Immigration News & Updates
Daily briefings on USCIS policy, court decisions, and enforcement actions affecting immigrants in 2026.
Court Decisions
San Diego judge grants habeas and orders ICE to release a City College student
Renatho Casseus was driving near 16th and C streets on September 8 when ICE agents in unmarked vehicles stopped the car and took him into custody; his passenger ran onto the City College campus. On Friday his lawyer argued a habeas corpus petition in federal court and the judge granted it and ordered his release. The district has since posted signs barring immigration enforcement from its property and started text alerts when agents are spotted nearby.
Boston judge pauses collection of six- and seven-figure civil immigration fines
U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. halted, for now, the government’s effort to collect fines from more than 100,000 people accused of staying in the country after removal orders, calling the penalties “crippling” and well beyond what plaintiffs could pay. Scripps reports fines of up to $1.8 million, with private debt collectors adding hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees, and at least one notice sent to a lawful permanent resident. The pause covers citations issued between June 2025 and October 2026 and can be lifted as the case continues.
Detainees ask an El Paso judge to put Camp East Montana under independent monitors
Lawyers for people held at the Fort Bliss camp, the largest ICE detention site in the country, asked U.S. District Judge Leon Schydlower for a preliminary injunction requiring a health care plan, compliance with ICE’s own detention standards and court-appointed monitors. Three people have died there, one in a death ruled a homicide involving facility staff. The government has not yet responded and the judge has not ruled.
Policy Updates
Ukraine TPS: one day left on paper, and USCIS still has not said what comes next
The USCIS page still says Ukrainian TPS work permits are issued with an October 19, 2026 expiration date, and DHS has published no extension, redesignation or termination notice. Many lawyers read the statute as extending the designation automatically for six months, to April 19, 2027, because DHS missed the August 20 decision deadline. USCIS has not confirmed that reading, so the practical problem on Monday is proof of work authorization, not loss of status.
Justice Department sues California to set aside 20,000 ballots, citing USCIS citizenship data
The complaint says USCIS ran state voter rolls against federal citizenship records and concluded with “high confidence” that about 20,000 registered Californians, many in Los Angeles County, are likely noncitizens; Homeland Security Investigations then reviewed the names. State officials call the suit meritless and point to federal data that proved badly inaccurate in other states. Naturalized citizens whose records were never updated are the most likely to be wrongly swept in.
Enforcement Updates
Jamaica takes its first third-country deportation flight from the U.S.
Twenty-two people who are not Jamaican landed in Kingston on Tuesday under a June agreement that caps arrivals at 25 every two weeks. Jamaica calls it a transit arrangement: the International Organization for Migration is supposed to move people on to their home countries or elsewhere, and no one with a criminal record may pass through. The Supreme Court let third-country removals continue in September and will hear arguments on the policy in December.
California ICE surge spreads from San Diego to the Central Valley and Central Coast
The operation reported as “Operation Safe California” began in San Diego earlier this month. Dozens of people have been arrested in Fresno and Madera counties since early October, most at traffic stops, and in Santa Maria officers detained a father in a college parking lot as he dropped off his daughter. DHS declined to discuss the operation; at a Friday news conference Los Angeles advocates said they will send legal observers to polling places ahead of the November 3 election.
Analysis
How many people have been deported to countries that are not their own
DHS data obtained by the Deportation Data Project show more than 16,000 third-country removals from January 2025 through August 2026, likely an undercount; Refugees International and Human Rights First put the total above 25,000. Receiving countries are paid in aid or visa concessions: Liberia agreed to take up to 1,200 people, and Cameroon was promised $30 million for UN refugee work and $400 million for health services. Many deportees learn their destination only on the plane and arrive with no passport.
What This Means for Your Case
- Ukrainian TPS holders: go to work Monday. Keep your I-797 receipts, EAD and the USCIS extension notice together, and if HR tries to suspend or reverify you, have a lawyer contact them before you sign anything.
- Detained after a traffic stop: a habeas petition in federal district court is often the fastest route to release. Family members should get the person’s full name, A-number and detention location to a lawyer right away.
- Received a large civil fine notice: do not pay a debt collector or ignore the letter. Save the envelope and every page, and have a lawyer check whether your citation falls inside the court’s June 2025 to October 2026 pause.
- Afraid to return home: say so clearly to ICE and ask for a fear interview. With third-country removals expanding, you may also need to raise fear of the country ICE names, not only your own.
- Naturalized citizens in California: if election officials contact you about citizenship, answer with your naturalization certificate number and keep a copy of what you send. Do not ignore the letter.
- Noncitizens, including green card holders: never register to vote or vote in a federal election. It can cost you your status and future citizenship.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
California sues ICE to stop immigration arrests at state courthouses
Attorney General Rob Bonta’s complaint argues that ICE’s courthouse enforcement directive is arbitrary and capricious, exceeds the agency’s authority under the centuries-old rule against civil arrests at courthouses, and violates the Constitution. The state says monthly ICE arrests in and around California courthouses rose more than 550% after the May 2025 policy change, and that arrests continued after a court vacated the directive in June 2026: 30 civil arrests at superior courts in June and 28 in July. The suit asks for a court order; it does not by itself stop any arrest today.
Boston judge gives ICE a 3 p.m. deadline to release a man it held ten months
A federal judge in Boston found that the removal of Toyo Lara, a Cuban national with a final order, “is not significantly likely to occur in the reasonably foreseeable future,” so his continued detention was unreasonable. The court ordered his release by 3 p.m. Friday under an order of supervision. The ruling applies Zadvydas v. Davis, the Supreme Court case that limits how long ICE can hold someone after a removal order when the home country will not take them back.
First Circuit says courts cannot review the deported Rhode Island doctor’s expedited removal
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, an H-1B kidney specialist at Brown, was turned around at Logan Airport in March 2025 after officers found images of Hezbollah’s late leader on her phone, and was removed the next day on an expedited removal order. The panel did not decide whether officers acted properly; it held that the Immigration and Nationality Act bars federal courts from reviewing expedited removal orders issued to arriving travelers at all. She remains barred from returning for five years.
Policy Updates
From Friday, a 21st birthday on a weekend no longer buys an extra business day
Since 2023, USCIS treated a filing as timely if a deadline such as a child’s 21st birthday fell on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday and the case was filed the next business day. That ends October 23. The weekend-and-holiday rollover will apply only to deadlines written in days, such as the 30 days to file an appeal, not to deadlines tied to an age or a birthday. USCIS cites the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Monsalvo Velasquez v. Bondi for the change.
Green card lottery: court sets an October 29 announcement and November 1 opening
Reports on the DV-2027 injunction now line up on the timetable: the State Department must announce the registration period by October 29 and open the electronic entry system by November 1, with registration lasting at least 30 days. As of Friday the department had posted no official dates. Entries go only through dvprogram.state.gov and are free.
DHS refuses to make ICE body cameras switch on automatically
The Government Accountability Office recommended that ICE adopt controls such as cameras that start recording when an officer draws a firearm or Taser, as CBP already does. DHS accepted six of the seven recommendations but rejected that one, citing accidental activations and the risk of recording informants, victims or bystanders. GAO found staff at six of ten sites unsure when recording was required. For anyone challenging an arrest, missing footage is now a policy outcome, not just an accident.
Enforcement Updates
ICE arrests reach the Oregon coast: two men detained in Lincoln City
Agents in unmarked vehicles detained a McDonald’s employee on his lunch break and a second man in a motel parking lot on Thursday; local police said they were not involved. The arrests follow at least 21 detentions over two days in the Portland and Salem areas last week, after DHS announced a “public safety surge” in sanctuary jurisdictions. Oregon’s monthly ICE arrests climbed back to 186 in June and 174 in July after falling to 30 in March.
ICE’s count of local 287(g) partnerships reaches 2,688
ICE reports 2,688 signed 287(g) agreements covering 38 states and two territories, deputizing local police, sheriffs and other agencies to perform immigration functions. In those places, a traffic stop or a booking into a county jail can now lead directly to an ICE detainer. Check whether your county or city appears on ICE’s published list.
Analysis
Former Chicago immigration judge: detention is pushing people to give up valid cases
Ahead of the Supreme Court’s review of no-bond detention in Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha, set for argument early next year, former Chicago immigration judge Eva Saltzman says people eligible for asylum or cancellation of removal are abandoning those claims simply to get out of custody faster. Federal judges have ruled against the mandatory detention policy more than 9,300 times by Politico’s count, but two appeals courts sided with the government. Saltzman, who granted bond in some high-profile cases, says she was fired without cause in July.
Ukrainian TPS after Monday: status continues, work papers are the gap
Because DHS published no decision by the August 20 statutory deadline, the designation is widely read as extended automatically to April 19, 2027, and people who re-registered on time do not need to refile. The trouble is documentation: USCIS’s notices extending expired A-12 and C-19 cards run only through October 19, 2026, and the agency has not said how employers should verify work authorization after that. About 140,000 Ukrainian TPS applications are reported still pending. A bipartisan House bill, H.R. 10740, would redesignate Ukraine through July 1, 2029, but has not moved.
What This Means for Your Case
- Ukrainian TPS holders: do not quit or stop reporting to work on your own on Monday. Bring your I-797 notices, your EAD and any USCIS extension notice to HR, and call a lawyer if your employer tries to reverify or suspend you.
- Children turning 21 on a weekend or holiday: from October 23, file before the birthday itself, not the next business day. Any I-130, adjustment or derivative filing that depends on being under 21 should go in now.
- Court dates in state court: ICE still makes arrests at and near courthouses. Do not skip a criminal, family or traffic court date; missing it creates a warrant. Talk to an immigration lawyer before you go.
- Held months after a removal order: if ICE cannot deport someone to their country, a habeas petition under Zadvydas can win release. Ask a lawyer once detention after the order passes six months.
- Returning from travel abroad: officers can search your phone at the airport, and an expedited removal order there is very hard to undo in court. Get advice before any trip if your status is anything other than U.S. citizen.
- Detained and offered a quick way out: do not give up an asylum or cancellation claim just to leave detention faster without first talking to a lawyer about a bond or habeas route.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Judge orders the State Department to hold the 2027 green card lottery it skipped
U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta issued a preliminary injunction finding that the department’s failure to open DV-2027 registration amounted to an unexplained suspension of a program Congress created, and rejected the argument that it was simply too late. The order requires a registration period of at least 30 days, announced through the Federal Register and the department’s usual channels, and processing of selectees until all 55,000 visas are issued or the fiscal year ends. Reports differ on timing: the order set a midnight October 15 announcement deadline, while the plaintiff’s lawyer told Courthouse News he filed a joint motion to push it back two weeks, and some outlets report a November 1 opening. Until the State Department posts official dates, treat any site selling “early entry” as a scam; entry has always been free.
Policy Updates
New USCIS fees take effect today for asylum, parole and TPS filings
Anything postmarked October 16 or later must carry the new amounts or it will be rejected. The annual asylum application fee rises from $102 to $105; the immigration parole fee on Form I-131 from $1,020 to $1,050; initial work permits for asylum applicants, parolees and TPS holders from $560 to $570; and Form I-821 for TPS from $510 to $520. These are the inflation adjustments to the fees created by H.R. 1 last year. A packet that sat in a drawer with yesterday’s check needs a new check before it goes in the mail.
Refugees now get 10 days, not 30, to fight a notice terminating their status
The rule amends the regulation on terminating refugee status when DHS decides a person was never a refugee, cutting the time to respond to a Notice of Intent to Terminate from 30 days to 10. DHS issued it without advance public comment. It lands in the middle of USCIS’s re-vetting of refugees admitted under the prior administration who have not yet adjusted to permanent residence; the rule itself cites a Minnesota pilot review. The International Refugee Assistance Project advises responding within the 10 days even if you also ask for more time, because extension requests may not be granted.
USCIS proposes to stop deferring to its own prior approvals on extensions
Today, an officer deciding an extension for the same person, the same employer and the same facts generally defers to the earlier approval. The proposal would end that and let USCIS re-decide eligibility from scratch on every filing. It is a proposed rule, not yet in effect. The direct impact falls on employment-based extensions, but it signals a broader approach: an earlier approval is no longer a safe assumption that the next filing will go through.
House bill would let U.S. citizens wrongly detained by ICE sue for $500,000 plus $100,000 a day
The Justice for Citizens Wrongfully Detained by ICE Act would let citizens arrested or detained by immigration officers without a warrant or probable cause after January 20, 2025 sue both the officers and the United States, with qualified and sovereign immunity removed and five years to file. The bill cites ProPublica’s count of 506 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents. It is newly introduced and has not moved in committee.
Enforcement Updates
Fresno-area detainees pressed to sign voluntary departure, then moved to Texas, lawyers say
The UFW Foundation has identified 65 people detained in Fresno County since the surge began early last week. Its legal director says lawyers have been turned away at the Golden State Annex and Central Valley Annex in McFarland because detainees do not yet appear in ICE’s online locator, while officers ask “who’s ready to sign?” Many who signed voluntary departure forms have already been transferred to a facility in Texas. DHS said it needs names and A-numbers to verify the cases and that it is targeting public safety threats.
Idaho county confirms ICE arrests at probation check-ins
Teton County’s administrator confirmed that federal agents took people into custody at a probation hearing on October 13 and again on October 15, when people reported for random drug tests and check-ins. The county says its probation officers did not make the arrests and that it has no formal agreement with DHS, but cannot obstruct federal officers. Locals also report traffic stops by unmarked cars without plates in Victor.
Women who called for help with domestic violence are ending up in ICE detention
ProPublica traced women held at the North Lake Processing Center in Michigan who were arrested on domestic violence allegations after abusers called police first; in the cases it describes, charges were dropped or never filed, yet the women were handed to ICE or picked up at a later check-in. Kent County’s jail turned more people over to ICE in the first half of 2026 than in all four Biden years. The administration has also rolled back the policy that once limited enforcement against VAWA and U visa applicants.
Analysis
One-fifth of the Supreme Court’s argument docket is now immigration
With Tuesday’s grant in Blanche v. Ozurumba, the material-support asylum case, six immigration cases are set for argument this term, about one in five on the docket, and more petitions are waiting. The headline case is DHS v. D.V.D., on deportations to third countries without a chance to raise a fear of torture there; the Court has let those removals continue three times while the litigation runs. SCOTUSblog also flags Montoya Palacios v. Liggins, on whether a detention habeas case counts as a “civil action” for attorney fees, which affects how many lawyers can afford to take those cases.
Ukrainian TPS: three days to October 19, and still no word from DHS
DHS published no extension or termination by the statutory 60-day deadline in August. Many practitioners read the statute as extending the designation automatically by six months, to April 19, 2027, but USCIS has not confirmed that and its Ukraine page still lists October 19, 2026. That gap is where employers make mistakes. Holders should keep every I-797 notice and EAD together, check USCIS for a Federal Register notice daily this week, and get advice before an employer reverifies on Monday.
What This Means for Your Case
- Anything you mail from today on: recheck the fee. The annual asylum fee is $105, an initial asylum, parole or TPS work permit is $570, the TPS application is $520 and the parole fee is $1,050. An old check means a rejected filing and a lost filing date.
- Refugees who have not yet gotten a green card: if a Notice of Intent to Terminate arrives, the clock is 10 days from service. Call a lawyer the day it arrives, respond on time, and request an interview if you need more time to gather evidence.
- If a family member is detained: tell them not to sign voluntary departure or any other paper before speaking with a lawyer, even if officers say it is the only way out. Write down their A-number; families and lawyers need it to find them when the locator lags.
- Probation, parole and ICE check-ins: agents are making arrests at routine appointments. Missing one creates its own problems, so talk to an immigration lawyer before your next appointment, not after.
- Domestic violence survivors: a VAWA self-petition or U visa can still protect you, but the old enforcement shield is gone. Get immigration advice before or alongside any criminal case, especially if you were the one arrested.
- Diversity visa hopefuls: wait for the official State Department announcement and use only dvprogram.state.gov. Entry is free.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Ninth Circuit strikes down California law requiring ICE agents to wear visible ID
The court permanently barred the state from enforcing its No Vigilantes Act, which required federal immigration agents to display a name or badge number on duty. Judge Mark J. Bennett wrote that the law “attempts to directly regulate the United States in its performance of governmental functions” and that “no set of circumstances exist under which the Act would be valid.” A trial judge had already blocked California’s companion ban on masks. More than a dozen states have pursued similar laws, and this ruling now governs all of them in the Western states.
Full Third Circuit asks whether anyone can challenge a reinstated removal order in court
Patria Laureano, a Dominican woman removed in 2008 who returned and was arrested in 2023, seeks protection under the Convention Against Torture from an abusive former partner. The Justice Department argued that reinstating an old removal order is “ministerial” and that the statute bars judicial review. Judge Cheryl Ann Krause asked what a U.S. citizen with the same name as a deportee could do under that position. The ruling will decide whether people in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware with reinstated orders can get a federal court to look at their fear claims at all.
Policy Updates
Final rule: a timely work permit renewal no longer keeps your old card valid
DHS finalized the October 2025 interim rule that ended automatic extensions of up to 540 days for many EAD renewal applicants. Pending asylum applicants (C08) and pending green card applicants (C09), who together make up about 80% of work permit filings, are the largest groups affected. If USCIS has not approved the renewal by the date printed on the card, work authorization stops until it does. Extensions already granted before the 2025 rule stay valid, and extensions written into law or a specific Federal Register notice, such as some TPS notices, are not affected.
DHS and the Justice Department finalize fast-track fines for failing to leave
The rule makes permanent a June 2025 interim rule that lets ICE impose civil penalties more quickly on people who miss a voluntary departure deadline, refuse to depart after a final removal order, or are caught entering unlawfully. Penalties for breaking voluntary departure range from $1,992 to $9,970, with a $3,000 default. The one change from the interim rule: ICE may accept a late appeal of a penalty if documented mail delays outside the person’s control caused it. Penalty notices arrive by mail, so a current address on file matters.
Enforcement Updates
Masked agents smash a car window and arrest a man across from a Seattle elementary school at drop-off
At about 8:25 a.m. Tuesday, three vehicles, two unmarked and without plates, followed a car into a church parking lot shared with KapKa Cooperative Elementary near Woodland Park. Four masked agents, one in a vest reading “POLICE ICE,” demanded a visa and ID, broke the driver’s window and took the man away. Staff followed the school’s ICE protocol, steering families to another entrance; the head of school said children did not see the arrest.
ICE raids a Santa Fe housing construction site; builders report visits across the city
Agents marked “ICE” and “ERO” arrested several workers Tuesday morning at the Los Brios development on the city’s south side. One builder said agents had “gone to quite a few construction sites in the city.” Worksite operations remain one of the fastest ways families lose a wage earner without warning.
Angolan father arrested at Portland, Maine airport on his way to visit his deaf son
Nguinamau Celestino was detained October 9 at the Portland Jetport while boarding a flight to Washington, D.C., his family says. ICE says he entered lawfully on May 26, 2018 and overstayed. The arrest is a reminder that TSA checkpoints and airport gates are enforcement points for people without current status, including those who entered legally on a visa.
