August 2026

Immigration Daybook

English draft — August 5, 2026

Welcome to the free pilot run of Immigration Daybook and our very first edition. We turn spectacle into evidence and keep you up to date with the latest news and what's coming next. Produced in part with AI; all mistakes are my own. —David

Death in ICE custody at Delaney Hall renews scrutiny of medical care

Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, a man detained at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, died Saturday after a medical emergency. ICE says an official cause of death is still pending. Lopez-Cornejo, who was from El Salvador, experienced the emergency at the detention facility and was taken to a Newark hospital. Philadelphia Inquirer, PBS, Al Jazeera

Lopez-Cornejo's family says he had diabetes, high blood pressure and seizures and was not regularly given his prescribed medication while detained. ICE says he received proper medical care, so the family's account and the still-unexplained circumstances of his death are now at the center of demands that officials release records showing what happened. CBS News, USA Today

New Jersey officials and members of Congress are demanding an investigation, medical records and a timeline of the medical emergency, with some renewing calls to close Delaney Hall. Their demands also focus on reported limits on state health inspectors' ability to enter and examine the privately operated facility, which would restrict independent scrutiny of conditions there. New Jersey Globe

From the Recovered Factory knowledge base: ICE inspectors rated Delaney Hall Acceptable/Adequate after an August 2025 review but found 12 deficiencies across five of 22 standards. Priority findings included unlogged 15-minute hold-room checks, potato salad at 81°F and 19 suicide-watch monitoring gaps lasting 18 to 65 minutes. The report does not establish what happened to Lopez-Cornejo, but the rating did not mean conditions were problem-free. ICE ODO inspection — Delaney Hall, Aug. 26–28, 2025

Senate bill proposes state-sponsored temporary-worker visas

A bipartisan Senate proposal, the State-Sponsored Visa Pilot Program, would let participating states petition for temporary worker visas tailored to local labor needs, with federal authorities keeping control over screening and admissibility. Workers admitted this way would generally have to live and work in their sponsoring state. The measure, sponsored by Senators John Curtis (R-Utah) and Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), faces political resistance and uncertain prospects in Congress. Newsweek

Justice Department highlights new denaturalization cases

The Justice Department says it filed 25 civil denaturalization complaints in a recent two-week period and calls it the largest coordinated effort of its kind. The complaints allege conduct including fraud, concealed crimes and fraudulent identities, but each is an allegation that must proceed through court rather than an immediate loss of citizenship. Fox News first reported the coordinated push; the Justice Department then published the primary announcement, while KVUE and KRQE focused on individual cases in Texas and New Mexico. Fox News, Justice Department, KVUE (Austin, Texas), KRQE (Albuquerque, New Mexico)

Around the system

• A Center for American Progress analysis examines how a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memo could push more green-card applicants toward consular processing outside the United States. Center for American Progress

• A federal appeals court sent the Haitian Temporary Protected Status (TPS) case back to district court after a Supreme Court ruling, while the termination's effects on status and work authorization remain central to the dispute. Caribbean Television Network

• Community reporting explains how a federal shift in the public-charge rule — which weighs whether an applicant is likely to rely on government benefits — could affect people applying for green cards. South Kern Sol (Kern County, California)

• Philadelphia reporting follows the airport arrest of an Argentine woman with a pending immigration application who was transferred to ICE custody in New Mexico, illustrating how airport enforcement is reaching people with established work and community ties whose cases remain unresolved. CBS News

• Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is taking a wait-and-see approach to lawsuits over Proposition 314, leaving the state immigration measure's litigation posture unsettled. AZ Capitol Times

• Spanish-language reporting details the rollout of the visitor-visa bond program that could require applicants from designated countries to pay up to $20,000. Noticias Caracol

• Miami reporting follows a Venezuelan father and adult son held by ICE after arrests at Miami International Airport as deportation flights to Venezuela resume, with their family fearing they could be placed on a future flight while their immigration proceedings continue. Telemundo 51

• A Spanish-language video report follows the release of a 16-year-old Colombian girl and her father from ICE custody in Texas while their asylum case continues. Telemundo (YouTube)

Spotlight turns to children

The Department of Health and Human Services awarded a $150 million contract to Houston-based Burke Law Group to represent children who arrived in the United States without a parent or guardian. The small firm has ties to the Trump administration and little immigration-law experience, the Associated Press reported. Legal-aid groups that have long represented these children warned that disruption in representation could leave them more exposed to deportation. Associated Press

A federal complaint alleges the administration is accelerating the removal of unaccompanied children even when their claims for protection remain pending. The lawsuit, filed for a Pittsburgh service organization and six children, says procedural changes are being used to repatriate children to places where they escaped danger or harm. Those claims have not yet been adjudicated. The Guardian, filed complaint (July 29)

Court removes stay on ending Temporary Protected Status, but allows lawsuit to move forward

An Aug. 5 order confirmed that the district court's earlier injunction against ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians was no longer in effect. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes acted after the Supreme Court's June ruling and an Aug. 4 appellate mandate. But the underlying lawsuit continues: Reyes denied the government's request to halt discovery and ordered the parties to propose a new schedule. CNN, Bloomberg Law, federal court order

States and localities clash with Washington

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed the PROTECT Act, limiting local cooperation with immigration agencies and barring ICE from schools, hospitals, and courthouses. Supporters call it one of the nation's strongest such measures, aimed at ensuring immigrants feel safe using public services without fear of arrest. GBH, Christian Science Monitor

Federal authorities began warning elected county sheriffs they could face prosecution for refusing immigration agents extensive access to jail inmates facing deportation. The letters mark an escalation in Washington's pressure on local officials who limit cooperation. The New York Times

A California judge held the Department of Homeland Security in contempt for slow-rolling an order to copy the cellphone communications of agents in last year's Los Angeles sweeps. The judge imposed a $500-per-day fine; attorneys argue the phones may hold evidence of racial profiling in the Operation At Large crackdown. CalMatters

Governments and activists are also fighting over where detention centers can be built.

