Immigration News & Updates
Daily briefings on USCIS policy, court decisions, and enforcement actions affecting immigrants in 2026.
Court Decisions
Denver ICE chief testifies at least 18 people were re-arrested after court-ordered releases; judge weighs contempt
At Monday’s hearing before U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney, acting Denver field office director Nathan Rasper said that starting October 27 he told officers that people released after habeas cases could be re-arrested “based on our statutory authority,” and that he ended the practice on November 4. Testimony showed at least 18 people were freed and quickly re-arrested at the Aurora GEO facility in about a week; attorneys believe the real number is higher because many detainees have no lawyer. The federal prosecutor distanced his office from a DHS statement calling the court’s limits “sabotage.” Sweeney is now deciding whether to open contempt proceedings.
Oregon lawsuit over ICE blocking detainees’ access to lawyers is dismissed
U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken granted the CLEAR Clinic’s request to dismiss its case without prejudice, so it can be refiled. In September she had denied a preliminary injunction, finding too little evidence that agents deliberately kept people from counsel before moving them out of state, and ruled that the farmworker union PCUN and an anonymous DACA recipient lacked standing. The suit followed Operation Black Rose, which produced more than 1,200 arrests in Oregon in late 2025. Plaintiffs’ lawyers say the record they built will be used in future cases.
Supreme Court hears H-2A farm-labor fine case that could limit how agencies punish violations
The Labor Department fined New Jersey grower Sun Valley Orchards about $500,000 for unsafe water, crowded housing and unpaid wages for H-2A workers. The farm argues that agencies cannot impose money penalties in their own proceedings and that the case belongs before a jury in federal court. The justices appeared divided; the government warned that a broad loss would disrupt enforcement in programs from Medicare to student loans. A decision is expected by the end of June.
Policy Updates
House Democrats file discharge petition to force a vote on restoring TPS for Afghans as DHS plans a November 16 flight
Reps. Jason Crow and Sam Liccardo want a floor vote on the Afghanistan TPS Act of 2026, which would extend protection through July 1, 2029. The bill has sat in the Judiciary Committee since July, and the petition is far short of the 218 signatures needed in the current House. Meanwhile, a DHS court filing lists deportation flights on November 16 routed through Pakistan to Afghanistan. Judge Valerie Caproni’s temporary order blocking those removals ran only through November 7.
Children with Special Immigrant Juvenile status lose deferred action, and Kansas City court moves their 2027 hearings to this month
These are children a state court has found were abused, abandoned or neglected. They can get a green card through SIJ status but often wait years for a visa number. The administration stopped granting deferred action and work permits to new SIJ grantees and renewals effective May 10, 2026, and at least two dozen Kansas City children are now in active removal cases. Some hearings were pulled from 2027 and reset for mid-November, some cases were reassigned to a Chicago judge, and ICE has started visiting sponsors’ homes. EOIR says it is resolving cases that “languish” as fast as possible.
Enforcement Updates
ICE drops people with final removal orders from its online detainee locator; a USF nursing professor vanished from it after transfer to Louisiana
Dr. Ann Lawani, a Lodi nurse who teaches 230 nursing students at the University of San Francisco and has lived in the U.S. for 13 years, was arrested at home in September and moved through several states to Louisiana. Under a new policy reported by the Times, thousands of people with final orders no longer appear in the public locator, so her family and lawyer could not find her. Rep. Harder says ICE is pursuing her removal to an undisclosed third country without giving her lawyer the documents. The Times reports DHS then asked the court to transfer her habeas case to Louisiana.
University of Maryland freshman, her high school’s valedictorian, detained with her mother at a Baltimore ICE check-in
Maria Flores Garcia, who came from El Salvador as a child and is at UMD on a scholarship to study public health, went with her mother to a scheduled check-in last week; both were taken into custody and later sent to Louisiana. DHS says she was arrested near the border in 2016, released into removal proceedings, and ordered removed by an immigration judge in February 2021, and that she will stay detained pending deportation. Prince George’s County and Maryland officials are calling for her release.
Analysis
MS NOW: Miller’s move to chief of staff means no course correction on deportations
Days after Trump called his deportation policy “too tough,” the official who designed it took over the White House on Monday. Current and former officials and two House Republicans told MS NOW they expect the pace to hold or rise, noting that nearly 6 in 10 midterm voters said enforcement had gone too far. The White House says Miller will keep focusing on border security and cartels. For people in proceedings, the practical reading is that enforcement priorities set this year are not about to loosen.
What This Means for Your Case
- A judge ordered your relative released: ask the lawyer to request that the order bar re-arrest without notice and a hearing. In Colorado, judges are now holding ICE to that; elsewhere the order’s wording matters.
- You cannot find a detained relative in the ICE locator: a missing entry no longer means the person was released or deported. Call the last known facility and the field office, and have a lawyer file promptly so the court where the person was arrested keeps the case.
- Old removal order and an ICE check-in coming up: check-ins are where people with final orders are being taken, including students and parents. See a lawyer before the appointment about a motion to reopen or a stay, and bring proof of any pending application.
- Children with SIJ status or a pending SIJ petition: deferred action is gone for new grants and renewals, and some hearings are being moved up by months. Confirm the next hearing date on the EOIR portal now and make sure the child’s lawyer has the I-360 approval and state court order ready.
- Afghans in detention or with removal orders: DHS has told a court it plans a November 16 flight. Talk to a lawyer this week about a stay, a motion to reopen, or protection claims tied to Pakistan or Afghanistan.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Judge orders ICE to release the UC Berkeley asylum seeker arrested at the SFO gate
U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins granted the habeas petition of Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, 23, a Colombian student with a pending asylum case and a valid work permit who was arrested October 30 while waiting to board a flight to Oregon. The judge wrote that “due process forbids the government from detaining the noncitizen unless they are first provided with adequate notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral arbiter,” ordered her released immediately, and barred an ankle monitor unless ICE proves at a later hearing that one is needed. Her asylum case stays in immigration court. DHS said it will keep stopping people without status at airports.
Federal prosecutors in western Washington say they no longer have the staff to fight every detention habeas case
Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Floyd told U.S. District Judge David Estudillo in a letter that the flood of habeas petitions from people held by ICE has “severely impacted” his office, and that in “many” cases it will no longer defend the government and will let judges rule without opposition. He did not say which cases. Border czar Tom Homan said last week that about 85,000 immigration habeas cases are pending nationwide. Whether people held without a bond hearing are entitled to one is now before the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court lets Big Bend border wall construction resume, 8-1
In Mullin v. Friends of the Ruidosa Church, the Court paused a Texas federal judge’s order that had stopped all construction across the roughly 500-mile Big Bend stretch. The unsigned opinion held that the 1996 immigration law strips district courts of jurisdiction over a claim that the DHS Secretary exceeded his authority in waiving environmental laws, and that calling it a “major questions” claim does not turn it into a constitutional one. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. The case continues in the lower courts, but CBP can resume work in the meantime.
Policy Updates
A day after “too tough,” Trump says his deportation policy is “very strong” and rules out amnesty
“There won’t be amnesty,” the president told reporters Monday. “My policy hasn’t changed.” Earlier in the day, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Democrats have been calling him about legislation and Trump told him to start working with them, but that no one has discussed changing enforcement. Mullin did say Congress could look at a path to permanent residence for DACA recipients, his first public suggestion of that. Nothing has been proposed, and Sunday’s talk of a deal for long-term residents is off the table for now.
70 groups ask DHS to withdraw the rule giving refugees 10 days to fight termination of their status; a court has already paused it
The October 14 interim rule cut the time to answer a Notice of Intent to Terminate refugee status from 30 days to 10 and took effect without public comment. The groups say a federal district court has temporarily blocked DHS from applying it, including to termination notices already issued under the short deadline. DHS counts about 186,000 refugees who arrived between 2015 and 2025 and have not yet adjusted, and USCIS is still holding more than 155,000 pending refugee green card applications.