Analysis
The two immigration cases this Supreme Court term that could touch the most families
The Guardian’s term preview highlights Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha, on whether everyone who entered without inspection can be held without bond, and DHS v. D.V.D., on deportations to “third countries” without a chance to raise fear of torture there. The Court has already let third-country removals continue while the case is pending. Decisions are expected by June 2027; until then, bond eligibility still depends heavily on which circuit you are detained in.
Asylum seekers and green card applicants: plan for a gap in your work permit
With the interim rule now final, there is no near-term prospect of the automatic extension coming back by regulation. A receipt notice for a renewal no longer proves you can work once your card expires, and employers checking Form I-9 will treat an expired card as expired. The only reliable defense is filing early, as soon as USCIS allows, and keeping proof of the filing date. If a gap is coming, talk to your employer before the expiration date, not after.
What This Means for Your Case
- Work permit renewals (C08 asylum, C09 adjustment, and others): check the expiration date on your EAD today. File the renewal as early as USCIS permits, keep the receipt, and do not assume you can keep working past the printed date while it is pending.
- Anyone with voluntary departure or a final removal order: fines are now routine and arrive by mail. Keep your address current with ICE and the immigration court, and see a lawyer before a deadline passes, not after a penalty notice arrives.
- Prior removal and returned: if ICE reinstates an old order, say right away if you fear return. Whether a federal court can review a denial depends on your circuit, and the Third Circuit’s en banc ruling may narrow that path.
- Visa overstays planning domestic travel: airports are enforcement points. Talk to a lawyer about your options before you fly.
- Ukrainians with TPS: October 19 is four days away. Advocates and lawyers read the statute as extending the designation to April 19, 2027 because DHS published no decision by August 20, but the USCIS Ukraine TPS page still lists October 19, 2026. Keep your I-797 notices and EADs together and talk to a lawyer before your employer reverifies.
- Anyone paying a USCIS fee: the higher asylum, parole, initial EAD and TPS fees apply to filings postmarked October 16 or later, which is tomorrow. Anything mailed today goes at the current fee.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Supreme Court will decide whether cooking in a militant camp is “material support” for terrorism
The Court granted review in Blanche v. Ozurumba, No. 25-1343. Izuchukwu Ozurumba, a Nigerian asylum seeker, cooked for about six months in a camp run by the separatist “Unknown Gunmen” before escaping. An immigration judge and the Board found that was material support, which bars asylum. The Fourth Circuit reversed, holding that cooking meals with food the group bought gave it nothing it could use or divert to carry out attacks. The government appealed, and the justices will now set the standard nationwide.
Sotomayor and Gorsuch call a double illegal-reentry prosecution a “constitutional absurdity”
Jesus Herrera-Salazar served a sentence for being “found in” the U.S. after removal, then was ordered on supervised release not to leave eastern Oklahoma. A traffic stop there led to a second prosecution for the same continuing presence. The Court denied review because he has since been deported, but the two justices wrote that whether he stayed or left, “he would be breaking the law,” and urged lower courts to give the Double Jeopardy Clause “its full weight and meaning” in the next case.
San Antonio sues DHS to halt a 1,500-person ICE facility on the East Side
The city’s federal lawsuit says ICE skipped the environmental review the National Environmental Policy Act requires before converting a 640,000-square-foot warehouse on Southeast Loop 410, bought in January, into a processing center. GardaWorld Federal Services holds a $17.3 million renovation contract, and the site was expected to open early next year. The city says it sent five letters since February and never received the engineering reports DHS promised in June. DHS did not comment.
Released detainees sue ICE for keeping their work permits, passports and wedding rings
Seven people filed a class action in federal court in Washington, Gonzalez v. Department of Homeland Security, arguing that ICE violates the Fourth Amendment by holding property after it has any reason to. One plaintiff, Russian asylum seeker Vladimir Izmailov, says he has not been able to work for more than five months because ICE kept his employment authorization card, and he has borrowed money to pay rent for his family of four. The suit asks for the items back and for a procedure that returns property at release.
Policy Updates
Refugees now have 10 days, not 30, to fight a termination notice
The rule applies when DHS concludes a person was not a refugee at the time of admission. The response period to a Notice of Intent to Terminate drops from 30 to 10 days, plus three days when the notice is mailed. Termination ends refugee-based work authorization and can lead to removal proceedings. DHS ties the change to its post-admission review of refugees, Operation PARRIS. The rule took effect without advance comment; the public can still comment through November 13.
Enforcement Updates
ICE says it has re-arrested people at the courthouse door after judges freed them “since May”
MPR found at least five cases at Minneapolis’s Whipple Federal Building where people released on federal habeas orders were taken back into custody within minutes. An ICE official told one lawyer, “It’s not new; we’ve been doing this since May.” U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell has ruled that the tactic, if lawful, “would render habeas relief meaningless.” Yader Cortez Andino, re-arrested October 2, went free only after his green card was approved October 3.
DHS publicizes Columbus Day weekend arrests and targets sanctuary policies
DHS profiled 20 people arrested over the holiday weekend with convictions it lists as including murder, child sex offenses, drug trafficking and drunk driving, and repeated its criticism of jurisdictions that do not honor ICE detainers. The release gives no total arrest count for the weekend. It reflects the department’s own characterization; independent reporting this month shows many arrests involve people with no criminal record.
Analysis
Why ICE arrest numbers can overstate what is happening in your town
Federal data shows 124 ICE arrests in Vermont through July, more than triple 2025. Vermont Public matched more than 50 of them to Border Patrol apprehensions at the Canadian border, people counted again when ICE took custody for deportation. Interior “at-large” arrests were 29 in seven months, against 35 for all of 2025. ICE is more active, but national headline counts mix border and interior arrests, so read them carefully before judging your local risk.
Forced to help an armed group? Ozurumba could decide your asylum case
Many asylum seekers were made to cook, carry, pay or give shelter to armed groups. Immigration judges often treat any of that as material support, which bars asylum and withholding. The Fourth Circuit’s rule asks whether the help was something the group could actually use for violence. A decision is likely by mid-2027. Until then, the answer can depend on the circuit where your case is heard, and detailed, honest testimony about what you did and why matters more than ever.
What This Means for Your Case
- Refugees, including those who later got green cards through refugee status: if a Notice of Intent to Terminate arrives, the clock is now 10 days (13 if mailed). Open USCIS mail the day it arrives and call a lawyer the same day; there is no time to gather records after the fact.
- Asylum applicants who gave any help to an armed group: do not leave it out of your application. Explain exactly what you did, for how long, and whether you were forced. Ask your lawyer how Ozurumba and your circuit’s law affect your case.
- Released from ICE without your documents: write down what was taken, request it in writing, and keep copies. If ICE kept your work permit, ask counsel about a replacement EAD while the property dispute continues.
- Family of someone who wins a habeas order: ask the lawyer to request that the judge bar re-arrest on release, and be outside the building at the release time with documents.
- Ukrainians with TPS: October 19 is five days away. Advocates and lawyers read the statute as extending the designation to April 19, 2027 because DHS published no decision by August 20, but the USCIS Ukraine TPS page still lists October 19, 2026. Keep your I-797 notices and EADs together and talk to a lawyer before your employer reverifies.
- Anyone paying a USCIS fee: the higher asylum, parole, initial EAD and TPS fees apply to filings postmarked October 16 or later, which is Friday.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
BIA cancels a Russian truck driver’s $20,000 bond and tightens the rules for bond sponsors
The respondent came to the U.S. on a visitor visa in 2021, overstayed, and drove long-haul trucks without a valid commercial driver’s license. He was arrested after failing to stop at an interstate port of entry. An immigration judge set bond at $20,000; on DHS’s appeal, the Board ordered him held without bond. It found he had not shown he was not a danger to the community, and it held that a sponsor with “an ambiguous social connection and uncertain financial ability” does not meet the “rigorous standards” for a credible sponsor who can reduce flight risk.
Arizona judge sanctions a federal prosecutor who accused an asylum seeker’s lawyer of lying
U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa found that Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooks Chupp violated Rule 11 when he claimed, without supporting evidence, that the lawyer for an Iranian asylum applicant had falsely told the court her client had an appeal pending that blocked his deportation. She called his conduct “wholly unreasonable” and ordered him to complete legal education on a prosecutor’s duties and on backing factual claims with evidence.
Policy Updates
Refugee ceiling set at 17,500 for this fiscal year, mostly for Afrikaners
The presidential determination for fiscal year 2027 allows up to 17,500 refugee admissions and says they will primarily go to white South Africans. Resettlement groups say persecuted religious minorities, including Christians, were effectively shut out last year and will be again. For comparison, the ceiling averaged about 73,000 under Obama and was 125,000 under Biden. Families who were waiting abroad when the program was suspended in January 2025 still have no path to reunite through it.
Comments on the USCIS mandatory e-filing rule close tonight
The rule, already in effect, lets USCIS require online filing for a form once it has been available online for at least 180 days, with 60 days’ notice on the USCIS website. People who cannot file electronically can ask for a waiver. The comment period ends at midnight Eastern tonight. The rule stays in force regardless, but the comments become part of the record if it is challenged.
Enforcement Updates
Federal agents search Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home over her childhood immigration papers
Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant at Omar’s Washington residence early Monday. The Justice Department called it part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation, which centers on immigration paperwork her late father completed when she was a child, with possible false-statement and fraud allegations. Attorney General Todd Blanche knew of the search in advance. Omar, a naturalized citizen, called it an attempt “to target political enemies,” and the search comes within the 60-day pre-election window in which the department has traditionally avoided such steps involving candidates.
Newsweek counts at least 65 faith leaders detained by ICE since January 2025
Newsweek’s review of court filings and public records found 51 Christian clergy, 10 Muslim leaders, 3 Buddhists and 2 rabbis among those detained. Eighteen have been deported and 14 are still held. Many were picked up at routine check-ins or traffic stops, including a man re-detained after 17 years of complying with supervision. Of the 42 people the administration gave information on, 14 had prior arrests or convictions. DHS says unlawful presence alone makes someone a target, “full stop.”
Civil rights groups demand closure of Florida’s Baker detention site
The ACLU, ACLU of Florida, Americans for Immigrant Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center sent a demand letter over Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, a former state prison now holding immigration detainees. Their accounts describe denied medical care, contaminated water, extreme heat and mold, physical abuse, and people kept from their lawyers. The letter warns state and federal officials and contractors that they face lawsuits if conditions do not change.
Analysis
Detained after an overstay? M-S-V- changes what a bond request needs
The respondent here looks like many of our detained clients: a Russian visitor who overstayed and found work driving trucks. Two lessons follow. First, any driving or traffic history, even without a conviction, will be argued as danger, so it has to be addressed head-on with documents. Second, a friend’s letter offering a place to stay is no longer enough. Plan to show who the sponsor is, how you know them, proof of their status, income and housing, and a signed commitment of support before the bond hearing, not after.
What a college campus can and cannot do when ICE arrives
California law requires colleges to notify students when immigration agents are on campus and to demand a warrant before agents enter nonpublic areas such as classrooms and offices. Parking lots, sidewalks and open grounds are public, and that is where recent arrests have happened, including a student’s father taken in a parking lot at Allan Hancock College this month. As one college president put it, agents can walk through the middle of campus. Signs and approval policies help, but they are not legal barriers.
What This Means for Your Case
- Family of someone detained: start building the bond package now. Gather the sponsor’s ID and proof of status, tax returns or pay stubs, a lease or deed, and a signed letter explaining the relationship and promising support. Under Matter of M-S-V-, a short letter from a friend will not carry the hearing.
- Truck and rideshare drivers without status: a missing or invalid commercial license, or a skipped weigh station, can now be used to deny bond even with no conviction. Talk to a lawyer about your driving record before you are ever in front of a judge.
- Naturalized citizens: the Omar search shows the government will go back to documents filed in childhood. If your family’s old applications contain mistakes, get advice before you file anything new or speak with investigators.
- People on ICE supervision or with check-ins: keep attending, but go with your documents, a lawyer’s contact information, and a family plan. Long compliance has not prevented re-detention.
- Ukrainians with TPS: October 19 is six days away. The designation extended automatically to April 19, 2027 by law, but USCIS has not yet said how it will treat EADs dated October 19. Keep your I-797 notices and employment authorization documents together and show them to your employer if asked.
- Anyone paying a USCIS fee this week: asylum, parole, employment authorization and TPS fees go up for filings on or after October 16. Check the fee schedule on the day you mail.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
BIA creates a “safe countries” list and tells judges to deny those asylum claims early
In Matter of B-S-A-N-, 30 I&N Dec. 145 (BIA 2026), the Board held that judges should generally deny asylum, withholding and CAT claims from nationals of highly developed democracies, typically by pretermitting them at the master calendar stage before any testimony. The list covers about 40 countries: all 27 EU states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Monaco, Andorra, San Marino, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. EU citizens face a second barrier: a presumption against asylum as a matter of discretion because they can live in any other EU country. The decision openly rejects the Ninth Circuit’s 2025 ruling in Lapadat v. Bondi, so expect a circuit fight.
Federal judge vacates the Remain in Mexico policy
In Immigrant Defenders Law Center v. Mullin, U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal in Riverside granted partial summary judgment and set aside the administration’s implementation of Remain in Mexico. He found it obstructed the statutory rights to seek asylum, consult counsel and get a full and fair hearing. The class includes asylum seekers whose cases were terminated or who got final removal orders after being sent to wait in Mexico; only 7 percent of them found a lawyer and 1.1 percent won relief. The Ninth Circuit has already partially stayed the policy’s 2025 reimplementation, and an appeal of this ruling is likely.
Policy Updates
USCIS opens a Charlotte asylum office for North and South Carolina on October 13
Starting Tuesday, affirmative asylum applicants living in North Carolina or South Carolina fall under the new Charlotte Asylum Office at 128 South Tryon Street, Suite 600, and may be interviewed there. Interviews are by appointment only; no walk-ins. The opening does not by itself move a pending case, so the office and address printed on your interview notice is the one that counts.
Newsom vetoed campus jobs for undocumented students, citing fear of Trump retaliation
AB 713 would have required California’s public universities and community colleges to make undocumented students eligible for campus employment. In his veto message last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote that federal officials are “quick to wreak destruction for political spectacle” and that the risk of retribution against the schools was too great. The same governor signed several bills this fall restricting immigration enforcement in the state.
Enforcement Updates
DOJ files 40 denaturalization cases and calls it the largest effort in modern history
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced civil actions to revoke the citizenship of 40 naturalized Americans, filed between August 21 and October 2. The department says the defendants hid crimes or foreign ties when they naturalized; according to Newsweek, at least 19 of the 40 cases involve accusations of lying on visa forms. For scale, Newsweek counts about 105 denaturalization suits filed in all of 2008 through 2025.
ICE supervisor seen at the Bronx shooting was already named in lawsuits over violent arrests
NYPD body-camera footage from the October 8 Marble Hill shooting shows Supervisory Deportation Officer Brenden Cuni holding a rifle at the scene. It is still not public which agent fired the seven shots. Federal court filings describe earlier arrests in which immigrants say Cuni beat and tased them, including a Bronx man who says he was tased about six times while on the ground. DHS would not confirm or deny his involvement. The Trace counts at least 32 shootings by immigration agents since January 2025.
Analysis
Dual citizens with an EU, Canadian or UK passport: your asylum case just got harder
The respondent in B-S-A-N- was a dual citizen of France and Gabon, and the rule is that a dual national has to show fear in every country of citizenship. That matters for Russians, Ukrainians, Central Asians and others who also hold a Bulgarian, Romanian, Polish, Baltic or other EU passport, even one they have never used. Expect DHS to raise it at the master calendar hearing. If you or a family member has a second citizenship, tell your lawyer now, so the written application explains why that country is not safe for you before a judge ends the case on the papers.
Ordered removed while waiting in Mexico? The ruling may open a door, but not automatically
Many people in Remain in Mexico were ordered removed in absentia because they could not safely reach the border for court. Judge Bernal’s finding that the program denied a fair hearing can support a motion to reopen, but a vacatur does not erase an existing order, and the government will appeal. Anyone with an old MPP removal order, especially someone now married to a U.S. citizen or with a pending petition, should have a lawyer pull the court record before taking any other step.
What This Means for Your Case
- Dual nationals in asylum cases: disclose every citizenship you hold or are entitled to. Your application must explain why each country is unsafe, and under B-S-A-N- an EU, UK or Canadian passport can end the case at the first hearing.
- Asylum applicants in the Carolinas: the Charlotte office opens October 13. Go where your interview notice tells you to go, and keep your address current with USCIS.
- People with old Remain in Mexico removal orders: do not travel or sign anything until a lawyer reviews whether a motion to reopen is available.
- Naturalized citizens: if your naturalization or visa forms left out an arrest, a prior marriage or a prior immigration history, talk to a lawyer before you file anything else with the government.
- Ukrainians with TPS: October 19 is one week away. Advocates read the statute as extending the designation automatically to April 19, 2027, but DHS still has not published a notice. Keep your I-797 and EAD notices with you.
- Pending asylum cases filed more than a year ago: the annual asylum fee rises from $102 to $105 for payments on or after October 16.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Judge orders DHS to resume biometrics for detained people with pending USCIS cases
Since December 2025 (USCIS Policy Alert PA-2025-28), DHS has generally refused to take fingerprints from people in ICE custody whose applications are pending with USCIS, then treated the missed appointment as abandonment and denied the case. In J.Z. v. DHS, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali of the District of Columbia stayed that policy under the Administrative Procedure Act, finding it likely arbitrary and capricious. The stay covers every detained applicant, not just the plaintiffs, and the government must report on compliance by October 21. It affects green card, T visa, U visa, SIJ and asylee-follow-to-join applicants.
Tenth Circuit: a group warning about counsel is not enough; asylum seeker gets a new hearing
A Peruvian mother and her son heard about the right to a lawyer only in a mass advisal at a Denver group hearing, and no judge ever asked her individually whether she wanted one, as 8 C.F.R. 1240.10 requires. She lost her asylum case representing herself, and the Board of Immigration Appeals found no violation. In Torres-Roldan v. Blanche, a unanimous panel reversed and ordered a new hearing, finding that a lawyer could have clarified the political motive and police complicity that the judge found missing.
Policy Updates
Ukraine TPS: eight days to October 19 and still no DHS notice
More than 100,000 Ukrainians hold TPS that runs through October 19, 2026, and as of Friday DHS had published no extension or termination in the Federal Register. The statute required a decision 60 days before expiration, by August 20; if DHS misses that deadline, INA 244(b)(3)(C) extends the designation automatically for six months, to April 19, 2027, but DHS has not published a notice confirming that. Radio Free Europe reported a preliminary decision to extend, and a bipartisan group of 31 senators has asked for 18 months. Until a notice is published, nothing is official.
FOIA documents show Minnesota refugee re-vetting was built as a national model
USCIS records obtained by IRAP confirm that 72 Minnesota refugees who had not yet adjusted to green cards were arrested and detained under Operation PARRIS, which internal documents call a “Minnesota Pilot” and a “model for additional vetting operations.” The records count 185,539 refugees nationwide without green cards as of October 2025. A November 2025 USCIS memo already ordered re-vetting, and possibly re-interviews, of refugees admitted between January 21, 2021 and February 20, 2025.
