counts 980,000 deportations from January 20, 2025 through July 31, 2026, and about 660,000 in the last fiscal year: 26% above the 2021–2024 average but far below the 1.86 million of 2000. Voluntary departures are at an all-time high, about 170,000 people who gave up their court cases, often, lawyers say, just to get out of detention. Interior arrests made up 28% of deportations in 2025 and 39% by July 2026. The report found most people deported have never been convicted of a crime. DHS no longer publishes regular figures, and its own claim of 1.2 million could not be reconciled.
Why the fight over Minnesota’s judges matters for people in detention
Schiltz described ruling around the clock on hundreds of habeas petitions during the surge, where a delay of hours could mean someone was moved to Texas or New Mexico. The recusal motions follow DOJ ethics complaints against seven Minnesota federal judges. Whatever the outcome, the federal district court has become the main check on ICE detention, and pressure on the judges who hear those petitions bears directly on how fast a detained person can get before one.
What This Means for Your Case
- Released on supervision and then re-arrested: ICE must promptly give you an informal interview and explain why your release was revoked. If that has not happened, or if you are being held past six months on an old order, a habeas petition may get you out. In the Tenth Circuit it is now binding law.
- Thinking about voluntary departure to get out of detention: it ends your case and can affect your ability to return. Talk to a lawyer about bond and habeas first.
- Family member detained with a serious illness: get medical records and a doctor’s letter into the hands of the facility, the deportation officer and a lawyer now. Third-country removal can come with little notice, and a stay motion has to be filed before the flight, not after.
- Told to report to ICE after a street encounter: do not go alone. Have a lawyer review your file and go with you or contact the office first.
- Green card holders: never register or vote in a U.S. election. Prosecutors in Minnesota and California are charging permanent residents for it, and it can end in removal.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
D.C. Circuit revives faith groups’ case against ICE arrests at churches and synagogues
A 2–1 panel held that 27 Christian and Jewish groups, led by the Episcopal Church, do have standing to challenge DHS’s January 2025 decision to scrap the “sensitive locations” policy that had kept agents away from houses of worship, schools and hospitals. Judge Florence Pan wrote that the rescission memo’s whole point was to increase enforcement at those places, and that it had already begun. The case goes back to Judge Dabney Friedrich to decide the request for an injunction. Nothing changes on the ground yet: agents are still operating under the January 2025 rules.
Supreme Court asks the Solicitor General to weigh in on Iowa’s state deportation law
The Iowa law makes it a state crime to be in Iowa after having been deported or denied entry to the United States, and lets state judges order people to leave the country. It has been blocked in the lower courts. On Monday the justices invited the federal government to file a brief before they decide whether to hear Iowa’s appeal, a step that usually adds months. The law stays blocked while that plays out.
Policy Updates
State Department: more than 300,000 visas revoked, most over arrests and DUI
The count was over 100,000 in January and 175,000 in August. An official told Al Jazeera that 25 percent of revocations involved assault and related crimes, 22 percent driving under the influence, 7 percent theft and 7 percent drugs, and that more than 4,000 were tied to “birth tourism.” The categories describe arrests and other information, not only convictions. A single DUI arrest can now cost a student, worker or visitor their visa, and a revoked visa can lead to removal proceedings for someone already inside the country.
Senators demand HHS drop plan to have its own lawyers represent unaccompanied children
HHS has created an “Unaccompanied Alien Children Legal Representation Division” to put government attorneys beside children in immigration court. Six Democratic senators wrote to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that the judge and the prosecutor already work for the administration, and under this plan “so would the child’s lawyer.” The nonprofit network that once represented more than 20,000 children lost its contract this summer, and the temporary replacement has represented 12 so far, according to court filings. The policy has not been withdrawn.
Enforcement Updates
Dallas green card holder dies in ICE custody in Laredo after being stopped at the border
Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias, 56, a lawful permanent resident who raised three U.S.-born children in Dallas, was detained at a Laredo port of entry on June 26 while returning from Mexico. ICE says he obtained his status by fraud because he did not disclose a 2004 theft arrest; his daughter says he did disclose it and was approved anyway. She says staff at the Rio Grande Processing Center withheld his heart, diabetes and blood pressure medication. He was found unresponsive on October 17, two weeks before a November 2 court date. He is the seventh person to die in ICE custody in Texas this year.
DOJ charges 28 California green card holders with voting or lying about it on naturalization forms
All 28 are permanent residents; 11 were arrested Monday and the rest are expected to be taken into custody. The charges include false statements on a naturalization application and fraudulent voter registration, each carrying up to five years. The Los Angeles Times reports 21 are suspected of actually casting ballots. Prosecutors had flagged 20,000 “likely noncitizens” on state rolls a week earlier; in Nevada, all 185 people DOJ flagged turned out to be citizens.
Analysis
Builders say ICE activity is keeping legal workers off job sites too
More than a third of builders in the latest National Association of Home Builders survey reported immigration enforcement in their area causing delays, and builder confidence is at its lowest since June 2012. NAHB’s chief economist said workers with legal status are staying home because they fear being swept up with undocumented coworkers. About a third of trades workers are foreign born, concentrated in drywall and roofing across the South. For a family with mixed status, that fear is rational: who else is on the crew matters on the day agents arrive.
The voter-roll fight puts naturalization applications under a microscope
The administration’s estimate of noncitizens on California’s rolls fell from more than 190,000 in July to 20,000 last week, and 28 people have been charged. Election experts call the federal data unreliable. For immigrants, though, the cases show where the exposure is: several defendants are charged not with voting but with answering the voting questions on Form N-400 falsely. Anyone who ever registered, even by accident at a DMV, has a problem that gets worse, not better, if it is hidden on a naturalization application.
What This Means for Your Case
- Green card holders who travel: an old arrest you thought was resolved can get you detained at the border, even if USCIS approved you knowing about it. Have a lawyer review your record and your original application before any trip outside the U.S.
- Visa holders with any arrest: the State Department is revoking visas over arrests, including a single DUI. If you have been arrested, talk to an immigration lawyer before the criminal case is resolved, not after.
- Applying to naturalize: if you ever registered or voted, even by mistake, tell your lawyer before you file Form N-400. Answering those questions falsely is a separate federal crime.
- Family member in detention with medical needs: put the diagnosis, medications and doctor’s letters in writing to the facility and to the deportation officer, keep copies, and have counsel raise it in any custody request.
- A child with an immigration court case: do not rely on a lawyer assigned by the government agency holding the child. Get independent counsel now.
- Worship and community spaces: the D.C. Circuit ruling does not restore the old protections yet. Plan as if agents can still act at or near churches, schools and hospitals.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
BIA: judges no longer have to accept your sworn statement as true on a motion to reopen
The respondent, a Mexican national ordered removed in absentia after missing an October 2025 hearing, said in a declaration that he thought a later notice would give him his real court date. The Board rejected the Ninth Circuit rule that judges must accept the facts in such affidavits unless they are “inherently unbelievable,” calling it inconsistent with INS v. Abudu and Garland v. Ming Dai. Immigration judges and the Board may now weigh and discount a respondent’s own statements even when nothing in them is implausible. A motion to reopen that rests on a declaration alone is now much weaker.
Mahmoud Khalil asks the Supreme Court whether federal judges can review immigration detention
The Columbia graduate and green card holder, arrested in March 2025, filed a petition for certiorari on Monday. The Third Circuit held that federal immigration law kept a district judge from ordering his release from ICE custody, and the full court declined to rehear the case by a 6–5 vote. Khalil argues that people detained to punish them for protected speech must be able to go to federal court through habeas. The Third Circuit has paused its mandate while the petition is pending, so he is not back in custody for now.
Second Circuit hears young SIJ holders’ bid to restore deferred action nationwide
In 2025 USCIS stopped treating Special Immigrant Juvenile status as a strong factor in favor of deferred action. Judge Eric Komitee in Brooklyn found that change unlawful but limited relief to young people granted SIJ status from April to June 2025. The plaintiffs told a panel of Judges Pérez, Lohier and Parker that tens of thousands of others were left out, and Judge Pérez questioned the narrow window. The government argues new 2026 guidance makes the appeal moot. No ruling date has been set.
Policy Updates
USCIS posts written alerts: Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders keep protection and work authorization
Both country pages now carry the same alert: an announcement “will be made at the appropriate time,” and until then individuals present in the U.S. under TPS “retain protection including work authorization.” This is the official USCIS text that was missing on Sunday, when the only source was a DHS statement to CBS News. It still gives no new end date and there is still no Federal Register notice. Employment lawyers advise employers to print the alert and keep it with each affected Form I-9.
Enforcement Updates
San Diego ICE sightings jump from 3 to 28 in a month
A community map used to report ICE activity showed 28 sightings across San Diego County on Saturday, October 18, compared with three on September 18. One activist who has tracked ICE since early 2025 called it the biggest increase he has seen. The push is tied to the operation reported as “Operation Safe California.” ICE made nearly 2,000 arrests in the San Diego area in July alone, out of nearly 50,000 nationwide, its highest monthly total under this administration.
U.S. citizen hospitalized after ICE arrest in Long Beach; mayor files complaint
Ricardo Gonzalez, a Long Beach resident and former city employee, was pinned against a curb on video while yelling for help. Mayor Rex Richardson’s complaint to DHS says he was repeatedly tased, forcibly restrained and seriously injured. Long Beach police, called by ICE about vehicle vandalism and a person needing medical aid, found him handcuffed and bleeding and took him to a hospital. The mayor is asking for an independent investigation. DHS had not commented when ABC published.
DHS lists 15 weekend arrests of people with serious convictions
The release names people convicted of felony murder in Fairfax, Virginia, voluntary manslaughter in Bakersfield and child sex offenses in Los Angeles, along with drug trafficking, assault, burglary and DUI cases. Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, “We will hunt you down, find you, arrest you, and deport you.” The list includes DUI and vehicle offenses next to homicide. An old conviction of any kind can make someone a priority.
Analysis
The TPS reprieve for Ukraine comes two weeks before the midterms
Since January 2025 the administration has ended TPS for 13 of the 17 countries that had it, including Venezuela, Haiti, Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan. The Post reports that letting Ukrainian protection run past its printed end date looks like a softer approach ahead of the November 3 elections. Advocates suggest officials may not want to pull more workers away from employers so close to the vote. The flip side is that a reprieve made for political timing can be reversed after the election, so holders should plan for both outcomes.
Deportations to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia rise nearly ninefold, mostly on old convictions
The United States deported 1,852 people to the three countries in fiscal years 2025 and 2026, compared with 209 in the four years before. That is 42% of all such removals since 1998. Deportations of people 55 and older went from 9 in fiscal 2024 to 182 in fiscal 2025, and 78.6% of those removed had convictions at least ten years old. An estimated 14,788 people from these communities still live in the U.S. under final removal orders, many issued in the 1990s and early 2000s.
What This Means for Your Case
- Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders: print the new alert from the USCIS Ukraine or Sudan TPS page today and give a copy to HR with your EAD. That is an official USCIS statement, which is stronger than a news report. Do not travel abroad, and talk to a lawyer about a permanent option in case the reprieve ends after the election.
- Ordered removed in absentia: a declaration saying you were confused about the date may not be enough anymore. Gather proof: the notice you received, mail records, medical or travel records, anything that shows why you missed court. Get the motion reviewed by a lawyer before filing.
- Old removal order or old conviction: ICE is arresting people on orders and convictions that are decades old. Have a lawyer check now whether a motion to reopen, post-conviction relief or a stay is available.
- Stopped by ICE in Southern California: stay calm, do not resist, say you want to remain silent and speak to a lawyer, and do not sign anything. If you are a U.S. citizen, say so clearly and carry proof if you can.
- If a family member is detained: write down their full name, A-number and facility the same day. Habeas petitions in district court remain available while the Supreme Court considers the Khalil petition.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
BIA: a pending family petition or U visa no longer earns a continuance by default
The Board overruled Matter of Sanchez Sosa and held that there is no presumption in favor of a continuance for someone with a prima facie approvable U visa petition at USCIS. Immigration judges must now weigh every request to wait on USCIS, including I-130 family petitions, under the L-A-B-R- factors: how likely approval is, whether it would change the outcome, the person’s diligence, how long the delay would be and how many continuances came before. Where a visa is years away, the Board says there is no good cause to wait. The decision binds every immigration judge in the country.
Texas father says ICE flew him to Mexico without a removal order after he refused to leave
Ernesto Zuniga Hilario, married to a green card holder and father of four U.S.-citizen children, was picked up after a September 6 traffic stop in Lampasas County and held at the T. Don Hutto facility. His petition says he repeatedly declined voluntary departure because he wanted to see an immigration judge, and that he was bused to an airport and flown to Mexico City with no expedited or court-issued removal order. DHS says he signed a voluntary departure form “in blue ink” on September 6. He is asking the court to order the government to help bring him back.
Policy Updates
DHS says Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders keep their protection past today
A DHS spokesperson told CBS on Sunday that final decisions on both programs will “be made at the appropriate time” and that enrolled Ukrainians and Sudanese “retain protection” until then. That covers roughly 100,000 Ukrainians and about 1,800 Sudanese. DHS took the same holding position for El Salvador after its TPS date passed last month. Nothing has been published in the Federal Register, and as of this morning the USCIS Ukraine page still lists October 19.
Enforcement Updates
Secretary Mullin oversees deportation flights from Phoenix to Mexico
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin watched several removal flights leave Phoenix on Friday, all carrying Mexican nationals. The department highlighted people with serious criminal records, including one man whose immigration judge entered a final order on October 6 and another whose prior order DHS reinstated on October 9. Mullin said the department “will not stop until we have deported as many illegals as possible.” The dates show how quickly a final or reinstated order can turn into a flight.