Indiana's attorney general sued Merrillville for opposing a detention facility under a state law barring localities from restricting federal immigration enforcement. Telemundo Chicago

Bay Area officials are weighing zoning moratoria to block a proposed detention facility. Telemundo 48 (Bay Area)

The federal government agreed to buy a long-shuttered 1,600-bed private prison in Appleton, Minnesota, for immigration detention. The Star Tribune reported the sale and its local tax implications; Minnesota Women's Press published an activist statement opposing the facility's reopening. Star Tribune, Minnesota Women's Press

Around the system

• People held in two California immigration detention centers are using a Spanish-language self-help packet to file their own habeas petitions when they cannot obtain lawyers. The administration is separately trying to restrict that route for challenging detention. EL PAÍS English, Immigrant Defenders Law Center's English and Spanish habeas guides
• Reports and activist networks point to increased ICE activity in New York City, but neither federal nor city officials confirmed a coordinated citywide surge. Documented found that the lack of official federal data left the scale of recent activity and arrests unclear. Documented
• A federal judge temporarily blocked Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita from enforcing a broad civil investigative demand against Exodus Refugee Immigration. The Aug. 5 order found Exodus had shown a strong likelihood of success in its retaliation case. ACLU of Indiana, federal court order
• The Trump administration is using its control over immigration courts to fire judges and press the system toward faster deportations and more asylum denials, former judges told Borderless. Immigration judges are Justice Department employees rather than members of an independent judiciary. Borderless Magazine

In case you missed it

The federal-local enforcement network continues to expand. More than a quarter of all 287(g) agreements were signed since April, according to a Recovered Factory analysis.

<p style="margin:18px 0 6px;text-align:center;"><a href="https://recoveredfactory.net/en/287g-network-expansion"><img src="https://tracking-287g-prod-maparchivebucket-xunvasoh.s3.amazonaws.com/expansion-latest-en.gif" alt="Expansion of ICE 287(g) agreements" width="520" style="display:block;width:100%;max-width:520px;height:auto;margin:0 auto;border:0;"></a></p> <p style="margin:0 0 16px;text-align:center;font-size:12px;color:#666;"><em>Expansion of the 287(g) network. <a href="https://287g.recoveredfactory.net/en/use-the-map">Use it for free</a>.</em></p>

Immigration Daybook — Aug. 7, 2026

USCIS tightens adjudication as processing slows

Processing delays are leaving millions of people in legal limbo — and some are being arrested by ICE while their cases are pending. Axios found applicants arrested while traveling through airports or attending adjustment-of-status interviews, as well as refugees detained while awaiting green cards. USCIS said stricter vetting and staff losses have contributed to delays, but that it is using new technology and “smarter processes” to reduce backlogs while screening for fraud and public-safety risks. Axios

USCIS restored officers’ discretion to deny benefit requests without first issuing a request for evidence or notice of intent to deny. The Aug. 5 guidance took effect immediately and applies to pending and new cases unless a regulation says otherwise. Officers may still request more evidence, but applicants can no longer assume they will get that opportunity before a denial. USCIS, Erickson Immigration Group

A separate rule now permits asylum officers to refer some affirmative asylum applications directly to immigration court without first interviewing the applicant. The rule took effect July 28. Sahan Journal reports that applicants can lose the chance to explain filing problems or present their stories in a non-adversarial interview before entering removal proceedings; DHS says the change will reduce USCIS’s affirmative-asylum backlog and direct resources toward timely adjudication. Sahan Journal, Federal Register

The latest American Immigration Council analysis found that USCIS processing had already slowed sharply in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Steven Hubbard’s review of older quarterly agency data found a larger backlog, fewer completed cases, longer waits and higher denial rates than in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. Pending applications and petitions rose from 9.7 million to 11.3 million, while average backlog-clearance time nearly doubled from 9.4 to 18.6 months. American Immigration Council

Haitian TPS ends, disrupting families and workplaces

Temporary Protected Status and TPS-based work authorization for Haitians expired July 27, and a federal judge allowed the termination to proceed Wednesday. Former beneficiaries are losing jobs and legal status while confronting possible removal to a country the State Department warns Americans not to visit because of crime, terrorism, kidnapping and unrest. PBS News

The loss of work authorization is already affecting New York elder care. A Westchester nursing home laid off seven Haitian caregivers, most of them nursing assistants who fed, bathed and groomed residents. Providers said replacing trained workers will be difficult amid an existing long-term-care labor shortage. Gothamist

The effects also reach New York’s hospitality sector and Haitian-owned businesses. At a Brooklyn College gathering, elected officials, employers and community advocates discussed the uncertainty facing Haitian families and industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor. The Haitian Times

Yesterday's newsletter said that a court's earlier "injunction" on removing Temporary Protected Status for Haitians was no longer in effect. Andrew Kreighbaum, author of the Bloomberg Law piece we cited, wrote to clarify: "[Judge] Reyes didn’t technically issue an injunction in February—she issued a stay of agency action. The Supreme Court had severely curtailed district courts’ ability to issue universal injunctions before this case. But the stay is a workaround that plaintiffs/courts have found allowing judges to temporarily halt agency actions deemed unlawful under the APA."