Enforcement Updates
ICE vehicle strikes and breaks a man’s leg during a Houston pursuit
Around 7:20 a.m. Saturday on Clay Road in northwest Houston, agents trying to box in a pickup struck 48-year-old Miguel Parra-Hernandez, a passenger who got out and ran. A local advocacy group says his leg is broken in three places; he is in ICE custody. ICE says the target, Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, had a final removal order and a Dallas County criminal history, but Houston Public Media found no criminal cases for him in Dallas or Harris County. He escaped on foot, and the sheriff’s office is investigating.
Agents use tear gas on protesters who blocked ICE vehicles in Salem, Oregon
Salem police say about 30 people used cars to block ICE vehicles near Lancaster Drive and Sunnyview Road Saturday morning, and agents used tear gas to get out. Several people called 911 with breathing problems. Rep. Andrea Salinas said agents also used pepper balls and smoke canisters and briefly shut down Highway 99E. Salem police said they did not know about or coordinate with the operation. It follows a jump in arrests around Portland earlier in the week.
At least 100 detained in three days as ICE surges into the San Joaquin Valley
Advocates in Fresno say ICE vans arriving at the downtown office went from a couple a day to 10 or 15. One of those taken was Luis Arreguin, 54, who came to the U.S. as a child 49 years ago and was arrested October 1 on his way to work. ICE will not discuss the operation. In August the Ninth Circuit lifted the injunction that had barred indiscriminate Border Patrol stops in the region, and advocates say ICE is now doing the same kind of sweeps.
Analysis
Ukrainians: plan for October 19 as if nothing will be announced
The automatic six-month extension is real law, but an employer filling out an I-9 or an ICE officer at a traffic stop will look for a document, and there may not be one on October 20. Use the next week to get a backup in place. If you entered within the past year or can show changed circumstances, look at asylum now. If a U.S. citizen or green card holder relative can petition for you, start the petition. If you came through Uniting for Ukraine, check your parole end date separately. Keep your I-797 and any EAD extension notice with you.
Detained with a USCIS case pending? The biometrics ruling can reopen the door
Many detained spouses of U.S. citizens and crime victims had their I-485s and U visa petitions denied as abandoned simply because DHS would not fingerprint them. Judge Ali’s order means new appointments should be honored, and denials that came from missed biometrics may support a motion to reopen with USCIS. Deadlines for those motions are short. If a family member is detained with a pending or recently denied USCIS case, have a lawyer pull the notices now.
What This Means for Your Case
- Ukrainians with TPS: do not wait for October 19. Gather your I-797, EAD and any extension notice, and ask a lawyer this week whether asylum, a family petition or re-parole is available to you.
- Families of detained applicants: if a pending green card, U visa, T visa or SIJ case was denied for missed biometrics, ask a lawyer about a motion to reopen under the new court order.
- Refugees who have been here more than a year without a green card: file or follow up on your I-485 and keep your original refugee documents. Re-vetting interviews can come with little notice.
- Anyone in immigration court without a lawyer: if the judge never asked you directly whether you wanted a lawyer, tell your appellate attorney. It can be grounds for a new hearing.
- Families in Texas, Oregon and the Central Valley: enforcement is active this weekend. Do not open the door without a judicial warrant, do not run from agents, and keep your A-number and your lawyer’s number written down.
- Pending asylum cases filed more than a year ago: the annual asylum fee rises from $102 to $105 for payments on or after October 16.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Federal judge bars ICE from deporting the man its officer shot in Manhattan
Lawyers for Oscar Belgal filed a habeas petition the day after the Marble Hill shooting, arguing ICE arrested him without a warrant and never issued a Notice to Appear. U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken ordered that Belgal not be deported or moved outside the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York or New Jersey while the petition is pending. DHS says it will bring criminal charges and still intends to remove him; Belgal was booked into MDC-Brooklyn on Friday.
Government starts bringing back an Egyptian man it deported to Equatorial Guinea
An immigration judge had barred sending Ahmed Soliman, a former green card holder who grew up in Arizona, back to Egypt, where he faced likely torture. DHS sent him to Equatorial Guinea instead, where court filings say he was held under armed guard, beaten and cut off from his lawyers. U.S. District Judge John Hinderaker found the removal violated due process and ordered his return, and on Friday the government said it had begun the process. It is the second court-ordered return of a third-country deportee from Africa, after a Colorado case in September.
Policy Updates
ICE finalizes its civil-fine rule days after a judge froze the old one
On September 30, Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Massachusetts stayed the interim rule ICE used to fine people who did not leave after removal orders. ICE has now issued a final rule that keeps the same framework, including DHS rather than the Board of Immigration Appeals hearing appeals, with one change: late appeals are allowed when mail delays caused the miss. Fines run $998 a day for failing to depart and can be assessed back five years, reaching about $1.8 million; DHS said in July it had issued more than 103,000 fines worth $84 billion.
Citizenship applicants: USCIS explains when it will interview neighbors and coworkers
USCIS brought back “neighborhood investigations” for naturalization in 2025 after dropping them in 1991. Its Policy Manual now says not every applicant will get one, and applicants may submit character reference letters, ideally from U.S. citizens who are not relatives, which officers weigh when deciding whether to waive the check. The guidance applies to N-400s pending or filed on or after August 25, 2026.
Enforcement Updates
DHS Secretary Mullin refuses New York’s request to pause ICE operations
Gov. Kathy Hochul asked DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and President Trump to halt immigration operations in the state after Thursday’s shooting. At ICE headquarters Friday, Mullin said, “We’re not putting a pause on enforcement.” NYPD surveillance video released the same day shows two plainclothes officers approaching Belgal’s parked SUV with guns drawn; DHS says he drove into ICE vehicles, which the released footage does not show. The FBI and HSI are investigating, and protests continued in the city.
“Operation Safe California”: a 45-day ICE push starting in San Diego
Citing the Washington Examiner, the Bee reports ICE has begun waves of operations moving from San Diego through Los Angeles to San Francisco by November, and that officers were told they can arrest anyone they encounter, criminal record or not. DHS has not announced the operation. Advocates in Sacramento and the Central Coast report more ICE activity, including a father arrested at a Santa Maria community college while dropping off his daughter. Gov. Gavin Newsom called it a “campaign of fear” weeks before the midterms.
Analysis
Winning withholding of removal no longer means you stay. It means the fight moves.
Soliman won protection from return to Egypt and was deported anyway, to a country he had never lived in. The Supreme Court has let third-country removals resume until it hears the case in December, so anyone with withholding or CAT protection should assume ICE may try a third country. The cases that ended in a return order had lawyers who moved fast in federal court and documented the danger in the new country. Keep your lawyer’s contact current and make sure family knows your A-number.
Old removal orders now come with a bill
Many people have a removal order from years ago, sometimes entered in absentia, and never knew it. The new final rule means a fine notice can arrive by mail with a short window to appeal. Do not ignore it, and do not assume the court stay covers you. A fine notice is also a sign to have a lawyer review whether the underlying order can be reopened, which may be the only way to make both problems go away.
What This Means for Your Case
- If you have an old removal order: open every letter from DHS or ICE right away. A civil-fine notice has a short appeal deadline, and a lawyer can check whether a motion to reopen is possible.
- If you won withholding or CAT protection: a third-country removal is possible again. Keep your grant paperwork, your lawyer’s number and your A-number where family can find them.
- If someone is arrested or hurt during an arrest: a habeas petition filed within a day can stop a deportation or transfer while a judge looks at the case. Call a lawyer immediately.
- Families in California: ICE has reportedly been told it can arrest anyone it encounters. Know your rights, do not open the door without a judicial warrant, and keep your documents ready.
- Citizenship applicants: consider adding reference letters from U.S. citizens who know you. They can help USCIS waive a neighborhood investigation.
- Pending asylum cases filed more than a year ago: check the USCIS annual asylum fee page every week; many people never get the notice. The fee goes from $102 to $105 for payments on or after October 16.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
IRS-to-ICE address sharing: lawsuit survives, and the injunction goes to the First Circuit
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston ruled that a New Bedford community group and three other immigrant-advocacy organizations can keep suing over the IRS and Social Security Administration handing taxpayer information to ICE. The groups argue the sharing violates the federal law that protects tax return information; in August 2025 the IRS gave ICE more than 47,000 addresses of people with final removal orders. A February 5 preliminary injunction still blocks ICE from using the shared data, and the government’s appeal of that order was set for argument in the First Circuit on Wednesday.
Judge orders release of asylum applicant ICE arrested without notice or a hearing
Binderiya Gansukh, from Mongolia, came on a student visa in 2017, applied for asylum in January 2018 and held work authorization through 2030. ICE arrested her on September 4, saying she had not maintained student status, and her September 22 bond hearing was canceled after she was moved out of Adelanto. U.S. Magistrate Judge Alka Sagar in Los Angeles found that detaining her with no advance notice and no chance to be heard violated the Fifth Amendment and ordered her immediate release.
Policy Updates
Deportation hearings are being held in unmarked rooms at FEMA headquarters and 26 Federal Plaza
Since September 8, DHS has run removal hearings from a FEMA conference center in Washington and a third-floor space at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, with immigration judges appearing by Zoom. Attorneys and members of Congress say the rooms carry no court signage and are generally closed to the public and to lawyers; Rep. Greg Stanton was turned away on September 23. Chicago, Miami, Denver, San Antonio and Los Angeles are reportedly under consideration. DHS says access is governed by EOIR policy and facility security rules.
Leaked emails: 287(g) training for local police cut from four weeks to 40 hours online
Local officers deputized under 287(g) agreements used to get four weeks of in-person instruction. An internal email obtained by American Oversight says the course was “truncated” to 40 hours of virtual training, and material on verifying citizenship, determining immigration status and the legal grounds for an arrest was cut. More than 2,600 agencies now hold 287(g) agreements, compared with 135 under the prior administration.
Enforcement Updates
ICE officer shoots a man in the neck during an arrest in Manhattan; a 5-year-old was in the car
Around 4 p.m. Thursday in Marble Hill, an ICE officer shot Oscar Belgal, 28, from the Dominican Republic, as he was parking. He survived, and the child in the back seat was not hurt. DHS called it a targeted operation against a “criminal illegal alien” and blamed sanctuary policies; Mayor Zohran Mamdani said there was “no justification” for the shooting, and Gov. Kathy Hochul also condemned it.
Sudden spike in immigration arrests across the Portland area
The Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition confirmed at least nine detentions on Tuesday in Gresham, Troutdale and east Portland, with more on Wednesday in Washington and Marion counties, including near a Hillsboro high school and in downtown Woodburn. Oregon arrests had fallen to 30 in March before climbing again over the summer. One attorney said she was turned away from the Portland ICE facility a dozen times on Tuesday.
ICE investigators looked into hundreds of voter-registration groups
Records obtained by Democracy Forward show Homeland Security Investigations searched databases for “derogatory information” on voter-registration nonprofits, including at least 82 in Pennsylvania, plus groups in Ohio, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. The documents float the use of undercover agents in future operations, though there is no evidence that happened.
Army study: the shock gloves ICE bought cause “pain, compliance and fear”
An October 2024 Army test at Fort Leavenworth found the gloves stopped resistance within seconds and left participants afraid of being shocked again; some said seeing the gloves was enough to make them comply. ICE signed a $16.7 million contract for 6,000 pairs in August and calls them de-escalation devices. The study did not look at long-term health risks, and 16 senators are still waiting on answers about how the gloves will be used.
Analysis
A pending asylum case and a valid work permit did not stop the arrest. A habeas petition ended it.
Gansukh did everything the system asked for eight years and was still detained, then lost her bond hearing to a transfer. What got her out was a federal habeas petition filed within two weeks. For people in her position, the immigration court is not always the fastest door: when ICE detains someone without notice or a hearing, a federal court can order release, but only if the petition is filed quickly and in the right district.
Less training, more arrests, fewer places to find a lawyer
Put this week’s stories side by side: thousands of local agencies making immigration arrests after 40 hours of online training, a push toward 3,000 arrests a day, attorneys turned away at the Portland facility, and hearings held in rooms with no sign on the door. The common thread is that the first hours after an arrest matter more than ever, and families who already know the A-number and the lawyer’s phone number move faster than those who don’t.
What This Means for Your Case
- Pending asylum applicants with a work permit: a pending case does not prevent arrest. Keep your receipt notices, EAD and any status documents together, and make sure a relative has copies.
- If a family member is detained without a hearing: call a lawyer the same day about a federal habeas petition. Transfers between facilities can cancel a scheduled bond hearing, and a quick filing in the right district can make the difference.
- Families in 287(g) counties: a traffic stop or local arrest can turn into an immigration hold. Keep the A-number, date of birth and your lawyer’s number where someone at home can find them.
- Anyone with a hearing in New York or Washington: read your hearing notice closely and confirm the location with your lawyer. Some hearings are now held at 26 Federal Plaza and FEMA headquarters, not the usual courtrooms.
- Filing asylum, parole, initial EAD or TPS forms: the higher USCIS fees take effect October 16, one week from today. Anything postmarked that day or later needs the new amount.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
BIA: a trip home on advance parole can end your entire asylum case
The Board held that when someone with a pending asylum application returns to the country they say they fear under a grant of advance parole, the return is presumed to abandon the whole application: asylum, withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture. The presumption can be overcome only by showing compelling reasons for the trip, a standard courts rarely find met by family visits. The Board also held that immigration judges must apply mandatory bars the record supports even when DHS never raises them. The respondent, from Nepal, lost his appeal.
Tenth Circuit: federal courts can review USCIS decisions to terminate refugee status
In Mukantagara v. Mullin, brought by two Rwandan refugees, a divided panel ruling on rehearing held that USCIS's finding that a person did not qualify as a refugee when admitted, the step required before status can be terminated, is reviewable in federal district court. There is no administrative appeal from these terminations, and some refugees have been placed in removal proceedings after losing status. The ruling comes as the administration re-interviews resettled refugees and issues notices of intent to terminate.
Policy Updates
DHS proposes $70,000 fee for international students to start OPT
A proposed rule would charge each F-1 student $70,000 for initial Optional Practical Training and $30,000 for any later OPT period. DHS says the fees target fraud and “pay-to-stay” schemes and would push schools to be more selective in recommending students. This is a proposal, not a final rule: nothing changes until DHS takes public comments and publishes a final version, and lawsuits are likely.
Salvadoran TPS holders press DHS for an answer a month after the deadline passed
TPS for El Salvador was set to expire September 9, but DHS has made no announcement either way, and the USCIS page still says Salvadorans with TPS keep their protection and work authorization until one is made. The National TPS Alliance says about 200,000 people are in limbo, and that some are already losing jobs and, in many states, the ability to drive.
Enforcement Updates
ICE agents told to push toward 3,000 arrests a day
Two sources told CNN that ICE leadership verbally directed agents nationwide on Tuesday to add about 1,000 arrests a day, returning to the 3,000-a-day goal, and to aim for 19,000 a week. ICE has recently averaged about 2,000 a day and took roughly 51,000 people into custody in August, a record for this administration. DHS says there are “NO quotas on arrests.”
NPR: signs ICE has used a court-blocked New Jersey warehouse to hold people
DHS bought 11 warehouses early this year for about $1 billion to convert into detention centers, and a court order bars converting the Roxbury, New Jersey site pending environmental review. NPR found signs that the warehouse has been in use since the summer, and New Jersey's attorney general says the office is looking into similar reports. A government contractor told NPR that DHS rejected a proposal for more humane camps in Texas; the White House called his account false hearsay.
Asylum-seeking filmmaker detained by ICE at Dulles airport
Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh, who came to the U.S. on a student visa in 2019 and applied for asylum in 2020, was arrested at Washington Dulles International Airport on September 24, according to a campaign seeking his release. He is held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, Virginia, and had a hearing and bond assessment scheduled for Tuesday. ICE and DHS have not commented.
Analysis
Can you sue an ICE agent? Why lawyers are turning to state civil rights laws
A Colombian engineer with an employer-sponsored visa says Maine agents smashed his car window, pulled him out at Taser point and drove him to Massachusetts before releasing him that night. Congress never created a damages remedy against federal officers like the one that exists for state and local police, and the Supreme Court has sharply narrowed the court-made Bivens remedy. His ACLU lawyers are also suing under the Maine Civil Rights Act, part of a wider effort to use state law to hold federal agents accountable.
Why M-R-I- matters even if you never planned to stay home
Until now, many applicants treated CAT protection as a backstop that a trip home could not touch. That backstop is gone: one return visit under advance parole now puts every form of protection at risk at once, and judges must raise mandatory bars on their own. Advance parole still lets people travel, but for asylum applicants it should almost never be used to go back to the country they fled.
What This Means for Your Case
- Pending asylum applicants: do not travel to your home country on advance parole, even briefly, even for a funeral or a sick parent, without a lawyer reviewing the trip first. Under Matter of M-R-I-, that one trip can be treated as giving up asylum, withholding and Torture Convention protection together.
- Anyone with a pending asylum case who flies: carry your receipt notices, your advance parole document if you have one, and your lawyer's number. The Dulles arrest shows that airports are not off limits.
- Refugees who received a notice of intent to terminate: answer it on time and with evidence, and keep a copy of everything. In the Tenth Circuit (Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming) a federal court can now review the decision, and other courts may follow.
- Salvadoran TPS holders: print the USCIS El Salvador TPS page, which says your protection and work authorization continue until DHS announces otherwise, and show it to your employer or the DMV if your card date has passed.
- Families of people without status: with ICE pushing for 3,000 arrests a day, make a family plan now. Keep identity documents, A-numbers and your lawyer's contact information where a relative can reach them.
- F-1 students and their families: the $70,000 OPT fee is only a proposal and is not in effect. If OPT is part of your plan, file on time under current rules and watch for the comment period.
These are general practical takeaways, not a determination of eligibility in an individual case. Schedule a Consultation.
Court Decisions
Judge upholds Virginia's in-state tuition law for immigrant students
Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Payne granted summary judgment to Virginia on Monday, finding that the 2020 Virginia Dream Act is not preempted by federal law. The Justice Department sued in December, arguing the state could not offer lower tuition to undocumented students while charging out-of-state U.S. citizens more. The judge noted an appeal is likely, and Law360 reports the ruling breaks with the Fifth Circuit on the issue.
Ábrego Garcia hearing on removal to Liberia abruptly canceled
Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland was set to hear the government's request to lift an injunction that bars ICE from detaining Ábrego Garcia and sending him to Liberia. The judge never took the bench; after a short conference with both sides, the hearing was canceled, and his lawyer said an update will be filed on the docket. Ábrego Garcia has asked to be sent to Costa Rica instead, which has said it would accept him.
Policy Updates
University groups sue DHS over new limits on student internships
AAU, NAFSA, the Presidents' Alliance and a Massachusetts college association filed suit in federal court in Massachusetts over two August SEVP messages. Those messages limit Curricular Practical Training to internships that every student in a program must complete, reversing more than 35 years of practice, and warn school officials of personal consequences for past authorizations. Harvard, MIT, Penn and Wellesley are among the schools that have paused CPT approvals.