Half of ICE arrests in Washington’s Tri-Cities involved people with no criminal record
ICE records obtained by the Deportation Data Project show 132 arrests in Richland, Pasco, Kennewick and Benton City, and half of the people were neither convicted nor facing charges. About three in four arrests with a known method happened at large rather than in a jail. Local groups describe a Pasco Lowe’s parking lot arrest in which an agent reached through a car window and unlocked the door, and an asylum seeker among those taken. Statewide, the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network says reported detentions are up about 46% since May.
Analysis
Why the DHS TPS statement still leaves workers exposed at I-9 reverification
The TPS statute says a designation is extended six months if the government does not decide on it at least 60 days before it ends, which would carry Ukraine and Sudan to April 19, 2027. DHS did not cite that rule or that date, though. The analysis says the gap will show up first in Form I-9 reverification: a statement to a news outlet cannot go in an I-9 file, and employers face penalties both for keeping unauthorized workers and for demanding extra documents. Expect some employers to keep TPS workers and others to suspend them until USCIS or E-Verify publishes something.
A year after the Wilder, Idaho raid, a lawsuit asks whether ICE can ride along on an FBI warrant
The only warrant for the October 2025 raid at La Catedral Arena was an FBI gambling warrant aimed at the track owner and four others. More than 200 officers took part, and 105 people were arrested on immigration charges. TIME reports that about 75 have been deported and 26 were freed after habeas petitions. The ACLU’s class action says agents used an unrelated criminal warrant as cover for an immigration sweep, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. A ruling on the government’s qualified-immunity motion to dismiss is pending.
Nearly 15,000 deported after ICE arrests in Southern California, study finds
The study covers the seven counties in ICE’s Los Angeles area of responsibility. Of people arrested from January 2025 through May 2026, 62% were deported within 60 days and only 7% were released in that time. At the June 2025 peak, arrests of people with no final removal order were nearly 1,400% above 2024 levels, and arrests of people with no criminal conviction were up more than 3,400%. More than 1,000 people were arrested in July 2026 alone.
What This Means for Your Case
- Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders: you keep your protection today. Print the CBS report of the DHS statement and keep it with your EAD, I-797 notices and the January 2025 Federal Register notice. If HR wants to suspend you at reverification, have a lawyer contact them before you sign anything.
- In court and waiting on an I-130 or U visa: a pending petition alone will no longer stop a judge from moving forward. Bring a filed and documented petition, receipts, proof the relationship is real and a realistic visa timeline from the Visa Bulletin. If the visa is years away, talk to a lawyer now about other defenses.
- Pressed to sign a form in detention: do not sign voluntary departure or any document you do not understand. Say you want to see an immigration judge and ask for your lawyer.
- Old or reinstated removal order: DHS is moving people from order to flight within days. If you or a relative has an old order, get it reviewed for a motion to reopen or a stay before an arrest, not after.
- If a family member is detained: write down their full name, A-number and facility the same day. A federal habeas petition can be the fastest route to release.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
San Diego judge grants habeas and orders ICE to release a City College student
Renatho Casseus was driving near 16th and C streets on September 8 when ICE agents in unmarked vehicles stopped the car and took him into custody; his passenger ran onto the City College campus. On Friday his lawyer argued a habeas corpus petition in federal court and the judge granted it and ordered his release. The district has since posted signs barring immigration enforcement from its property and started text alerts when agents are spotted nearby.
Boston judge pauses collection of six- and seven-figure civil immigration fines
U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. halted, for now, the government’s effort to collect fines from more than 100,000 people accused of staying in the country after removal orders, calling the penalties “crippling” and well beyond what plaintiffs could pay. Scripps reports fines of up to $1.8 million, with private debt collectors adding hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees, and at least one notice sent to a lawful permanent resident. The pause covers citations issued between June 2025 and October 2026 and can be lifted as the case continues.
Detainees ask an El Paso judge to put Camp East Montana under independent monitors
Lawyers for people held at the Fort Bliss camp, the largest ICE detention site in the country, asked U.S. District Judge Leon Schydlower for a preliminary injunction requiring a health care plan, compliance with ICE’s own detention standards and court-appointed monitors. Three people have died there, one in a death ruled a homicide involving facility staff. The government has not yet responded and the judge has not ruled.
Policy Updates
Ukraine TPS: one day left on paper, and USCIS still has not said what comes next
The USCIS page still says Ukrainian TPS work permits are issued with an October 19, 2026 expiration date, and DHS has published no extension, redesignation or termination notice. Many lawyers read the statute as extending the designation automatically for six months, to April 19, 2027, because DHS missed the August 20 decision deadline. USCIS has not confirmed that reading, so the practical problem on Monday is proof of work authorization, not loss of status.
Justice Department sues California to set aside 20,000 ballots, citing USCIS citizenship data
The complaint says USCIS ran state voter rolls against federal citizenship records and concluded with “high confidence” that about 20,000 registered Californians, many in Los Angeles County, are likely noncitizens; Homeland Security Investigations then reviewed the names. State officials call the suit meritless and point to federal data that proved badly inaccurate in other states. Naturalized citizens whose records were never updated are the most likely to be wrongly swept in.
Enforcement Updates
Jamaica takes its first third-country deportation flight from the U.S.
Twenty-two people who are not Jamaican landed in Kingston on Tuesday under a June agreement that caps arrivals at 25 every two weeks. Jamaica calls it a transit arrangement: the International Organization for Migration is supposed to move people on to their home countries or elsewhere, and no one with a criminal record may pass through. The Supreme Court let third-country removals continue in September and will hear arguments on the policy in December.
California ICE surge spreads from San Diego to the Central Valley and Central Coast
The operation reported as “Operation Safe California” began in San Diego earlier this month. Dozens of people have been arrested in Fresno and Madera counties since early October, most at traffic stops, and in Santa Maria officers detained a father in a college parking lot as he dropped off his daughter. DHS declined to discuss the operation; at a Friday news conference Los Angeles advocates said they will send legal observers to polling places ahead of the November 3 election.
Analysis
How many people have been deported to countries that are not their own
DHS data obtained by the Deportation Data Project show more than 16,000 third-country removals from January 2025 through August 2026, likely an undercount; Refugees International and Human Rights First put the total above 25,000. Receiving countries are paid in aid or visa concessions: Liberia agreed to take up to 1,200 people, and Cameroon was promised $30 million for UN refugee work and $400 million for health services. Many deportees learn their destination only on the plane and arrive with no passport.
What This Means for Your Case
- Ukrainian TPS holders: go to work Monday. Keep your I-797 receipts, EAD and the USCIS extension notice together, and if HR tries to suspend or reverify you, have a lawyer contact them before you sign anything.
- Detained after a traffic stop: a habeas petition in federal district court is often the fastest route to release. Family members should get the person’s full name, A-number and detention location to a lawyer right away.
- Received a large civil fine notice: do not pay a debt collector or ignore the letter. Save the envelope and every page, and have a lawyer check whether your citation falls inside the court’s June 2025 to October 2026 pause.
- Afraid to return home: say so clearly to ICE and ask for a fear interview. With third-country removals expanding, you may also need to raise fear of the country ICE names, not only your own.
- Naturalized citizens in California: if election officials contact you about citizenship, answer with your naturalization certificate number and keep a copy of what you send. Do not ignore the letter.
- Noncitizens, including green card holders: never register to vote or vote in a federal election. It can cost you your status and future citizenship.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
California sues ICE to stop immigration arrests at state courthouses
Attorney General Rob Bonta’s complaint argues that ICE’s courthouse enforcement directive is arbitrary and capricious, exceeds the agency’s authority under the centuries-old rule against civil arrests at courthouses, and violates the Constitution. The state says monthly ICE arrests in and around California courthouses rose more than 550% after the May 2025 policy change, and that arrests continued after a court vacated the directive in June 2026: 30 civil arrests at superior courts in June and 28 in July. The suit asks for a court order; it does not by itself stop any arrest today.
Boston judge gives ICE a 3 p.m. deadline to release a man it held ten months
A federal judge in Boston found that the removal of Toyo Lara, a Cuban national with a final order, “is not significantly likely to occur in the reasonably foreseeable future,” so his continued detention was unreasonable. The court ordered his release by 3 p.m. Friday under an order of supervision. The ruling applies Zadvydas v. Davis, the Supreme Court case that limits how long ICE can hold someone after a removal order when the home country will not take them back.
First Circuit says courts cannot review the deported Rhode Island doctor’s expedited removal
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, an H-1B kidney specialist at Brown, was turned around at Logan Airport in March 2025 after officers found images of Hezbollah’s late leader on her phone, and was removed the next day on an expedited removal order. The panel did not decide whether officers acted properly; it held that the Immigration and Nationality Act bars federal courts from reviewing expedited removal orders issued to arriving travelers at all. She remains barred from returning for five years.
Policy Updates
From Friday, a 21st birthday on a weekend no longer buys an extra business day
Since 2023, USCIS treated a filing as timely if a deadline such as a child’s 21st birthday fell on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday and the case was filed the next business day. That ends October 23. The weekend-and-holiday rollover will apply only to deadlines written in days, such as the 30 days to file an appeal, not to deadlines tied to an age or a birthday. USCIS cites the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Monsalvo Velasquez v. Bondi for the change.
Green card lottery: court sets an October 29 announcement and November 1 opening
Reports on the DV-2027 injunction now line up on the timetable: the State Department must announce the registration period by October 29 and open the electronic entry system by November 1, with registration lasting at least 30 days. As of Friday the department had posted no official dates. Entries go only through dvprogram.state.gov and are free.
DHS refuses to make ICE body cameras switch on automatically
The Government Accountability Office recommended that ICE adopt controls such as cameras that start recording when an officer draws a firearm or Taser, as CBP already does. DHS accepted six of the seven recommendations but rejected that one, citing accidental activations and the risk of recording informants, victims or bystanders. GAO found staff at six of ten sites unsure when recording was required. For anyone challenging an arrest, missing footage is now a policy outcome, not just an accident.
Enforcement Updates
ICE arrests reach the Oregon coast: two men detained in Lincoln City
Agents in unmarked vehicles detained a McDonald’s employee on his lunch break and a second man in a motel parking lot on Thursday; local police said they were not involved. The arrests follow at least 21 detentions over two days in the Portland and Salem areas last week, after DHS announced a “public safety surge” in sanctuary jurisdictions. Oregon’s monthly ICE arrests climbed back to 186 in June and 174 in July after falling to 30 in March.
ICE’s count of local 287(g) partnerships reaches 2,688
ICE reports 2,688 signed 287(g) agreements covering 38 states and two territories, deputizing local police, sheriffs and other agencies to perform immigration functions. In those places, a traffic stop or a booking into a county jail can now lead directly to an ICE detainer. Check whether your county or city appears on ICE’s published list.
Analysis
Former Chicago immigration judge: detention is pushing people to give up valid cases
Ahead of the Supreme Court’s review of no-bond detention in Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha, set for argument early next year, former Chicago immigration judge Eva Saltzman says people eligible for asylum or cancellation of removal are abandoning those claims simply to get out of custody faster. Federal judges have ruled against the mandatory detention policy more than 9,300 times by Politico’s count, but two appeals courts sided with the government. Saltzman, who granted bond in some high-profile cases, says she was fired without cause in July.
Ukrainian TPS after Monday: status continues, work papers are the gap
Because DHS published no decision by the August 20 statutory deadline, the designation is widely read as extended automatically to April 19, 2027, and people who re-registered on time do not need to refile. The trouble is documentation: USCIS’s notices extending expired A-12 and C-19 cards run only through October 19, 2026, and the agency has not said how employers should verify work authorization after that. About 140,000 Ukrainian TPS applications are reported still pending. A bipartisan House bill, H.R. 10740, would redesignate Ukraine through July 1, 2029, but has not moved.
What This Means for Your Case
- Ukrainian TPS holders: do not quit or stop reporting to work on your own on Monday. Bring your I-797 notices, your EAD and any USCIS extension notice to HR, and call a lawyer if your employer tries to reverify or suspend you.
- Children turning 21 on a weekend or holiday: from October 23, file before the birthday itself, not the next business day. Any I-130, adjustment or derivative filing that depends on being under 21 should go in now.
- Court dates in state court: ICE still makes arrests at and near courthouses. Do not skip a criminal, family or traffic court date; missing it creates a warrant. Talk to an immigration lawyer before you go.
- Held months after a removal order: if ICE cannot deport someone to their country, a habeas petition under Zadvydas can win release. Ask a lawyer once detention after the order passes six months.
- Returning from travel abroad: officers can search your phone at the airport, and an expedited removal order there is very hard to undo in court. Get advice before any trip if your status is anything other than U.S. citizen.
- Detained and offered a quick way out: do not give up an asylum or cancellation claim just to leave detention faster without first talking to a lawyer about a bond or habeas route.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Judge orders the State Department to hold the 2027 green card lottery it skipped
U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta issued a preliminary injunction finding that the department’s failure to open DV-2027 registration amounted to an unexplained suspension of a program Congress created, and rejected the argument that it was simply too late. The order requires a registration period of at least 30 days, announced through the Federal Register and the department’s usual channels, and processing of selectees until all 55,000 visas are issued or the fiscal year ends. Reports differ on timing: the order set a midnight October 15 announcement deadline, while the plaintiff’s lawyer told Courthouse News he filed a joint motion to push it back two weeks, and some outlets report a November 1 opening. Until the State Department posts official dates, treat any site selling “early entry” as a scam; entry has always been free.