Trump signs birthright-citizenship and birth-tourism orders

President Trump signed two immigration executive orders on Aug. 6. One directs federal agencies not to recognize citizenship in specified circumstances involving foreign-enemy status, certain diplomatic or international-organization employment, attempts to buy or fraudulently obtain birthright citizenship, and some births in US territories or territorial waters where federal law does not confer citizenship. The other directs State and Homeland Security to develop measures aimed at entry via a nonimmigrant visa for the purpose of giving birth. PBS/AP, Reuters

Neither order states a separate effective date. The citizenship order requires public implementation guidance within 30 days. The birth-tourism order authorizes agency measures but sets no deadline. As of Aug. 7, no agency application of either order or lawsuit challenging the new actions had been reported.

ACLU attorney Cody Wofsy says another executive order cannot change the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship and predicts this attempt will meet the same fate as Trump’s earlier one. The January 2025 order was challenged immediately, blocked by lower courts and never took effect before the Supreme Court rejected it in June. Those cases concerned the earlier order, not the Aug. 6 actions. PBS/AP in English, La Raza/AP in Spanish

Around the system

• A federal court’s Friday deadline arrives for the administration to pay nonprofits for legal services already provided to unaccompanied migrant children. The broader representation system remains uncertain after the contract supporting a national network of nearly 100 providers expired July 31 without renewal. Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor
• Federal-local conflict over ICE access is deepening. Federal officials threatened a Minnesota sheriff with prosecution over jail access, while officials in Rensselaer County, New York, face pressure over plans to resist a state order ending a 287(g) agreement. Star Tribune, WAMC
• Detention conditions are drawing renewed scrutiny. Members of Congress are seeking access and answers about conditions at Texas detention facilities, while Pennsylvania lawmakers are pressing officials over reported conditions at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center. ICE’s latest oversight inspection at Moshannon Valley, conducted June 9–11, reviewed 29 standards, reported no deficiencies and rated the GEO Group-operated facility “Superior.” Texas Tribune, PennLive, ODO inspection (PDF)
• ICE’s use of electronic monitoring is expanding. The Guardian reports a sharp increase in people tracked with GPS ankle monitors, while Human Rights Watch warns that technology is widening surveillance across the non-detained docket. The Guardian, Human Rights Watch
• Afghan resettlement and family reunification remain constrained. A report says travel and visa restrictions have shut large numbers of Afghans out of US resettlement, including people who supported American operations and relatives trying to reunite with family already here. KPBS

A proposal now under White House regulatory review would eliminate the grace period that lets certain foreign workers retain their lawful status after losing a job. That cushion is what allows an H-1B, O-1 or other covered worker laid off mid-year to look for another sponsoring employer, switch to a different status, or wind down a household on some kind of schedule; removing it would compress all of that into far less time before the person is expected to leave the country. Newsweek, Bloomberg Law.

For broader context on the H-1B program, Pew Research Center published a detailed overview of how the visa works and who uses it.

A final Department of Homeland Security rule extends biometric-related charges to extension petitions, so certain larger employers pay again to keep workers they already employ. The charges — $4,000 for certain H-1B and $4,500 for certain L-1 petitions — now attach to renewals for people staying in the same job at the same company, turning what used to be routine paperwork into a recurring cost that factors into whether those companies keep sponsoring foreign professionals at all. American Bazaar

A federal court has blocked the separate $100,000 fee on certain H-1B employers, giving those employers a reprieve while the litigation continues. The pause removes one immediate cost but not the underlying volatility, and some companies are responding by hiring more technical staff abroad rather than relocating them to the United States. SHRM

Private prison companies report record revenue as detention expands

The two largest private prison operators posted combined quarterly revenue of $1.4 billion as immigration detention climbed toward record levels. GEO Group and CoreCivic have each reported steep earnings increases tied to expanded ICE capacity, and the federal government is additionally buying detention sites outright — CoreCivic sold four facilities to DHS for roughly $1.6 billion — while keeping the same private companies running them. NPR, iNewsSource

Lawmakers demand answers on arrests of troops' parents and spouses

A bicameral group of lawmakers is pressing defense and immigration agencies to explain how they coordinate enforcement involving service members, veterans and their families. The letter also asks that longstanding protections be restored, arguing that detaining a soldier's parent or spouse pulls people away from their units and undercuts the promises used to recruit non-citizens into the armed forces. PBS NewsHour, the congressional letter

The oversight push follows investigative reporting that found more than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty troops had been detained after those protections were rolled back. Some service members have been separated from their families for months while relatives try to pursue the immigration options historically tied to military service. AP

Mexican consular staff face a visa cliff that could thin public services

About 400 locally hired employees at Mexico's consulates in the United States are at risk of losing their jobs as their nonrenewable A-2 visas expire. These are local hires rather than diplomats, the people who process passports, consular identification cards, birth certificates and voter credentials across Mexico's 53 consulates, and their right to be in the country is tied to the consular job itself. The visas carry a five-year cap that dates to a 2016 rule change, and the Trump administration has not indicated it will extend them, leaving employees to face returning to Mexico, finding another status, or becoming undocumented. El País, La Nación, Noticias Telemundo