NYC Bar: which BIA appeal rule changes are actually in effect
A federal court has blocked three of the nine changes in the Justice Department's February 2026 rule on Board of Immigration Appeals procedure. The appeal deadline is still 30 days, not 10, and summary dismissal and automatic waiver of unlisted issues are not in effect. Still in force: dismissal before transcripts are prepared, a 20-day simultaneous briefing schedule, tight limits on extensions, and reply briefs only when the Board asks for them.
Enforcement Updates
ProPublica counts at least 506 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents
The tally includes at least 70 children and teenagers, 63 citizens detained while recording agents, and 36 held for at least a day without access to a lawyer or family. More than 100 were held after agents questioned their citizenship, and more than 300 were detained over alleged assault or obstruction, though fewer than half were charged. DHS said its operations are “highly targeted.”
ICE arrests in the Austin area up 308% since January 2025
Deportation Data Project figures show 4,817 arrests with detention in the Austin area from January to July 2026, compared with 2,844 in the same months of 2025, with the busiest days clustered in May through July. About 60% of people arrested and detained by July 2026 had no criminal history, up from about 5% in January 2025. Local police agreements accounted for 24% of Austin-area arrests this year.
Fresno arrest highlights Kern County's role as a detention hub
ICE detained a Mendota mechanic and grandfather in downtown Fresno on Monday while he was picking up auto parts, and transferred him to McFarland. Four of California's eight ICE detention facilities are in Kern County, and a local immigration lawyer says she is getting calls about people transferred there from Oklahoma, Massachusetts and elsewhere on the East Coast. Volunteers in Fresno report a rise in ICE sightings and arrests.
Analysis
Chemerinsky: the Supreme Court's unexplained green light for third-country removals
Berkeley Law dean Erwin Chemerinsky argues the Court again let the government send people to countries where they have no ties, without a word of explanation, even though a district court found the practice illegal. Federal law treats removal to an unconnected country as a last resort, and the Convention Against Torture requires notice and a chance to raise fear of harm. The case will be argued in December, and removals can continue until a decision.
Why the BIA rules matter if you lose in immigration court
The 30-day deadline survived, but the parts of the rule still in force make appeals faster and less forgiving. With simultaneous 20-day briefs, almost no extensions and no automatic right to reply, the first brief is often the only chance to make the argument. People who wait until the last week to look for a lawyer may not leave that lawyer enough time to order the record and write a full brief.
What This Means for Your Case
- If an immigration judge denied your case: you still have 30 days to file the appeal, but the briefing rules are now strict. Contact a lawyer the day you get the decision, not the week the deadline expires.
- U.S. citizens and green card holders: carry proof of status. ProPublica's count shows that citizens are being detained, and a passport card or copy of a naturalization certificate can shorten the time you are held.
- Families in Texas: ICE arrests are up sharply, and most people arrested this year have no criminal record. Have a family plan, keep key documents where a relative can reach them, and know your lawyer's number by heart.
- If a relative is detained and moved far away: use the ICE online detainee locator and call a lawyer right away. Transfers to places like Kern County or Texas can make bond hearings and family contact harder, and fast action matters.
- Students on F-1 visas: do not start an internship for credit unless your school's international office has authorized CPT under the current rules. Working without valid authorization can damage your status and future applications.
- Undocumented students in Virginia: in-state tuition is still available for now. Keep your eligibility paperwork current, because the federal government is likely to appeal.
Court Decisions
Judge blocks fines of up to $1.8 million on people who stayed after a removal order
U.S. District Judge George O'Toole in Boston ruled in a class action that DHS imposed the penalties unlawfully. ICE issued fines on boilerplate forms without assessing whether each person's failure to depart was willful, and the 2025 fast-track process that dropped the 30-day notice period skipped public comment. DHS has said it issued more than 103,000 fines totaling about $84 billion, at $998 a day applied retroactively for up to five years.
Supreme Court wipes out Ninth Circuit win for Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders
On the first day of the new term, the justices vacated the Ninth Circuit ruling in Mullin v. National TPS Alliance that had found DHS unlawfully ended TPS for certain Venezuelans and Haitians. The case goes back to the Ninth Circuit to be reconsidered under June's Mullin v. Doe decision, which sharply limited court review of TPS terminations. The Court did not rule on the merits, but the order removes the main legal obstacle to the terminations.
Policy Updates
Lawsuit targets USCIS policies that penalize green card applicants who stay in the U.S.
The suit, filed in Boston by SEIU, university faculty unions, an immigrant legal group and six applicants, challenges two USCIS policies. A May 2026 policy tells officers to treat applying for adjustment of status, instead of leaving for consular processing, as a negative factor that only “unusual or even outstanding” considerations can overcome. An August 2026 policy lets officers deny cases without first sending a Request for Evidence or Notice of Intent to Deny, even for applications filed before it existed.
DHS appeals the order blocking its four-year cap on student visas
DHS asked the First Circuit to reverse a September preliminary injunction that kept its “duration of status” rule from taking effect. The rule would limit international students and foreign journalists to a fixed admission period of up to four years unless they win an extension, and would bar graduate students from changing programs. The government plans to ask for an expedited appeal, and the rule stays blocked for now.
Enforcement Updates
ICE detains a student's father in a California college parking lot
Officers detained the man in a parking lot at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria on Monday morning as he dropped off his daughter, and the college says it had no advance notice and did not assist. His daughter said he survived heart failure last year. A local rapid-response group reported at least 16 people detained across the Santa Maria Valley the same day, and a city council member has asked ICE whether its agents carried judicial warrants.
DHS publicizes weekend arrests of people with serious convictions
DHS highlighted weekend arrests in New York, Nevada, Virginia, Georgia and Massachusetts of noncitizens it says were convicted of murder, child sex offenses and drug trafficking. Secretary Markwayne Mullin cited what the department calls a more than 1,600% rise in assaults on officers. These releases feature selected cases; independent analyses of ICE data have found that a large share of people arrested this year have no criminal conviction.
Analysis
AP-KFF poll: rural voters split evenly on whether the crackdown helped their towns
In a survey of more than 2,000 rural voters, about a third said immigration enforcement had been good for their community, a third said bad, and roughly 3 in 10 said it made no difference. About 7 in 10 called legal immigrants and seasonal farmworkers important to their local economies. Only about 4 in 10 said Trump has gone too far, compared with 55% of all U.S. adults in a September AP-NORC poll.
Why the adjustment-of-status lawsuit matters to families
Congress created adjustment of status so eligible people already here would not have to leave their families to get a green card abroad. Leaving can trigger the 3- and 10-year unlawful-presence bars for some applicants, so a policy that pushes people toward consular processing can turn a routine marriage case into years of separation. The case is only at the complaint stage, and both policies remain in effect until a court rules.
What This Means for Your Case
- If you received a DHS notice of a fine for not departing: do not ignore it and do not pay it before talking to a lawyer. The Boston ruling found ICE's process unlawful, and your lawyer can check whether you fall within the class.
- Venezuelans and Haitians who relied on TPS: the Supreme Court's order makes it much less likely that a court will restore your status. If you have not already explored asylum, a family petition or other relief, do it now.
- Adjustment of status applicants, especially spouses of U.S. citizens: file a complete case the first time. USCIS can now deny without asking for more evidence, so include every document that proves eligibility and the relationship. Do not leave the U.S. for consular processing without first finding out whether leaving would trigger a reentry bar.
- Students and visa holders: the four-year limit is still blocked, but the government is moving quickly on appeal. Keep your status documents current and plan program changes with your school's international office.
- Families in areas with active enforcement: make a plan for who picks up the children, keep copies of key documents where a relative can reach them, and memorize your lawyer's number. Ask to see a judicial warrant before letting anyone into a home.
Court Decisions
Ohio judge orders ICE to release a Springfield Haitian man or give him a real bond hearing
U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett rejected ICE's claim that Elisthene Petit Kat, who has lived in the country for years, is an “arriving alien” who must be held without bond. ICE has one week to release him or give him a bond hearing where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is a flight risk or a danger. Half a dozen Haitians held at the Butler County Jail have filed similar challenges, and their lawyers say immigration judges keep classifying long-paroled residents as arriving aliens despite district court rulings.
Second federal judge blocks the $100,000 H-1B fee
Judge Haywood Gilliam in the Northern District of California enjoined the core sections of the renewed proclamation requiring employers to pay $100,000 for H-1B workers petitioned from abroad. He found the plaintiffs, a group of healthcare, education and religious employers, likely to win on the claim that DHS skipped notice-and-comment rulemaking. The fee stays blocked until DHS completes that process, on top of a separate Massachusetts ruling that vacated the policy.
Policy Updates
Ukraine and Sudan TPS end October 19; El Salvador stays protected for now
USCIS guidance confirms that Temporary Protected Status for Ukraine and Sudan, and the work permits that come with it, terminate on October 19, 2026. Its September 30 guidance says Salvadorans with TPS keep their protection and work authorization until DHS makes an announcement, after the White House reportedly stopped a termination notice that was already drafted. The administration has already ended TPS for 13 other countries during 2025 and 2026.
State Department says it has revoked more than 250,000 visas
The department cites overstays and other violations, crimes, fraud and national security concerns, including about 2,300 revocations tied to birth tourism. The count was roughly 175,000 in August. Officials are also preparing to cancel tourist and business visas issued since 2016 to as many as 200,000 people who later applied for asylum, and a new Continuous Vetting Center is reviewing all 55 million valid visa holders.
California puts a 25% tax on private detention centers that hold ICE detainees
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1633, which taxes 25% of the gross income of private detention centers holding government contracts. All eight ICE detention centers in California are privately run. The tax takes effect July 1, 2028, and the money goes to a fund for immigration legal services. Critics expect ICE to respond by moving detainees to federal property or out of state, which would mean longer transfers away from families and lawyers.
Enforcement Updates
Freed by a judge, re-arrested before reaching the door
A Guatemalan construction worker whose habeas petition was granted signed his release papers at the Whipple Federal Building in Minnesota last Thursday, then was handcuffed by five ICE agents before he could leave and taken to a county jail. Several immigrants report the same thing happening to them. Attorneys call it a way around federal court release orders, and DHS did not respond to MPR's questions.
ICE activity rises in Brooklyn's Haitian neighborhood after TPS ends
Residents and organizers reported ICE agents across Flatbush between September 28 and October 2, and Council Member Rita Joseph's office confirmed at least one arrest. Haitian TPS ended this summer after the Supreme Court's June ruling in Mullin v. Doe, and work permits in the A12 and C19 categories expired with it. New York law bars local police from helping ICE with civil immigration arrests.
Man deported to Eswatini freed after 14 months in a maximum-security prison
Phone Chomsavanh, a Laotian citizen who came to the U.S. at age 7 and had already served his criminal sentence, was flown to Eswatini in July 2025 with no notice of the destination. He was released Sunday and is being sent on to Laos. About 500 people have been deported to African countries that are not their own, and the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the third-country program in December.
Analysis
Reuters: 40 LGBT people with U.S. protection deported to countries hostile to them
Each of the 40 had won withholding of removal or similar protection after an immigration judge found they faced persecution at home, then was sent to a third country such as Sierra Leone, Cameroon or Eswatini. Sixteen were later returned to the countries they fled. Preliminary government data shared with Reuters shows more than 40,000 third-country deportations since January 2025, far more than advocates had estimated.
ICE posts, then deletes, reviews finding substandard care in detention deaths
ICE's own reviews of 33 deaths in custody from 2019 to January 2026 found that in 27 of the 31 completed cases, medical care fell outside safe limits: sick calls ignored, medications stopped, CPR skipped or done wrong. The reports were posted to ICE's FOIA library on September 25 and removed four days later. An accountability group saved copies before they came down.
What This Means for Your Case
- Detained without bond after years in the U.S.: a habeas petition in federal court is still the main path to a bond hearing, and judges keep granting them. Have your lawyer ask the court to bar re-arrest on release, because ICE is re-detaining people at the door.
- Ukrainians and Sudanese with TPS: your status and work permit end October 19. Talk to a lawyer now about asylum, a family petition or other options before that date, not after.
- Salvadorans with TPS: you are still protected and can keep working. Keep your documents current and watch for a DHS announcement.
- Visa holders and anyone who entered on a visa and filed for asylum: the State Department is reviewing visas continuously. A revoked visa does not end a pending asylum case, but it can affect travel and future applications, so keep every court and USCIS date.
- Anyone with protection from removal to their home country: withholding does not stop deportation to a third country. If you fear harm in another country, tell the government and your lawyer in writing right away.
- Families of detained people: write down medications and medical conditions and give them to the detention facility and the lawyer in writing. Written requests create a record.
Court Decisions
BIA: recent arrests can sink a bond request, even without a conviction
An immigration judge granted bond of $9,000 to a man with one DWI conviction, earlier arrests for impaired driving and boating, and a domestic assault arrest less than two months before his hearing that was still pending. DHS appealed, and the Board vacated the bond and ordered him held without bond, finding he had not proven he was not a danger to the community. The decision repeats that judges may count arrests that never led to a conviction against the person asking for release.
Lawyer suspended from immigration court for filing a brief with AI-invented citations
The Ninth Circuit suspended the attorney for six months after he filed a brief containing artificial intelligence “hallucinations” and made false statements to the court about how he used AI. The Board imposed the same six-month suspension from practice before the immigration courts, the BIA and DHS. It is now a published precedent, which tells every practitioner that fabricated citations will follow them into immigration court.
Federal judge halts border wall construction across Texas's Big Bend region
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso granted a preliminary injunction blocking “ground-disturbing activities” on five contracted barrier projects while the lawsuit continues, finding the plaintiffs' constitutional claims likely to succeed. The Center for Biological Diversity sued on behalf of a group preserving a historic church in Presidio County and a river guide who stands to lose land in Redford. The ruling covers construction only and does not change how people are processed at the border.
Policy Updates
USCIS will stop extending birthday deadlines that fall on a weekend, starting October 23
Since 2023, USCIS has accepted a filing on the next business day when a deadline such as a 21st birthday fell on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday. The agency is returning to its older rule: the weekend-and-holiday extension applies only to deadlines counted in days, not to deadlines tied to an age or a birthday. Families filing for a child who is about to turn 21 should not count on an extra day after October 23.
USCIS updates its guidance on automatic work permit extensions
A technical update to Volume 10, Part A of the Policy Manual revises the language on automatic extensions of employment authorization documents, adds the (c)(40) category to the EAD validity table, and conforms other sections to recent regulatory and statutory changes. Anyone renewing should check the current manual for whether their category qualifies before relying on an older receipt notice.
Enforcement Updates
San Antonio mayor backs legal action to stop a 1,500-person ICE processing center
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said ICE ignored a September 30 deadline to answer the city's questions about the East Side warehouse it bought for $66 million in January, and that the city attorney is reviewing options. ICE says the site would hold 1,000 to 1,500 people during their proceedings, and it awarded GardaWorld a contract of about $17 million to renovate and run it. Hundreds marched against the project on Saturday.
ICE reports 121 arrests at Lewisville Lake over the summer
ICE Dallas ran the initiative with state and local partners from June 27 through Labor Day weekend, targeting peak boating season on the North Texas lake. The agency says the people arrested had histories ranging from serious violent and sexual offenses to DWI, boating while intoxicated and traffic violations, and that two admitted to belonging to Tren de Aragua. The list shows that a traffic or boating stop can be enough to bring ICE into the picture.
Analysis
Somali deportation orders in Minnesota up nearly tenfold under a nationality “rocket docket”
A Star Tribune analysis of federal data found more than 1,000 Somali asylum seekers ordered deported since February, more than 500 of them living in Minnesota. Nearly every removal decision this year came from a fast-track docket that moved cases scheduled a year or more out onto online hearings, which attorneys call unprecedented for a single nationality. The court says it is following the law's 180-day target for asylum decisions.
“ICE Is Everywhere and Acting with Impunity”
The magazine counts about two dozen DHS shootings since January 2025, six of them fatal, with no ICE officer federally charged. It cites a New York Times finding that in about half of the roughly 400 resolved federal cases charging people with assaulting officers, juries acquitted, judges dismissed or prosecutors dropped the charges. Arrests hit a record of nearly 51,000 in August.
What This Means for Your Case
- Seeking release on bond: after Morales Cuxun, a pending arrest can be used against you even if the charge is unresolved. Bring court records, proof of treatment or classes, and evidence of the outcome of every arrest to the bond hearing.
- Filing for a child close to age 21: after October 23, a 21st birthday that falls on a weekend or holiday is no longer pushed to the next business day. File well before the birthday, not on it.
- Renewing a work permit: file the renewal as early as USCIS allows and check whether your category still gets an automatic extension. Do not assume your old receipt notice keeps you working.
- Choosing a lawyer: ask who will write and review your briefs. Courts are now disciplining lawyers whose filings cite cases that do not exist, and that can hurt the client's case as well.
- Somali asylum seekers and anyone moved onto an expedited docket: your hearing may come months or years earlier than your original notice said. Check your case on the EOIR portal and have your evidence and witnesses ready now.
- North Texas residents: ICE is working with lake patrols and local police. Carry valid ID, keep your attorney's number memorized, and do not sign anything you do not understand.
Court Decisions
BIA: a remand does not mean you get a new hearing
The Board held that it does not keep jurisdiction after sending a case back to an immigration judge, and that unless the remand order specifically calls for a new hearing, the judge may issue a fresh decision on the existing record without violating due process. The case involved a Salvadoran man denied withholding of removal and CAT protection. In practice, the evidence you present at your first individual hearing may be the only evidence the court ever considers.
Miami federal judge rules the federal noncitizen-voting crime unconstitutional
Judge David S. Leibowitz dismissed misdemeanor charges against Chelsea Cox, a Jamaican national accused of voting in the 2020 election, finding that 18 U.S.C. § 611 exceeds Congress's power because the Constitution leaves voter qualifications to the states. The ruling applies only to her case, and the Justice Department has already moved to appeal. It does not touch the separate crime of falsely claiming citizenship to vote, and Florida can still prosecute under state law.
Policy Updates
Funding freeze means more detained children will face immigration court without a lawyer
The White House is withholding $810 million Congress approved, including $567 million for services to refugees, asylees and other noncitizens. The University of Wisconsin's Immigrant Justice Clinic says it has lost funding it planned to use to represent unaccompanied children under 12 in deportation cases. The GAO considers this kind of “pocket rescission” illegal, and a court challenge is likely.
Justice Department sues Maryland over its mask ban for federal agents
The suit targets Maryland, Prince George's County and Montgomery County laws that bar federal officers from wearing masks and require them to identify themselves. The department argues the Supremacy Clause forbids states from regulating federal officers, and says it has won preliminary relief in every mask or ID case decided so far. Maryland is the eighth state it has sued over limits on federal agents.
Citizenship backlog tops 727,000 as applications outpace decisions
USCIS data for April through June show 727,371 regular N-400 naturalization applications pending at the end of the quarter, with new filings arriving at about twice the rate the agency completed them. Houston and Dallas are among the field offices with the largest pending caseloads.