Policy Updates
New USCIS fees take effect today for asylum, parole and TPS filings
Anything postmarked October 16 or later must carry the new amounts or it will be rejected. The annual asylum application fee rises from $102 to $105; the immigration parole fee on Form I-131 from $1,020 to $1,050; initial work permits for asylum applicants, parolees and TPS holders from $560 to $570; and Form I-821 for TPS from $510 to $520. These are the inflation adjustments to the fees created by H.R. 1 last year. A packet that sat in a drawer with yesterday’s check needs a new check before it goes in the mail.
Refugees now get 10 days, not 30, to fight a notice terminating their status
The rule amends the regulation on terminating refugee status when DHS decides a person was never a refugee, cutting the time to respond to a Notice of Intent to Terminate from 30 days to 10. DHS issued it without advance public comment. It lands in the middle of USCIS’s re-vetting of refugees admitted under the prior administration who have not yet adjusted to permanent residence; the rule itself cites a Minnesota pilot review. The International Refugee Assistance Project advises responding within the 10 days even if you also ask for more time, because extension requests may not be granted.
USCIS proposes to stop deferring to its own prior approvals on extensions
Today, an officer deciding an extension for the same person, the same employer and the same facts generally defers to the earlier approval. The proposal would end that and let USCIS re-decide eligibility from scratch on every filing. It is a proposed rule, not yet in effect. The direct impact falls on employment-based extensions, but it signals a broader approach: an earlier approval is no longer a safe assumption that the next filing will go through.
House bill would let U.S. citizens wrongly detained by ICE sue for $500,000 plus $100,000 a day
The Justice for Citizens Wrongfully Detained by ICE Act would let citizens arrested or detained by immigration officers without a warrant or probable cause after January 20, 2025 sue both the officers and the United States, with qualified and sovereign immunity removed and five years to file. The bill cites ProPublica’s count of 506 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents. It is newly introduced and has not moved in committee.
Enforcement Updates
Fresno-area detainees pressed to sign voluntary departure, then moved to Texas, lawyers say
The UFW Foundation has identified 65 people detained in Fresno County since the surge began early last week. Its legal director says lawyers have been turned away at the Golden State Annex and Central Valley Annex in McFarland because detainees do not yet appear in ICE’s online locator, while officers ask “who’s ready to sign?” Many who signed voluntary departure forms have already been transferred to a facility in Texas. DHS said it needs names and A-numbers to verify the cases and that it is targeting public safety threats.
Idaho county confirms ICE arrests at probation check-ins
Teton County’s administrator confirmed that federal agents took people into custody at a probation hearing on October 13 and again on October 15, when people reported for random drug tests and check-ins. The county says its probation officers did not make the arrests and that it has no formal agreement with DHS, but cannot obstruct federal officers. Locals also report traffic stops by unmarked cars without plates in Victor.
Women who called for help with domestic violence are ending up in ICE detention
ProPublica traced women held at the North Lake Processing Center in Michigan who were arrested on domestic violence allegations after abusers called police first; in the cases it describes, charges were dropped or never filed, yet the women were handed to ICE or picked up at a later check-in. Kent County’s jail turned more people over to ICE in the first half of 2026 than in all four Biden years. The administration has also rolled back the policy that once limited enforcement against VAWA and U visa applicants.
Analysis
One-fifth of the Supreme Court’s argument docket is now immigration
With Tuesday’s grant in Blanche v. Ozurumba, the material-support asylum case, six immigration cases are set for argument this term, about one in five on the docket, and more petitions are waiting. The headline case is DHS v. D.V.D., on deportations to third countries without a chance to raise a fear of torture there; the Court has let those removals continue three times while the litigation runs. SCOTUSblog also flags Montoya Palacios v. Liggins, on whether a detention habeas case counts as a “civil action” for attorney fees, which affects how many lawyers can afford to take those cases.
Ukrainian TPS: three days to October 19, and still no word from DHS
DHS published no extension or termination by the statutory 60-day deadline in August. Many practitioners read the statute as extending the designation automatically by six months, to April 19, 2027, but USCIS has not confirmed that and its Ukraine page still lists October 19, 2026. That gap is where employers make mistakes. Holders should keep every I-797 notice and EAD together, check USCIS for a Federal Register notice daily this week, and get advice before an employer reverifies on Monday.
What This Means for Your Case
- Anything you mail from today on: recheck the fee. The annual asylum fee is $105, an initial asylum, parole or TPS work permit is $570, the TPS application is $520 and the parole fee is $1,050. An old check means a rejected filing and a lost filing date.
- Refugees who have not yet gotten a green card: if a Notice of Intent to Terminate arrives, the clock is 10 days from service. Call a lawyer the day it arrives, respond on time, and request an interview if you need more time to gather evidence.
- If a family member is detained: tell them not to sign voluntary departure or any other paper before speaking with a lawyer, even if officers say it is the only way out. Write down their A-number; families and lawyers need it to find them when the locator lags.
- Probation, parole and ICE check-ins: agents are making arrests at routine appointments. Missing one creates its own problems, so talk to an immigration lawyer before your next appointment, not after.
- Domestic violence survivors: a VAWA self-petition or U visa can still protect you, but the old enforcement shield is gone. Get immigration advice before or alongside any criminal case, especially if you were the one arrested.
- Diversity visa hopefuls: wait for the official State Department announcement and use only dvprogram.state.gov. Entry is free.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Ninth Circuit strikes down California law requiring ICE agents to wear visible ID
The court permanently barred the state from enforcing its No Vigilantes Act, which required federal immigration agents to display a name or badge number on duty. Judge Mark J. Bennett wrote that the law “attempts to directly regulate the United States in its performance of governmental functions” and that “no set of circumstances exist under which the Act would be valid.” A trial judge had already blocked California’s companion ban on masks. More than a dozen states have pursued similar laws, and this ruling now governs all of them in the Western states.
Full Third Circuit asks whether anyone can challenge a reinstated removal order in court
Patria Laureano, a Dominican woman removed in 2008 who returned and was arrested in 2023, seeks protection under the Convention Against Torture from an abusive former partner. The Justice Department argued that reinstating an old removal order is “ministerial” and that the statute bars judicial review. Judge Cheryl Ann Krause asked what a U.S. citizen with the same name as a deportee could do under that position. The ruling will decide whether people in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware with reinstated orders can get a federal court to look at their fear claims at all.
Policy Updates
Final rule: a timely work permit renewal no longer keeps your old card valid
DHS finalized the October 2025 interim rule that ended automatic extensions of up to 540 days for many EAD renewal applicants. Pending asylum applicants (C08) and pending green card applicants (C09), who together make up about 80% of work permit filings, are the largest groups affected. If USCIS has not approved the renewal by the date printed on the card, work authorization stops until it does. Extensions already granted before the 2025 rule stay valid, and extensions written into law or a specific Federal Register notice, such as some TPS notices, are not affected.
DHS and the Justice Department finalize fast-track fines for failing to leave
The rule makes permanent a June 2025 interim rule that lets ICE impose civil penalties more quickly on people who miss a voluntary departure deadline, refuse to depart after a final removal order, or are caught entering unlawfully. Penalties for breaking voluntary departure range from $1,992 to $9,970, with a $3,000 default. The one change from the interim rule: ICE may accept a late appeal of a penalty if documented mail delays outside the person’s control caused it. Penalty notices arrive by mail, so a current address on file matters.
Enforcement Updates
Masked agents smash a car window and arrest a man across from a Seattle elementary school at drop-off
At about 8:25 a.m. Tuesday, three vehicles, two unmarked and without plates, followed a car into a church parking lot shared with KapKa Cooperative Elementary near Woodland Park. Four masked agents, one in a vest reading “POLICE ICE,” demanded a visa and ID, broke the driver’s window and took the man away. Staff followed the school’s ICE protocol, steering families to another entrance; the head of school said children did not see the arrest.
ICE raids a Santa Fe housing construction site; builders report visits across the city
Agents marked “ICE” and “ERO” arrested several workers Tuesday morning at the Los Brios development on the city’s south side. One builder said agents had “gone to quite a few construction sites in the city.” Worksite operations remain one of the fastest ways families lose a wage earner without warning.
Angolan father arrested at Portland, Maine airport on his way to visit his deaf son
Nguinamau Celestino was detained October 9 at the Portland Jetport while boarding a flight to Washington, D.C., his family says. ICE says he entered lawfully on May 26, 2018 and overstayed. The arrest is a reminder that TSA checkpoints and airport gates are enforcement points for people without current status, including those who entered legally on a visa.
Analysis
The two immigration cases this Supreme Court term that could touch the most families
The Guardian’s term preview highlights Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha, on whether everyone who entered without inspection can be held without bond, and DHS v. D.V.D., on deportations to “third countries” without a chance to raise fear of torture there. The Court has already let third-country removals continue while the case is pending. Decisions are expected by June 2027; until then, bond eligibility still depends heavily on which circuit you are detained in.
Asylum seekers and green card applicants: plan for a gap in your work permit
With the interim rule now final, there is no near-term prospect of the automatic extension coming back by regulation. A receipt notice for a renewal no longer proves you can work once your card expires, and employers checking Form I-9 will treat an expired card as expired. The only reliable defense is filing early, as soon as USCIS allows, and keeping proof of the filing date. If a gap is coming, talk to your employer before the expiration date, not after.
What This Means for Your Case
- Work permit renewals (C08 asylum, C09 adjustment, and others): check the expiration date on your EAD today. File the renewal as early as USCIS permits, keep the receipt, and do not assume you can keep working past the printed date while it is pending.
- Anyone with voluntary departure or a final removal order: fines are now routine and arrive by mail. Keep your address current with ICE and the immigration court, and see a lawyer before a deadline passes, not after a penalty notice arrives.
- Prior removal and returned: if ICE reinstates an old order, say right away if you fear return. Whether a federal court can review a denial depends on your circuit, and the Third Circuit’s en banc ruling may narrow that path.
- Visa overstays planning domestic travel: airports are enforcement points. Talk to a lawyer about your options before you fly.
- Ukrainians with TPS: October 19 is four days away. Advocates and lawyers read the statute as extending the designation to April 19, 2027 because DHS published no decision by August 20, but the USCIS Ukraine TPS page still lists October 19, 2026. Keep your I-797 notices and EADs together and talk to a lawyer before your employer reverifies.
- Anyone paying a USCIS fee: the higher asylum, parole, initial EAD and TPS fees apply to filings postmarked October 16 or later, which is tomorrow. Anything mailed today goes at the current fee.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Supreme Court will decide whether cooking in a militant camp is “material support” for terrorism
The Court granted review in Blanche v. Ozurumba, No. 25-1343. Izuchukwu Ozurumba, a Nigerian asylum seeker, cooked for about six months in a camp run by the separatist “Unknown Gunmen” before escaping. An immigration judge and the Board found that was material support, which bars asylum. The Fourth Circuit reversed, holding that cooking meals with food the group bought gave it nothing it could use or divert to carry out attacks. The government appealed, and the justices will now set the standard nationwide.
Sotomayor and Gorsuch call a double illegal-reentry prosecution a “constitutional absurdity”
Jesus Herrera-Salazar served a sentence for being “found in” the U.S. after removal, then was ordered on supervised release not to leave eastern Oklahoma. A traffic stop there led to a second prosecution for the same continuing presence. The Court denied review because he has since been deported, but the two justices wrote that whether he stayed or left, “he would be breaking the law,” and urged lower courts to give the Double Jeopardy Clause “its full weight and meaning” in the next case.
San Antonio sues DHS to halt a 1,500-person ICE facility on the East Side
The city’s federal lawsuit says ICE skipped the environmental review the National Environmental Policy Act requires before converting a 640,000-square-foot warehouse on Southeast Loop 410, bought in January, into a processing center. GardaWorld Federal Services holds a $17.3 million renovation contract, and the site was expected to open early next year. The city says it sent five letters since February and never received the engineering reports DHS promised in June. DHS did not comment.
Released detainees sue ICE for keeping their work permits, passports and wedding rings
Seven people filed a class action in federal court in Washington, Gonzalez v. Department of Homeland Security, arguing that ICE violates the Fourth Amendment by holding property after it has any reason to. One plaintiff, Russian asylum seeker Vladimir Izmailov, says he has not been able to work for more than five months because ICE kept his employment authorization card, and he has borrowed money to pay rent for his family of four. The suit asks for the items back and for a procedure that returns property at release.
Policy Updates
Refugees now have 10 days, not 30, to fight a termination notice
The rule applies when DHS concludes a person was not a refugee at the time of admission. The response period to a Notice of Intent to Terminate drops from 30 to 10 days, plus three days when the notice is mailed. Termination ends refugee-based work authorization and can lead to removal proceedings. DHS ties the change to its post-admission review of refugees, Operation PARRIS. The rule took effect without advance comment; the public can still comment through November 13.
Enforcement Updates
ICE says it has re-arrested people at the courthouse door after judges freed them “since May”
MPR found at least five cases at Minneapolis’s Whipple Federal Building where people released on federal habeas orders were taken back into custody within minutes. An ICE official told one lawyer, “It’s not new; we’ve been doing this since May.” U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell has ruled that the tactic, if lawful, “would render habeas relief meaningless.” Yader Cortez Andino, re-arrested October 2, went free only after his green card was approved October 3.
DHS publicizes Columbus Day weekend arrests and targets sanctuary policies
DHS profiled 20 people arrested over the holiday weekend with convictions it lists as including murder, child sex offenses, drug trafficking and drunk driving, and repeated its criticism of jurisdictions that do not honor ICE detainers. The release gives no total arrest count for the weekend. It reflects the department’s own characterization; independent reporting this month shows many arrests involve people with no criminal record.
Analysis
Why ICE arrest numbers can overstate what is happening in your town
Federal data shows 124 ICE arrests in Vermont through July, more than triple 2025. Vermont Public matched more than 50 of them to Border Patrol apprehensions at the Canadian border, people counted again when ICE took custody for deportation. Interior “at-large” arrests were 29 in seven months, against 35 for all of 2025. ICE is more active, but national headline counts mix border and interior arrests, so read them carefully before judging your local risk.