Around the system

• ICE is buying commercial data records to feed an enforcement technology system, deepening the role of private information brokers in immigration operations. 404 Media
• A trans woman held in an Arizona detention center is speaking out about conditions inside the facility, describing abuse and isolation. Lookout
• ICE has expanded its ankle monitor program to nearly 54,000 immigrants, up from about 17,000 a year ago, with GEO Group subsidiary BI Inc. manufacturing and operating the devices under the agency's ISAP program. The Guardian
• The Justice Department is suing New York, Connecticut and Vermont over state laws that extend in-state college tuition and financial aid to undocumented immigrant students. VTDigger
• ICE expects to equip every field officer with body cameras by the end of August, though agency policy lets it withhold footage when release could compromise an investigation or an officer's privacy. Reuters, ABC News
• More on Moshannon Valley: federal officials are weighing purchases and other contracting options to hold onto detention capacity in Pennsylvania as current arrangements near expiration, raising questions about private management and county oversight. Spotlight PA

We've been heartened by the good response to Immigration Daybook. The best way you can support us right now is to share this newsletter with people you think will benefit from it. Produced in part with AI, all mistakes are my own. —David

Losing Temporary Protected Status is already changing daily life for Haitians. People are being called to ICE check-ins, fitted with ankle monitors or detained; expired work permits have forced people from their jobs and led others to stay home out of fear. CNN

Immigrants from South Sudan and Myanmar — also known as Burma — have seen TPS lapse as well after federal judges in Boston and Chicago cleared the way to end TPS for them, effective August 7. The rulings end protection and work authorization for roughly 4,000 people from Myanmar and just over 230 from South Sudan. The Hill, Al Jazeera, AsAmNews

Zomi Press, an outlet serving the Zomi diaspora from Myanmar, has a careful explainer: TPS-based work permits are invalid as of the termination date, but technically, losing TPS does not by itself make someone deportable. Zomi Press

For Venezuelans, most TPS protection has already quietly lapsed — October 2 covers only a narrow remaining slice of holders. In Doral, Florida, lawyers and TPS holders are scrambling to sort out who the date still protects and what options remain. Latin Times

Somalia's TPS now hangs on a pending lower-court case — one of the last still standing. Haiti, Syria, Yemen, Myanmar and South Sudan have all fallen within six weeks of a single Supreme Court decision. Newsweek

Some 170,000 Salvadorans are approaching a September TPS expiration without clear official guidance — with an estimated 150,000 children affected. In The New Yorker, Dara Lind puts the countdown inside what she calls the great delegalization: more than a million people watching the legal footholds that let them build lives in the United States get swept away. Infobae, The New Yorker

Employers are pressing for replacement protections as Haitian workers lose authorization. Health care and hospitality workplaces are absorbing sudden staffing losses; separately, 540-day automatic EAD extensions ended for certain TPS holders after August 5, and a federal court upheld a one-year cap on TPS work permits. Miami Herald

USCIS gains broader authority to move immigration filings online

The new framework allows U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to designate eligible forms for mandatory electronic filing. Applicants will need to follow later agency notices to learn whether a specific request for an immigration benefit must be filed online. USCIS, Federal Register, La Nación

The framework does not make every eligible form online-only at once. Separate implementation steps will determine when paper filing ends for each form, a distinction that matters when applicants and their representatives prepare submissions. Fragomen

The shift lands on a system already processing enormous volumes with significant backlogs. In the first half of fiscal year 2026, USCIS received 383,000 naturalization applications (N-400) with 649,000 pending; 230,000 family-based green card applications (I-485) with 580,000 pending; and 83,000 asylum applications (I-589) with 1.4 million pending. Work authorization applications (I-765) topped 1.2 million across all categories with nearly 2 million pending. USCIS Immigration and Citizenship Data

Birthright citizenship challenge returns to court

Immigrant-rights groups are asking a federal court to block a renewed executive effort to restrict birthright citizenship. The dispute could determine whether children born in the United States are denied recognition of citizenship because of their parents' immigration circumstances. ACLU, Al Jazeera

Around the system

• ICE’s expanded mandatory-detention policy is driving a surge of federal habeas challenges, straining judges and court staff as people contest detention without bond or try to fight removal without lawyers. The American Bazaar
• The State Department has revoked more than 175,000 visas under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, citing birth tourism, alleged fraud, criminal activity, and some forms of online expression. A U.S. embassy in a North African country revoked more than 100 visas tied to birth tourism; reports from the border describe anxiety among Mexican visa holders whose travel histories may be reviewed for childbirth or earlier medical care in the United States. El País
• New York law requires local law-enforcement agencies to end their remaining 287(g) agreements with ICE and report how they are unwinding delegated immigration-enforcement work; the change does not restrict independent federal enforcement. La Nación
• ICE procurement plans are drawing scrutiny from civil-rights advocates for contact-based electric-shock equipment, facial-identification searches and federal access to commercial data systems, with disputes centered on the use of force and the combination of government and commercial data to locate people. CBS News

ICE is moving to buy wearable electric-shock devices for the officers who carry out immigration arrests. Adding a new force option to the equipment officers carry would require the agency to settle when the devices may be deployed, what force standards govern them, how officers are trained and who reviews each use. Associated Press, Newsweek

404 Media obtained the manual for the gloves, which details how the devices are meant to be used in the field. 404 Media

Spanish-language coverage also digs into how the agency intends the gloves to be used, placing the purchase inside a broader pattern of increasingly aggressive tactics during immigration operations. El País, El Mañana de Nuevo Laredo