Enforcement Updates
Seven immigration arrests made Miami-Dade's sheriff eligible for $14.6 million
The Journal found that DHS's 287(g) task-force reimbursements made the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office eligible for $14.565 million after seven immigration arrests between April and June, about $2 million per arrest, though the money is not literally paid per arrest. A West Virginia sheriff whose county has about 7,600 residents said joining was “a no-brainer.” Roughly 2,000 local agencies now have agreements to make immigration stops or hand people in local jails to ICE.
Five Haitians from Springfield, Ohio deported after TPS ended
Haitian TPS ended July 27, and local advocates say five Springfield residents have now been sent back. Haiti's migration office counted more than 470 deportations from the U.S. between August 20 and September 17, some involving people with pending asylum claims. Flights have gone from monthly to weekly and land in Cap-Haïtien because gangs have made the Port-au-Prince airport unsafe.
Analysis
Inside Atlanta's “mega master” immigration hearings
Atlanta immigration judges are now calling dockets of close to 100 people at once, up from 20 to 40 a day. Most respondents have no lawyer, names are read roll-call style, and people standing in the hallway risk missing their turn. Court watchers warn that a missed name can become an in absentia removal order. Those who asked for time to find a lawyer were given one month.
What This Means for Your Case
- Preparing for an individual hearing: put every document, witness and expert report in the record the first time. After C-M-H-H-, winning a remand on appeal may not get you another hearing or a chance to add evidence.
- Called to a master calendar hearing: arrive early, sit or stand where you can hear the judge, and answer when your name is called. If you need time to find a lawyer, say so on the record and write down the next date before you leave.
- Accused of registering or voting as a noncitizen: the Miami ruling covers only one case and is on appeal. Voting or claiming citizenship can still destroy a green card or naturalization case. Talk to an immigration lawyer before you answer any questions.
- Living in a 287(g) county: a routine traffic stop by local police can now turn into an ICE detainer. Keep your attorney's number memorized and do not sign anything you do not understand.
- Haitian and former TPS holders: if you have a pending asylum case, keep your address current with the court and USCIS and bring proof of the pending case to every check-in.
- Waiting on citizenship: the N-400 backlog is growing. Keep your green card valid while you wait, and avoid long trips abroad or any arrest that could complicate the interview.
- Parents of children in proceedings: children have no right to a free lawyer in immigration court, and fewer funded programs exist now. Get a lawyer involved before the first hearing, not after.
Court Decisions
Supreme Court will decide whether ICE can deny bond hearings to people arrested inside the U.S.
The justices took the government's appeal from a Second Circuit ruling for Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian man who entered around 2004, applied for asylum in 2016, had a work permit, and was arrested driving to work in Massachusetts in September 2025. The question is whether the July 2025 policy treating everyone who entered without inspection as subject to mandatory detention is lawful. Most circuits have said no; the Fifth and Eighth Circuits, which cover Texas, have said yes. Argument is expected early next year, with a decision by late June.
Federal judge vacates ICE's immigration courthouse arrest policy
Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York found the 2025 policy “arbitrary and capricious” as applied to immigration courts and set it aside, which restores the earlier rule that such arrests happen only in exceptional circumstances. The ruling turns on the government's admission in March that the May 2025 memo it had relied on never covered immigration courts. Because it vacates the policy rather than enjoining it, advocates read it as reaching courts nationwide; expect an appeal.
Boston judge orders ICE to return a released man's work permit and refund his bond
Judge Allison Burroughs, who ordered Jose Luis Padilla Posadas freed in February, has now ordered the government to give back his work permit and refund the $6,000 bond he paid, reasoning that he never should have been detained in the first place. Wins like this are why release is not the end of a habeas case.
Policy Updates
Draft 2026 tax form asks every filer to certify citizenship or work authorization
The IRS draft Form 1040 asks whether the filer, and a spouse on a joint return, is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or a noncitizen lawfully authorized to work, with mandatory yes/no boxes signed under penalty of perjury. Treasury says it is meant to block ineligible claims for refundable credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and did not say whether answers would be shared with immigration enforcement. Roughly 3.8 million returns a year are filed with ITINs.
Refugees and other humanitarian entrants lose Medicaid as of October 1
Under the 2025 budget law, refugees, asylees and other humanitarian entrants are no longer eligible for federally funded Medicaid starting this month. Many regain eligibility once they become permanent residents, which makes slow green card adjudications a health care problem as well as an immigration one.
Newsom vetoes bills barring former immigration agents from California public jobs
Days after signing a package of limits on federal enforcement, the governor vetoed AB 1896, which would have kept immigration agents and contractors out of state and local jobs, and AB 1537, which would have barred police officers from moonlighting in immigration enforcement. He did sign a narrower bill keeping agents whose federal badges were revoked for misconduct out of California policing.
Enforcement Updates
ICE memo bans high-speed chases and limits who can make traffic stops
A memo dated September 30 and signed by executive associate director Marcos D. Charles tells deportation officers they may not chase a car that refuses to pull over. Only officers who have finished one of five training courses can make stops, vehicles must have lights and sirens, and everyone on scene must wear an active body camera. ICE officers have fired on drivers in more than a dozen stops since last year, killing at least four people.
From mass raids to airport arrests: how ICE changed tactics this year
The Guardian's timeline tracks ICE's move from televised raids to quieter arrests, including closer work with TSA to pick up people with expired visas at airports, many of whom have green card, asylum or employment applications pending. The shift has raised arrest numbers while drawing less attention.
Analysis
After a fatal shooting, Maine's small ICE-watch network is stretched thin
Volunteers outside the ICE office in Scarborough log the plates of unmarked SUVs and track who goes in for check-ins and never comes out. One local group says it has been paying out about $200,000 a month in immigration bonds. The piece shows what enforcement looks like outside big cities: fewer observers, longer drives, and families who learn about an arrest late.
What This Means for Your Case
- Detained and denied a bond hearing: the Supreme Court will not rule until mid-2027. Do not wait for it. In most of the country, file a federal habeas petition now. In Texas and the other Fifth and Eighth Circuit states, the law currently favors the government, so talk to a lawyer about every other release option.
- Immigration court hearing coming up: go. The policy that allowed routine courthouse arrests has been vacated, though the government will likely appeal. Bring your hearing notice, and have a lawyer or family member's phone number memorized.
- Released after a habeas win: ask your lawyer whether you can also get your work permit, bond money, or seized documents back.
- Stopped by an unmarked car: ICE officers are now barred from chasing, and must use lights, sirens and body cameras. Write down the date, place, vehicle and officers' names, and give them to your lawyer.
- Filing taxes without work authorization: do not guess on the new citizenship question, and do not stop filing on your own. Lying on a return is a felony, and missing returns can hurt a later green card or citizenship case. Talk to an immigration lawyer and a tax professional together.
- Refugee or asylee who lost Medicaid: if your green card application is pending, ask about status and whether you qualify for an expedite on medical grounds.
- Flying with an expired visa and a pending application: talk to a lawyer before you go to the airport. TSA and ICE are working together, and a pending case does not stop an arrest.
Court Decisions
Judge gives DV-2026 applicants ten extra days past the September 30 deadline
On the last day of the fiscal year, Judge Edward Davila ordered the State Department to keep processing covered DV-2026 cases for ten more days, matching the ten days the Department waited before telling consulates to follow his August 28 injunction. The court found compliance “less than substantial” after the Department decided only 836 cases worldwide through September 21. The extension covers applications refused solely under the diversity visa pause or the 75-country pause and other pending covered cases; it is not a general extension of the lottery year, and the court declined to reserve the roughly 40,000 unused visas plaintiffs sought.
Matter of G-R-B-: immigration judges may pretermit asylum claims without a DHS motion
The Board affirmed a judge who denied a Mexican applicant's asylum and withholding claims on the paper record, with no testimony, because the application did not set out a prima facie case. The precedent extends last year's Matter of H-A-A-V- by holding that the judge can do this on their own initiative, without the government asking. Commentators count it as roughly the thirteenth precedent in seven weeks to move the law in the government's direction.
Immigration judge rules the U.S. can deport Milwaukee mosque leader Salah Sarsour
Judge Jayme Salinardi of the Chicago Immigration Court found Sarsour, a green card holder in the U.S. since 1993, removable on foreign policy grounds based on a 2025 letter from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, treating it as “presumptive and sufficient evidence.” The judge rejected the government's separate claim that Sarsour lied on his green card application. Sarsour plans to appeal, and his lawyers objected that Jordan, a country where he has no right to live, is listed as a possible destination.
Policy Updates
USCIS raises asylum, parole, EAD and TPS fees for inflation, effective October 16
The annual asylum application fee rises from $102 to $105, the I-131 parole fee from $1,020 to $1,050, the initial asylum, parole and TPS work permit fee from $560 to $570, and the I-821 TPS fee from $510 to $520. Anything postmarked on or after October 16 without the new amount will be rejected. These are the H.R. 1 fees, which the law now adjusts for inflation every fiscal year.
New fiscal year brings Medicaid limits and wider social media vetting
Fiscal year 2027 starts today. Federally funded Medicaid and CHIP eligibility narrows for some immigrants, and the State Department now applies its online-presence review to more visa types, including foreign media (I), USMCA professionals (TN) and their dependents (TD). The October Visa Bulletin also takes effect, with F2A advancing one month for most countries and seven months for Mexico.
California requires a judicial warrant for immigration arrests near courthouses
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 873, which requires federal immigration agents to present a valid judicial warrant and identify themselves before making certain arrests within 1,000 feet of a California courthouse. It takes effect January 1. The Justice Department's top prosecutor in Los Angeles has said state laws do not bind federal officers, so expect a legal fight before anyone relies on it.
Enforcement Updates
Advocates ask the U.N. to stop ICE from hiding detainees with final orders
Since September 15, ICE's online detainee locator no longer shows anyone with a final removal order, more than 16,000 of the nearly 69,000 people in custody. More than 30 groups petitioned the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and more than 45 House Democrats asked ICE to restore the names. DHS says detainees can still contact family and lawyers. The petition describes a mother and daughter whose lawyers lost track of them until a judge ordered ICE to say where they were.
ICE arrested 104 people in southwest Kansas in one week
The U.S. Attorney for Kansas said the operation, which DHS calls “Operation Safe Community—Kansas,” targeted “specific criminal aliens,” though his statement named only five of the 104 people arrested. He called community claims of race-based sweeps misguided. Meatpacking towns in the region have large immigrant workforces.
Analysis
Gone in 90 seconds: a quieter ICE is arresting more people than ever
Six months after Secretary Markwayne Mullin promised to keep ICE out of the headlines, the Guardian finds the agency arresting people at bus stops, gas pumps and their own trash bins. Its examples include a Venezuelan man detained at the Phoenix airport despite a judge's order barring removal to Venezuela, who was pulled off the plane only at the last minute. Fewer viral raids has meant more arrests, not fewer.
What This Means for Your Case
- DV-2026 selectee refused under the visa pause: you may have about ten more days. Contact the consulate in writing now, cite the Medani order, and keep every refusal sheet and email.
- Filing asylum in immigration court: the written application now has to win on paper. Spell out the protected ground, the social group, who harmed you and why, and attach the evidence up front. A judge can deny it without hearing you testify.
- Filing an asylum, parole, initial EAD or TPS application: anything postmarked October 16 or later needs the new fee. Mail before then or pay the higher amount.
- Family member detained with a final order: they may not show up on the ICE locator. Get the A-number, ask the lawyer to contact the field office directly, and if needed ask a federal court to order ICE to disclose the location.
- Green card holder with an old foreign arrest or conviction: talk to a lawyer before you travel, renew, or apply for citizenship. The government is reopening old history to start removal cases.
- Court date in California: SB 873 does not take effect until January 1 and will likely be challenged. Go to court, and bring a lawyer if you can.
Court Decisions
Supreme Court lets third-country removals resume and sets December argument
In a brief unsigned order Tuesday afternoon, the Court granted the government's third stay request in DHS v. D.V.D., clearing the way for removals to countries not named in a person's removal order while the justices decide the case. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson would have denied the stay. The Court will hear argument in December on whether the lower courts had jurisdiction and power to grant classwide relief and whether the policy violates due process or the torture convention, with a decision likely next year. The notice protections we described yesterday are no longer being enforced in the meantime.
Full D.C. Circuit appears skeptical of ending Judge Boasberg's contempt inquiry
The full appeals court heard three hours of argument Tuesday on whether Chief Judge James Boasberg may continue investigating whether officials defied his March 2025 order halting Alien Enemies Act flights to El Salvador. A divided three-judge panel had ordered the inquiry shut down in April, but Judges Patricia Millett and Cornelia Pillard pressed the Justice Department hard, with Pillard asking whether courts are “at the mercy of the executive.” No ruling date was set. The outcome will shape how much teeth any court order protecting a detained immigrant really has.
Diversity visa applicants ask a judge to stretch processing past the September 30 deadline
At a hearing in San Jose, plaintiffs asked Senior Judge Edward Davila to order consulates to keep issuing up to 40,000 unused 2026 diversity visas, arguing the government never truly resumed processing after his August 28 injunction. Davila said he was disappointed in the government's compliance and floated extending processing about 11 days, roughly the delay he attributed to the government. The Justice Department said that would conflict with the statute. Government reports show 3,814 visas processed since the injunction; the judge had not ruled when the story ran.
Policy Updates
USCIS finalizes EB-5 fee increases, effective November 30
The final rule, published in the Federal Register today, roughly doubles investor petition fees: the I-526 goes from $3,675 to $7,615 and the regional center I-526E to $7,850. The I-829 to remove conditions rises from $3,750 to $5,000, and a new Form I-527 for amending legacy I-526 petitions carries a $10,330 fee. Regional center designation filings also jump sharply. Investors with filings in progress should aim to submit before November 30.
October Visa Bulletin posts late, with a missing diversity visa section
The first bulletin of fiscal year 2027 arrived days before October, leaving applicants who needed to file in September almost no time. EB-2 India and unreserved EB-5 India reopened, while EB-2 for most countries retrogressed from current to January 1, 2025 and EB-3 moved back for most countries. Former USCIS official Ricky Murray noted that the diversity visa section is missing entirely, which gives no comfort to 2027 lottery selectees. Murthy Law Firm reports USCIS will accept October adjustment filings under the Dates for Filing chart for family and employment categories; check your own category before filing.
Last day for the old Form I-864 affidavit of support
USCIS will only accept the 08/24/26 edition of Form I-864 for anything postmarked or e-filed on or after October 1. The new edition includes a release authorizing USCIS to pull the sponsor's credit report, so a sponsor with a credit freeze should be ready to lift it quickly. USCIS says it will not reject the I-485 over an old I-864, but it will treat the affidavit as missing initial evidence, which can mean a request for evidence or a denial.
Enforcement Updates
ICE guidance to ease off non-criminal arrests was withdrawn within hours
Verbal guidance relayed to ICE field offices telling agents to pull back on arresting people without criminal records was rescinded within hours, according to Fox News sources, and replacement guidance said nothing had changed. President Trump told Fox the approach remains “worst first” but not limited to it, and officials called the episode a misunderstanding. Nobody should treat a clean record as protection from arrest right now.
Analysis
From mass raids to a quiet crackdown: how ICE's tactics changed in 2026
The Guardian traces the administration's shift after the January killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, when Gregory Bovino stepped aside and Tom Homan took over the Minnesota operation. Street sweeps by masked, armored units gave way to less visible arrests, but the timeline shows enforcement ramping up through local police partnerships and detention growth rather than slowing. Fewer headlines do not mean fewer arrests.
What This Means for Your Case
- Final removal order and afraid of being sent to a third country: the court-ordered notice process is paused while the Supreme Court hears the case. If ICE names any country, tell officers in writing that you fear harm there and have a lawyer contact ICE and the court the same day.
- Filing a family green card case: anything mailed or e-filed starting tomorrow, October 1, needs the 08/24/26 Form I-864. Check the edition date at the bottom of every page, and have the sponsor lift any credit freeze.
- Waiting on a priority date: read the October bulletin for your exact category and country, and confirm which chart USCIS allows this month before you file.
- 2026 diversity visa selectee without a visa: the statutory deadline is today. Watch for any extension order from the San Jose court and keep every consular email and interview notice.
- EB-5 investor: filings submitted before November 30 pay the current fees.
- No criminal record: that is not a guarantee against arrest. Carry proof of any pending case, know your A-number, and keep a lawyer's number with you.
Court Decisions
Immigrants tell the Supreme Court the third-country removal order should stay in place
Lawyers for the class in DHS v. D.V.D. filed their opposition Monday to the government's third request for a stay. They argue that Judge Brian Murphy's order does not stop third-country removals; it requires the government to give notice and a real chance to raise a fear of torture before sending someone to a country not named in the removal order. The Solicitor General says the order takes away an essential tool for removing people with criminal records. The Court has not ruled, so the notice requirement remains in effect for now.
Colorado judge says ICE agents who broke his warrantless-arrest order should be punished
U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson found that at least three Colorado arrests appeared to violate his order limiting warrantless ICE arrests. In one, agents pulled an 18-year-old from a truck at a 7-Eleven, and he came away with a broken wrist; in another, they arrested a man after he told them the warrant was for someone else. Jackson said the agents should be sanctioned, both men should be released if still held, and the government should pay the teenager's medical bills. How an arrest happened can matter a great deal in court.
Federal habeas order frees South Florida man after eight months in ICE custody
Marlon Cervelo, a Cuban national arrested at a routine ICE appointment in January 2025, was released after a federal judge granted his habeas petition on September 18 and ordered his immediate release. He has a 2023 removal order and a drug conviction, and ICE moved him through several facilities, including from Krome to Houston. He is now home on an ankle monitor, and the removal order still stands. His wife said the hardest part was not knowing where he was.
Policy Updates
DHS watchdog finds errors in 40 percent of sampled Afghan asylum files
The inspector general reviewed 678 of 13,682 asylum files for Afghans who arrived under Operation Allies Welcome and found errors in 40 percent of them, mostly missed aliases (303 in all) and incomplete paperwork, plus 23 files missing security checks. The report found no evidence that the 2023 settlement speeding up these cases made the problem worse. Expect this report to be cited in any re-review of Afghan cases. Afghan asylees and green card applicants should make sure every name spelling and alias they have used is disclosed consistently.
EOIR swears in 47 more immigration judges
The Executive Office for Immigration Review announced 47 new immigration judges and six temporary judges on September 24, after a record class of 77 judges and five temporary judges in May. EOIR published the new judges' biographies and court assignments. New judges on a docket often mean hearings are moved or advanced, so check the EOIR automated case system regularly and do not rely on mail alone for hearing dates.
Enforcement Updates
DHS announces ICE surge in 11 states and Washington, D.C.
In a Saturday post on X, DHS said ICE has started a “nationwide public safety surge” in sanctuary jurisdictions: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and D.C. DHS said agents will “continue to arrest any and all illegal aliens that come into our path,” and denied reports that it had pulled back on arrests of people without criminal records. People in those states without status should expect more arrests in public places in the coming weeks.