Enforcement Updates
ICE takes an 8-year-old Haitian boy from his uncle at a San Diego check-in and sends him to refugee shelter custody
The third grader lost Temporary Protected Status this summer when the Supreme Court let the administration end TPS for Haiti, then received a letter to report to ICE. His uncle, who has cared for him since his father was deported last year, brought him on November 4. ICE said the uncle could not prove legal guardianship, classified the boy as an unaccompanied minor and transferred him to the Office of Refugee Resettlement. As of Monday his family did not know where he was held, according to Rep. Juan Vargas’s office.
New York Times: people with court orders barring their return home are being sent to third countries that then send them home
The Times investigation describes partner governments that accept U.S. deportees and then put them on to the very countries immigration judges said they could not be returned to. The people involved, including Mustapha Camara, had won withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture and believed those orders kept them safe. Under U.S. law, those protections bar removal to one named country only, which is the gap the third-country deals use.
Analysis
NPR: Democrats won on immigration, but ICE already has the money to keep going through 2028
Congress gave ICE and CBP roughly $240 billion across 2025 and 2026, which NPR reports is enough to run the deportation operation for the rest of the term. Incoming committee chairs Robert Garcia and Bennie Thompson promise oversight, and Thompson wants to require body cameras and ban masks for agents, but any law faces a veto. The faster changes are at the state and city level: Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa is being pressed to end the state’s ICE partnerships on day one, and Houston has already cut police cooperation.
What This Means for Your Case
- No amnesty, no new program: the president said Monday his policy has not changed. Anyone without status or with a removal order should plan around the law as it is today and talk to a lawyer about relief that exists now.
- Detained without a bond hearing: federal judges keep ordering releases, and in western Washington the government says it will stop opposing many petitions. A habeas petition is often the fastest way out. Ask a lawyer about it the first week, not the first month.
- Pending asylum and a work permit do not stop an arrest: ICE is arresting people at airports. If you have no lawful status, talk to a lawyer before any domestic flight, and carry your EAD and asylum receipt.
- Children with relatives who are not their legal parents: if a child has an ICE check-in, bring guardianship papers or a court order, and have a lawyer go with you. Without them, ICE may treat the child as unaccompanied.
- Withholding or CAT winners: your order protects you from one country. If ICE mentions a third country, tell your lawyer the same day so they can demand notice and a chance to raise fear of that country.
- Refugees who received a Notice of Intent to Terminate: the 10-day rule is paused by a court for now. Do not ignore the notice; get a lawyer to respond and keep proof of every filing.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Deportation flight of Iranians is called off on the tarmac in Arizona as lawyers say the government skipped a court-ordered notice
At least eight Iranian detainees were loaded onto a plane in Mesa on Sunday morning for a route through Georgia and Pakistan to Iran, and the flight was canceled without explanation; the detainees went back to detention. In October, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington ordered the government to give the court 24 hours’ notice of any finalized removal plan to Iran and five days’ written notice before anyone is put on a plane. The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund told the court Sunday the government may have violated that order. Its lawsuit also says U.S. officials shared confidential asylum information with Iranian officials, and the government filed sealed papers in response.
Judge orders release of a dentist married to a U.S. citizen after USCIS sent his hearing notice to an old address
William Lizardo, a Canadian who graduated from the University of Minnesota dental school and married a classmate who is a U.S. citizen, had an approved I-130 and a pending green card application when ICE arrested him in Minneapolis on October 23. His hearing notice had gone to an address the government’s own records showed was out of date. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis found the arrest and detention violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, called the facts “appalling,” and barred the government from detaining or moving him again without the court’s permission. He was released three hours after the judge’s deadline.
Policy Updates
Trump tells 60 Minutes his deportation policy “might be too tough” and floats a deal for people here 10 or 15 years
In the interview broadcast Sunday, the president said the crackdown hurt Republicans because “we also took people that had good jobs” whose only violation was entering illegally. He said a deal with Democrats was “actually doable” that would let some long-term residents stay while removals of serious criminals continue. He gave no details, and the interview was taped Friday, the same day he named Stephen Miller, who takes over as chief of staff today, to run the White House. Nothing in the law has changed.
New York tells 14 sheriffs to end every agreement that lets ICE use county jails by November 25
Governor Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James wrote to the sheriffs Friday that agreements to house people on civil immigration detainers or give federal agents access to local jails must be wound down by the deadline set in the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, or the state will take legal action. The letter followed Wednesday’s ruling refusing to block the law; the sheriffs are expected to appeal. People held in New York county jails for ICE could be moved to federal facilities, often out of state, as those contracts end.
Today is the last day USCIS accepts green card applications mailed to its old I-485 addresses
USCIS changed where Form I-485 is filed on October 7 and gave a 30-day grace period for packages sent to prior filing locations if postmarked on or before November 9. Starting tomorrow, an I-485 mailed to an old address can be delayed or returned, and a returned package does not keep its filing date. Family-based applicants file at the lockbox listed for their state on the USCIS family-based filing chart. Also starting today, USCIS accepts only the 09/09/26 edition of Form I-129 for worker petitions.
Enforcement Updates
ICE told to make about 19,000 arrests a week, and officials say the election changed nothing
Agency sources told CBS that ICE officers were recently instructed to aim for roughly 2,700 arrests a day, up from a 2,000-a-day target, and that no one at DHS or ICE has been told to scale back since the midterms. One official said that with Miller as chief of staff, “I would count on the opposite.” DHS said Sunday that ICE is “NOT backing away or slowing down.” Exit polls found 58% of voters nationwide said the crackdown had gone too far.
At least four people arrested by ICE across East Oakland on Saturday, starting with a freeway stop
The Alameda County Immigration Legal Education Partnership reported the first arrest between 5 and 6 a.m. after a driver was pulled over on Interstate 980, followed by arrests near Golf Links Road, 51st Avenue and East 12th Street, and 81st Avenue. The group described an increase in enforcement activity throughout the city and said it was working to connect those detained with lawyers.
Analysis
KJZZ: nearly two years after their CBP One appointments were canceled, asylum seekers are still waiting in Nogales
The administration ended border asylum appointments on its first day, and people like Yessica Minero, who fled gang threats in El Salvador, are now running food stalls in Sonora while Mexican refugee cases that should take two months drag past a year. Lawyers at the Kino Border Initiative describe “implicit deportation”: people give up and go home because every path is blocked. Court challenges to the asylum shutdown continue in the United States, but for now the people stranded at the border have no way to file.
What This Means for Your Case
- Do not plan around a deal that does not exist: the president’s comments about people here 10 or 15 years are not a law, a policy or an application. ICE’s arrest targets went up, not down. If you have a removal order or no status, talk to a lawyer about the options that exist today.
- Mailing an I-485 this week: if it is not postmarked today, use the new address on the USCIS page for your category and state. Check that every form is the current edition before you send it.
- Spouses of U.S. citizens with pending green card cases: update your address with USCIS and the immigration court every time you move, and keep proof. A notice sent to an old address can lead to a missed hearing and an arrest.
- Families of people held in New York county jails for ICE: expect transfers as contracts end. Keep the A-number handy, check the ICE detainee locator daily, and tell the lawyer right away if the person is moved.
- Iranian nationals in detention: make sure the lawyer knows about any visit or call from Iranian officials and any notice of a flight. Courts can act fast, but only if the lawyer hears in time.
- Bay Area drivers: arrests are happening after routine stops. Carry your license, know you can stay silent, and keep a lawyer’s number with you.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Manhattan federal judge orders New York City to give ICE the names and birth dates of men at a Bronx shelter
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled Friday that the Mamdani administration must comply with an ICE subpoena for identifying information on men staying at a city homeless shelter in the Bronx. ICE says it wants the records to check whether the residents are removable; the city objected and lost. The written order has not been made public, and it is not yet known whether the city will appeal.