Forced to help an armed group? Ozurumba could decide your asylum case
Many asylum seekers were made to cook, carry, pay or give shelter to armed groups. Immigration judges often treat any of that as material support, which bars asylum and withholding. The Fourth Circuit’s rule asks whether the help was something the group could actually use for violence. A decision is likely by mid-2027. Until then, the answer can depend on the circuit where your case is heard, and detailed, honest testimony about what you did and why matters more than ever.
What This Means for Your Case
- Refugees, including those who later got green cards through refugee status: if a Notice of Intent to Terminate arrives, the clock is now 10 days (13 if mailed). Open USCIS mail the day it arrives and call a lawyer the same day; there is no time to gather records after the fact.
- Asylum applicants who gave any help to an armed group: do not leave it out of your application. Explain exactly what you did, for how long, and whether you were forced. Ask your lawyer how Ozurumba and your circuit’s law affect your case.
- Released from ICE without your documents: write down what was taken, request it in writing, and keep copies. If ICE kept your work permit, ask counsel about a replacement EAD while the property dispute continues.
- Family of someone who wins a habeas order: ask the lawyer to request that the judge bar re-arrest on release, and be outside the building at the release time with documents.
- Ukrainians with TPS: October 19 is five days away. Advocates and lawyers read the statute as extending the designation to April 19, 2027 because DHS published no decision by August 20, but the USCIS Ukraine TPS page still lists October 19, 2026. Keep your I-797 notices and EADs together and talk to a lawyer before your employer reverifies.
- Anyone paying a USCIS fee: the higher asylum, parole, initial EAD and TPS fees apply to filings postmarked October 16 or later, which is Friday.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
BIA cancels a Russian truck driver’s $20,000 bond and tightens the rules for bond sponsors
The respondent came to the U.S. on a visitor visa in 2021, overstayed, and drove long-haul trucks without a valid commercial driver’s license. He was arrested after failing to stop at an interstate port of entry. An immigration judge set bond at $20,000; on DHS’s appeal, the Board ordered him held without bond. It found he had not shown he was not a danger to the community, and it held that a sponsor with “an ambiguous social connection and uncertain financial ability” does not meet the “rigorous standards” for a credible sponsor who can reduce flight risk.
Arizona judge sanctions a federal prosecutor who accused an asylum seeker’s lawyer of lying
U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa found that Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooks Chupp violated Rule 11 when he claimed, without supporting evidence, that the lawyer for an Iranian asylum applicant had falsely told the court her client had an appeal pending that blocked his deportation. She called his conduct “wholly unreasonable” and ordered him to complete legal education on a prosecutor’s duties and on backing factual claims with evidence.
Policy Updates
Refugee ceiling set at 17,500 for this fiscal year, mostly for Afrikaners
The presidential determination for fiscal year 2027 allows up to 17,500 refugee admissions and says they will primarily go to white South Africans. Resettlement groups say persecuted religious minorities, including Christians, were effectively shut out last year and will be again. For comparison, the ceiling averaged about 73,000 under Obama and was 125,000 under Biden. Families who were waiting abroad when the program was suspended in January 2025 still have no path to reunite through it.
Comments on the USCIS mandatory e-filing rule close tonight
The rule, already in effect, lets USCIS require online filing for a form once it has been available online for at least 180 days, with 60 days’ notice on the USCIS website. People who cannot file electronically can ask for a waiver. The comment period ends at midnight Eastern tonight. The rule stays in force regardless, but the comments become part of the record if it is challenged.
Enforcement Updates
Federal agents search Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home over her childhood immigration papers
Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant at Omar’s Washington residence early Monday. The Justice Department called it part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation, which centers on immigration paperwork her late father completed when she was a child, with possible false-statement and fraud allegations. Attorney General Todd Blanche knew of the search in advance. Omar, a naturalized citizen, called it an attempt “to target political enemies,” and the search comes within the 60-day pre-election window in which the department has traditionally avoided such steps involving candidates.
Newsweek counts at least 65 faith leaders detained by ICE since January 2025
Newsweek’s review of court filings and public records found 51 Christian clergy, 10 Muslim leaders, 3 Buddhists and 2 rabbis among those detained. Eighteen have been deported and 14 are still held. Many were picked up at routine check-ins or traffic stops, including a man re-detained after 17 years of complying with supervision. Of the 42 people the administration gave information on, 14 had prior arrests or convictions. DHS says unlawful presence alone makes someone a target, “full stop.”
Civil rights groups demand closure of Florida’s Baker detention site
The ACLU, ACLU of Florida, Americans for Immigrant Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center sent a demand letter over Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, a former state prison now holding immigration detainees. Their accounts describe denied medical care, contaminated water, extreme heat and mold, physical abuse, and people kept from their lawyers. The letter warns state and federal officials and contractors that they face lawsuits if conditions do not change.
Analysis
Detained after an overstay? M-S-V- changes what a bond request needs
The respondent here looks like many of our detained clients: a Russian visitor who overstayed and found work driving trucks. Two lessons follow. First, any driving or traffic history, even without a conviction, will be argued as danger, so it has to be addressed head-on with documents. Second, a friend’s letter offering a place to stay is no longer enough. Plan to show who the sponsor is, how you know them, proof of their status, income and housing, and a signed commitment of support before the bond hearing, not after.
What a college campus can and cannot do when ICE arrives
California law requires colleges to notify students when immigration agents are on campus and to demand a warrant before agents enter nonpublic areas such as classrooms and offices. Parking lots, sidewalks and open grounds are public, and that is where recent arrests have happened, including a student’s father taken in a parking lot at Allan Hancock College this month. As one college president put it, agents can walk through the middle of campus. Signs and approval policies help, but they are not legal barriers.
What This Means for Your Case
- Family of someone detained: start building the bond package now. Gather the sponsor’s ID and proof of status, tax returns or pay stubs, a lease or deed, and a signed letter explaining the relationship and promising support. Under Matter of M-S-V-, a short letter from a friend will not carry the hearing.
- Truck and rideshare drivers without status: a missing or invalid commercial license, or a skipped weigh station, can now be used to deny bond even with no conviction. Talk to a lawyer about your driving record before you are ever in front of a judge.
- Naturalized citizens: the Omar search shows the government will go back to documents filed in childhood. If your family’s old applications contain mistakes, get advice before you file anything new or speak with investigators.
- People on ICE supervision or with check-ins: keep attending, but go with your documents, a lawyer’s contact information, and a family plan. Long compliance has not prevented re-detention.
- Ukrainians with TPS: October 19 is six days away. The designation extended automatically to April 19, 2027 by law, but USCIS has not yet said how it will treat EADs dated October 19. Keep your I-797 notices and employment authorization documents together and show them to your employer if asked.
- Anyone paying a USCIS fee this week: asylum, parole, employment authorization and TPS fees go up for filings on or after October 16. Check the fee schedule on the day you mail.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
BIA creates a “safe countries” list and tells judges to deny those asylum claims early
In Matter of B-S-A-N-, 30 I&N Dec. 145 (BIA 2026), the Board held that judges should generally deny asylum, withholding and CAT claims from nationals of highly developed democracies, typically by pretermitting them at the master calendar stage before any testimony. The list covers about 40 countries: all 27 EU states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Monaco, Andorra, San Marino, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. EU citizens face a second barrier: a presumption against asylum as a matter of discretion because they can live in any other EU country. The decision openly rejects the Ninth Circuit’s 2025 ruling in Lapadat v. Bondi, so expect a circuit fight.
Federal judge vacates the Remain in Mexico policy
In Immigrant Defenders Law Center v. Mullin, U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal in Riverside granted partial summary judgment and set aside the administration’s implementation of Remain in Mexico. He found it obstructed the statutory rights to seek asylum, consult counsel and get a full and fair hearing. The class includes asylum seekers whose cases were terminated or who got final removal orders after being sent to wait in Mexico; only 7 percent of them found a lawyer and 1.1 percent won relief. The Ninth Circuit has already partially stayed the policy’s 2025 reimplementation, and an appeal of this ruling is likely.
Policy Updates
USCIS opens a Charlotte asylum office for North and South Carolina on October 13
Starting Tuesday, affirmative asylum applicants living in North Carolina or South Carolina fall under the new Charlotte Asylum Office at 128 South Tryon Street, Suite 600, and may be interviewed there. Interviews are by appointment only; no walk-ins. The opening does not by itself move a pending case, so the office and address printed on your interview notice is the one that counts.
Newsom vetoed campus jobs for undocumented students, citing fear of Trump retaliation
AB 713 would have required California’s public universities and community colleges to make undocumented students eligible for campus employment. In his veto message last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote that federal officials are “quick to wreak destruction for political spectacle” and that the risk of retribution against the schools was too great. The same governor signed several bills this fall restricting immigration enforcement in the state.
Enforcement Updates
DOJ files 40 denaturalization cases and calls it the largest effort in modern history
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced civil actions to revoke the citizenship of 40 naturalized Americans, filed between August 21 and October 2. The department says the defendants hid crimes or foreign ties when they naturalized; according to Newsweek, at least 19 of the 40 cases involve accusations of lying on visa forms. For scale, Newsweek counts about 105 denaturalization suits filed in all of 2008 through 2025.
ICE supervisor seen at the Bronx shooting was already named in lawsuits over violent arrests
NYPD body-camera footage from the October 8 Marble Hill shooting shows Supervisory Deportation Officer Brenden Cuni holding a rifle at the scene. It is still not public which agent fired the seven shots. Federal court filings describe earlier arrests in which immigrants say Cuni beat and tased them, including a Bronx man who says he was tased about six times while on the ground. DHS would not confirm or deny his involvement. The Trace counts at least 32 shootings by immigration agents since January 2025.
Analysis
Dual citizens with an EU, Canadian or UK passport: your asylum case just got harder
The respondent in B-S-A-N- was a dual citizen of France and Gabon, and the rule is that a dual national has to show fear in every country of citizenship. That matters for Russians, Ukrainians, Central Asians and others who also hold a Bulgarian, Romanian, Polish, Baltic or other EU passport, even one they have never used. Expect DHS to raise it at the master calendar hearing. If you or a family member has a second citizenship, tell your lawyer now, so the written application explains why that country is not safe for you before a judge ends the case on the papers.
Ordered removed while waiting in Mexico? The ruling may open a door, but not automatically
Many people in Remain in Mexico were ordered removed in absentia because they could not safely reach the border for court. Judge Bernal’s finding that the program denied a fair hearing can support a motion to reopen, but a vacatur does not erase an existing order, and the government will appeal. Anyone with an old MPP removal order, especially someone now married to a U.S. citizen or with a pending petition, should have a lawyer pull the court record before taking any other step.
What This Means for Your Case
- Dual nationals in asylum cases: disclose every citizenship you hold or are entitled to. Your application must explain why each country is unsafe, and under B-S-A-N- an EU, UK or Canadian passport can end the case at the first hearing.
- Asylum applicants in the Carolinas: the Charlotte office opens October 13. Go where your interview notice tells you to go, and keep your address current with USCIS.
- People with old Remain in Mexico removal orders: do not travel or sign anything until a lawyer reviews whether a motion to reopen is available.
- Naturalized citizens: if your naturalization or visa forms left out an arrest, a prior marriage or a prior immigration history, talk to a lawyer before you file anything else with the government.
- Ukrainians with TPS: October 19 is one week away. Advocates read the statute as extending the designation automatically to April 19, 2027, but DHS still has not published a notice. Keep your I-797 and EAD notices with you.
- Pending asylum cases filed more than a year ago: the annual asylum fee rises from $102 to $105 for payments on or after October 16.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Judge orders DHS to resume biometrics for detained people with pending USCIS cases
Since December 2025 (USCIS Policy Alert PA-2025-28), DHS has generally refused to take fingerprints from people in ICE custody whose applications are pending with USCIS, then treated the missed appointment as abandonment and denied the case. In J.Z. v. DHS, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali of the District of Columbia stayed that policy under the Administrative Procedure Act, finding it likely arbitrary and capricious. The stay covers every detained applicant, not just the plaintiffs, and the government must report on compliance by October 21. It affects green card, T visa, U visa, SIJ and asylee-follow-to-join applicants.
Tenth Circuit: a group warning about counsel is not enough; asylum seeker gets a new hearing
A Peruvian mother and her son heard about the right to a lawyer only in a mass advisal at a Denver group hearing, and no judge ever asked her individually whether she wanted one, as 8 C.F.R. 1240.10 requires. She lost her asylum case representing herself, and the Board of Immigration Appeals found no violation. In Torres-Roldan v. Blanche, a unanimous panel reversed and ordered a new hearing, finding that a lawyer could have clarified the political motive and police complicity that the judge found missing.
Policy Updates
Ukraine TPS: eight days to October 19 and still no DHS notice
More than 100,000 Ukrainians hold TPS that runs through October 19, 2026, and as of Friday DHS had published no extension or termination in the Federal Register. The statute required a decision 60 days before expiration, by August 20; if DHS misses that deadline, INA 244(b)(3)(C) extends the designation automatically for six months, to April 19, 2027, but DHS has not published a notice confirming that. Radio Free Europe reported a preliminary decision to extend, and a bipartisan group of 31 senators has asked for 18 months. Until a notice is published, nothing is official.
FOIA documents show Minnesota refugee re-vetting was built as a national model
USCIS records obtained by IRAP confirm that 72 Minnesota refugees who had not yet adjusted to green cards were arrested and detained under Operation PARRIS, which internal documents call a “Minnesota Pilot” and a “model for additional vetting operations.” The records count 185,539 refugees nationwide without green cards as of October 2025. A November 2025 USCIS memo already ordered re-vetting, and possibly re-interviews, of refugees admitted between January 21, 2021 and February 20, 2025.