Utah detainees are moved all over the country, and families lose track of them
A Tribune analysis mapped where people arrested by ICE in Utah were sent. One man had 20 separate detention stays over 499 days before he was deported to Somalia. Utah immigration lawyers say that once someone is moved out of state it becomes much harder to get them legal help. The practical lesson is the same everywhere: have the detained person's A-number and full legal name ready so a lawyer can find them.
Analysis
ICE hired nearly 12,000 workers, and a record number are already leaving
USA Today's review of federal workforce data found ICE hired almost 12,000 full-time workers between January 2025 and June 2026, more than in the entire previous decade. Just over 2,900 left in the first half of 2026 alone, more than in any full prior year. Terminations rose to 18 percent of separations, and those fired had a median tenure under four months. Experts pointed to rushed vetting and training at a time when agents deal with the public more than ever. That matters when an arrest is challenged in court.
What This Means for Your Case
- Told you may be sent to a country other than your own: the notice-and-screening requirement is still in force. Say in writing that you fear harm there and call counsel the same day.
- Arrested without a warrant or by mistake: write down the time, place, what agents said, and any injuries, and get names of witnesses. In some districts courts are enforcing limits on warrantless arrests.
- Final order and held for months: a federal habeas petition, filed in the district where the person is held, can win release even when immigration court cannot help.
- Afghan asylee or green card applicant: list every name and spelling you have used, consistently, on every form. Inconsistencies are exactly what reviewers are now looking for.
- Family member detained: keep their A-number, date of birth and full legal name on hand and check the ICE detainee locator daily. People are moved often and without notice.
- Pending immigration court case: new judges mean schedule changes. Check your hearing date online every week and keep your address current with EOIR.
Court Decisions
Supreme Court takes up the no-bond detention petitions at today's conference
The justices will consider petitions from both the government and immigrant advocates on the administration's position that anyone who entered without inspection is an “applicant for admission” subject to mandatory detention, even after years in the country. Nine circuits have rejected that reading and two, the Fifth and Eighth, have accepted it, which is why a grant is widely expected. Until the Court decides the question, whether a detained person gets a bond hearing still depends on the circuit where they are held. In Texas and the rest of the Fifth Circuit, the answer today is usually no.
Arizona judge frees restaurant owner held eight months after a routine ICE check-in
Kelly Yu, who owns sushi restaurants in the Phoenix area, was taken into custody at a scheduled ICE check-in on May 28, 2025 and held at the Eloy Detention Center. U.S. District Judge Krissa Lanham granted her habeas petition and ordered her release. Yu has had a final removal order since her asylum appeals ended in 2016, and that order still stands, so her release is not a path to status. The case shows that a person with an old final order who cannot be deported quickly can challenge prolonged detention in federal court, even when immigration court can no longer help.
Policy Updates
New York sheriffs sue over the state's ban on 287(g) agreements
New York's Local Cops, Local Crimes Act took effect August 25 and bars counties and local police from entering into or staying in 287(g) agreements with ICE. About 18 sheriffs have joined a lawsuit arguing the state cannot stop local agencies from joining the federal program, and six of them met with Rep. Claudia Tenney on September 25. For now the law stands, which means local police in New York cannot act as immigration officers. The contrast with Texas, where 287(g) agreements have spread county by county, is sharp.
The new public charge rule leaves USCIS officers wide discretion
The rule that took effect this month lets USCIS deny a green card based on “receipt of any means-tested public benefit” and drops the specific definitions the 2019 version contained, leaving officers to interpret the terms. The government's own analysis found only 90 public charge denials during the 2019–2021 rule's effective period, and states and cities have already sued to block the new one. The bigger effect is fear: families dropping benefits their U.S. citizen children are entitled to. Get advice on what actually counts before canceling anything.
Enforcement Updates
Nearly a third of Oregon's August ICE arrests happened outside big-box stores
The Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition verified 52 arrests outside Oregon big-box stores and supermarkets between January 1 and September 9, 27 of them since August 1. Walmart parking lots led with 17, followed by Home Depot with seven and WinCo with six. One arrest outside a McMinnville Lowe's involved a Newberg man with no criminal record who had lived there 22 years; a coworker detained with him was released after agents confirmed he is a U.S. citizen.
Colorado's Aurora detention center runs near capacity as oversight shrinks
The GEO Group facility has grown to its maximum 1,532 beds and has been as much as 94 percent full, mostly with people who have no criminal record. More than 12,000 people have been booked in since January 2025. Detainees described rotten food, fights and illness, emergency calls have risen, and the government has ended free legal orientation there and made it harder for lawyers to track and reach clients. Families should get the A-number and keep a lawyer's contact details on hand before anyone is moved.
Analysis
Guardian: a quieter ICE is arresting more people than ever
After the Minneapolis shootings, DHS dropped the armored-vehicle raids for what one researcher calls “soft feet”: arrests that take about 90 seconds at bus stops, gas pumps, airports and traffic stops. DHS has more than doubled its workforce to over 22,000 officers and staff, and ICE had signed more than 2,500 287(g) agreements as of September 15, so many arrests now start with local police. The piece describes an Austin client, a U.S. citizen born in Denver, who was stopped by Gillespie County deputies and Texas DPS and deported to Mexico before his lawyer got him back. DHS confirmed it is focusing on airports.
What This Means for Your Case
- Detained in Texas or elsewhere in the Fifth Circuit: immigration judges there usually deny bond hearings to people who entered without inspection. A federal habeas petition may still be available, so talk to counsel now rather than waiting for the Supreme Court.
- Final removal order and months in custody: prolonged detention can be challenged in federal court. Ask a lawyer about habeas.
- Told you are going to a third country: the First Circuit's notice rule still applies until the Supreme Court acts. Say in writing that you fear harm there and call counsel the same day.
- U.S. citizens who may be stopped: carry a passport card or keep a photo of your birth certificate on your phone. Local police working with ICE have detained citizens.
- Pending green card and using public benefits: do not cancel benefits your U.S. citizen children receive without advice. What counts under the new rule is narrower than many people fear.
- Everyone without status: ICE is arresting people in parking lots, at airports and during traffic stops. Keep your family's emergency plan, attorney's number and copies of immigration documents current.
Court Decisions
Judge holds DHS in contempt and orders deported teen asylum seeker returned
Judge Stephanie Gallagher found that the government violated three court orders in J.O.P. v. DHS, the class settlement protecting asylum seekers who entered as unaccompanied children, when ICE removed a young man identified as E.L.A. to El Salvador a second time. He had already been brought back once, on August 7, so USCIS could hear his asylum claim. The order requires his return, bars his removal until USCIS decides a properly filed asylum application, and requires five business days' notice before any future removal attempt. Anyone who came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor and has a pending or possible USCIS asylum claim should have a lawyer confirm whether they are a J.O.P. class member.
Full D.C. Circuit hears the CECOT contempt case on Tuesday
All eleven active judges of the D.C. Circuit will hear argument on Chief Judge James Boasberg's criminal contempt inquiry into the March 2025 Alien Enemies Act flights, which sent more than 100 Venezuelan men to El Salvador's CECOT prison despite his order to halt them. More than 200 former judges filed an amicus brief urging the court not to let the administration avoid accountability. The outcome will show whether defying a federal judge's order in an immigration case carries any consequence.
Policy Updates
White House moves to cancel $810 million in refugee and immigrant funding
The “pocket rescission” sent to Speaker Johnson includes $567 million from HHS's Refugee and Entrant Assistance account, $15 million for ICE's Alternatives to Detention case management pilot, and $10 million for the USCIS Citizenship and Integration grants that fund English and civics classes for green card holders. Because the fiscal year ends September 30, the freeze effectively cancels the money unless Congress acts. Sen. Susan Collins called it “a clear violation of the law.” Expect fewer free citizenship classes and less case-management support for people on ICE supervision.
Senate bill would require a bond hearing within 24 hours of a warrantless ICE arrest
Senators Alex Padilla and Dick Durbin introduced a bill requiring an administrative warrant showing probable cause before most immigration arrests, a bond hearing within 24 hours of any warrantless arrest, and review of every detainee's custody every 60 days by an immigration judge or federal district judge. It is a proposal only, with little chance of passing this Congress, and it changes nothing about how arrests or bond work today.
Enforcement Updates
DHS denies ICE was told to stop arresting people without criminal records
The Daily Wire reported that ICE officers were told over the weekend to arrest only people with criminal convictions or charges, ending “collateral” arrests. On Saturday DHS called the report false: “No one is off the table.” Fox News' Bill Melugin reported that verbal guidance to prioritize criminal cases had gone out, was described as a miscommunication, and was corrected Saturday night. Do not rely on any rumored change in priorities. A person without a criminal record can still be arrested.
ICE ankle monitors reach a record 53,192
ICE had 53,192 people on GPS ankle monitors as of July 11, 2026, up from 20,012 in January 2025 and the highest of the 26 counts this administration has published. Monitors now cover about 30 percent of the roughly 183,000 people in Alternatives to Detention. Missing a check-in or letting a device die can lead to arrest, so people on ATD should keep every reporting date and keep proof of compliance.
LGBTQ migrants with withholding of removal are being sent to third countries
CNN interviewed LGBTQ deportees in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and the Central African Republic, including a Turkish woman who had won withholding of removal and was flown to Bangui after 18 months in detention. Third Country Deportation Watch counts at least 35 third-country agreements, and nearly half of the receiving countries are in Africa, where many criminalize homosexuality. Withholding blocks removal to the home country, not to a third country, so a fear claim about the new destination has to be raised as soon as it is named.
Analysis
Yale Law Journal: the BIA's first 100 new precedents point one way
The essay catalogs 100 precedential BIA and Attorney General decisions issued between January 31, 2025 and April 29, 2026, more than three times the historical pace. It groups them into five trends: narrower persecution relief, broader mandatory detention, harsher treatment of criminal history, a tougher hardship standard for cancellation, and stricter court procedure. The authors argue that after Loper Bright federal courts owe these decisions no deference. In practice, many cases now have to be built for the circuit court from the first hearing.
What This Means for Your Case
- Entered as an unaccompanied child with an asylum claim: ask a lawyer whether you are a J.O.P. class member. Class members have protection from removal while USCIS decides the case.
- No criminal record: ICE says nothing has changed. Carry proof of any pending case and keep your family's emergency plan current.
- On an ankle monitor or ATD: keep the device charged, attend every check-in, and keep copies of your compliance records.
- Granted withholding of removal: if ICE names a third country, say in writing that you fear harm there and call counsel the same day.
- Losing in immigration court: BIA appeals now rarely succeed. Build the record for federal court review from the start, and do not miss the 30-day appeal deadline.
- Green card holders studying for naturalization: federally funded citizenship classes may close. Look for local or online options now.
- September 30: last day for DV-2026 issuance and adjustment, and for the 10/17/24 edition of Form I-864.
Court Decisions
Supreme Court revives DHS's expanded SAVE citizenship database
On Friday the Court stayed a June ruling by Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, who had found that DHS's overhaul of SAVE, which now links immigration records to Social Security data and accepts bulk uploads of whole voter rolls, violated the Privacy Act and the Social Security Act. The majority said the order improperly blocked “individualized inquiries” that federal law allows even inside the 90-day pre-election window. Justice Jackson, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, dissented and pointed to the risk that recently naturalized citizens would be flagged, removed from the rolls, or forced to prove citizenship before voting. The underlying case continues. Naturalized citizens should keep their certificate of naturalization or passport where they can get to it before Election Day.
Third-country removals stay on hold until the Supreme Court acts
The administration says the First Circuit's order came minutes before midnight Wednesday and forced it to cancel a flight carrying 70 people to three countries. Justice Jackson has not granted the immediate administrative stay the Solicitor General requested, and responses are due Monday afternoon, September 28. Until the Court rules, the First Circuit's rule applies: notice and a real chance to raise fear of harm before anyone is sent to a country not named in their removal order.
Government asks the justices to decide bond hearings for long-detained immigrants after all
After Genalo v. Black was dismissed as moot, the Solicitor General filed Genalo v. D.C. and asked the Court to take it before the Second Circuit rules. The question is the same: when mandatory detention under INA § 236(c) drags on, does due process require a bond hearing, and who has to carry the burden at that hearing? In the Second Circuit today the government must justify continued custody; the administration wants the burden shifted to the detainee. For now, a person held many months under § 236(c) can still seek a hearing through habeas, but the answer depends on which circuit they are held in, and it could change this term.
Policy Updates
Draft 2026 Form 1040 asks every filer about citizenship or work authorization
The draft return asks yes or no whether the filer, and a spouse on a joint return, is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or “an alien lawfully authorized to work in the U.S.” It ties to the draft Schedule 3-A released August 20, which requires self-certification for the refundable parts of the earned income credit, additional child tax credit, American opportunity credit and adoption credit. The form is still a draft and would apply to 2026 returns filed next year. Anything written on a tax return is a sworn statement. Mixed-status households, and people on TPS or DACA, should get immigration advice before answering it, not after.
Enforcement Updates
New Bedford's largest ICE sweep since 2007 leaves families searching for detainees
By Thursday advocates had documented 34 arrests in New Bedford, Dartmouth and Fall River, counting only cases families reported. Agents made roadside and street stops outside grocery stores, gas stations, churches and schools. One man with a pending asylum application and work permit had his car window smashed before he was taken to ICE's Burlington office. Mayor Jon Mitchell, a former federal prosecutor, called it “an arbitrary sweep” and said some of the people arrested appear to have status. A pending asylum case and an EAD do not stop an arrest, but they are the starting point for a bond request, so keep copies where your family can find them.
ICE arrests hit record highs this summer, largely out of public view
The Times reports ICE made 43,000 arrests in June, more than 49,000 in July and nearly 51,000 in August, the highest monthly totals of this administration. Unlike the big operations in Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, most of these arrests happened at homes and traffic stops with little coverage, while officials narrowed the paths to legal status. The pace means an old removal order, a missed hearing or an expired status is now likely to be acted on.
Analysis
Asylum grant rate in Chicago immigration court falls to 3.3 percent
A review of court data found Chicago's grant rate fell from 14.6 percent last year to 3.3 percent so far this year; nationally it dropped from 8.8 to 2.1 percent. Judges hired since 2025 have granted 25 of 1,638 asylum cases. One of them has ruled 511 of his 802 cases “abandoned,” which can follow a missed hearing, missing biometrics or evidence not filed on time. Seven of Chicago's ten new judges had no immigration law background. With these numbers, a case lost on a procedural default is lost before anyone reaches the merits.
Why the SAVE ruling matters most to naturalized citizens
Before Judge Sooknanan blocked it in June, states ran tens of millions of voter records through the expanded SAVE, and it wrongly flagged some eligible voters as noncitizens. Naturalized citizens are the most exposed, because older immigration records can show a person as a noncitizen after they have naturalized. The challengers say the case is not over. If a naturalized citizen receives a notice questioning their voter registration, they should answer it in writing with a copy of their naturalization certificate, and never sign anything describing themselves as a noncitizen.
What This Means for Your Case
- Naturalized citizens: keep your naturalization certificate or passport accessible. Answer any voter-registration challenge in writing, with proof, before the deadline in the notice.
- Final order and told you are going to a third country: the First Circuit rule still applies through at least Monday. State in writing that you fear harm there and call counsel the same day.
- Held for months under mandatory detention: ask a lawyer now about a habeas petition for a bond hearing. The Supreme Court may narrow that path this term.
- Mixed-status households preparing 2026 taxes: the new 1040 question is a statement under penalty of perjury. Get immigration advice before you file.
- Pending asylum with a work permit: keep copies of your receipt notice, EAD and hearing notice at home and with a relative. They are the first documents a bond request needs.
- Asylum applicants in immigration court: most losses now come from missed deadlines and unfiled evidence. Confirm biometrics, filing deadlines and hearing dates with counsel.
- September 30: last day for DV-2026 issuance and adjustment, and for the 10/17/24 edition of Form I-864.
Court Decisions
Government asks the Supreme Court, for the third time, to restart third-country removals
After advocates went back to the First Circuit on Wednesday, the court confirmed its ruling is in force now: people facing removal to a country not named in their order must get notice and a meaningful chance to show they fear harm there. According to documents reported by the Times, officials pulled deportees off flights to Costa Rica, Honduras and the Central African Republic. On Thursday the Solicitor General filed a 42-page emergency application asking for an immediate administrative stay. Justice Jackson set a response deadline of 4 p.m. Monday, September 28. Until the Court acts, anyone with a final order who is told they are going to a third country should have a lawyer raise a fear claim at once.
Judge orders permanent fixes at 26 Federal Plaza and finds ICE used conditions to push self-deportation
In a 127-page opinion after a May bench trial, Judge Lewis Kaplan granted a permanent injunction and certified a class of everyone held now or in the future in the Manhattan hold rooms. He found the “overcrowded, squalid, and degrading” conditions unconstitutional and wrote that ICE imposed them to punish detainees and push them to self-deport. The order requires access to a lawyer as needed, screening by a licensed medical professional with one on site at all times, clean bedding and clothing, basic hygiene products, three meals a day, and bottled water. For families of people taken at a New York check-in, the practical gain is a court order guaranteeing access to counsel before a transfer.
Policy Updates
USCIS issues new Policy Manual guidance on drug trafficking, human trafficking and money laundering bars
Alongside the filing-deadline change covered yesterday, USCIS published guidance on inadmissibility under INA 212(a)(2) for controlled substance trafficking, significant trafficking in persons, and money laundering. Unlike most criminal bars, these grounds can apply on a “reason to believe” standard, without a conviction. Anyone applying for a green card with an old drug arrest, a dismissed charge, or unexplained cash deposits should expect officers to use this guidance, and should have counsel pull the full court and police records before filing.
Five days left on DV-2026 and the old I-864, and still no October visa bulletin
September 30 ends the DV-2026 program year; after that date no diversity visa can be issued and no DV-2026 adjustment approved. It is also the last day USCIS accepts the 10/17/24 edition of Form I-864; filings on October 1 or later need the 08/24/26 edition. The October bulletin, which opens fiscal year 2027, had not been posted as of this morning. If your date is current on the September chart, the safe move is to file on that chart now.
Enforcement Updates
ICE operation sweeps southwest Kansas meatpacking towns
Arrests have continued all week in Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal, a region that produces about 22 percent of the nation's grain-fed beef. Liberal's vice mayor says dozens have been detained, including a mother taken from a car with her baby inside, and 120 students missed school at one elementary school on Wednesday. Local officials and Sen. Roger Marshall said they got no advance notice; DHS Secretary Mullin told Sen. Jerry Moran it was targeting people with criminal warrants, while families told advocates their relatives had no records. There are unconfirmed reports of arrests at the plants themselves. If a relative was picked up, get the A-number and detention location before any transfer out of state.
U.S. citizen hospitalized after ICE agents mistook him for a target in Evanston
Witnesses say two agents pinned a Black man to the ground on his way to a pharmacy while he shouted that he was a citizen, then left him bleeding once they realized he was not the person they were looking for. He was treated for head, neck and dental injuries. DHS says he “resembled the target” and refused to identify himself. The episode is a reminder that anyone, citizen or not, can be stopped in a targeted operation, and that bystander video and prompt medical records are often what make a later complaint or claim possible.