Green card holder held 15 months over two old shoplifting cases wins bond and can go home to Illinois
Beata Siemionkowicz, 57, a permanent resident from Poland since 2003, had been held as a mandatory detainee over misdemeanor retail thefts from 2005 and 2011. After a Kentucky federal judge ruled on November 3 that her prolonged detention violated due process and ordered a bond hearing, Immigration Judge Angelica Powers in Memphis granted bond Friday, citing her family ties, home ownership, work history and community support. Unless DHS appeals, she can be released, but her December 2025 removal order to Poland still stands and she will fight it from home.
Policy Updates
Stephen Miller, the architect of the deportation campaign, becomes White House chief of staff on Monday
President Trump announced Friday that Susie Wiles is leaving the chief of staff job and that Miller, his deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser, takes over Monday. The move comes three days after Republicans lost both chambers of Congress in the midterms. Miller set the White House goal of 3,000 ICE arrests a day, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said after the election that “deportations will continue.”
Houston police will stop calling ICE over administrative warrants after routine traffic stops
Mayor John Whitmire signed an executive order Friday telling officers to contact ICE only when a person is arrested for a jailable offense and also has an ICE warrant. Police Chief J. Noe Diaz said that if officers write someone a ticket for a minor traffic violation, that person goes on their way, even if an administrative immigration warrant shows up in the database. Since April, HPD had told officers to call ICE on those warrants. Whitmire tied the change to this week’s Democratic statewide wins. Anyone booked into the Harris County jail can still be flagged to ICE there.
Immigrants must show up in person while more immigration judges hear cases by video from other states
EOIR has hired new judges every month since February for positions advertised as fully remote, and only four of the 21 judges at the Concord, California court now sit in person. Respondents are still being told to appear in person, sometimes after hours of driving, and lawyers say some judges have ordered people removed for not being physically present. Judges are also hearing cases in other federal circuits, where different case law applies on detention and asylum. EOIR completed a record of about 974,000 cases in fiscal 2026.
Enforcement Updates
Agents line up across the ambulance entrance at a Boyle Heights hospital, forcing two hours of ambulance diversions
Early Saturday, federal agents brought a person in their custody to the emergency room at Adventist Health White Memorial Medical Center. The hospital says agents blocked the ambulance entrance for about two hours, a step it did not request or authorize, and it sent ambulances to other hospitals in the meantime. Neighbors confronted the agents, and federal prosecutors charged two U.S. citizens with assaulting an officer. ICE says it does not target hospitals; Mayor Karen Bass asked the administration to stop all enforcement at and around health care facilities.
San Diego’s members of Congress and both California senators demand answers on a death at Otay Mesa
Guillermo Pascual Verganza, 42, from Guatemala, was found unresponsive in his cell at the CoreCivic-run Otay Mesa Detention Center on October 24, a few weeks after he was arrested in Escondido. Reps. Vargas, Peters, Jacobs and Levin and Sens. Padilla and Schiff wrote to Secretary Mullin and acting ICE Director David Venturella asking for an investigation and regular updates. County inspectors had already cited the facility for late reporting of suspected tuberculosis cases, missing vaccines and slow delivery of medical equipment.
ICE’s own investigators found deficient medical care before 23 of 29 detention deaths
The Chronicle obtained ICE’s internal reviews of 29 deaths in detention between January 2025 and January 2026. In 23 of them, investigators found staff had not provided care “within safe limits of practice,” and in at least eight, staff did CPR wrong or not at all. In only three of those cases did investigators find the poor care did not contribute to the death. ICE still says there has been no spike in deaths; 31 people have died in ICE detention so far in 2026, according to the National Immigration Project.
Analysis
Philadelphia Inquirer: what a Democratic Congress can and cannot do about ICE
The new majority takes over in January with subpoena power and oversight hearings, and Senate Democrats may now have the votes for a bill protecting Haitians who lost TPS in July. But Congress already approved close to $240 billion in immigration funding across 2025 and 2026, enough to keep the deportation campaign going, and the immigration courts belong to the executive branch. As former DHS deputy chief of staff Morgan Bailey put it, the election “changes the politics around the administration’s immigration agenda more than its ability to carry it out.”
What This Means for Your Case
- Do not wait for the new Congress: nothing changes in immigration law until at least January, and the White House is now run by the official who set the arrest targets. If you have a removal order, an expired status, or a case you have been putting off, get it reviewed now.
- Green card holders with old misdemeanors: even decade-old shoplifting convictions can lead to mandatory detention. If a relative has been held for months without a bond hearing, ask a lawyer about a habeas petition; it is what got Ms. Siemionkowicz a hearing and then bond.
- Anyone with a hearing notice: appear in person unless the court has granted a written request to appear by video. Missing a hearing because the judge is remote is still a missed hearing, and it can mean a removal order.
- Houston drivers: the new policy covers stops that end in a ticket. An arrest that leads to the Harris County jail can still reach ICE, so stay licensed and insured and take care of any open warrants with a lawyer.
- People living in shelters or receiving city services: some local records can be reached by federal subpoena. Keep copies of your immigration papers and your lawyer’s phone number with you.
- Families of detained people with medical needs: write down diagnoses and medications, send copies to the facility and to the lawyer, and ask the lawyer to raise serious conditions in any bond or release request.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Plaintiffs say DHS defied a Boston judge’s order by re-issuing the failure-to-depart fines as a final rule
On September 30, U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. stayed the June 27 regulation DHS used to fine people who stay after a final removal order, along with every fine issued under it. In two emergency motions filed Friday, the class plaintiffs argue that DHS violated that order by publishing a final rule and a notice that claim to ratify the fines already imposed, which run into the billions of dollars. They are asking the court to enforce its stay.
Minnesota judge frees a former DACA recipient arrested without a warrant at a North Dakota traffic stop
A McKenzie County deputy stopped Ivan De Haro Villagrana, who came from Mexico at age 5, for driving without headlights on September 22, then called ICE, which told the deputy to arrest him without a warrant. U.S. District Judge John Tunheim found ICE had reason to think he lacked status but had no basis to believe he would escape before a warrant could be obtained, which federal law requires for a warrantless arrest. He ordered him released. Villagrana had DACA from 2016 until about 2021 and had never been in removal proceedings before.
Justice Department drops its suit to make California set aside 20,000 ballots from alleged noncitizens
DOJ moved Friday to dismiss its own case, about a week before a special master was set to test the accuracy of its list. Judge David O. Carter had already refused to halt the count, and California officials say the list is out of date and includes eligible voters. DOJ said the ballots have now been mixed with the rest, so the relief it sought is no longer available. Separate suits by immigrant and voting rights groups over how the government uses its “suspected noncitizen” list are still pending.
Policy Updates
Immigrant visa interviews are still paused at most consulates, and some posts now hand out a public charge question list
The State Department paused immigrant visa interviews in late August so consular officers could finish public charge training, and an official said then that it would not last past mid-September. As of November 5 there is still no restart date at most posts, including Santo Domingo; Hungary and Poland are among the few that have resumed. Some consulates are sending an “Immigrant Visa Interview Preparation Addendum” with sample questions on housing, job plans and expected first-year income, health insurance, household size, savings and debts, past public benefits, and joint sponsors in family cases.
Enforcement Updates
ICE arrests a Wisconsin State Patrol trooper with a pending asylum case at the Madison airport, then releases him
Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe, 21, came from South Africa with his family in 2019, is a derivative on his father’s asylum application, and has a valid work permit. Officers took him at the Dane County Regional Airport as he waited for a domestic flight; his lawyers say agents “did not care” about his paperwork and shackled him. DHS said a work permit or pending application “do not confer legal status.” Local stations report he was released Friday after nearly 24 hours, following a call with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. His lawyer says the family has still been given no explanation for either the arrest or the release.
UC Berkeley student with a pending asylum case and work permit held after arrest at SFO
Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, 23, came from Colombia in 2022, overstayed, and applied for asylum based on gender-based violence. Plainclothes agents stopped her at the gate before a weekend flight to Portland. She is now at the California City Detention Center, and Centro Legal de la Raza has filed a habeas petition arguing there was no warrant and no assessment of flight risk. DHS gave the same answer it gave in the Wisconsin case: a pending application does not confer status. ICE has stepped up airport arrests of people with past visa overstays since the summer.