Enforcement Updates
ICE vehicle strikes and breaks a man’s leg during a Houston pursuit
Around 7:20 a.m. Saturday on Clay Road in northwest Houston, agents trying to box in a pickup struck 48-year-old Miguel Parra-Hernandez, a passenger who got out and ran. A local advocacy group says his leg is broken in three places; he is in ICE custody. ICE says the target, Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, had a final removal order and a Dallas County criminal history, but Houston Public Media found no criminal cases for him in Dallas or Harris County. He escaped on foot, and the sheriff’s office is investigating.
Agents use tear gas on protesters who blocked ICE vehicles in Salem, Oregon
Salem police say about 30 people used cars to block ICE vehicles near Lancaster Drive and Sunnyview Road Saturday morning, and agents used tear gas to get out. Several people called 911 with breathing problems. Rep. Andrea Salinas said agents also used pepper balls and smoke canisters and briefly shut down Highway 99E. Salem police said they did not know about or coordinate with the operation. It follows a jump in arrests around Portland earlier in the week.
At least 100 detained in three days as ICE surges into the San Joaquin Valley
Advocates in Fresno say ICE vans arriving at the downtown office went from a couple a day to 10 or 15. One of those taken was Luis Arreguin, 54, who came to the U.S. as a child 49 years ago and was arrested October 1 on his way to work. ICE will not discuss the operation. In August the Ninth Circuit lifted the injunction that had barred indiscriminate Border Patrol stops in the region, and advocates say ICE is now doing the same kind of sweeps.
Analysis
Ukrainians: plan for October 19 as if nothing will be announced
The automatic six-month extension is real law, but an employer filling out an I-9 or an ICE officer at a traffic stop will look for a document, and there may not be one on October 20. Use the next week to get a backup in place. If you entered within the past year or can show changed circumstances, look at asylum now. If a U.S. citizen or green card holder relative can petition for you, start the petition. If you came through Uniting for Ukraine, check your parole end date separately. Keep your I-797 and any EAD extension notice with you.
Detained with a USCIS case pending? The biometrics ruling can reopen the door
Many detained spouses of U.S. citizens and crime victims had their I-485s and U visa petitions denied as abandoned simply because DHS would not fingerprint them. Judge Ali’s order means new appointments should be honored, and denials that came from missed biometrics may support a motion to reopen with USCIS. Deadlines for those motions are short. If a family member is detained with a pending or recently denied USCIS case, have a lawyer pull the notices now.
What This Means for Your Case
- Ukrainians with TPS: do not wait for October 19. Gather your I-797, EAD and any extension notice, and ask a lawyer this week whether asylum, a family petition or re-parole is available to you.
- Families of detained applicants: if a pending green card, U visa, T visa or SIJ case was denied for missed biometrics, ask a lawyer about a motion to reopen under the new court order.
- Refugees who have been here more than a year without a green card: file or follow up on your I-485 and keep your original refugee documents. Re-vetting interviews can come with little notice.
- Anyone in immigration court without a lawyer: if the judge never asked you directly whether you wanted a lawyer, tell your appellate attorney. It can be grounds for a new hearing.
- Families in Texas, Oregon and the Central Valley: enforcement is active this weekend. Do not open the door without a judicial warrant, do not run from agents, and keep your A-number and your lawyer’s number written down.
- Pending asylum cases filed more than a year ago: the annual asylum fee rises from $102 to $105 for payments on or after October 16.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Federal judge bars ICE from deporting the man its officer shot in Manhattan
Lawyers for Oscar Belgal filed a habeas petition the day after the Marble Hill shooting, arguing ICE arrested him without a warrant and never issued a Notice to Appear. U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken ordered that Belgal not be deported or moved outside the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York or New Jersey while the petition is pending. DHS says it will bring criminal charges and still intends to remove him; Belgal was booked into MDC-Brooklyn on Friday.
Government starts bringing back an Egyptian man it deported to Equatorial Guinea
An immigration judge had barred sending Ahmed Soliman, a former green card holder who grew up in Arizona, back to Egypt, where he faced likely torture. DHS sent him to Equatorial Guinea instead, where court filings say he was held under armed guard, beaten and cut off from his lawyers. U.S. District Judge John Hinderaker found the removal violated due process and ordered his return, and on Friday the government said it had begun the process. It is the second court-ordered return of a third-country deportee from Africa, after a Colorado case in September.
Policy Updates
ICE finalizes its civil-fine rule days after a judge froze the old one
On September 30, Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Massachusetts stayed the interim rule ICE used to fine people who did not leave after removal orders. ICE has now issued a final rule that keeps the same framework, including DHS rather than the Board of Immigration Appeals hearing appeals, with one change: late appeals are allowed when mail delays caused the miss. Fines run $998 a day for failing to depart and can be assessed back five years, reaching about $1.8 million; DHS said in July it had issued more than 103,000 fines worth $84 billion.
Citizenship applicants: USCIS explains when it will interview neighbors and coworkers
USCIS brought back “neighborhood investigations” for naturalization in 2025 after dropping them in 1991. Its Policy Manual now says not every applicant will get one, and applicants may submit character reference letters, ideally from U.S. citizens who are not relatives, which officers weigh when deciding whether to waive the check. The guidance applies to N-400s pending or filed on or after August 25, 2026.
Enforcement Updates
DHS Secretary Mullin refuses New York’s request to pause ICE operations
Gov. Kathy Hochul asked DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and President Trump to halt immigration operations in the state after Thursday’s shooting. At ICE headquarters Friday, Mullin said, “We’re not putting a pause on enforcement.” NYPD surveillance video released the same day shows two plainclothes officers approaching Belgal’s parked SUV with guns drawn; DHS says he drove into ICE vehicles, which the released footage does not show. The FBI and HSI are investigating, and protests continued in the city.
“Operation Safe California”: a 45-day ICE push starting in San Diego
Citing the Washington Examiner, the Bee reports ICE has begun waves of operations moving from San Diego through Los Angeles to San Francisco by November, and that officers were told they can arrest anyone they encounter, criminal record or not. DHS has not announced the operation. Advocates in Sacramento and the Central Coast report more ICE activity, including a father arrested at a Santa Maria community college while dropping off his daughter. Gov. Gavin Newsom called it a “campaign of fear” weeks before the midterms.
Analysis
Winning withholding of removal no longer means you stay. It means the fight moves.
Soliman won protection from return to Egypt and was deported anyway, to a country he had never lived in. The Supreme Court has let third-country removals resume until it hears the case in December, so anyone with withholding or CAT protection should assume ICE may try a third country. The cases that ended in a return order had lawyers who moved fast in federal court and documented the danger in the new country. Keep your lawyer’s contact current and make sure family knows your A-number.
Old removal orders now come with a bill
Many people have a removal order from years ago, sometimes entered in absentia, and never knew it. The new final rule means a fine notice can arrive by mail with a short window to appeal. Do not ignore it, and do not assume the court stay covers you. A fine notice is also a sign to have a lawyer review whether the underlying order can be reopened, which may be the only way to make both problems go away.
What This Means for Your Case
- If you have an old removal order: open every letter from DHS or ICE right away. A civil-fine notice has a short appeal deadline, and a lawyer can check whether a motion to reopen is possible.
- If you won withholding or CAT protection: a third-country removal is possible again. Keep your grant paperwork, your lawyer’s number and your A-number where family can find them.
- If someone is arrested or hurt during an arrest: a habeas petition filed within a day can stop a deportation or transfer while a judge looks at the case. Call a lawyer immediately.
- Families in California: ICE has reportedly been told it can arrest anyone it encounters. Know your rights, do not open the door without a judicial warrant, and keep your documents ready.
- Citizenship applicants: consider adding reference letters from U.S. citizens who know you. They can help USCIS waive a neighborhood investigation.
- Pending asylum cases filed more than a year ago: check the USCIS annual asylum fee page every week; many people never get the notice. The fee goes from $102 to $105 for payments on or after October 16.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
IRS-to-ICE address sharing: lawsuit survives, and the injunction goes to the First Circuit
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston ruled that a New Bedford community group and three other immigrant-advocacy organizations can keep suing over the IRS and Social Security Administration handing taxpayer information to ICE. The groups argue the sharing violates the federal law that protects tax return information; in August 2025 the IRS gave ICE more than 47,000 addresses of people with final removal orders. A February 5 preliminary injunction still blocks ICE from using the shared data, and the government’s appeal of that order was set for argument in the First Circuit on Wednesday.
Judge orders release of asylum applicant ICE arrested without notice or a hearing
Binderiya Gansukh, from Mongolia, came on a student visa in 2017, applied for asylum in January 2018 and held work authorization through 2030. ICE arrested her on September 4, saying she had not maintained student status, and her September 22 bond hearing was canceled after she was moved out of Adelanto. U.S. Magistrate Judge Alka Sagar in Los Angeles found that detaining her with no advance notice and no chance to be heard violated the Fifth Amendment and ordered her immediate release.
Policy Updates
Deportation hearings are being held in unmarked rooms at FEMA headquarters and 26 Federal Plaza
Since September 8, DHS has run removal hearings from a FEMA conference center in Washington and a third-floor space at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, with immigration judges appearing by Zoom. Attorneys and members of Congress say the rooms carry no court signage and are generally closed to the public and to lawyers; Rep. Greg Stanton was turned away on September 23. Chicago, Miami, Denver, San Antonio and Los Angeles are reportedly under consideration. DHS says access is governed by EOIR policy and facility security rules.
Leaked emails: 287(g) training for local police cut from four weeks to 40 hours online
Local officers deputized under 287(g) agreements used to get four weeks of in-person instruction. An internal email obtained by American Oversight says the course was “truncated” to 40 hours of virtual training, and material on verifying citizenship, determining immigration status and the legal grounds for an arrest was cut. More than 2,600 agencies now hold 287(g) agreements, compared with 135 under the prior administration.
Enforcement Updates
ICE officer shoots a man in the neck during an arrest in Manhattan; a 5-year-old was in the car
Around 4 p.m. Thursday in Marble Hill, an ICE officer shot Oscar Belgal, 28, from the Dominican Republic, as he was parking. He survived, and the child in the back seat was not hurt. DHS called it a targeted operation against a “criminal illegal alien” and blamed sanctuary policies; Mayor Zohran Mamdani said there was “no justification” for the shooting, and Gov. Kathy Hochul also condemned it.
Sudden spike in immigration arrests across the Portland area
The Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition confirmed at least nine detentions on Tuesday in Gresham, Troutdale and east Portland, with more on Wednesday in Washington and Marion counties, including near a Hillsboro high school and in downtown Woodburn. Oregon arrests had fallen to 30 in March before climbing again over the summer. One attorney said she was turned away from the Portland ICE facility a dozen times on Tuesday.
ICE investigators looked into hundreds of voter-registration groups
Records obtained by Democracy Forward show Homeland Security Investigations searched databases for “derogatory information” on voter-registration nonprofits, including at least 82 in Pennsylvania, plus groups in Ohio, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. The documents float the use of undercover agents in future operations, though there is no evidence that happened.
Army study: the shock gloves ICE bought cause “pain, compliance and fear”
An October 2024 Army test at Fort Leavenworth found the gloves stopped resistance within seconds and left participants afraid of being shocked again; some said seeing the gloves was enough to make them comply. ICE signed a $16.7 million contract for 6,000 pairs in August and calls them de-escalation devices. The study did not look at long-term health risks, and 16 senators are still waiting on answers about how the gloves will be used.
Analysis
A pending asylum case and a valid work permit did not stop the arrest. A habeas petition ended it.
Gansukh did everything the system asked for eight years and was still detained, then lost her bond hearing to a transfer. What got her out was a federal habeas petition filed within two weeks. For people in her position, the immigration court is not always the fastest door: when ICE detains someone without notice or a hearing, a federal court can order release, but only if the petition is filed quickly and in the right district.
Less training, more arrests, fewer places to find a lawyer
Put this week’s stories side by side: thousands of local agencies making immigration arrests after 40 hours of online training, a push toward 3,000 arrests a day, attorneys turned away at the Portland facility, and hearings held in rooms with no sign on the door. The common thread is that the first hours after an arrest matter more than ever, and families who already know the A-number and the lawyer’s phone number move faster than those who don’t.
What This Means for Your Case
- Pending asylum applicants with a work permit: a pending case does not prevent arrest. Keep your receipt notices, EAD and any status documents together, and make sure a relative has copies.
- If a family member is detained without a hearing: call a lawyer the same day about a federal habeas petition. Transfers between facilities can cancel a scheduled bond hearing, and a quick filing in the right district can make the difference.
- Families in 287(g) counties: a traffic stop or local arrest can turn into an immigration hold. Keep the A-number, date of birth and your lawyer’s number where someone at home can find them.
- Anyone with a hearing in New York or Washington: read your hearing notice closely and confirm the location with your lawyer. Some hearings are now held at 26 Federal Plaza and FEMA headquarters, not the usual courtrooms.
- Filing asylum, parole, initial EAD or TPS forms: the higher USCIS fees take effect October 16, one week from today. Anything postmarked that day or later needs the new amount.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
BIA: a trip home on advance parole can end your entire asylum case
The Board held that when someone with a pending asylum application returns to the country they say they fear under a grant of advance parole, the return is presumed to abandon the whole application: asylum, withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture. The presumption can be overcome only by showing compelling reasons for the trip, a standard courts rarely find met by family visits. The Board also held that immigration judges must apply mandatory bars the record supports even when DHS never raises them. The respondent, from Nepal, lost his appeal.