Analysis
GAO: ICE wasted tens of millions on detention it never used
Auditors found about $2.85 million spent on Guantanamo tents that never held anyone, $20 million in unrecoverable costs on seven of eleven warehouses ICE bought for $1.07 billion and now plans to sell, and excessive rates at a Florida facility since shut down. The detained population rose from 39,000 in January 2025 to 67,000 by July 30, yet ICE has no strategic plan for its $45 billion detention budget, and DHS says it will not have one until August 2027. The lesson for families: capacity is being added fast and unevenly, so a detained relative can be moved on short notice to wherever a bed opens.
Human Rights Watch: Haitians deported with asylum claims still pending
Since Haiti's TPS ended in late July, more than 450 people have been deported to Haiti, according to Haiti's national migration office, and flights to Cap-Haïtien have gone from monthly to weekly. Of 44 deportees HRW interviewed, most said ICE detained them before TPS formally ended, and some said their asylum claims were still pending when they were removed, without a chance to reach their lawyers or see a judge. A pending asylum application does not always stop a removal, particularly for someone with an old order. Former TPS holders need to know exactly where their case stands, and whether they are in court, before any check-in.
What This Means for Your Case
- Final order and told you are going to a third country: the First Circuit rule requires notice and a chance to object right now. Tell ICE in writing that you fear harm there and call counsel the same day. The Supreme Court could change this after Monday.
- Relative held at 26 Federal Plaza: the new injunction guarantees access to a lawyer and medical screening. Ask for both and write down the date and time of every request.
- Green card applicant with any drug, trafficking or financial history: these bars do not always require a conviction. Get certified dispositions and police reports reviewed before filing.
- Family in southwest Kansas: keep the A-number, date of birth and country of birth for every adult written on paper, and name a caregiver for the children today.
- Stopped by agents as a citizen or resident: say who you are, stay calm, and afterwards get medical treatment, witness names and any video. Those records are the basis of any later complaint.
- Former TPS holders: a pending asylum application is not the same as a pending court case. Find out which you have before your next check-in.
- DV-2026 selectees and sponsors: September 30 is final for DV-2026 and for the old I-864 edition. Check the edition date on every page.
- Current priority date: file this month on the September chart; the October bulletin still has not posted.
Court Decisions
Judge refuses to halt joint Tennessee Highway Patrol and ICE traffic stops
U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger denied the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition's request for a preliminary injunction against state troopers working operations with ICE. Relying on Whren v. United States, she held that a stop supported by probable cause of a traffic violation does not violate the Fourth Amendment, whatever the officer's real motive. She did find some likelihood of success on the equal protection claim about Memphis stops, though she called the evidence “not robust.” The case continues, with a case management conference on October 19. For now, a burned-out taillight is still enough to put an ICE officer at the driver's window.
Rhode Island court vacates the rule that would have put Head Start and health clinics behind status checks
Judge Mary S. McElroy set aside the July 2025 reinterpretations by HHS, Education, Labor and Justice that had expanded the list of “federal public benefits” under the 1996 welfare law. The agencies skipped the rulemaking the Administrative Procedure Act requires, the court held. The programs at stake include Head Start, community health centers, Title X clinics, adult education, food banks and domestic violence shelters. The relief runs to the states that brought the suit, so whether a provider near you still asks for papers depends on where you live. This is a benefits case, not a public charge case, and it does not change the September 18 public charge standard.
Policy Updates
USCIS ends the weekend grace day for age-based deadlines, starting with SIJ petitions
USCIS is reversing its March 2023 guidance. For deadlines counted in days, such as the 30 or 33 days to file an appeal or motion on Form I-290B, a paper filing is still timely if the last day falls on a weekend or holiday and the filing arrives the next business day. Deadlines tied to eligibility are different. If a Special Immigrant Juvenile applicant turns 21 on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday, there is no longer an extra business day: the petition must be received before the birthday. The change applies to paper filings received on or after October 23. Any child in the household approaching 21 should have the filing finished weeks early, not on the last day.
State Department opens a public tip line for suspected visa fraud
The new portal lets anyone report suspected visa fraud or misuse, and the Department names sham marriages, fabricated job offers, shell companies and birth tourism among its targets. Tips can cover every visa category, including family-sponsored and permanent-residence cases, and the Department says tips have already driven many of its fraud findings. For a genuine marriage, this matters mostly because an angry ex or a feuding relative now has an easy channel. The answer is the same as it always was: a file thick with joint leases, bank records, photographs over time and third-party affidavits, assembled before anyone asks for it.
Six days left on the old Affidavit of Support and on DV-2026
The 10/17/24 edition of Form I-864 stops being accepted on September 30; anything postmarked or e-filed October 1 or later must use the 08/24/26 edition, which also authorizes USCIS to obtain the sponsor's consumer credit information. The same date ends the DV-2026 program year, after which no diversity visa can be issued and no adjustment approved for a DV-2026 selectee. Neither deadline moves.
Enforcement Updates
ICE seeks “mobile detention facilities” as DHS signs more than $7 billion in detention contracts
DHS signed construction contracts worth more than $7 billion to expand detention in New York, Texas, Arizona, Florida and California, and announced expansion in Colorado, Washington and Pennsylvania. A Pennsylvania document asks for mobile detention units run by GEO Group's transportation subsidiary, described by researchers as vans that follow officers into the field. The only standard disclosed is that women cannot be held in them for more than ten hours. GEO's chief executive put ICE's current capacity at about 68,000 beds in August, against a goal near 100,000. More capacity means more transfers and more time in custody before anyone knows where a person is held.
An ICE officer admitted under oath that his arrest report was false
In Portland, Judge Mustafa Kasubhai is deciding whether ICE violated his February order limiting warrantless arrests to people likely to flee and requiring documentation of each one. Innovation Law Lab says hundreds of such arrests have occurred and only 24 were documented. An officer testified that he wrote that he had identified a passenger and knew his status before the stop, and then admitted he had not. The judge said the discrepancy raises “significant concerns” about other reports. The practical point for any detained client: the arrest paperwork is not the last word, and what the officer knew at the moment of the stop can decide a motion to suppress or terminate.
Analysis
Immigration judges have started ordering unaccompanied children deported while their SIJ cases are pending
Over one month in the Chelmsford immigration court, the Globe watched a single judge order 17 children removed, among them 7-year-old twins and an 11-year-old, often in hearings lasting a few minutes. A Board of Immigration Appeals decision earlier this year told judges not to delay a juvenile's case for a pending Special Immigrant Juvenile petition, and a September training document coaches new judges against continuances. Read this beside the new USCIS deadline rule and the picture is plain: the SIJ path still exists, but the system no longer waits for it. The state-court findings and the USCIS petition have to be filed early, and every removal order needs an appeal filed within 30 days.
The October visa bulletin is still missing one week before the fiscal year turns
The State Department's bulletin page still lists September as current and October as “coming soon,” with no announced release date. October opens fiscal year 2027 and resets the annual limits, but a late bulletin predicts nothing about whether dates advance or retreat. If your priority date is current under the September chart and your package is complete on the right form editions, file now. Waiting for a better October is a bet, and the downside is a lost month or a retrogressed category.
What This Means for Your Case
- Driving in Tennessee or another state where police partner with ICE: a valid traffic stop can still lead to an immigration arrest. Keep counsel's number on paper, and know who picks up the children.
- A child approaching 21 with an SIJ case: from October 23, a birthday on a weekend or holiday no longer buys an extra day. Get the petition received well before the birthday.
- Child in removal proceedings: judges are ordering removal even with SIJ pending. Calendar the 30-day appeal deadline the day the order is issued.
- Marriage-based case: the new visa-fraud tip portal makes false reports easy. Build the bona fides file now: joint lease, bank statements, insurance, photographs across time, and affidavits from people who know you as a couple.
- Someone arrested without a warrant: ask counsel to request the arrest records and compare them against what actually happened. Errors in those reports can matter.
- Relative detained: with new detention space coming online, transfers will follow. Write down the A-number and the arresting agency on day one and give them to your lawyer before any move.
- Using Head Start or a community clinic: the Rhode Island ruling covers the states that sued. Ask your provider what it requires before you assume either way, and remember this ruling does not change public charge.
- Sponsors: September 30 is the last day for the old I-864 edition. Check the edition date at the bottom of every page.
- DV-2026 selectees: September 30 is final. No visa and no adjustment after that date.
- Current priority date: file this month on the September chart instead of waiting for the October bulletin.
Court Decisions
Public charge reaches day five with no restraining order from either Manhattan case
Both Administrative Procedure Act suits filed September 14 — New York and twenty-one other states with the District of Columbia, and New York City with Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Clara County and King County — are still pending without emergency relief. Five days in, the operating line is unchanged and worth repeating because people keep getting it backwards: postmarked or e-filed on or after September 18 means the broader discretionary standard; postmarked on or before September 17 means the 2022 framework. If your package went out last Wednesday, the old rule governs your case. Do not withdraw it and refile in the hope of a cleaner record.
Day four of the third-country standoff: an opinion on the books, flights still in the air
The First Circuit held that nobody may be removed to a country that is not theirs without notice and a real chance to claim fear of that country. DHS says the ruling is not in effect because the mandate has not issued, and the removals have not stopped. There is a narrow, practical lesson in the gap. A favorable appellate opinion is not a stay and does not travel with your relative to the airport. The document that stops a flight is an emergency motion filed in the right court, and the window for filing one is measured in hours.
The student and exchange-visitor admission rule stays frozen, with a status conference set for October 2
A federal court in Massachusetts postponed the DHS rule that would have ended duration-of-status admission for F, J and I nonimmigrants one day before it was to take effect on September 15, finding the challengers likely to win on their Administrative Procedure Act claim. Duration of status survives for now, and the parties return to court October 2. Families with a student in the household should treat the reprieve as temporary and keep every I-20, DS-2019 and I-94 printout current. Rules that come back after a loss usually come back with a shorter runway.
Policy Updates
Eight days left on the old Affidavit of Support
The 08/24/26 edition of Form I-864 has been available since August 31 on a thirty-day grace period that closes September 30. Anything postmarked or e-filed on October 1 or later using the 10/17/24 edition gets treated as missing initial evidence, which means a request for evidence and months added to the case. The new edition also includes a release letting USCIS pull information from consumer reporting agencies, so the sponsor's credit history is now formally part of the record. Pull your own report and read it before you sign, not after a question arrives in the mail.
From October 1, some visa applicants must make every social media profile public
The State Department is extending its online vetting requirement to I, TN and TD applicants, who must set the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to public or open. Student, worker and exchange visitor categories were already covered. The requirement is worth understanding even if it does not apply to your category, because consular officers increasingly read accounts they are not formally required to read. Deleting an account before an interview reads as concealment; a five-year-old post that contradicts a claim on the form reads worse. Review what is there before the appointment, and tell your lawyer about anything you would not want read aloud.
Day thirteen of Salvadoran TPS running on a press statement
The designation was set to lapse September 9. DHS said that day that status and work authorization continue until further announcement, and the Federal Register has published nothing since — no extension, no termination, no end date. Employers are being asked to keep people on payroll while those workers carry documents that read as expired. Print the USCIS alert and keep it with the I-9. Then use the open window to get screened for something permanent, because a statement that can be withdrawn on a Tuesday is not a status.
A new executive order tells agencies to mine employer layoff records in H-1B cases
The order directs labor and state officials to weigh an employer's layoff history in H-1B adjudications and to begin reviewing data from previously submitted labor condition applications. It arrives alongside the proclamation extending the $100,000 H-1B entry fee to September 2027, which courts have already held to be an unlawful tax and which remains uncollectable today. The through-line for mixed-status households is the same one as last week. If your family's lawful presence rests on one employment-based worker at one company, get the family-based alternative priced and started now, while the choice is still yours to make.
Enforcement Updates
ICE pulled people with final removal orders out of the public detainee locator, and told no one
Detainees who have a final order of removal no longer appear in the online locator that lawyers and families use to find someone after an arrest. Attorneys told the AP their clients simply vanished from the system last week, and AILA warned its members on Friday. The scale is not small: nearly 16,000 people booked into ICE detention in July were subject to final removal orders, more than a third of all bookings that month. What this changes for a family is immediate and concrete. The locator can no longer be your plan. Get the A-number and the arresting agency written down the day of the arrest, because without them a motion to reopen has nowhere to be filed and no one to serve.
An immigration officer shot a food delivery driver during a traffic stop in North Austin
Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, 28, a Venezuelan man working a DoorDash shift, was shot and wounded after a stop that Austin police were not part of. He is reported in serious but stable condition, and his lawyer says he is now held in a detention center with a bullet in his back. Federal authorities have not explained what preceded the shooting. This is at least the third shooting involving immigration agents in Texas this term. For families here, the operational point is narrow and unromantic: a traffic stop is now the most likely place a household member meets federal enforcement, and what happens in the first ninety seconds matters more than anything argued later.
Where someone is booked still decides which law applies to them
Two developments compound each other this week. The detainee locator no longer lists people with final orders, and ICE continues to transfer detainees across district lines soon after arrest. A habeas petition has to be filed where the person is held, and the bond law that governs is the law of that circuit, not the circuit where the arrest happened. Hiding the location and moving the body are separate problems with the same fix: find out where your relative is within the first day, in writing, and give that information to counsel before the transfer rather than after it.
Analysis
The asylum denial rate reached 94 percent while the bench was being rebuilt
In June, 771 people were granted asylum nationwide, a grant rate of 5.5 percent against a denial rate of 94.1 percent. Three years ago the monthly number of grants was more than four times that. Over the same period 279 immigration judges were fired or resigned across fiscal years 2025 and 2026. The backlog at the end of August stood at 3,092,988 cases, of which 2,278,978 involve a filed asylum application. Two conclusions follow for anyone with a pending claim. The identity of the judge now drives outcomes more than it ever has, and a case that is merely truthful is no longer a case that wins. Corroboration, country-conditions evidence and expert declarations are not optional additions anymore.
Eight days to the fiscal year’s end and the October bulletin still has not posted
October opens fiscal year 2027 with a fresh allocation of roughly 226,000 family-sponsored numbers, which is why October bulletins often move categories that sat still all summer. This one is unusually late. Two deadlines do not wait for it. September 30 ends the DV-2026 year of entitlement, after which no diversity visa can be issued and no adjustment approved for a DV-2026 selectee no matter how nearly complete the case is, and the same date retires the old Affidavit of Support. If your priority date is current this month and your package is complete on the correct form editions, send it. Holding it to see what October brings costs a month every time that bet is wrong.
What This Means for Your Case
- If someone is detained: the online locator no longer shows people with final removal orders. Get the A-number and the arresting agency in writing on day one; you can no longer look it up later.
- Habeas and bond: the district where ICE books the person decides which court hears the petition and which circuit’s bond law applies. File before the transfer, not after.
- Anything mailed this week: read the edition date at the bottom of the last page of every form. The old I-864 dies September 30; the I-485 and its supplements changed September 18 with no grace period.
- Sponsors: the 08/24/26 Affidavit of Support authorizes USCIS to obtain consumer credit information. Read your own credit report before you sign.
- DV-2026 selectees: September 30 is absolute. No visa can be issued and no adjustment approved after that date.
- Filed on or before September 17: the 2022 public charge framework governs your case. Do not withdraw and refile.
- Filing now: assume a totality review. Affidavit of support, tax returns, employment history, health insurance, education and assets belong in the initial package, not in a response to a request for evidence.
- Public charge does not reach everyone: refugees, asylees, VAWA self-petitioners, and U and T applicants are among the exempt categories. Confirm the rule applies to you before changing anything about your household’s benefits.
- Threatened removal to an unfamiliar country: the First Circuit opinion is not a stay, and DHS says it is not bound yet. Call counsel the same day.
- Visa interview coming up: from October 1, I, TN and TD applicants must make all social media profiles public. Review your accounts before the appointment and tell your lawyer what is there.
- Pending asylum claim: the national denial rate is 94 percent. Build corroboration, country-conditions evidence and expert support now rather than at the merits hearing.
- Salvadorans with TPS: keep working, keep the USCIS alert with your documents, do not travel internationally, and get screened for a permanent path while the window holds.
- Traffic stops: keep counsel’s number in a wallet rather than only in a phone, know who picks up the children, and decide in advance what everyone in the household says and does not say.
Court Decisions
DHS says Friday’s third-country ruling does not bind it yet, and the removals are continuing
Hours after the First Circuit held the policy unlawful, DHS General Counsel James Percival posted that “the third country deportation policy continues, as the First Circuit’s ruling is not currently in effect.” He is describing the mandate, which has not issued, and the administration is expected to seek Supreme Court review. Third Country Deportation Watch counts more than 25,000 people removed this way, roughly 20,000 of them to Mexico. Practically: do not assume a family member is protected by an opinion the government says it is not yet following. If a removal to an unfamiliar country is threatened this week, the protection that actually works today is an emergency filing, not a press release.
Judges have rejected ICE’s no-bond detention theory thousands of times, and it is still headed to the Supreme Court
District courts have overwhelmingly refused the position that people who entered without inspection are subject to mandatory detention with no bond hearing at all, and the appellate record is now deep enough to read. The analysis is that the near-uniform losses below may not predict the outcome above. What that means for a detained relative is simple and unglamorous: the habeas petition that wins in one district may fail in another, and the district is set by where ICE books the person — not where the arrest happened. File where the body is, and file before the transfer.
Public charge enters its fourth day in force with no order from either Manhattan case
The suit by New York and twenty-one other states with the District of Columbia, and the one by New York City with Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Clara County and King County, are both live Administrative Procedure Act challenges. Neither has produced a temporary restraining order. Filing a lawsuit does not pause a rule. The operating line has not moved since Thursday: postmarked or e-filed on or after September 18 means the broader discretionary standard, and postmarked on or before September 17 means the 2022 framework.
Policy Updates
USCIS replaced Form I-485 itself on September 18, and this one has no grace period
Five forms carry a 09/18/26 edition date, including the adjustment application and its supplements, plus the public charge bond forms I-945 and I-356. Unlike the Affidavit of Support in August, these were published without the customary thirty-day window for the prior edition. A package assembled three weeks ago on the old I-485 is now the wrong form, and the check being correct does not save it. Before anything goes in the mail this week, turn to the last page of every form in the packet and read the edition date printed at the bottom. That thirty-second check is the difference between a receipt notice and a rejection that costs three months.
The $100,000 H-1B fee was extended to 2027 at 12:01 this morning, and it still cannot be collected
The proclamation runs through September 21, 2027 and applies to H-1B workers seeking admission from outside the United States, with national-interest exceptions available to the Secretary of Homeland Security. It is also unenforceable: the District of Massachusetts vacated the implementing policies on June 8 as an unlawful tax exceeding presidential authority, and the First Circuit declined to revive them on July 24. Separately, DHS has a proposed rule pending that would impose a $103,265 cap-subject fee through ordinary rulemaking, which is the version likely to survive. Mixed-status households often hang on one employment-based worker. If that is yours, price out the family-based alternative now rather than after a denial.