Six sentenced in Tampa for a Cuban smuggling ring that also sold fraudulent asylum filings
Five Cuban nationals and one U.S. citizen were sentenced for running a network that charged Cubans $1,500 to $40,000 for passage, used false ESTA visa-waiver applications to fly people in, and ran an “immigration services” business that filed fraudulent asylum applications for clients once they arrived. Press reports put the sentences at two to four years and the false asylum filings at more than 1,700. USCIS said it helped build the case.
Analysis
Texas Tribune: what a Democratic governor and attorney general can change about Operation Lone Star
Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa and Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson take over an operation that has cost $11 billion, plus state laws, federal partnerships and court rulings they cannot undo quickly. The fastest lever is the border disaster proclamation, which Abbott has renewed 69 times; the next budget, which needs a Democratic-controlled House, decides whether Lone Star funding continues past next fall. Advocates expect Johnson to rethink Paxton-era immigration lawsuits, but neither winner has promised to dismantle the system, and federal ICE enforcement in Texas is unaffected.
What This Means for Your Case
- Anyone with a pending asylum case or a past visa overstay who plans to fly: know that airports are now a common arrest point, even for domestic flights. Before you travel, have a lawyer check your record, and carry your asylum receipt, work permit, and your lawyer’s phone number. If you are stopped, do not sign anything and ask to speak to your lawyer.
- Families waiting on a consular interview: do not book flights or give notice at work until the embassy confirms a date. Use the wait to prepare: an updated I-864 with current tax returns, proof of health insurance, a housing plan, and a joint sponsor if the petitioner’s income is close to the line.
- People who received a failure-to-depart fine: the Boston court’s stay still covers fines issued under the June rule while the plaintiffs fight the new final rule. Keep every notice and envelope, and talk to a lawyer before paying a private collector.
- Anyone arrested after a traffic stop: a warrantless ICE arrest has limits. If a relative was taken without a warrant and had never been in removal proceedings, ask a lawyer right away whether a habeas petition fits.
- Anyone who used a “notario” or immigration service that filed asylum papers for you: get the full file reviewed by a licensed attorney. A fraudulent or frivolous asylum application can bar you from almost every form of relief for life.
- Texans: the new state leadership takes office in January. Until then, Operation Lone Star, SB 4, and every state-ICE partnership remain in place.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
BIA: missing a voluntary departure deadline bars cancellation of removal for 10 years, even on a later motion to reopen
The Board held that a person who does not leave by the voluntary departure date is ineligible for 10 years for “any further relief” listed in the statute, including non-LPR cancellation of removal. The respondent filed a motion to reopen two weeks after his June 3, 2025 departure deadline to add new evidence for the same cancellation case. The Board said a motion filed after the deadline does not undo the penalty; only a motion filed before the period runs out ends the voluntary departure grant and its consequences.
Federal judge permanently blocks immigration conditions on state police and juvenile justice grants
Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island ruled for a coalition of 22 states, the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania’s governor, led by New Jersey. The Justice Department had required states taking Byrne JAG, Byrne crisis-intervention, and juvenile justice money to give federal agents access to people suspected of unlawful presence and to notify DHS before releasing them. The judge found that Congress set these grants by formula, which leaves DOJ no authority to add immigration conditions, and enjoined the conditions permanently.
Judge refuses to block New York law that ends county 287(g) agreements with ICE
U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino denied a preliminary injunction to 15 county sheriffs, led by Rensselaer County’s Kyle Bourgault, who challenged the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act signed May 27. She found the sheriffs had not shown they have authority under New York law to bring constitutional claims against the state. The lawsuit continues, but the law stays in force, and Governor Hochul expects every county to end its 287(g) agreement by November 25.
Nashville judge extends block on immigration checks for HIV/AIDS patients
Chancellor I’Ashea Myles extended the temporary order, first issued October 21, that stops the Tennessee Department of Health from requiring proof of citizenship or status from people in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program and the HOPWA housing program. Nashville CARES argues the state’s 2026 verification law conflicts with federal rules for communicable-disease programs. The judge expects to decide next week whether to issue a longer injunction; the state asked for a $450,000 bond.
Policy Updates
USCIS memo: unpaid child support, broken I-864 promises, and benefit use can defeat good moral character for citizenship
The memo tells officers reviewing Form N-400 that an applicant may lack good moral character if he or she willfully failed to support dependents, committed fraud to get public benefits, failed to meet obligations under an Affidavit of Support (I-864, I-864EZ, I-864A) or a Declaration of Financial Support (I-134), or used means-tested benefits in a way the memo calls intentional avoidance of self-sufficiency. Its example is a person who cuts work hours to stay under a benefits limit. Lawful benefit use is not an automatic bar, and officers must weigh the totality of the circumstances; USCIS says Policy Manual updates will follow.
Enforcement Updates
Woman with withholding of removal and no record deported to Cameroon in under a week
A certified nursing assistant identified as Rhoda was arrested August 14 at a North Dakota nursing home after ICE said she had missed check-ins she says she was never told about. An immigration judge granted her withholding of removal in 2016, which bars removal to her home country, Zimbabwe, but not to a third country. She passed through five facilities in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Louisiana and was flown to Cameroon, where she has no ties, in less than seven days. Her lawyer, Mo Goldman, called it “hyper-speed.”
ICE arrests four in Livermore as Alameda County activity rises
The Alameda County Immigrant Legal and Education Partnership confirmed three arrests around 9 a.m. near Paseo Laguna Seco and a fourth at about 2:10 p.m. in a Grocery Outlet parking lot on Railroad Avenue. The group said it is representing one of the four but has not identified the others. Livermore police said they had no information and do not work with ICE on immigration enforcement.
Analysis
Forbes: expect oversight hearings, not new immigration laws
Anderson expects Democratic-led committees to hold hearings in 2027 on ICE arrests of U.S. citizens and use of force, deaths and medical care in detention, due process in asylum cases, falling naturalization approvals, and the processing freezes for applicants from dozens of countries. He notes Democrats lack the votes to override a veto or break a filibuster and sees no sign the administration will retreat. For people with cases pending, current rules and enforcement stay as they are.
What This Means for Your Case
- Green card holders planning to apply for citizenship: before you file the N-400, gather proof that you paid any court-ordered child support and supported your children, and review every public benefit your household received. If you sponsored a relative on an I-864, check whether any agency has claimed reimbursement. Talk to a lawyer first if any of this applies to you.
- Anyone granted voluntary departure: calendar the deadline. If you plan to ask the court to reopen your case, the motion must be filed before that date. Filing even one day late can block cancellation of removal and other relief for 10 years.
- People with withholding of removal or CAT protection: attend every ICE check-in and keep proof you went. If ICE says it will send you to a third country, ask your lawyer right away about raising a fear claim for that country.
- New York residents: county sheriffs must end 287(g) agreements by November 25 under state law, but ICE can still make arrests on its own.
- Tennessee patients in the Ryan White program: for now, providers cannot be required to ask for proof of status. Keep going to your appointments.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Colorado judge calls ICE re-arrests after release orders “contempt” and orders the Denver field office director to court
U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney said that, to her knowledge, ICE had released and immediately re-arrested 10 people in one week despite court orders, calling it “some weird game of hide-and-seek” that “will stop.” She set a hearing for Monday and ordered field office director Nathan Rasper to appear. A day earlier, Judge S. Kato Crews ordered Edgardo Garcia Vargas freed again after agents arrested him before he left the Aurora facility grounds, wrote that “the cruelty appears to be the point,” and barred another arrest unless the government first proves at a bond hearing that he is a flight risk or a danger.