Tenth Circuit: federal courts can review USCIS decisions to terminate refugee status
In Mukantagara v. Mullin, brought by two Rwandan refugees, a divided panel ruling on rehearing held that USCIS's finding that a person did not qualify as a refugee when admitted, the step required before status can be terminated, is reviewable in federal district court. There is no administrative appeal from these terminations, and some refugees have been placed in removal proceedings after losing status. The ruling comes as the administration re-interviews resettled refugees and issues notices of intent to terminate.
Policy Updates
DHS proposes $70,000 fee for international students to start OPT
A proposed rule would charge each F-1 student $70,000 for initial Optional Practical Training and $30,000 for any later OPT period. DHS says the fees target fraud and “pay-to-stay” schemes and would push schools to be more selective in recommending students. This is a proposal, not a final rule: nothing changes until DHS takes public comments and publishes a final version, and lawsuits are likely.
Salvadoran TPS holders press DHS for an answer a month after the deadline passed
TPS for El Salvador was set to expire September 9, but DHS has made no announcement either way, and the USCIS page still says Salvadorans with TPS keep their protection and work authorization until one is made. The National TPS Alliance says about 200,000 people are in limbo, and that some are already losing jobs and, in many states, the ability to drive.
Enforcement Updates
ICE agents told to push toward 3,000 arrests a day
Two sources told CNN that ICE leadership verbally directed agents nationwide on Tuesday to add about 1,000 arrests a day, returning to the 3,000-a-day goal, and to aim for 19,000 a week. ICE has recently averaged about 2,000 a day and took roughly 51,000 people into custody in August, a record for this administration. DHS says there are “NO quotas on arrests.”
NPR: signs ICE has used a court-blocked New Jersey warehouse to hold people
DHS bought 11 warehouses early this year for about $1 billion to convert into detention centers, and a court order bars converting the Roxbury, New Jersey site pending environmental review. NPR found signs that the warehouse has been in use since the summer, and New Jersey's attorney general says the office is looking into similar reports. A government contractor told NPR that DHS rejected a proposal for more humane camps in Texas; the White House called his account false hearsay.
Asylum-seeking filmmaker detained by ICE at Dulles airport
Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh, who came to the U.S. on a student visa in 2019 and applied for asylum in 2020, was arrested at Washington Dulles International Airport on September 24, according to a campaign seeking his release. He is held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, Virginia, and had a hearing and bond assessment scheduled for Tuesday. ICE and DHS have not commented.
Analysis
Can you sue an ICE agent? Why lawyers are turning to state civil rights laws
A Colombian engineer with an employer-sponsored visa says Maine agents smashed his car window, pulled him out at Taser point and drove him to Massachusetts before releasing him that night. Congress never created a damages remedy against federal officers like the one that exists for state and local police, and the Supreme Court has sharply narrowed the court-made Bivens remedy. His ACLU lawyers are also suing under the Maine Civil Rights Act, part of a wider effort to use state law to hold federal agents accountable.
Why M-R-I- matters even if you never planned to stay home
Until now, many applicants treated CAT protection as a backstop that a trip home could not touch. That backstop is gone: one return visit under advance parole now puts every form of protection at risk at once, and judges must raise mandatory bars on their own. Advance parole still lets people travel, but for asylum applicants it should almost never be used to go back to the country they fled.
What This Means for Your Case
- Pending asylum applicants: do not travel to your home country on advance parole, even briefly, even for a funeral or a sick parent, without a lawyer reviewing the trip first. Under Matter of M-R-I-, that one trip can be treated as giving up asylum, withholding and Torture Convention protection together.
- Anyone with a pending asylum case who flies: carry your receipt notices, your advance parole document if you have one, and your lawyer's number. The Dulles arrest shows that airports are not off limits.
- Refugees who received a notice of intent to terminate: answer it on time and with evidence, and keep a copy of everything. In the Tenth Circuit (Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming) a federal court can now review the decision, and other courts may follow.
- Salvadoran TPS holders: print the USCIS El Salvador TPS page, which says your protection and work authorization continue until DHS announces otherwise, and show it to your employer or the DMV if your card date has passed.
- Families of people without status: with ICE pushing for 3,000 arrests a day, make a family plan now. Keep identity documents, A-numbers and your lawyer's contact information where a relative can reach them.
- F-1 students and their families: the $70,000 OPT fee is only a proposal and is not in effect. If OPT is part of your plan, file on time under current rules and watch for the comment period.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Judge upholds Virginia's in-state tuition law for immigrant students
Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Payne granted summary judgment to Virginia on Monday, finding that the 2020 Virginia Dream Act is not preempted by federal law. The Justice Department sued in December, arguing the state could not offer lower tuition to undocumented students while charging out-of-state U.S. citizens more. The judge noted an appeal is likely, and Law360 reports the ruling breaks with the Fifth Circuit on the issue.
Ábrego Garcia hearing on removal to Liberia abruptly canceled
Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland was set to hear the government's request to lift an injunction that bars ICE from detaining Ábrego Garcia and sending him to Liberia. The judge never took the bench; after a short conference with both sides, the hearing was canceled, and his lawyer said an update will be filed on the docket. Ábrego Garcia has asked to be sent to Costa Rica instead, which has said it would accept him.
Policy Updates
University groups sue DHS over new limits on student internships
AAU, NAFSA, the Presidents' Alliance and a Massachusetts college association filed suit in federal court in Massachusetts over two August SEVP messages. Those messages limit Curricular Practical Training to internships that every student in a program must complete, reversing more than 35 years of practice, and warn school officials of personal consequences for past authorizations. Harvard, MIT, Penn and Wellesley are among the schools that have paused CPT approvals.
NYC Bar: which BIA appeal rule changes are actually in effect
A federal court has blocked three of the nine changes in the Justice Department's February 2026 rule on Board of Immigration Appeals procedure. The appeal deadline is still 30 days, not 10, and summary dismissal and automatic waiver of unlisted issues are not in effect. Still in force: dismissal before transcripts are prepared, a 20-day simultaneous briefing schedule, tight limits on extensions, and reply briefs only when the Board asks for them.
Enforcement Updates
ProPublica counts at least 506 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents
The tally includes at least 70 children and teenagers, 63 citizens detained while recording agents, and 36 held for at least a day without access to a lawyer or family. More than 100 were held after agents questioned their citizenship, and more than 300 were detained over alleged assault or obstruction, though fewer than half were charged. DHS said its operations are “highly targeted.”
ICE arrests in the Austin area up 308% since January 2025
Deportation Data Project figures show 4,817 arrests with detention in the Austin area from January to July 2026, compared with 2,844 in the same months of 2025, with the busiest days clustered in May through July. About 60% of people arrested and detained by July 2026 had no criminal history, up from about 5% in January 2025. Local police agreements accounted for 24% of Austin-area arrests this year.
Fresno arrest highlights Kern County's role as a detention hub
ICE detained a Mendota mechanic and grandfather in downtown Fresno on Monday while he was picking up auto parts, and transferred him to McFarland. Four of California's eight ICE detention facilities are in Kern County, and a local immigration lawyer says she is getting calls about people transferred there from Oklahoma, Massachusetts and elsewhere on the East Coast. Volunteers in Fresno report a rise in ICE sightings and arrests.
Analysis
Chemerinsky: the Supreme Court's unexplained green light for third-country removals
Berkeley Law dean Erwin Chemerinsky argues the Court again let the government send people to countries where they have no ties, without a word of explanation, even though a district court found the practice illegal. Federal law treats removal to an unconnected country as a last resort, and the Convention Against Torture requires notice and a chance to raise fear of harm. The case will be argued in December, and removals can continue until a decision.
Why the BIA rules matter if you lose in immigration court
The 30-day deadline survived, but the parts of the rule still in force make appeals faster and less forgiving. With simultaneous 20-day briefs, almost no extensions and no automatic right to reply, the first brief is often the only chance to make the argument. People who wait until the last week to look for a lawyer may not leave that lawyer enough time to order the record and write a full brief.
What This Means for Your Case
- If an immigration judge denied your case: you still have 30 days to file the appeal, but the briefing rules are now strict. Contact a lawyer the day you get the decision, not the week the deadline expires.
- U.S. citizens and green card holders: carry proof of status. ProPublica's count shows that citizens are being detained, and a passport card or copy of a naturalization certificate can shorten the time you are held.
- Families in Texas: ICE arrests are up sharply, and most people arrested this year have no criminal record. Have a family plan, keep key documents where a relative can reach them, and know your lawyer's number by heart.
- If a relative is detained and moved far away: use the ICE online detainee locator and call a lawyer right away. Transfers to places like Kern County or Texas can make bond hearings and family contact harder, and fast action matters.
- Students on F-1 visas: do not start an internship for credit unless your school's international office has authorized CPT under the current rules. Working without valid authorization can damage your status and future applications.
- Undocumented students in Virginia: in-state tuition is still available for now. Keep your eligibility paperwork current, because the federal government is likely to appeal.
Court Decisions
Judge blocks fines of up to $1.8 million on people who stayed after a removal order
U.S. District Judge George O'Toole in Boston ruled in a class action that DHS imposed the penalties unlawfully. ICE issued fines on boilerplate forms without assessing whether each person's failure to depart was willful, and the 2025 fast-track process that dropped the 30-day notice period skipped public comment. DHS has said it issued more than 103,000 fines totaling about $84 billion, at $998 a day applied retroactively for up to five years.
Supreme Court wipes out Ninth Circuit win for Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders
On the first day of the new term, the justices vacated the Ninth Circuit ruling in Mullin v. National TPS Alliance that had found DHS unlawfully ended TPS for certain Venezuelans and Haitians. The case goes back to the Ninth Circuit to be reconsidered under June's Mullin v. Doe decision, which sharply limited court review of TPS terminations. The Court did not rule on the merits, but the order removes the main legal obstacle to the terminations.
Policy Updates
Lawsuit targets USCIS policies that penalize green card applicants who stay in the U.S.
The suit, filed in Boston by SEIU, university faculty unions, an immigrant legal group and six applicants, challenges two USCIS policies. A May 2026 policy tells officers to treat applying for adjustment of status, instead of leaving for consular processing, as a negative factor that only “unusual or even outstanding” considerations can overcome. An August 2026 policy lets officers deny cases without first sending a Request for Evidence or Notice of Intent to Deny, even for applications filed before it existed.
DHS appeals the order blocking its four-year cap on student visas
DHS asked the First Circuit to reverse a September preliminary injunction that kept its “duration of status” rule from taking effect. The rule would limit international students and foreign journalists to a fixed admission period of up to four years unless they win an extension, and would bar graduate students from changing programs. The government plans to ask for an expedited appeal, and the rule stays blocked for now.
Enforcement Updates
ICE detains a student's father in a California college parking lot
Officers detained the man in a parking lot at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria on Monday morning as he dropped off his daughter, and the college says it had no advance notice and did not assist. His daughter said he survived heart failure last year. A local rapid-response group reported at least 16 people detained across the Santa Maria Valley the same day, and a city council member has asked ICE whether its agents carried judicial warrants.
DHS publicizes weekend arrests of people with serious convictions
DHS highlighted weekend arrests in New York, Nevada, Virginia, Georgia and Massachusetts of noncitizens it says were convicted of murder, child sex offenses and drug trafficking. Secretary Markwayne Mullin cited what the department calls a more than 1,600% rise in assaults on officers. These releases feature selected cases; independent analyses of ICE data have found that a large share of people arrested this year have no criminal conviction.
Analysis
AP-KFF poll: rural voters split evenly on whether the crackdown helped their towns
In a survey of more than 2,000 rural voters, about a third said immigration enforcement had been good for their community, a third said bad, and roughly 3 in 10 said it made no difference. About 7 in 10 called legal immigrants and seasonal farmworkers important to their local economies. Only about 4 in 10 said Trump has gone too far, compared with 55% of all U.S. adults in a September AP-NORC poll.
Why the adjustment-of-status lawsuit matters to families
Congress created adjustment of status so eligible people already here would not have to leave their families to get a green card abroad. Leaving can trigger the 3- and 10-year unlawful-presence bars for some applicants, so a policy that pushes people toward consular processing can turn a routine marriage case into years of separation. The case is only at the complaint stage, and both policies remain in effect until a court rules.
What This Means for Your Case
- If you received a DHS notice of a fine for not departing: do not ignore it and do not pay it before talking to a lawyer. The Boston ruling found ICE's process unlawful, and your lawyer can check whether you fall within the class.
- Venezuelans and Haitians who relied on TPS: the Supreme Court's order makes it much less likely that a court will restore your status. If you have not already explored asylum, a family petition or other relief, do it now.
- Adjustment of status applicants, especially spouses of U.S. citizens: file a complete case the first time. USCIS can now deny without asking for more evidence, so include every document that proves eligibility and the relationship. Do not leave the U.S. for consular processing without first finding out whether leaving would trigger a reentry bar.
- Students and visa holders: the four-year limit is still blocked, but the government is moving quickly on appeal. Keep your status documents current and plan program changes with your school's international office.
- Families in areas with active enforcement: make a plan for who picks up the children, keep copies of key documents where a relative can reach them, and memorize your lawyer's number. Ask to see a judicial warrant before letting anyone into a home.
Court Decisions
Ohio judge orders ICE to release a Springfield Haitian man or give him a real bond hearing
U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett rejected ICE's claim that Elisthene Petit Kat, who has lived in the country for years, is an “arriving alien” who must be held without bond. ICE has one week to release him or give him a bond hearing where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is a flight risk or a danger. Half a dozen Haitians held at the Butler County Jail have filed similar challenges, and their lawyers say immigration judges keep classifying long-paroled residents as arriving aliens despite district court rulings.