Nine days left on the old Affidavit of Support
The 08/24/26 edition of Form I-864 became available August 31 with a thirty-day grace period, and that grace period closes September 30. Anything postmarked or e-filed October 1 or later on the 10/17/24 edition will be treated as missing initial evidence — a request for evidence and months added to the case. The new edition also contains a release authorizing USCIS to obtain information from consumer reporting agencies, which puts the sponsor’s credit history formally in the file. Pull your own credit report before you sign, not after a question arrives.
Day twelve of Salvadoran TPS running on a press statement
The designation was set to lapse September 9. DHS said that day that status and work authorization continue until further announcement, and the Federal Register has published nothing since — no extension, no termination, no end date. Employers are told to keep people on payroll while those workers hold documents that read as expired. Print the USCIS alert, keep it with the I-9, and use the open window to get screened for something permanent. A statement that can be withdrawn on a Tuesday is not a status.
Enforcement Updates
The deals behind third-country removals: Peruvians and Colombians sent to the Congo
The reporting traces arrangements with governments that agreed to accept people who have no connection to them, and documents cases where the person removed already held a grant of withholding of removal — the protection given to someone who would face severe harm at home but who is barred from asylum. Withholding is country-specific, which is exactly the gap being used. If a relative was granted withholding or Convention Against Torture protection and is now detained, that grant does not by itself stop a flight to a different country. Get the fear claim as to that specific country on the record in writing, immediately.
A weeklong sweep in Southwest Florida produced 500 arrests
ICE ran the operation with the Lee County Sheriff and state agencies. The agency’s own announcement leads with a small number of people accused of serious crimes; the arithmetic of a 500-arrest week means most of those taken were not that. Operations of this shape are built on local law enforcement partnerships, which is why a traffic stop in a 287(g) county carries consequences it would not carry two counties over. If someone in the household drives to work in a partnership county, know the A-number, keep counsel’s number in a wallet rather than only in a phone, and decide in advance who picks up the children.
Interior towns with no enforcement history are now operation sites
Agents took two Sedona residents, ages 44 and 52, into custody during a Saturday morning operation in West Sedona — a town of about 10,000 where both men were known neighbors and local workers. The pattern is consistent with the August arrest data: the sharpest percentage increases are in interior states, not on the border, and ICE used 469 separate facilities in July. Distance from the border is no longer a useful proxy for risk, and neither is the size of the town. What matters is whether the local agency has a partnership agreement and whether the family has a plan written down.
Analysis
Nine days to the fiscal year’s end and the October bulletin still has not posted
October opens fiscal year 2027 with a fresh allocation of roughly 226,000 family-sponsored numbers, which is why the October bulletin frequently advances categories that sat still all summer. It is unusually late this year. Two things do not wait for it. September 30 ends the DV-2026 year of entitlement, after which no diversity visa can be issued to a DV-2026 selectee regardless of how close the case is, and the same date retires the old Affidavit of Support. If your priority date is current this month and the package is complete and on the right form editions, send it. Holding it to see what October brings costs a month every time that bet is wrong.
What a court observer saw on the children’s docket
On one children’s docket, half the cases ended with removal orders against children between five and seventeen who never got to present an asylum claim. There is no appointed counsel in immigration court, and a child who appears alone is held to the same procedural rules as an adult with a lawyer. The observation generalizes past children: unrepresented respondents lose on procedure long before anyone reaches the facts of what happened to them. If a minor in your family has a hearing notice, the hearing is not the thing to prepare for. Representation before the hearing is.
What This Means for Your Case
- Anything being mailed this week: check the edition date at the bottom of every form. I-485 and its supplements changed September 18 with no grace period; the old I-864 dies September 30.
- Sponsors: the 08/24/26 Affidavit of Support authorizes USCIS to pull consumer credit information. Read your own report before signing.
- DV-2026 selectees: September 30 is absolute. No visa can be issued after that date.
- Filed on or before September 17: the 2022 public charge framework governs your case. Do not withdraw and refile.
- Filing now: assume a totality review — affidavit of support, tax returns, employment history, health insurance, education and assets in the initial package, not in response to a request for evidence.
- Public charge does not reach everyone: refugees, asylees, VAWA self-petitioners, and U and T applicants are among the exempt categories. Confirm the rule applies to you before changing anything about your household’s benefits.
- Threatened removal to an unfamiliar country: DHS says Friday’s ruling does not bind it yet and is still flying people. A favorable opinion is not a stay. Call counsel the same day.
- Holding withholding of removal or CAT protection: that grant is country-specific and does not block removal elsewhere. Put fear of the proposed destination in writing.
- If someone is detained: record the A-number and facility the day of the arrest. Where ICE books the person decides which district hears the habeas petition and which circuit’s bond law applies.
- A child with a hearing notice: get representation before the hearing, not on the day of it. Unrepresented minors are routinely ordered removed without an asylum claim being heard.
- Salvadorans with TPS: keep working, keep the USCIS alert with your documents, do not travel internationally, and get screened for a permanent path while the window holds.
Court Decisions
The sentence at the center of the third-country removal ruling
Writing for a unanimous First Circuit panel, Judge Seth Aframe put it this way: an individual’s right to contest removal to a country based on fear of persecution there “means little if one does not receive prior notice of the intended removal destination and a meaningful opportunity to contest that destination.” That is the whole holding. It does not forbid removing someone to a country other than their own; it forbids doing it by surprise. Human Rights First puts the government’s spending on third-country removal arrangements at roughly $50 million. If a family member was moved, or told they were about to be moved, to a country they have never lived in, the questions that matter are what notice they got, in what language, and how long before the flight.
Public charge clears its first weekend with no court order against it
Three days in, neither Manhattan case has produced a temporary restraining order — not the suit brought by New York and twenty-one other states with the District of Columbia, and not the one brought by New York City with Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Clara County and King County. Both are live Administrative Procedure Act challenges and either could still succeed. Neither has any effect on a package postmarked today. The operating rule remains the filing date: on or after September 18, the broader discretionary standard applies.
A month after the 75-country visa ban fell, consular processing is running again
Judge Jeannette Vargas vacated the January directive that told embassies and consulates to stop issuing immigrant visas to nationals of 75 countries, calling it patently unlawful and holding that the Secretary of State has no authority over how consular officers adjudicate immigrant visas. The practical effect for family petitioners is that a case shelved for eight months on nationality grounds should be moving again on the ordinary schedule. If a relative’s immigrant visa case has been sitting at a consulate with no action since January, this is the month to ask the National Visa Center in writing where it stands.
Policy Updates
Ten days left on the old Affidavit of Support, and the new one asks about credit
USCIS published the 08/24/26 edition of Form I-864 on August 31 with a thirty-day grace period. That grace period ends September 30. Anything postmarked or e-filed October 1 or later on the 10/17/24 edition will not be processed; USCIS says it will not reject the I-485 outright but will treat the affidavit as missing initial evidence, which means a request for evidence and months of delay. The new edition also contains a privacy release authorizing USCIS to pull information from consumer reporting agencies, so a sponsor’s credit history is now formally in the file. Sponsors should look at their own credit report before signing, not after.
The $100,000 H-1B fee proclamation reaches its one-year expiration today
The fee has not been collectible since June 8, when the District of Massachusetts vacated it as an unlawful tax, and the First Circuit refused to reinstate it on July 24 while the government’s appeal proceeds. The proclamation itself was written to run one year and reaches that date this weekend. Separately, DHS published a proposed rule on August 25 that would impose a $103,265 fee on H-1B cap-subject petitions through rulemaking rather than proclamation. Mixed-status households often include one employment-based worker whose status carries the whole family; if that describes yours, the family-based alternative is worth pricing out now.
Day eleven of Salvadoran TPS by announcement instead of notice
The designation was set to lapse on September 9. DHS said that day that status and work authorization continue until further announcement, and nothing has been published in the Federal Register since — no extension, no termination, no date. Employers are being told to keep the workers on payroll; the workers are being told to keep documents that read as expired. Print the USCIS alert and keep it with the I-9 file. Then use the open window to get screened for something permanent, because a statement that can be withdrawn on a Tuesday is not a status.
Enforcement Updates
ICE says it cannot locate its own records of the Broadview response
Records requests seeking the agency’s documentation of tear gas deployments and arrests outside the Broadview facility came back with no responsive records located — this after a federal judge’s opinion devoted fourteen pages to that single location, built from body-camera footage and testimony including that of a Presbyterian pastor struck repeatedly with pepper balls. The lesson generalizes past Illinois. Do not assume the government’s file will contain what happened to you. Photographs, medical records, the names of witnesses, and a dated written account of the encounter are worth more than the expectation that an agency can produce its own paperwork later.
At least 26 people have died in ICE custody so far this year
Last year’s total of 33 was the highest in more than two decades, and this year is on pace to pass it. The detained population grew 77 percent over the twelve months ending in January while annual deaths more than tripled, which works out to a 138 percent rise in the mortality rate per 10,000 detainees. Conditions, not just volume, are moving. If someone you love is detained with a chronic condition, a pregnancy, or a psychiatric diagnosis, put the medical history in writing to the facility and to counsel immediately — a documented request for care is also the record that supports a humanitarian release request.
Where the arrests are actually happening has shifted
Federal agents made roughly 51,000 immigration arrests in August, and the state-by-state comparison between July 2025 and July 2026 shows the increase is not concentrated on the border. Interior states with no recent enforcement history are posting the sharpest percentage jumps, and ICE used 469 separate facilities in July. That matters procedurally: where a person is booked determines which district court hears a habeas petition and which circuit’s bond law applies, and people are now routinely transferred far from where they were arrested. Family should write down the alien registration number and the facility name the day of the arrest.
Analysis
The dismissal motion that sounds like good news and is not
Immigration judges granted 80 percent of 4,336 oral motions by ICE attorneys to dismiss removal proceedings, ruling on the spot rather than allowing the respondent the ten days the rules contemplate for a response. Dismissal sounds like a win. In this pattern it is the step that moves a person out of a court with an immigration judge and into expedited removal, where there is no judge at all. If a government attorney moves to dismiss your case at a hearing, the answer is to object and ask for time — and that is far easier to do when counsel is standing next to you.
Ten days to the end of the fiscal year, and three deadlines in the same week
September 30 closes fiscal year 2026. On that date the DV-2026 year of entitlement ends and no diversity visa can be issued to a DV-2026 selectee afterward, and the 10/17/24 Affidavit of Support stops being usable. October 1 opens a fresh allocation of roughly 226,000 family-sponsored numbers, which is why the October bulletin often advances categories that stalled in the summer — and the October bulletin still has not posted. None of that helps a case that is not ready. If your priority date is current this month and the package is complete, send it; waiting to see what October brings is a bet that costs a month when it is wrong.
What This Means for Your Case
- Sponsors filing in the next ten days: Use the 08/24/26 Affidavit of Support. The old 10/17/24 edition dies September 30, and the new one authorizes USCIS to pull consumer credit information — check your own report before you sign.
- DV-2026 selectees: September 30 is absolute. A visa cannot be issued after that date regardless of where the case sits.
- Filed on or before September 17: Your adjustment case is judged under the 2022 public charge framework. Do not withdraw and refile.
- Filing now: Assume a totality review. Affidavit of support, tax returns, employment history, health insurance, education, assets — in the initial package, not in response to a request for evidence.
- Public charge does not apply to everyone: Refugees, asylees, VAWA self-petitioners, and U and T applicants are among the exempt categories. Confirm the rule even reaches you before changing anything about your household’s benefits.
- Third-country removal: Written notice of the specific destination and a real chance to raise fear of that country are required now. If that did not happen, tell counsel today.
- Immigrant visa case frozen since January on nationality grounds: The 75-country directive was vacated on August 21. Ask the National Visa Center in writing for a status update.
- If a government attorney moves to dismiss your removal case: Object and ask for time. Dismissal is frequently the doorway to expedited removal.
- If someone is detained: Write down the A-number and facility the same day. Transfers change which court and which circuit’s law governs a bond or habeas challenge.
- Salvadorans with TPS: Keep working, keep the USCIS alert with your documents, do not travel internationally, and get screened for a permanent path while the window holds.
Court Decisions
First Circuit: no one gets removed to a third country without notice and a chance to object
A unanimous panel in D.V.D. v. DHS largely upheld Judge Brian Murphy’s order against the policy that allowed removals to countries a person has no connection to on as little as six hours’ notice, or none, so long as the receiving government offered a blanket assurance. The court held that the statute and regulations governing fear-based claims contain no third-country exception and that DHS invented one. The practical rule now: prior written notice of the specific destination, in a language the person understands, and a meaningful opportunity to raise persecution or torture claims about that country. Third-country removal is not banned; doing it without process is.
One full day in effect, and still no injunction against the public charge rule
Neither Southern District of New York case — the one brought by New York and twenty-one other states with the District of Columbia, or the one brought by New York City with Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Clara County and King County — has produced a temporary restraining order. Both argue the rescission exceeds the agency’s authority under the Administrative Procedure Act, and both may still succeed. Neither changes what happens to a package mailed this week. Anything postmarked September 18 or later is adjudicated under the broader standard.
A judge weighs whether ICE ignored her own order on Baltimore holding rooms
Plaintiffs told the court that the agency has not complied with a March order addressing overcrowding in the Baltimore field office holding rooms. They are not asking for contempt; they want enforcement mechanisms attached to the order. The judge said she will rule in writing. Holding rooms are supposed to be short-term, and what happens in them is rarely documented by anyone but the people held there — which is why a family member’s notes about dates, conditions, and who else was present can end up mattering.
Policy Updates
Green card holders abroad more than 180 days can now be screened for public charge on return
The rescission applies to applications for admission made on or after September 18, and a permanent resident who has been outside the United States for more than 180 days is treated as an applicant for admission at the port of entry. That means the new standard can reach someone who already has a green card and simply stayed abroad too long caring for a parent. If a long trip is unavoidable, get a reentry permit before leaving, keep proof of U.S. ties and income, and talk to counsel before the return flight rather than after secondary inspection.
The new standard is discretionary, which is what makes it unpredictable
Officers may now weigh an applicant’s own use of nearly any means-tested public benefit, not just cash assistance, as one factor in a totality judgment. There is no threshold that automatically denies a case and no list that automatically saves one. The practical consequence is that two similar families can get different answers from different officers, so the package has to carry the weight: affidavit of support, tax returns, employment history, health insurance, education and skills, assets. Build it in at filing, not in response to a request for evidence.
Check the edition date on every form before the envelope is sealed
The 09/18/26 edition of Form I-485 is the only version USCIS will accept, with no transition window for the 01/20/25 version. The 09/15/26 edition of Form I-765 arrived the same way. The 08/24/26 edition of Form I-864 replaces the 10/17/24 version after September 30. A family packet assembled in August can now hold two dead forms and a third with eleven days left. The edition date is in the lower left corner of each page.
Salvadoran TPS holders are protected by a notice, not a Federal Register posting
DHS said on September 9, the day the designation was set to expire, that TPS for roughly 170,000 to 200,000 Salvadorans stays in effect until further notice. Ten days later there is still no extension notice, no termination notice, and no date. Status and work authorization continue in the meantime. Print the USCIS alert, keep documents that look expired on their face, avoid international travel, and use the time to get screened for a family petition, adjustment, or cancellation. An announcement that can be withdrawn is not a status.
DHS proposes ending the 60-day grace period after a job ends
The current regulation gives many employment-based nonimmigrants a discretionary grace period of up to 60 days after termination to change status, change employers, or depart. The proposed rule would eliminate it. This is a notice of proposed rulemaking, not a final rule, and it is open for public comment — but families often forget that a worker’s status failure cascades to a spouse and children in derivative status. If a household depends on one person’s employment-based status, that is a reason to look now at whether an independent path exists.
Enforcement Updates
An ICE agent pleads not guilty to lying to the FBI about a Minneapolis shooting
Christian Castro was released from Texas custody and entered a not guilty plea in federal court on charges connected to the January shooting of Cesar Sosa-Celis in north Minneapolis. The point for anyone with a pending case is narrow and practical: an officer’s written account of an encounter is evidence, not fact. If the report of your arrest contains statements you know to be false, put your version in writing to your attorney while the details are fresh and while witnesses can still be located.
About 2,300 of those arrested in the Minnesota surge are already gone
An analysis of federal data found 2,102 people detained during the Twin Cities operation were deported and another 282 left the country, out of roughly 4,000 arrests. The speed is the lesson. In a surge, the window between arrest and removal can close in days, which means the useful preparation happens before anything occurs: a signed G-28 on file, an attorney’s number memorized rather than stored in a seized phone, and a written plan for who picks up the children.
People are being held long after removal stopped being realistic
Attorneys describe clients held for months where there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future, including people who cannot be sent anywhere because of the risk of torture. The Supreme Court held in Zadvydas v. Davis that detention cannot be indefinite once removal is no longer reasonably foreseeable, and detention past roughly six months after a final order is the standard trigger for a custody challenge. If a relative has been held that long after a final order, that clock is worth raising with counsel now.
Analysis
ICE has lost the mandatory detention fight about 20,000 times, and it is headed to the Supreme Court anyway
More than 460 federal district judges have ruled roughly 20,000 times against the theory that people who entered without inspection must be detained without any chance at a bond hearing. The government has kept applying it anyway, and appellate signals have begun to run its way in places. A Supreme Court ruling either direction would reset bond eligibility for tens of thousands of people at once. Until then, the outcome depends heavily on the district a person is detained in, which is exactly why venue and the timing of a habeas filing are not technicalities.
The October Visa Bulletin still has not appeared, with eleven days left in the fiscal year
October opens fiscal year 2027 and a fresh allocation of roughly 226,000 family-sponsored numbers, which normally brings forward movement and sometimes reopens categories that hit their annual caps. The bulletin usually posts in the second or third week of the prior month. The September edition advanced several family final action dates while warning that demand could force retrogression later. If your date is current this month and the package is complete, filing now is worth more than waiting to see what October says.
What This Means for Your Case
- If someone you know is facing removal to a country that is not theirs: They are entitled to written notice of the destination and a chance to raise fear of persecution or torture in that specific country. If that did not happen, tell the attorney immediately — the First Circuit decision is in effect now.
- Filed on or before September 17: Your case is adjudicated under the 2022 public charge framework. Do not withdraw and refile.
- Filing now: Assume the officer weighs the whole picture. Affidavit of support, tax returns, employment history, insurance, education, assets — in the initial package, not after a request for evidence.
- Permanent residents planning a long trip: More than 180 days abroad makes you an applicant for admission on return, which now carries public charge exposure. Get a reentry permit first and talk to counsel before you fly back.
- Public charge does not reach everyone: Refugees, asylees, VAWA self-petitioners, U and T applicants and others are exempt. Confirm whether the rule even applies before changing anything about your household’s benefits — and a U.S. citizen child’s Medicaid is not the applicant’s benefit.
- Download every form fresh: I-485 changed September 18, I-765 changed September 15, and the old I-864 dies September 30.
- Salvadorans with TPS: Keep working, keep your documents and the USCIS alert, do not travel, and get screened for a permanent path while the notice holds.
- Detained more than six months after a final removal order: Ask counsel about a custody challenge under Zadvydas, and about whether the district you are held in is one where bond arguments are currently succeeding.