Ninth Circuit pauses Venezuelan TPS restoration for 14 days; protection will not return on November 6
On November 3 the same appeals panel that refused the government’s stay request on October 30 granted a 14-day administrative stay starting Friday. The district court order that set aside the termination of Venezuela’s TPS stays on hold while the court considers the government’s request further. An administrative stay is temporary and does not decide the appeal, but it means no Venezuelan regains TPS this week.
Kentucky judge orders a bond hearing for an Illinois green card holder held more than a year without one
U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell found that the prolonged detention of Beata Siemionkowicz, a 57-year-old permanent resident from Poland since 2003, violated due process. ICE had treated her as subject to mandatory detention over misdemeanor retail thefts from 2005 and 2011. The ACLU of Illinois called it one of the few such wins in that district; her hearing is set for Thursday. A bond would not erase her removal order, but she could fight it from home.
Boston judge extends the block on the 10-day refugee-termination rule to December 4
In Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans v. Edlow, the stay on the October 14 interim rule, which cut a refugee’s time to answer a notice of intent to terminate from 30 days to 10, now runs to December 4 instead of November 6. Oral argument on the broader challenge, which also targets refugee re-vetting and the freeze on refugee green cards, moved from November 3 to November 24.
Policy Updates
Colorado voters reject Amendment 81, which would have required police and prosecutors to alert DHS
The Associated Press called the race Wednesday afternoon with about 45% in favor and 55% opposed; as a constitutional amendment it needed 55% to pass. It would have forced officers to notify DHS when charging someone with a violent crime, or anyone with a prior felony, whose immigration status was in question. Colorado’s laws limiting cooperation with ICE, including the ban on sharing personal information without a judge’s order, stay in force.
Enforcement Updates
The Intercept: ICE officers were told by word of mouth to stand down on Election Day
ICE officials in four field regions said supervisors passed down orders, with no written notice, for what one called a “national no enforcement day,” sending street-level officers to office work. Two crowdsourced tracking sites recorded one of the quietest days of the year. The officials said they expected normal operations to resume; nothing suggests the pause extends past November 3.
HSI arrests five outside a Mesa grocery store near two polling sites
ICE confirmed that Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested five people outside a Food City on November 3 as part of what it called an ongoing criminal investigation. The store sits about half a mile from one vote center and less than a mile from another. The Asian Law Caucus and Arizona AANHPI for Equity called it voter intimidation and said six to eight people were taken.
Analysis
Newsweek: most voters said enforcement went too far, but only 14% named immigration their top issue
Exit polls found 57% said the administration’s enforcement had gone too far and 60% disapproved of how ICE does its job, yet the economy (39%) and democracy (32%) dominated. Republicans still held a narrow edge, 44% to 41%, on which party handles immigration better. Julia Gelatt of the Migration Policy Institute expects the new Democratic majorities to use hearings and investigations to scrutinize ICE tactics and DHS management, which is oversight, not a change in the law.
What This Means for Your Case
- Venezuelan TPS holders: TPS does not come back on November 6. Do not travel abroad or rely on a TPS-based work permit until USCIS publishes official guidance after the court rules.
- Refugees who receive a notice of intent to terminate: the 10-day deadline is blocked through December 4, but answer as fast as you can anyway and have a lawyer review the notice the day it arrives.
- Families of people released on habeas, especially in Colorado: ask the lawyer to request an order that bars re-arrest without a hearing, and tell the court immediately if ICE detains the person again.
- Green card holders detained for old convictions: a long detention without a bond hearing can itself be challenged in federal court. Gather the court records and dispositions for every past case now.
- Colorado residents: state limits on local police sharing information with ICE remain law after Amendment 81 failed. Federal agents can still make arrests on their own.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Judge temporarily blocks deportations of detained Afghans to Afghanistan or Pakistan
U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in New York issued a temporary restraining order that runs through Saturday, November 7. She held the government to its statement in court that no charter or commercial flights to either country are planned and that such flights take weeks to arrange. Hundreds of Afghans are held in ICE detention in Louisiana, and a Justice Department filing says some are relatives of people who worked alongside U.S. forces. The order does not grant anyone status or decide whether the removals can go forward later.
Oregon judge finds an ICE officer lied in an arrest report and the agency violated his warrantless-arrest order
U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai found that a deportation officer wrote false information in a Form I-213 to make a Medford arrest look like a lawful warrant-based arrest. Some warrants were issued only after the arrest, and other reports carried boilerplate and plain errors; “This is sloppy work,” the judge wrote. He ordered the government to turn over its arrest records and all body-camera footage of Oregon arrests since September 1 to Innovation Law Lab, and said the officer’s conduct calls into question “the veracity of all I-213 forms completed by ICE officers in Oregon.”
Policy Updates
Democrats win the House and Senate; Trump says “we could work with them on immigration”
Democrats crossed the 218-seat House majority and won at least 54 Senate seats, flipping Republican-held seats in states including Texas, Kansas, Ohio and North Carolina. On Fox News, the president said, “Immigration is a big deal. I’ve always felt we should be able to work on immigration,” while ruling out what he called an “open border.” The new Congress is not sworn in until January 3, so current enforcement policy and funding stay in place for at least two months.
40 House Democrats ask DHS how many U.S. citizens immigration agents have detained
Led by Rep. Lou Correa, the lawmakers wrote to Secretary Markwayne Mullin asking for the number of citizens held, how agents verify citizenship in the field, and how the department tracks those encounters. ProPublica has counted more than 500 Americans detained by immigration agents, including dozens held at least a day without contact with a lawyer or family. DHS answered that Congress shows more concern for “criminal illegal aliens” than for crime victims. With Democrats now in the majority, requests like this one can become subpoenas next year.
New York City threatens to sue over ICE staging raids from city parking lots
Mayor Zohran Mamdani sent DHS a letter demanding that agents stop using city-owned lots at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and on 111th Street in Queens, next to a city-run preschool, which they have used since July. The Parks Department told workers to deny ICE entry to non-public lots without a judicial warrant and to call city lawyers rather than confront agents. “If they keep coming back, we will see them in court,” the mayor said. DHS says its use of public parking lots is fully authorized under federal law.
Enforcement Updates
“Operation Guardian” nets more than 230 arrests in 15 states, including 40-plus commercial drivers
ICE and state and local police ran the 72-hour operation October 26–28 in states including Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. Secretary Mullin announced the results at a trucking company’s headquarters in Tulsa. DHS did not say how many vehicles were stopped, which states issued the licenses, or whether anyone faces licensing-fraud charges. It follows Operation Guardrail, which had produced 303 arrests by late October; Ukrainian drivers who came under humanitarian parole have been among those detained at weigh stations.
On Election Day, ICE posts “If you vote illegally, we will find you” and announces more voter-fraud arrests
ICE’s social media post warned that it would “track you down, arrest you, and prosecute you,” and Homeland Security Investigations announced two more arrests of noncitizens accused of voting in past elections. Carmen Feliciano of UnidosUS called the messaging “intimidation and trying to block people from going out to the polls.” The Justice Department says it has charged 195 noncitizens with election crimes in nine weeks, most of them green card holders.
Analysis
The Guardian: ICE is rapidly re-arresting people who win release through habeas petitions
The paper found at least 20 cases in the past year. Seven people in Minnesota were detained again before they left the Whipple Federal Building, a 77-year-old Palestinian man was re-arrested within 10 days of release after a heart attack in custody, and a Louisiana judge held a senior ICE official in contempt over repeated re-arrests of one man. “We’ve seen a very, very sharp increase,” said Bridget Pranzatelli of the National Immigration Project. Lawyers now draft the next petition before a client walks out, and several tie the re-arrests to third-country deportation deals.
What This Means for Your Case
- Waiting for Congress to fix things: nothing changes for you today. The new majorities take office January 3, and any law still needs the president’s signature. Keep every court date, USCIS appointment and filing deadline exactly as scheduled.
- Afghans in ICE custody and their families: the pause ends Saturday unless the judge extends it. If your relative has a pending asylum case or ties to U.S. military work, get the lawyer the documents now, not after a flight is booked.