The gloves were recently demonstrated in a live TV stunt in Argentina. The security minister of Córdoba tested the glove on himself and fell to his knees. “You really can’t stand it,” he said afterwards. El Doce TV

Go deeper on Compliant Technologies, the company that makes the gloves

We got curious about the company, Compliant Technologies LLC, their contract, and their product, so we used our "computers and elbow grease" approach to look into it:

The contract: It appears the agency intends to buy them without competition. A DHS procurement notice published Aug. 10, 2026 describes a sole-source award for the G.L.O.V.E. device, with delivery by March 2027. The paper trail runs through ICE's Office of Firearms and Tactical Programs at Fort Benning, Georgia, which posted a sources-sought notice for "conductive energy weapons" dated Feb. 17, 2026 and named the ICE contacts as Daniel Correia and Robert V. Roberts.

The company: The vendor is a veteran-owned firm in Lexington, Kentucky that self-describes as an "Exclusive Distributor" for conducted electrical weapon technology. We could find no prior federal contracts for the company in USASpending.gov records — the only federal assistance we located was a $1,000 COVID-era EIDL advance in 2020.

The product: The AP described the gloves as "manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky," but the company's HigherGov filing lists it as "Exclusive Distributor" and the G.L.O.V.E.'s first-named inventor is Zhiyong Jiang, a Chinese national who supplies police equipment to China's Ministry of Public Security, according to U.S. Patent 12,326,321 B2 ("Glove Adapted to Dispense Pulsed Electric Current to a Human's Skin"), and the co-inventor is Compliant founder Jeff Niklaus.

According to our research, Jiang is senior engineer and general manager of Shenzhen Senxunda Electronic Technology Co. Ltd. (深圳市森讯达电子技术有限公司). A profile on a Chinese police equipment portal identifies the firm as a Ministry of Public Security–approved supplier whose products serve China's "national stability and counter-terrorism front." The Senxunda catalog maps cleanly onto Compliant Technologies' line: "police arrest glove" to the G.L.O.V.E. "acoustic-optical riot dispersal shield" to the sound shield, "electronic action restraint" to the E-Band and E-Vest.

Niklaus told the story himself in June 2024, on an alt-media podcast episode hosted by Sarah Westall. He named the inventor as a Chinese man who had been a Shaolin monk before working for law enforcement "like the DEA."

The expert: The Associated Press interviewed Dr. John Peters, president of the Institute for Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, who said the glove felt "like a bee sting." Peters is listed on Compliant Technologies' own references page as its "Use of Force Expert." The AP did not mention the connection.

Peters' résumé compounds the potential conflicts of interest. He served as chairman of the board and vice president at Reliapon Police Products, a non-lethal weapons manufacturer, according to his expert witness profile. His CV lists "statistical data analysis of TASER® voluntary self-exposures and field uses." His institute promotes "excited delirium," a diagnosis not approved by the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, or the World Health Organization, and not included in the DSM — and called a "sham" by civil rights groups in a Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review analysis.

Cities and counties choose opposing paths on ICE cooperation

Nixa, Missouri, approved an agreement to train its police officers to carry out certain federal immigration functions during ordinary patrol work, and a county government in Texas is moving the same direction. Under these arrangements, local officers get federal training and access to federal resources when immigration questions come up during a traffic stop or arrest. In Liberty County, Texas, commissioners signed off for one precinct, with others expected to follow. KY3,

Recovered Factory context: According to state reports processed by Recovered Factory, in 2025, Nixa, Missouri rarely stopped Hispanic drivers, but searched and arrested them at significantly higher rates than other races, though the small number of encounters means these are fairly volatile figures. In keeping with a statewide pattern where Hispanic drivers are searched the most while found with contraband the least, Nixa’s searches of Hispanic drivers reportedly yielded no contraband at all. Missouri Vehicle Stops

Other places are pulling the other way: Mankato, Minnesota, made its immigration-enforcement limits permanent. Alachua County, Florida, a state where 287(g) participation is mandatory, passed a resolution warning that discriminatory enforcement erodes public trust in police. And Massachusetts restricted some state and local cooperation while barring new deputization agreements. These measures can limit what local governments do to assist ICE, but state and city law cannot stop federal officers from operating in most public places. KEYC, CommonWealth Beacon

Recovered Factory runs 287(g) Watch, a site that tracks these agreements, but ICE has not updated their 287(g) roster data in almost four weeks. We’ve emailed them multiple times now but have yet to hear back.

Expanded detention and removal powers strain the courts

ICE's expanded mandatory-detention policy denies bond hearings to people arrested inside the country and the resulting wave of habeas corpus petitions is piling up in federal court. Judges have repeatedly found against the policy, while the litigation itself consumes court staff and judicial time; transfers between distant detention sites can cut people off from their lawyers and families in the middle of those cases. The New Republic, American Bazaar

The government has also activated a long-dormant specialized removal process, even as most people in immigration proceedings have no lawyer because there is no right to appointed counsel in immigration court. A New York City worker whose path ran from ICE detention through a removal order to an eventual grant of asylum shows how custody decisions and the merits of a case can travel on separate, contradictory tracks. Human Rights Watch, Associated Press, Gothamist

Around the system

• DHS abandoned plans to convert a warehouse complex in Socorro, Texas, near El Paso, into a major ICE detention and training center, and is transferring the properties for sale. The reversal follows sustained local opposition and questions about water, wastewater and emergency-response capacity. El Paso Matters, Noticias 48