Second federal judge blocks the $100,000 H-1B fee
Judge Haywood Gilliam in the Northern District of California enjoined the core sections of the renewed proclamation requiring employers to pay $100,000 for H-1B workers petitioned from abroad. He found the plaintiffs, a group of healthcare, education and religious employers, likely to win on the claim that DHS skipped notice-and-comment rulemaking. The fee stays blocked until DHS completes that process, on top of a separate Massachusetts ruling that vacated the policy.
Policy Updates
Ukraine and Sudan TPS end October 19; El Salvador stays protected for now
USCIS guidance confirms that Temporary Protected Status for Ukraine and Sudan, and the work permits that come with it, terminate on October 19, 2026. Its September 30 guidance says Salvadorans with TPS keep their protection and work authorization until DHS makes an announcement, after the White House reportedly stopped a termination notice that was already drafted. The administration has already ended TPS for 13 other countries during 2025 and 2026.
State Department says it has revoked more than 250,000 visas
The department cites overstays and other violations, crimes, fraud and national security concerns, including about 2,300 revocations tied to birth tourism. The count was roughly 175,000 in August. Officials are also preparing to cancel tourist and business visas issued since 2016 to as many as 200,000 people who later applied for asylum, and a new Continuous Vetting Center is reviewing all 55 million valid visa holders.
California puts a 25% tax on private detention centers that hold ICE detainees
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1633, which taxes 25% of the gross income of private detention centers holding government contracts. All eight ICE detention centers in California are privately run. The tax takes effect July 1, 2028, and the money goes to a fund for immigration legal services. Critics expect ICE to respond by moving detainees to federal property or out of state, which would mean longer transfers away from families and lawyers.
Enforcement Updates
Freed by a judge, re-arrested before reaching the door
A Guatemalan construction worker whose habeas petition was granted signed his release papers at the Whipple Federal Building in Minnesota last Thursday, then was handcuffed by five ICE agents before he could leave and taken to a county jail. Several immigrants report the same thing happening to them. Attorneys call it a way around federal court release orders, and DHS did not respond to MPR's questions.
ICE activity rises in Brooklyn's Haitian neighborhood after TPS ends
Residents and organizers reported ICE agents across Flatbush between September 28 and October 2, and Council Member Rita Joseph's office confirmed at least one arrest. Haitian TPS ended this summer after the Supreme Court's June ruling in Mullin v. Doe, and work permits in the A12 and C19 categories expired with it. New York law bars local police from helping ICE with civil immigration arrests.
Man deported to Eswatini freed after 14 months in a maximum-security prison
Phone Chomsavanh, a Laotian citizen who came to the U.S. at age 7 and had already served his criminal sentence, was flown to Eswatini in July 2025 with no notice of the destination. He was released Sunday and is being sent on to Laos. About 500 people have been deported to African countries that are not their own, and the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the third-country program in December.
Analysis
Reuters: 40 LGBT people with U.S. protection deported to countries hostile to them
Each of the 40 had won withholding of removal or similar protection after an immigration judge found they faced persecution at home, then was sent to a third country such as Sierra Leone, Cameroon or Eswatini. Sixteen were later returned to the countries they fled. Preliminary government data shared with Reuters shows more than 40,000 third-country deportations since January 2025, far more than advocates had estimated.
ICE posts, then deletes, reviews finding substandard care in detention deaths
ICE's own reviews of 33 deaths in custody from 2019 to January 2026 found that in 27 of the 31 completed cases, medical care fell outside safe limits: sick calls ignored, medications stopped, CPR skipped or done wrong. The reports were posted to ICE's FOIA library on September 25 and removed four days later. An accountability group saved copies before they came down.
What This Means for Your Case
- Detained without bond after years in the U.S.: a habeas petition in federal court is still the main path to a bond hearing, and judges keep granting them. Have your lawyer ask the court to bar re-arrest on release, because ICE is re-detaining people at the door.
- Ukrainians and Sudanese with TPS: your status and work permit end October 19. Talk to a lawyer now about asylum, a family petition or other options before that date, not after.
- Salvadorans with TPS: you are still protected and can keep working. Keep your documents current and watch for a DHS announcement.
- Visa holders and anyone who entered on a visa and filed for asylum: the State Department is reviewing visas continuously. A revoked visa does not end a pending asylum case, but it can affect travel and future applications, so keep every court and USCIS date.
- Anyone with protection from removal to their home country: withholding does not stop deportation to a third country. If you fear harm in another country, tell the government and your lawyer in writing right away.
- Families of detained people: write down medications and medical conditions and give them to the detention facility and the lawyer in writing. Written requests create a record.
Court Decisions
BIA: recent arrests can sink a bond request, even without a conviction
An immigration judge granted bond of $9,000 to a man with one DWI conviction, earlier arrests for impaired driving and boating, and a domestic assault arrest less than two months before his hearing that was still pending. DHS appealed, and the Board vacated the bond and ordered him held without bond, finding he had not proven he was not a danger to the community. The decision repeats that judges may count arrests that never led to a conviction against the person asking for release.
Lawyer suspended from immigration court for filing a brief with AI-invented citations
The Ninth Circuit suspended the attorney for six months after he filed a brief containing artificial intelligence “hallucinations” and made false statements to the court about how he used AI. The Board imposed the same six-month suspension from practice before the immigration courts, the BIA and DHS. It is now a published precedent, which tells every practitioner that fabricated citations will follow them into immigration court.
Federal judge halts border wall construction across Texas's Big Bend region
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso granted a preliminary injunction blocking “ground-disturbing activities” on five contracted barrier projects while the lawsuit continues, finding the plaintiffs' constitutional claims likely to succeed. The Center for Biological Diversity sued on behalf of a group preserving a historic church in Presidio County and a river guide who stands to lose land in Redford. The ruling covers construction only and does not change how people are processed at the border.
Policy Updates
USCIS will stop extending birthday deadlines that fall on a weekend, starting October 23
Since 2023, USCIS has accepted a filing on the next business day when a deadline such as a 21st birthday fell on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday. The agency is returning to its older rule: the weekend-and-holiday extension applies only to deadlines counted in days, not to deadlines tied to an age or a birthday. Families filing for a child who is about to turn 21 should not count on an extra day after October 23.
USCIS updates its guidance on automatic work permit extensions
A technical update to Volume 10, Part A of the Policy Manual revises the language on automatic extensions of employment authorization documents, adds the (c)(40) category to the EAD validity table, and conforms other sections to recent regulatory and statutory changes. Anyone renewing should check the current manual for whether their category qualifies before relying on an older receipt notice.
Enforcement Updates
San Antonio mayor backs legal action to stop a 1,500-person ICE processing center
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said ICE ignored a September 30 deadline to answer the city's questions about the East Side warehouse it bought for $66 million in January, and that the city attorney is reviewing options. ICE says the site would hold 1,000 to 1,500 people during their proceedings, and it awarded GardaWorld a contract of about $17 million to renovate and run it. Hundreds marched against the project on Saturday.
ICE reports 121 arrests at Lewisville Lake over the summer
ICE Dallas ran the initiative with state and local partners from June 27 through Labor Day weekend, targeting peak boating season on the North Texas lake. The agency says the people arrested had histories ranging from serious violent and sexual offenses to DWI, boating while intoxicated and traffic violations, and that two admitted to belonging to Tren de Aragua. The list shows that a traffic or boating stop can be enough to bring ICE into the picture.
Analysis
Somali deportation orders in Minnesota up nearly tenfold under a nationality “rocket docket”
A Star Tribune analysis of federal data found more than 1,000 Somali asylum seekers ordered deported since February, more than 500 of them living in Minnesota. Nearly every removal decision this year came from a fast-track docket that moved cases scheduled a year or more out onto online hearings, which attorneys call unprecedented for a single nationality. The court says it is following the law's 180-day target for asylum decisions.
“ICE Is Everywhere and Acting with Impunity”
The magazine counts about two dozen DHS shootings since January 2025, six of them fatal, with no ICE officer federally charged. It cites a New York Times finding that in about half of the roughly 400 resolved federal cases charging people with assaulting officers, juries acquitted, judges dismissed or prosecutors dropped the charges. Arrests hit a record of nearly 51,000 in August.
What This Means for Your Case
- Seeking release on bond: after Morales Cuxun, a pending arrest can be used against you even if the charge is unresolved. Bring court records, proof of treatment or classes, and evidence of the outcome of every arrest to the bond hearing.
- Filing for a child close to age 21: after October 23, a 21st birthday that falls on a weekend or holiday is no longer pushed to the next business day. File well before the birthday, not on it.
- Renewing a work permit: file the renewal as early as USCIS allows and check whether your category still gets an automatic extension. Do not assume your old receipt notice keeps you working.
- Choosing a lawyer: ask who will write and review your briefs. Courts are now disciplining lawyers whose filings cite cases that do not exist, and that can hurt the client's case as well.
- Somali asylum seekers and anyone moved onto an expedited docket: your hearing may come months or years earlier than your original notice said. Check your case on the EOIR portal and have your evidence and witnesses ready now.
- North Texas residents: ICE is working with lake patrols and local police. Carry valid ID, keep your attorney's number memorized, and do not sign anything you do not understand.
Court Decisions
BIA: a remand does not mean you get a new hearing
The Board held that it does not keep jurisdiction after sending a case back to an immigration judge, and that unless the remand order specifically calls for a new hearing, the judge may issue a fresh decision on the existing record without violating due process. The case involved a Salvadoran man denied withholding of removal and CAT protection. In practice, the evidence you present at your first individual hearing may be the only evidence the court ever considers.
Miami federal judge rules the federal noncitizen-voting crime unconstitutional
Judge David S. Leibowitz dismissed misdemeanor charges against Chelsea Cox, a Jamaican national accused of voting in the 2020 election, finding that 18 U.S.C. § 611 exceeds Congress's power because the Constitution leaves voter qualifications to the states. The ruling applies only to her case, and the Justice Department has already moved to appeal. It does not touch the separate crime of falsely claiming citizenship to vote, and Florida can still prosecute under state law.
Policy Updates
Funding freeze means more detained children will face immigration court without a lawyer
The White House is withholding $810 million Congress approved, including $567 million for services to refugees, asylees and other noncitizens. The University of Wisconsin's Immigrant Justice Clinic says it has lost funding it planned to use to represent unaccompanied children under 12 in deportation cases. The GAO considers this kind of “pocket rescission” illegal, and a court challenge is likely.
Justice Department sues Maryland over its mask ban for federal agents
The suit targets Maryland, Prince George's County and Montgomery County laws that bar federal officers from wearing masks and require them to identify themselves. The department argues the Supremacy Clause forbids states from regulating federal officers, and says it has won preliminary relief in every mask or ID case decided so far. Maryland is the eighth state it has sued over limits on federal agents.
Citizenship backlog tops 727,000 as applications outpace decisions
USCIS data for April through June show 727,371 regular N-400 naturalization applications pending at the end of the quarter, with new filings arriving at about twice the rate the agency completed them. Houston and Dallas are among the field offices with the largest pending caseloads.
Enforcement Updates
Seven immigration arrests made Miami-Dade's sheriff eligible for $14.6 million
The Journal found that DHS's 287(g) task-force reimbursements made the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office eligible for $14.565 million after seven immigration arrests between April and June, about $2 million per arrest, though the money is not literally paid per arrest. A West Virginia sheriff whose county has about 7,600 residents said joining was “a no-brainer.” Roughly 2,000 local agencies now have agreements to make immigration stops or hand people in local jails to ICE.
Five Haitians from Springfield, Ohio deported after TPS ended
Haitian TPS ended July 27, and local advocates say five Springfield residents have now been sent back. Haiti's migration office counted more than 470 deportations from the U.S. between August 20 and September 17, some involving people with pending asylum claims. Flights have gone from monthly to weekly and land in Cap-Haïtien because gangs have made the Port-au-Prince airport unsafe.
Analysis
Inside Atlanta's “mega master” immigration hearings
Atlanta immigration judges are now calling dockets of close to 100 people at once, up from 20 to 40 a day. Most respondents have no lawyer, names are read roll-call style, and people standing in the hallway risk missing their turn. Court watchers warn that a missed name can become an in absentia removal order. Those who asked for time to find a lawyer were given one month.
What This Means for Your Case
- Preparing for an individual hearing: put every document, witness and expert report in the record the first time. After C-M-H-H-, winning a remand on appeal may not get you another hearing or a chance to add evidence.
- Called to a master calendar hearing: arrive early, sit or stand where you can hear the judge, and answer when your name is called. If you need time to find a lawyer, say so on the record and write down the next date before you leave.
- Accused of registering or voting as a noncitizen: the Miami ruling covers only one case and is on appeal. Voting or claiming citizenship can still destroy a green card or naturalization case. Talk to an immigration lawyer before you answer any questions.
- Living in a 287(g) county: a routine traffic stop by local police can now turn into an ICE detainer. Keep your attorney's number memorized and do not sign anything you do not understand.
- Haitian and former TPS holders: if you have a pending asylum case, keep your address current with the court and USCIS and bring proof of the pending case to every check-in.
- Waiting on citizenship: the N-400 backlog is growing. Keep your green card valid while you wait, and avoid long trips abroad or any arrest that could complicate the interview.
- Parents of children in proceedings: children have no right to a free lawyer in immigration court, and fewer funded programs exist now. Get a lawyer involved before the first hearing, not after.
Court Decisions
Supreme Court will decide whether ICE can deny bond hearings to people arrested inside the U.S.
The justices took the government's appeal from a Second Circuit ruling for Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian man who entered around 2004, applied for asylum in 2016, had a work permit, and was arrested driving to work in Massachusetts in September 2025. The question is whether the July 2025 policy treating everyone who entered without inspection as subject to mandatory detention is lawful. Most circuits have said no; the Fifth and Eighth Circuits, which cover Texas, have said yes. Argument is expected early next year, with a decision by late June.