- Winning release in federal court: ask your lawyer whether the order should expressly bar re-arrest without notice to the court, and plan who will meet the person at the door.
- Arrested without a warrant: the officer’s report (Form I-213) is often the main evidence against you. Your lawyer can request it and challenge errors; in Oregon a federal judge has now found one of these reports was false.
- Commercial drivers without lawful status or with parole that has ended: weigh stations and inspections are now enforcement points. Talk to a lawyer about your options before your next long-haul route.
- U.S. citizens who are stopped: carry a copy of your passport or naturalization certificate, and write down names, badge numbers and times if you are held.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Supreme Court refuses to make California set aside 20,000 mail ballots from alleged noncitizens
In a one-line, unsigned order with no noted dissents, the justices denied the Justice Department’s request for an injunction. They did not even ask California to respond. U.S. District Judge David Carter had already found the government’s method for picking out alleged noncitizens “rife with uncertainty and errors,” and a divided Ninth Circuit panel refused to step in. More than 6 million mail ballots have been returned in the state, and they will be counted under state law.
Judge Chutkan bars DOJ and DHS from sending states lists of “possible noncitizen” voters
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan temporarily blocked the two departments from sharing the lists and from asking election officials to separate those voters’ ballots or hold them until citizenship is proven. Voting rights and privacy groups argued the program violates the Privacy Act of 1974, and Chutkan said the government’s data may not be reliable, so lawful voters could be disenfranchised. In a separate case the same day, a Ninth Circuit panel allowed the government to threaten election officials with prosecution if they do not comply with its demands.
Maryland judge restores 21-day notice before asylum interviews for unaccompanied children
U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson issued a temporary restraining order that stops USCIS from giving unaccompanied minors “minimal notice” before their asylum interviews. The plaintiffs said the agency had cut notice from three weeks to sometimes less than 24 hours. “An unaccompanied child only has one chance to have a non-adversarial asylum adjudication,” the order says, and that chance means little if the child’s lawyer cannot prepare.
Los Angeles judge’s racial-profiling injunction is now public: agents need more than Latino appearance to stop someone
Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong found that ICE and Border Patrol “engaged in an unlawful, officially sanctioned practice of detaining individuals solely based upon their appearance as Latino or Latino and working class.” The evidence included agents’ text messages with slurs, depositions, body-camera video from a Home Depot raid and declarations from people detained, among them U.S. citizens. The order covers seven Southern California counties. DHS has appealed, and the case is expected to return to the Supreme Court.
Policy Updates
DOJ charges 63 more people with election crimes; 58 are green card holders
The cases span 20 federal districts in 15 states. Charges include voting by a noncitizen, falsely claiming citizenship to vote, and false statements on naturalization applications; several defendants are accused of telling USCIS on Form N-400 that they had never registered or voted. The department says it has charged 195 noncitizens in 25 states in the last nine weeks. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a noncitizen who votes unlawfully is both deportable and inadmissible, so even a minor plea can end in removal.
Enforcement Updates
Venezuelan man held at the Karnes County detention center dies in a San Antonio hospital
Fran Gregory Portillo-Zapata, 53, died October 29 at North Central Baptist Hospital after being admitted September 30 with severe sepsis, acute pancreatitis and end-stage kidney disease. ICE arrested him August 30 after a vehicle stop in San Antonio while his case was pending before an immigration judge. He had been released in 2023 with a notice to appear. The cause of death has not been determined.
ICE and 287(g) partners arrest more than 180 people in five days in northwestern Alabama
ICE New Orleans ran the operation the week of October 19 with sheriff’s offices in Franklin, Lawrence, Colbert and Marshall counties that hold 287(g) agreements. ICE says many of those arrested had criminal histories, listing charges such as assault, domestic violence and driving under the influence, but it did not say how many had convictions. Those arrested remain in custody pending immigration proceedings.
67 House Democrats demand ICE account for miscarriages in detention after the agency lost a year of data
ICE recorded 18 miscarriages in the first nine months of the administration but has no data after October 3, 2025, which it blames on a change of medical billing providers. Representatives Brittany Pettersen, Joyce Beatty and Robin Kelly, joined by 64 colleagues, asked acting director David Venturella why pregnant women are being detained despite a 2021 directive against it, and gave the agency until November 6 to answer. DHS called claims of substandard care “FALSE.”
Analysis
Minnesota report: more than 70 children detained and $244 million in lost wages during Operation Metro Surge
The governor’s Truth Council, which gathered stories from more than 2,500 people and data from 17 state agencies, found that federal agents detained more than 70 Minnesota children between December 1, 2025 and March 10, 2026. Workers in Minneapolis and St. Paul lost an estimated $244 million in wages. The council has no subpoena power and relied on voluntary testimony; its final report is due December 1. DHS says it has made more than 11,000 arrests in the state.
What This Means for Your Case
- Green card holders and visa holders today: do not vote, and do not let anyone register you. Voting as a noncitizen can make you deportable and permanently block citizenship, and prosecutors are now matching N-400 answers to voter records.
- You voted or registered by mistake in the past: talk to a lawyer before you file for citizenship or answer any question about it. How you answer on Form N-400 can matter as much as the original mistake.
- U.S. citizens in mixed-status families: your ballot counts. If you are on a federal “possible noncitizen” list in error, keep your naturalization certificate or passport handy and report any challenge to your county election office.
- A child with a pending asylum case: USCIS must again give about three weeks’ notice before the interview. If a notice arrives with only days to spare, call the child’s lawyer at once; the order is temporary.
- Pregnant or seriously ill in ICE custody: family members should send written medical records and requests to the facility and to the lawyer. A written record supports a request for release or parole.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Judge orders ICE to bring back a Shakopee man it deported to the Central African Republic
Kenis Adalberto Lopez Gonzalez, a Nicaraguan who ran a construction business in Shakopee and has no criminal record, was arrested in January during Operation Metro Surge and deported in August to the Central African Republic, a country he has no ties to. An immigration judge had ruled in August 2024 that he could not be sent back to Nicaragua because of the danger he faced there. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey M. Bryan ordered DHS and ICE to “arrange for and facilitate” his return to Minnesota and not to remove him from the district while the case is pending.
Government asks the Supreme Court to take up a Racine man’s challenge to no-bond detention
Jaciel Cirrus Rojas, a Mexican national who entered without inspection in 2018, was picked up in Racine in June 2025 as a “collateral” arrest while ICE was looking for someone else, and spent nearly nine months at the Dodge County jail. The Seventh Circuit ruled 2-1 in his favor in July. The administration now wants the justices to decide whether its July 2025 policy of holding such people without a bond hearing is lawful. “Can we lock up noncitizens without giving them a day in court first?” his attorney Jennifer Bizzotto said.
Policy Updates
Court filings show the U.S. plans to deport detained Afghans to Afghanistan by way of Pakistan
A filing in federal court in Virginia says one Afghan man is scheduled for transport to Pakistan “with further transport onward to Afghanistan.” Human Rights First says it confirmed a charter flight from Louisiana to Pakistan on Tuesday. NBC News reported that at least 80 Afghans had been moved to a Louisiana ICE facility, among them relatives of people who worked with the U.S. military and people with pending asylum cases. DHS declined to comment on removal operations, citing operational security.
Enforcement Updates
Sacramento-area advocates count 83 ICE detentions since October 6, about four times the usual pace
NorCal Resist, which averaged about 21 detentions a month before October, reported that on Saturday an officer pulled a man out of a restaurant kitchen in Lincoln and agents smashed a car window to take a woman’s husband. In another arrest, a man was taken from his work truck and his 14-year-old son was left alone on a freeway. Organizers also reported ICE sightings near polling places in Sutter County. DHS did not respond to CapRadio.