• Scrutiny of Delaney Hall, the immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, widened this week through a state civil-rights investigation, fresh reporting on conditions inside and renewed political demands that it close. News 12 New Jersey

• Cases in federal court are testing how far the government can go in seizing and forensically searching travelers' phones and laptops at the border: one judge found a phone search lacked the individualized suspicion required, and another ordered limited discovery into how a journalist's devices were handled. The American Conservative,

• New guidance from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services broadens when officers may suggest DNA evidence in family-based immigration cases, raising the practical question of when families will feel pressed into genetic testing to prove a relationship. Uno TV

• A new economic model estimates how lifting the cap on green cards for workers in science, technology, engineering and math fields would affect workers, employers and the wider economy. Penn Wharton Budget Model

Note: The "upcoming" August 24 item about application fees originally included an accurate but confusing sentence about comment dates and was re-written for clarity going forward.

Clarification: The emailed edition cited U.S. Patent 12,326,321 B2 but linked to its 2022 published application. The link above now points to the granted patent.

The New Jersey Globe reported Wednesday that a Guatemalan man held at the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey, died after a seizure-like medical emergency — a death DHS never disclosed because, the agency says, it was not notified that he died after being released from custody. Jose Chajon-Raxon was processed into the facility on July 18, had a seizure the next day and was hospitalized. ICE released him from custody on July 22, before he died. DHS has not said when he died. New Jersey Globe, AP, NBC News

Chajon-Raxon is the third person to die after being detained at Delaney Hall, and is a different man from Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, the Salvadoran who died in custody two weeks ago. The belatedly acknowledged death adds pressure to New Jersey's civil-rights investigation into the facility, which now spans both how people are treated inside Delaney Hall and who answers for them once they are moved to a hospital. The City Reporter, The Guardian, Jersey Vindicator

Rep. LaMonica McIver called the pattern of deaths "plain as day," and Reps. Ritchie Torres and George Latimer introduced the Families Deserve to Know Act, which would require ICE to notify families of deaths, hospitalizations and medical emergencies in custody. The practical stake is visibility: if deaths that follow a release are never counted or reported, the harm linked to detention disappears from the public record. U.S. House, Univision

Behind the "worst of the worst" framing, the people actually held at Delaney Hall tell a different story. In a May data profile of the facility, Syracuse University researcher Austin Kocher found that 88.3% of the people held there had no criminal conviction and 70.5% had no criminal history at all. The share with any conviction — 11.7% — ran well below the national detention average of 29%, and across all 10,311 people who had passed through since Delaney Hall reopened, just 12.1% had any conviction. Austin Kocher

A federal appeals court dismisses the lead challenge to Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act

The full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the lead lawsuit challenging President Trump's peacetime invocation of the Alien Enemies Act as moot, because the named plaintiffs had already been removed under ordinary immigration law rather than the wartime authority. The court did not decide whether the centuries-old statute can be used for immigration removals outside of war. The Supreme Court's injunction barring Alien Enemies Act removals remains in place. ACLU, The Hill

The ACLU says it has other challenges pending in courts across the country, and that the mootness dismissal of W.M.M. v. Trump turns on standing rather than ending the litigation. The path to Wednesday's ruling: a three-judge panel rejected the administration's "invasion or predatory incursion" justification in September 2025, the full court heard the case en banc in January 2026, and the Supreme Court had directed the Fifth Circuit to expedite the appeal. NBC News, Seattle Times

A Los Angeles judge weighs limits on warrantless immigration arrests

A federal judge signaled she may bar immigration agents in Los Angeles from making arrests without a warrant unless they first determine the person is likely to flee. The ruling would reach a tactic central to enforcement sweeps across Southern California. The underlying lawsuit alleges discriminatory stops and arrests made without the legal findings the law requires. CalMatters, ABC7 Los Angeles

Any limit on warrantless arrests would cover people picked up at airports, courthouses and other public places, not only those encountered at home or on a job site. The dispute sits inside a wider pattern of immigration arrests made during ordinary life, raising Fourth Amendment questions courts are only beginning to address. Reason, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status face a September 9 deadline

USCIS has notified Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status that their work permits remain valid through September 9, 2026, the scheduled end of TPS for El Salvador, which affects roughly 170,000 people. The deadline falls inside a broader contraction of TPS across 13 nationalities, as households reassess jobs, remaining legal options and the risk of removal. In Ohio, people who lost protected status have been placed on ankle monitors rather than taken into detention. La Prensa Gráfica, Infobae, Univision, NBC News

Colorado escalates the tuberculosis dispute at the Aurora immigration detention center

Colorado issued a new health order demanding the records, exposure information and building access state investigators say they need to finish a tuberculosis investigation at the privately run detention center in Aurora, Colorado. The order sharpens a standoff with GEO Group, the private operator under contract with ICE, pitting state public-health authority against a federal contractor. A parallel fight over tuberculosis notification is playing out at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, California. Colorado Sun, KUNC, KPBS, inewsource

The Rio Grande Valley is paying the highest economic price in Texas for the deportation campaign