Federal judge vacates ICE's immigration courthouse arrest policy
Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York found the 2025 policy “arbitrary and capricious” as applied to immigration courts and set it aside, which restores the earlier rule that such arrests happen only in exceptional circumstances. The ruling turns on the government's admission in March that the May 2025 memo it had relied on never covered immigration courts. Because it vacates the policy rather than enjoining it, advocates read it as reaching courts nationwide; expect an appeal.
Boston judge orders ICE to return a released man's work permit and refund his bond
Judge Allison Burroughs, who ordered Jose Luis Padilla Posadas freed in February, has now ordered the government to give back his work permit and refund the $6,000 bond he paid, reasoning that he never should have been detained in the first place. Wins like this are why release is not the end of a habeas case.
Policy Updates
Draft 2026 tax form asks every filer to certify citizenship or work authorization
The IRS draft Form 1040 asks whether the filer, and a spouse on a joint return, is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or a noncitizen lawfully authorized to work, with mandatory yes/no boxes signed under penalty of perjury. Treasury says it is meant to block ineligible claims for refundable credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and did not say whether answers would be shared with immigration enforcement. Roughly 3.8 million returns a year are filed with ITINs.
Refugees and other humanitarian entrants lose Medicaid as of October 1
Under the 2025 budget law, refugees, asylees and other humanitarian entrants are no longer eligible for federally funded Medicaid starting this month. Many regain eligibility once they become permanent residents, which makes slow green card adjudications a health care problem as well as an immigration one.
Newsom vetoes bills barring former immigration agents from California public jobs
Days after signing a package of limits on federal enforcement, the governor vetoed AB 1896, which would have kept immigration agents and contractors out of state and local jobs, and AB 1537, which would have barred police officers from moonlighting in immigration enforcement. He did sign a narrower bill keeping agents whose federal badges were revoked for misconduct out of California policing.
Enforcement Updates
ICE memo bans high-speed chases and limits who can make traffic stops
A memo dated September 30 and signed by executive associate director Marcos D. Charles tells deportation officers they may not chase a car that refuses to pull over. Only officers who have finished one of five training courses can make stops, vehicles must have lights and sirens, and everyone on scene must wear an active body camera. ICE officers have fired on drivers in more than a dozen stops since last year, killing at least four people.
From mass raids to airport arrests: how ICE changed tactics this year
The Guardian's timeline tracks ICE's move from televised raids to quieter arrests, including closer work with TSA to pick up people with expired visas at airports, many of whom have green card, asylum or employment applications pending. The shift has raised arrest numbers while drawing less attention.
Analysis
After a fatal shooting, Maine's small ICE-watch network is stretched thin
Volunteers outside the ICE office in Scarborough log the plates of unmarked SUVs and track who goes in for check-ins and never comes out. One local group says it has been paying out about $200,000 a month in immigration bonds. The piece shows what enforcement looks like outside big cities: fewer observers, longer drives, and families who learn about an arrest late.
What This Means for Your Case
- Detained and denied a bond hearing: the Supreme Court will not rule until mid-2027. Do not wait for it. In most of the country, file a federal habeas petition now. In Texas and the other Fifth and Eighth Circuit states, the law currently favors the government, so talk to a lawyer about every other release option.
- Immigration court hearing coming up: go. The policy that allowed routine courthouse arrests has been vacated, though the government will likely appeal. Bring your hearing notice, and have a lawyer or family member's phone number memorized.
- Released after a habeas win: ask your lawyer whether you can also get your work permit, bond money, or seized documents back.
- Stopped by an unmarked car: ICE officers are now barred from chasing, and must use lights, sirens and body cameras. Write down the date, place, vehicle and officers' names, and give them to your lawyer.
- Filing taxes without work authorization: do not guess on the new citizenship question, and do not stop filing on your own. Lying on a return is a felony, and missing returns can hurt a later green card or citizenship case. Talk to an immigration lawyer and a tax professional together.
- Refugee or asylee who lost Medicaid: if your green card application is pending, ask about status and whether you qualify for an expedite on medical grounds.
- Flying with an expired visa and a pending application: talk to a lawyer before you go to the airport. TSA and ICE are working together, and a pending case does not stop an arrest.
Court Decisions
Judge gives DV-2026 applicants ten extra days past the September 30 deadline
On the last day of the fiscal year, Judge Edward Davila ordered the State Department to keep processing covered DV-2026 cases for ten more days, matching the ten days the Department waited before telling consulates to follow his August 28 injunction. The court found compliance “less than substantial” after the Department decided only 836 cases worldwide through September 21. The extension covers applications refused solely under the diversity visa pause or the 75-country pause and other pending covered cases; it is not a general extension of the lottery year, and the court declined to reserve the roughly 40,000 unused visas plaintiffs sought.
Matter of G-R-B-: immigration judges may pretermit asylum claims without a DHS motion
The Board affirmed a judge who denied a Mexican applicant's asylum and withholding claims on the paper record, with no testimony, because the application did not set out a prima facie case. The precedent extends last year's Matter of H-A-A-V- by holding that the judge can do this on their own initiative, without the government asking. Commentators count it as roughly the thirteenth precedent in seven weeks to move the law in the government's direction.
Immigration judge rules the U.S. can deport Milwaukee mosque leader Salah Sarsour
Judge Jayme Salinardi of the Chicago Immigration Court found Sarsour, a green card holder in the U.S. since 1993, removable on foreign policy grounds based on a 2025 letter from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, treating it as “presumptive and sufficient evidence.” The judge rejected the government's separate claim that Sarsour lied on his green card application. Sarsour plans to appeal, and his lawyers objected that Jordan, a country where he has no right to live, is listed as a possible destination.
Policy Updates
USCIS raises asylum, parole, EAD and TPS fees for inflation, effective October 16
The annual asylum application fee rises from $102 to $105, the I-131 parole fee from $1,020 to $1,050, the initial asylum, parole and TPS work permit fee from $560 to $570, and the I-821 TPS fee from $510 to $520. Anything postmarked on or after October 16 without the new amount will be rejected. These are the H.R. 1 fees, which the law now adjusts for inflation every fiscal year.
New fiscal year brings Medicaid limits and wider social media vetting
Fiscal year 2027 starts today. Federally funded Medicaid and CHIP eligibility narrows for some immigrants, and the State Department now applies its online-presence review to more visa types, including foreign media (I), USMCA professionals (TN) and their dependents (TD). The October Visa Bulletin also takes effect, with F2A advancing one month for most countries and seven months for Mexico.
California requires a judicial warrant for immigration arrests near courthouses
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 873, which requires federal immigration agents to present a valid judicial warrant and identify themselves before making certain arrests within 1,000 feet of a California courthouse. It takes effect January 1. The Justice Department's top prosecutor in Los Angeles has said state laws do not bind federal officers, so expect a legal fight before anyone relies on it.
Enforcement Updates
Advocates ask the U.N. to stop ICE from hiding detainees with final orders
Since September 15, ICE's online detainee locator no longer shows anyone with a final removal order, more than 16,000 of the nearly 69,000 people in custody. More than 30 groups petitioned the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and more than 45 House Democrats asked ICE to restore the names. DHS says detainees can still contact family and lawyers. The petition describes a mother and daughter whose lawyers lost track of them until a judge ordered ICE to say where they were.
ICE arrested 104 people in southwest Kansas in one week
The U.S. Attorney for Kansas said the operation, which DHS calls “Operation Safe Community—Kansas,” targeted “specific criminal aliens,” though his statement named only five of the 104 people arrested. He called community claims of race-based sweeps misguided. Meatpacking towns in the region have large immigrant workforces.
Analysis
Gone in 90 seconds: a quieter ICE is arresting more people than ever
Six months after Secretary Markwayne Mullin promised to keep ICE out of the headlines, the Guardian finds the agency arresting people at bus stops, gas pumps and their own trash bins. Its examples include a Venezuelan man detained at the Phoenix airport despite a judge's order barring removal to Venezuela, who was pulled off the plane only at the last minute. Fewer viral raids has meant more arrests, not fewer.
What This Means for Your Case
- DV-2026 selectee refused under the visa pause: you may have about ten more days. Contact the consulate in writing now, cite the Medani order, and keep every refusal sheet and email.
- Filing asylum in immigration court: the written application now has to win on paper. Spell out the protected ground, the social group, who harmed you and why, and attach the evidence up front. A judge can deny it without hearing you testify.
- Filing an asylum, parole, initial EAD or TPS application: anything postmarked October 16 or later needs the new fee. Mail before then or pay the higher amount.
- Family member detained with a final order: they may not show up on the ICE locator. Get the A-number, ask the lawyer to contact the field office directly, and if needed ask a federal court to order ICE to disclose the location.
- Green card holder with an old foreign arrest or conviction: talk to a lawyer before you travel, renew, or apply for citizenship. The government is reopening old history to start removal cases.
- Court date in California: SB 873 does not take effect until January 1 and will likely be challenged. Go to court, and bring a lawyer if you can.
Court Decisions
Supreme Court lets third-country removals resume and sets December argument
In a brief unsigned order Tuesday afternoon, the Court granted the government's third stay request in DHS v. D.V.D., clearing the way for removals to countries not named in a person's removal order while the justices decide the case. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson would have denied the stay. The Court will hear argument in December on whether the lower courts had jurisdiction and power to grant classwide relief and whether the policy violates due process or the torture convention, with a decision likely next year. The notice protections we described yesterday are no longer being enforced in the meantime.
Full D.C. Circuit appears skeptical of ending Judge Boasberg's contempt inquiry
The full appeals court heard three hours of argument Tuesday on whether Chief Judge James Boasberg may continue investigating whether officials defied his March 2025 order halting Alien Enemies Act flights to El Salvador. A divided three-judge panel had ordered the inquiry shut down in April, but Judges Patricia Millett and Cornelia Pillard pressed the Justice Department hard, with Pillard asking whether courts are “at the mercy of the executive.” No ruling date was set. The outcome will shape how much teeth any court order protecting a detained immigrant really has.
Diversity visa applicants ask a judge to stretch processing past the September 30 deadline
At a hearing in San Jose, plaintiffs asked Senior Judge Edward Davila to order consulates to keep issuing up to 40,000 unused 2026 diversity visas, arguing the government never truly resumed processing after his August 28 injunction. Davila said he was disappointed in the government's compliance and floated extending processing about 11 days, roughly the delay he attributed to the government. The Justice Department said that would conflict with the statute. Government reports show 3,814 visas processed since the injunction; the judge had not ruled when the story ran.
Policy Updates
USCIS finalizes EB-5 fee increases, effective November 30
The final rule, published in the Federal Register today, roughly doubles investor petition fees: the I-526 goes from $3,675 to $7,615 and the regional center I-526E to $7,850. The I-829 to remove conditions rises from $3,750 to $5,000, and a new Form I-527 for amending legacy I-526 petitions carries a $10,330 fee. Regional center designation filings also jump sharply. Investors with filings in progress should aim to submit before November 30.
October Visa Bulletin posts late, with a missing diversity visa section
The first bulletin of fiscal year 2027 arrived days before October, leaving applicants who needed to file in September almost no time. EB-2 India and unreserved EB-5 India reopened, while EB-2 for most countries retrogressed from current to January 1, 2025 and EB-3 moved back for most countries. Former USCIS official Ricky Murray noted that the diversity visa section is missing entirely, which gives no comfort to 2027 lottery selectees. Murthy Law Firm reports USCIS will accept October adjustment filings under the Dates for Filing chart for family and employment categories; check your own category before filing.
Last day for the old Form I-864 affidavit of support
USCIS will only accept the 08/24/26 edition of Form I-864 for anything postmarked or e-filed on or after October 1. The new edition includes a release authorizing USCIS to pull the sponsor's credit report, so a sponsor with a credit freeze should be ready to lift it quickly. USCIS says it will not reject the I-485 over an old I-864, but it will treat the affidavit as missing initial evidence, which can mean a request for evidence or a denial.
Enforcement Updates
ICE guidance to ease off non-criminal arrests was withdrawn within hours
Verbal guidance relayed to ICE field offices telling agents to pull back on arresting people without criminal records was rescinded within hours, according to Fox News sources, and replacement guidance said nothing had changed. President Trump told Fox the approach remains “worst first” but not limited to it, and officials called the episode a misunderstanding. Nobody should treat a clean record as protection from arrest right now.
Analysis
From mass raids to a quiet crackdown: how ICE's tactics changed in 2026
The Guardian traces the administration's shift after the January killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, when Gregory Bovino stepped aside and Tom Homan took over the Minnesota operation. Street sweeps by masked, armored units gave way to less visible arrests, but the timeline shows enforcement ramping up through local police partnerships and detention growth rather than slowing. Fewer headlines do not mean fewer arrests.
What This Means for Your Case
- Final removal order and afraid of being sent to a third country: the court-ordered notice process is paused while the Supreme Court hears the case. If ICE names any country, tell officers in writing that you fear harm there and have a lawyer contact ICE and the court the same day.
- Filing a family green card case: anything mailed or e-filed starting tomorrow, October 1, needs the 08/24/26 Form I-864. Check the edition date at the bottom of every page, and have the sponsor lift any credit freeze.
- Waiting on a priority date: read the October bulletin for your exact category and country, and confirm which chart USCIS allows this month before you file.
- 2026 diversity visa selectee without a visa: the statutory deadline is today. Watch for any extension order from the San Jose court and keep every consular email and interview notice.
- EB-5 investor: filings submitted before November 30 pay the current fees.
- No criminal record: that is not a guarantee against arrest. Carry proof of any pending case, know your A-number, and keep a lawyer's number with you.