A Maine state senator’s adopted son was held two nights after a 287(g) speeding stop in New Hampshire
Jessie Laurel Tepler-Mujambere, 28, fled Burundi and had a pending asylum case for about ten years. He was driving to Canada, where he became a citizen in July, when a New Hampshire officer working under a 287(g) agreement stopped him. DHS said his visa expired in 2015 and that a pending asylum application “does not confer legal status.” He was released into Canada. Maine banned 287(g) agreements in 2025; New Hampshire has not.
Indicted ICE officer expected to surrender today in the Houston SUV case
Mario Alberto Morales, who joined ICE in August 2025, is charged with second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for striking Miguel Parra Hernandez during an October 10 foot chase. Parra Hernandez suffered fractures and nerve damage and needed surgery. Defense lawyer David Lindenmuth calls it “an accident.” Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare says body camera video shows Morales steering toward him and that the evidence is “as clear as any that I’ve ever prosecuted.”
Analysis
ProPublica: the ways Election Day could be disrupted, from agents near polls to “noncitizen” voter lists
Federal law makes it illegal for federal law enforcement to be near the polls, and DHS says it is not planning operations at polling places, but federal vehicles were seen at an early voting site in Leon County, Florida. The Justice Department is still fighting to set aside about 20,000 California ballots it calls “likely” noncitizen votes. Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs called the federal list “not reliable” and said it included U.S. citizens and duplicates.
The week in numbers: 519 citizens detained, 29,000 deputized local officers, a $1.5 billion Tacoma contract
ProPublica’s count of U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents reached 519 as of October 21. About 29,000 state and local officers in 30 states are now deputized under 287(g) task force agreements. On October 28, GEO Group won a contract worth up to $1.5 billion to run the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma for as long as ten years.
What This Means for Your Case
- You won withholding or CAT protection: that order bars removal to the named country, not to every country. Keep a copy of the immigration judge’s order at home, and if ICE mentions a third country, call a lawyer the same day. The Lopez case shows a federal judge can order a person brought back.
- A relative is held with no bond hearing: the Supreme Court may now take up the issue. Most appeals courts have ruled against the no-bond policy, so a habeas petition is still worth filing in those circuits. In Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi the Fifth Circuit has gone the other way, and the fight is harder.
- Afghan family members in ICE custody: if your relative has a pending asylum case or family ties to U.S. military service, a lawyer needs to act before any flight. Gather proof of that service and every immigration notice now.
- Driving with a pending asylum case: a pending application does not give you lawful status, and in states with 287(g) agreements, Texas included, a traffic stop can end in ICE custody. Carry your receipt notice and keep your lawyer’s number memorized.
- Voting tomorrow: only U.S. citizens may vote. Citizens in mixed-status families should not stay home out of fear; federal agents may not police polling places. Report any intimidation to your state election hotline.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Lawsuit: ICE quietly removed thousands of detained people from its online detainee locator
The Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project and other legal aid groups, represented by the National Immigration Law Center, say people with final removal orders began vanishing from the Online Detainee Locator System in mid-September. The suit argues the change violates the Administrative Procedure Act, FOIA and the rights of lawyers who can no longer find their clients. ICE said detainees have “several ways” to reach family and counsel but would not confirm the policy.
ICE detainees at Indiana’s “Speedway Slammer” file a class action over conditions
Three named detainees at Miami Correctional Facility sued DHS, ICE and the Indiana Department of Correction in the Northern District of Indiana on behalf of everyone held there. The 72-page complaint describes medical neglect, no interpreters, cells flooded with sewage, racial slurs, beatings and solitary lockdowns of civil detainees. Two people have died there since ICE detainees arrived in October 2025. The ACLU of Indiana and Illinois and the National Immigrant Justice Center filed the case.
Policy Updates
New York AG: armed federal agents, including ICE, may not police polling places on November 3
Attorney General Letitia James said “no eligible New Yorker should stay home on Election Day because of fear,” citing federal law and a state law that bars local officials from letting immigration officers into polling sites without a judicial warrant. DHS says ICE has no operations planned at polling locations but that agents could appear to serve a warrant. Voters can report intimidation to the AG’s hotline at 866-390-2992.
USCIS backlog hits a record 12.8 million cases even as filings fall 34%
Through the third quarter of fiscal 2026, USCIS had more than 12.8 million pending cases, and its net backlog grew 43% in a year. Naturalization completions fell from 78,923 in August 2025 to 19,562 in August 2026. The median wait for a work permit rose from 2.2 to 6.4 months, and DACA renewals went from half a month to 3.7 months.
Enforcement Updates
Reuters: ICE arrests in Bakersfield jumped from about one a day to nearly ten in a toss-up House district
The surge in California’s 22nd District, which is 73% Latino, has led Democratic candidate Randy Villegas to call it “a very clear attempt to try and intimidate our communities.” The United Farm Workers says hundreds of farmworkers have been detained in recent weeks, most with no criminal record, including at least seven in Wasco in a few days. DHS declined to comment, citing officer safety.
Stockton rapid-response hotline took nearly 2,700 calls in October, six times September’s volume
Valley Watch Network says just under 450 of those calls came from San Joaquin County. DHS confirmed only one Stockton arrest, a Guatemalan man, and would not discuss others. Deportation Data Project figures show ICE arrests in Stockton rose from 20 in January to 100 in July.
Medical examiner says ICE released the wrong name for the man who died at Otay Mesa
ICE’s October 27 notice named him Roberto Jimenez Gutierrez. The San Diego County Medical Examiner, using fingerprints, his Guatemalan passport and family photos, identified him as Guillermo Pasqual Verganza, 43. ICE says he used aliases. An attorney called the error “a cruel and careless violation” of the agency’s duty of care, and the Guatemalan consulate is helping the family bring his remains home.
Analysis
Venezuelan TPS and November 6: what the Ninth Circuit order does and does not settle
About 627,750 Venezuelans registered as of June 2026 could regain protection if the Supreme Court does not act first. Lawyers interviewed point out that the order is not a final ruling on the merits, and that it is unclear how long restored status would last before any new termination notice takes effect. Their advice is to wait for official DHS and USCIS notices before making work or travel decisions.
What This Means for Your Case
- Can’t find a detained relative online: the ICE locator may no longer show people with final removal orders. Call the local ICE field office and a lawyer right away, and keep the person’s full name, date of birth, country and A-number written down at home.
- Relative held at Miami Correctional or another state prison: keep a dated log of medical requests, lockdowns and phone access. That record helps a bond request, a habeas petition or a conditions claim.
- U.S. citizen voters in mixed-status families: vote on November 3. Armed federal agents may not police polling places. If you see intimidation, write down what happened and report it to your state election hotline.
- Waiting on a work permit, green card or citizenship case: expect long delays. File work permit renewals as early as allowed, since automatic extensions for most categories have ended.
- Venezuelan TPS holder: do not travel or change jobs based on headlines. Keep every TPS and EAD notice and check for official guidance after November 6.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Ninth Circuit refuses to keep Venezuelan TPS frozen, setting up a November 6 restoration
Judges Wardlaw, Mendoza and Johnstone unanimously denied the government’s request to extend the stay the Supreme Court imposed in 2025, and also refused a 21-day administrative stay. The stay expires next month, so the September 5, 2025 district court order setting aside the termination takes effect again. The National TPS Alliance says that means TPS for Venezuela returns on November 6 unless the Supreme Court intervenes, covering 2023 registrants and 2021 registrants who applied under the January 2025 extension. The court will hear the merits on an expedited schedule.
BIA: no sua sponte reopening just so an “arriving alien” can adjust status with USCIS
A Haitian man ordered removed in 2018 filed a third motion to reopen so USCIS could decide a green card case based on his wife’s approved petition. The Board, following Matter of Yauri, held that it generally will not use its own discretion to reopen proceedings for an arriving alien to pursue adjustment before USCIS. The decision is now binding precedent on immigration judges nationwide and closes off a strategy many parolees with old removal orders have relied on.