A new report from the immigration advocacy group America's Voice finds a 5% quarterly drop in construction jobs in the Rio Grande Valley — the worst on record — as the deportation campaign shrinks the workforce, with nearly one-fifth of ICE arrests in Texas taking place in the Valley. The report, titled "End the Ice Tax," is an advocacy group's analysis, but it draws on federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data that anyone can check independently. Those figures show prices for goods and services that depend on immigrant labor rising far faster than overall inflation: lettuce up 32.1%, whole milk up 9%, home healthcare up 10.7%. All four Rio Grande Valley border counties flipped to Trump in 2024, with Starr County going Republican for the first time in more than a century. MyRGV, San Antonio Current, America's Voice, Texas Tribune

Around the system

• International students and the universities that enroll them are preparing for fixed admission periods, shorter windows to leave the country and extension requests that can interrupt study or employment. Evanston RoundTable, The PIE News, WR Immigration
• New York's new money for legal representation arrives as the end of a federal legal-services contract leaves children who arrived without a parent or guardian more likely to face deportation proceedings without a specialized attorney. Documented, Block Club Chicago
• An appeals court ruling lets the government use expedited removal against people who entered the country through humanitarian parole programs. Univision
• Massachusetts has enacted statewide limits on how public institutions may interact with federal immigration enforcement. El Mundo Boston
• Local governments are still joining — and in some places contesting — agreements that let police help enforce federal immigration law during routine duties. ICE has not updated its 287(g) roster data since July 20. NOLA.com, WUNC
• A court-approved settlement resolves migrant workers' claims that the jobs they got at a Georgia factory did not match what recruiters promised them. Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Correction: Yesterday's edition linked to an incorrect procurement notice as evidence of a no-bid contract and stated it was published August 11. You can see the correct notice here; it was published August 10.

Clarification: Yesterday's edition linked to the G.L.O.V.E. patent application; the accepted patent can be found here.

Both fixes are in the web edition.

People with pending immigration cases who travel abroad on advance parole can now trigger a three- or ten-year ban on returning. The Board of Immigration Appeals, in Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, overruled the 2012 Arrabally rule and held that leaving on advance parole counts as a "departure" for the unlawful-presence bars: more than 180 days of prior unlawful presence can start a three-year bar, and a year or more can start a ten-year bar. Newsweek, La Opinión, El Nuevo Herald

Travel completed before August 13 is not affected, La Nación reports; the change applies to departures from that date forward. USCIS posted a traveler warning saying that as of August 13, departing after obtaining an advance parole document is a departure for inadmissibility purposes. The people most exposed are DACA recipients, certain Temporary Protected Status holders, and immediate family of U.S. citizens with pending green-card cases. AILA's president said the decision upends 14 years of settled law and punishes people who followed the rules. La Nación, AILA

The old workaround that let some people travel and then adjust status is gone. Leaving on advance parole can now start the bar that blocks or complicates a green-card case, which is why Spanish-language newsrooms spent the weekend telling DACA and TPS holders not to treat the travel document as a safe pass. Conexión Migrante, Telemundo 52, Diario Las Américas, El Tiempo Latino

Inside Walton County, Florida, a 287(g) task force and a jail that holds people for ICE

When NPR rode along with Sgt. Oscar D'Lassalas, the Walton County, Florida deputy ran traffic stops and checked IDs against a national database while Sheriff Michael Adkinson insisted the office isn't running raids. NPR also looked at the jail, whose state funding request has swelled to over $9 million, and we pulled more data and primary-source records to go deeper.

The original ask was $648,805 for beds, transport and bonuses. The June amendment took the request to $9.16 million. Ninety-three percent is equipment and services: radios at $4.84 million, Rapid DNA at $2.66 million, and Peregrine, a data-fusion platform, at $713,584. Buried in the same packet: $10,200 for 17 seats of on-demand phone interpretation, 240 languages. The state approved more than $87 million for 56 agencies that day, requested amounts rather than audited payouts.

The sheriff's office calls itself a "designated ICE transportation and holding hub," with 48 beds held for ICE and "consistently at maximum capacity." Jail-wide bookings, not ICE-only, jumped from 3,185 people in 2024 to 5,296 in 2025. Using the jail for immigration enforcement isn't new: WCSO's Warrant Service Officer agreement dates to 2019, and the office is still the county's only agency with an agreement, according to the most recent ICE data. The Task Force paperwork is from February 2025; Florida has the largest percentage of agencies with agreements of any state.

The Deportation Data Project counts 2,053 ICE arrest episodes first booked at the Walton County jail from March 2025 to March 2026: stays of about three days, a daily average of roughly 27 to 31 people held for ICE. Most are coded custodial, 287(g), or local-jail pickup; only four as traffic checks. Florida's encounter dashboard shows 249 sheriff encounters since August 2025, but the jail holds people arrested across the region, so the two figures describe different populations. One of them was Rolando Velasquez Andres, a South Walton High senior held about 36 hours after a crash on Highway 331, then moved to Miami.