Policy Updates
State Department restricts visas for more than 15 alleged caravan organizers and warns participants
Spokesman Thomas Pigott said the department acted over the past week against people it says recruited and directed recent caravans through Central America and Mexico. It named no one. The department also warned that anyone who took part in a caravan will face “additional scrutiny” when applying for a visa or traveling, which can include refusal or revocation.
DHS will accept online payment for FOIA record fees starting November 30
A final rule lets requesters pay FOIA and Privacy Act fees through Pay.gov instead of mailing a check or money order to the Treasury. Checks remain an option. Most requests for your own immigration file are still free, since fees apply only after two hours of search and 100 pages of copies.
Enforcement Updates
DHS says “Lone Star Mission” arrested 4,170 people across Texas in ten days, 879 in North Texas
Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced the October 19–29 operation in Dallas with all five Texas ICE field office directors and local sheriffs and police. He said more than 60% of those arrested had criminal records. He also said 40% had none and were picked up because they were in the car, house or workplace where a warrant was served. Mullin said this kind of targeted enforcement will continue.
Harris County grand jury indicts ICE agent for driving his SUV into a Houston construction worker
Agent Mario Alberto Morales, 33, is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon over the October 10 crash that broke the legs of Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, a worker with no criminal record or removal order who was not the target of the stop. District Attorney Sean Teare said the video evidence was “as clear as any” he has seen, and the sheriff said two handcuffed detainees were in the SUV at the time. ICE called the indictment a “political stunt” and says local prosecutors lack authority over federal officers.
At least eight people detained by ICE in Alameda County since October 16
The Alameda County Immigration Legal Education Partnership says agents picked people up off the street over the past two weeks, and two needed hospital care after what the group calls “the brutal use of force.” The arrests fit a wider pattern of stepped-up ICE activity across the Bay Area and other parts of California this month.
Analysis
A “blockbuster term”: the Supreme Court cases that will decide detention and third-country removals
Professor Amanda Frost counts about six immigration cases already on the calendar. The justices hear the third-country removal case in December. Experts call the mandatory detention case one of the most important of the term, because the administration’s position would deny bond hearings to people already living in the U.S., which the ACLU’s Michael Tan says would be “the largest mandatory detention regime in U.S. history.”
Cities report a spike in ICE activity in the days before the midterms
NPR found reports of “cluster raids” in New Jersey, New York City, Portland, Detroit, rural Illinois and California, and notes that DHS no longer shares timely information about its operations. The Brennan Center’s Wendy Weiser says the tactics look designed to intimidate voters, but early voting in targeted communities is up sharply. Intimidation at the polls is illegal and should be reported.
What This Means for Your Case
- Venezuelan with TPS from the 2021 or 2023 designation: if the Supreme Court does not step in, your status should come back on November 6. Keep every TPS approval notice and EAD, watch for USCIS guidance on work permits, and do not let a pending asylum or family case lapse while you wait.
- Old removal order and a pending or approved family petition: after Pierre-Louis, asking the Board to reopen on its own is unlikely to work if you were classified as an arriving alien. Ask a lawyer about joint motions with ICE, filing with USCIS directly, or other routes before you file anything.
- Living in Texas: 40% of the people arrested in the Lone Star Mission had no criminal record. Carry proof of any pending case, know your A-number, and make sure family members know who your lawyer is.
- Family member detained without a bond hearing: the Supreme Court will decide this term whether people living here can be held without bond. Ask a lawyer now about a bond request or habeas petition rather than waiting for the ruling.
- Need your immigration file: request your records through FOIA before an interview or court date. It is usually free, and starting November 30 any fee can be paid online.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Ninth Circuit pauses the order to reopen the DV-2027 green card lottery
A three-judge panel, 3-0, stayed Judge Jinsook Ohta’s October 14 injunction that required the State Department to run this year’s lottery and publish registration dates by October 29. The panel wrote that it does “not endorse” the cancellation, but found that Red Eagle Law, the only plaintiff, had too thin a stake, since the program “was enacted to encourage immigration, not generate revenue for law firms.” The firm says it will file a new suit on behalf of a would-be entrant. For now there is no DV-2027 registration period.
Arizona judge hints at contempt over the stalled return of Ahmed Soliman from Equatorial Guinea
U.S. District Judge John C. Hinderaker ordered on October 6 that the government facilitate the return of Soliman, a 31-year-old who came to Arizona at age four and was expelled in April to a country he had never seen. On Tuesday the judge criticized weeks of thin status reports, including one that called an ICE flight to Equatorial Guinea canceled the day before it landed there. The government’s reply set a tentative return date of November 4. The case is being watched as a test for the roughly 25,000 people sent to third countries this term.
Policy Updates
USCIS says it has taken 2.2 million actions to revoke or end immigration status since January 2025
The agency counts TPS terminations, denied extensions and changes of status, Notices to Appear, the end of automatic work permit extensions, and the cancellation of categorical parole programs as “enforcement actions,” and says the total is nearly seven times the prior two years combined. The release makes clear that USCIS now sees itself as an enforcement agency, not only a benefits office. A denial from USCIS can now lead straight to an NTA and immigration court.
Enforcement Updates
Many people arrested in September’s New Bedford and Fall River sweep have been released on bond
ICE says it arrested 82 people across southeastern Massachusetts on September 21 to 23 and called “many” of them dangerous. Boston.com checked state court records for the seven people ICE named and found convictions for some, a pending case for one, and charges a judge had already dismissed for another. Local lawyers say most of the people they represented had no criminal record, and judges found many were neither a danger nor a flight risk.
ICE reports 21 arrests in Springfield and Peoria, Illinois
ICE told the station it ran targeted operations from October 26 to 28 and arrested 21 people, including some with final removal orders and others with criminal histories ranging from serious violent charges to DUI and fraud. The agency repeated its offer of $3,000 and a free flight through the CBP Home app for anyone who self-deports.
Leak exposes names and work details of more than 41,000 DHS employees, including 6,600 at ICE
A group calling itself the Department of Peace obtained the records, and Distributed Denial of Secrets published them as a database called “Icepick.” It lists names, work addresses and phone numbers, mostly CBP staff, along with dozens of previously unknown operation names and the technology used, including Cellebrite and Palantir tools. DHS says it is aware of a potential breach and is working to address it.
Analysis
A podcaster who defended deportations is now in ICE custody, despite a U.S. citizen wife and three children
Samuel Sey, originally from Ghana and raised in Canada, was arrested at the Columbus airport on October 21 and is held in the Butler County Jail. DHS says he entered legally in 2022, overstayed by more than four years, has no pending application, and accepted voluntary departure. His wife says they have worked with a lawyer for years to get him permanent status. Whatever the politics, the case shows how quickly a lawful entry and a citizen spouse stop protecting someone who has nothing on file.
In Texas, ICE arrests and a fatal Houston shooting are pushing Latino voters away from Republicans
The report follows the sons of Lorenzo Salgado Sr., a Houston construction worker of 30 years shot by an ICE agent on July 7 after unmarked vehicles followed his van. The agent wore no body camera. More than 100,000 people have been detained by ICE in Texas in two years, and vendors at a flea market near the border say customers are staying home.
What This Means for Your Case
- Married to a U.S. citizen after a lawful entry: an overstay usually does not stop a green card through your spouse, but only if the case is actually filed. If nothing is pending, you can be arrested and detained like anyone else. Talk to a lawyer about filing now.
- Offered voluntary departure: do not sign anything until a lawyer reviews it. Leaving can trigger a 3- or 10-year bar and may end a green card case you could have won from inside the U.S.
- Waiting on a USCIS decision: USCIS now issues Notices to Appear after many denials. Keep copies of every filing and receipt notice, and answer every request for evidence on time.
- Family member arrested in a sweep: ask for a bond hearing right away. Judges in Massachusetts found many people were neither dangerous nor a flight risk, but you need proof of family ties, work and a clean record.
- Diversity visa hopefuls: there is no DV-2027 registration right now. Ignore anyone selling entries or promising a spot. Official entry is free and only through dvprogram.state.gov.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
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.