Appeals court says the administration cannot deny bond hearings to detained immigrants in New England

People arrested by ICE in New England keep their right to ask a judge for release on bond. A divided First Circuit panel ruled 2-1 in Guerrero Orellana that the government is unlawfully jailing certain immigrants without hearings, the seventh appeals court this year to reject the administration's expanded reading of the mandatory-detention statutes. First Circuit, Portland Press Herald, ACLU of Maine

Around the system

• The Democratic National Committee approved conflicting messages on whether to abolish or reform ICE at its summer meeting, reflecting sharp opposition to the administration's crackdown but exposing party divisions ahead of the midterms; the nonbinding resolutions came amid renewed progressive anger after recent fatal ICE encounters. AP News, La Nación
• ICE grew its Maine staff by 44 percent over the past year, drawing recruits from local law enforcement with $50,000 bonuses. The Cumberland County sheriff lost two employees to the agency, and officials say vetting and training questions remain unanswered as the footprint expands. Portland Press Herald
• ICE's Denver division said the Denver County Jail declined a detainer for Emmanuel Roblero, a Guatemalan man the agency said had been arrested on DUI and hit-and-run charges. The Denver Gazette could not immediately confirm that history. Colorado and Denver limit honoring civil immigration detainers. Denver Gazette
• About 140 people held at the Tacoma, Washington ICE facility reached a fourth day without food Saturday, the 20th hunger strike there this year according to advocates. Reps. Maxine Dexter of Oregon and Emily Randall of Washington made an unannounced visit and said they were kept from the medical wing. The Seattle Times, House.gov
• Latin Americans deported from the United States to the Central African Republic describe being flown, shackled, to Bangui and left in poor living conditions. One was told, "This is Africa, deal with it." El País
• Immigration courts are packing 50 to 100 cases into single "mega master" hearings to cut a large backlog. Critics say the format slashes the already limited due process people get in those courtrooms. USA Today, Austin Kocher

People studying in the United States on F-1 and J-1 visas will be admitted for a fixed period starting September 15, 2026, rather than for however long their studies take, and those who need more time must seek an extension through both their school and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Department of Homeland Security final rule also covers I visa foreign-media representatives and restricts some changes of school, program and major; it is a major rule under congressional review, so DHS may still publish a different effective date. Federal Register, Daily Emerald, University of Cincinnati International Services, National Law Review, American Bazaar

Anyone applying to extend or change status, secure dependent status or obtain work authorization will need the new editions of Forms I-539 and I-765 starting September 15, 2026, with no grace period for the old versions. USCIS will reject an application filed on or after that date on an earlier edition; the University of Washington ISS edition table says filings before September 15 still use the 08/28/24 I-539 and 08/21/25 I-765. University of Washington ISS, Diario Las Américas

ICE proposes liability coverage for local officers making immigration arrests

State and local officers who make immigration arrests under federal deputization could get help paying for liability insurance under a new proposal from ICE. The subsidy is meant to remove a financial deterrent for officers worried about being personally sued over their federal immigration work. AP News, PBS News

See whether your local department has a 287(g) agreement, then ask for the insurance contracts. 287(g) Watch lists participating agencies by state; a public-records request can turn up whether the department already carries liability coverage for immigration arrests, and on what terms. 287(g) Watch state index

Refugee admissions fall toward a historic low

People seeking refuge in the United States are arriving in far smaller numbers: the country admitted 10,258 refugees in the first 10 months of fiscal 2026, down from 38,102 in fiscal 2025 and 100,034 in fiscal 2024, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of State Department data. Pew says the year could finish at the lowest annual level on record against a 17,500 ceiling, and South Africans account for nearly all arrivals so far. Pew Research Center, Stateline

Salvadoran TPS nears its scheduled endpoint

Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status, the designation that shields people from deportation when their home country is deemed unsafe, are watching a September 9, 2026 endpoint that Spanish-language newsrooms are covering far more closely than their English-language counterparts. Reporting from El Salvador asks what happens if the Department of Homeland Security does not publish the required determination before that date; by statute the designation continues automatically, usually for six months. DHS told Telemundo it has not made an official announcement yet. El Salvador.com, Telemundo 62

Salvadorans with qualifying, pending work-permit renewals may keep using expired employment authorization documents through September 9, 2026, with a USCIS notice as proof of the extension. USCIS is mailing those notices, and sending them electronically to people with myUSCIS accounts; employers can accept the old card plus the notice through that date. Diario Co Latino

Around the system

• Local data reporting tracks the growth of ICE arrests in southwestern Utah and examines who is being taken into custody as federal enforcement expands. The Salt Lake Tribune

• Flatbush, New York merchants report fewer customers, staffing problems and workers or residents afraid to leave home amid concerns about immigration enforcement; a neighborhood business survey found that 70% of responding owners had seen lower foot traffic, adding pressure to small storefronts already facing higher costs. Documented

• Bay Area legal-aid groups say they will keep representing unaccompanied children after federal funding shifted to a contractor that advocates say lacks experience in immigration court, while a federal judge examines whether the administration's transition plan actually ensures the children have lawyers as required. KQED, La Nación

• The administration has paused disputed border construction in Big Bend while residents continue challenging the project and its effects on the surrounding community. Scripps News, CBS Texas

• Reading, Pennsylvania, is considering a formal process for police certification of U visa applications, a local step that can affect whether immigrant crime victims are able to pursue federal protection. Reading Eagle

• U.S. citizen teenagers describe how the arrest and deportation of their parents disrupted their households, separated family members and shifted adult responsibilities onto children. NBC News

• DHS is defending investigations of people who criticize the agency, including ICE agents who tracked a Rochester, New York man to his house, an airport and a hotel over a critical email and left a warning notice; he has sued, arguing the visits violated the First Amendment. NPR

Today’s edition shows our commitment to surfacing Spanish language sources even when English coverage is thin. News about changes for permanent resident applications was heavily concentrated in Spanish and Telemundo ran a Spanish-only investigative piece about conditions in the Aurora, Colorado ICE facility. Because our news gathering system is language-neutral, they surfaced anyway. Produced in part with AI, all mistakes are my own. —David

A federal judge declined to keep Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections in place for Ethiopian nationals while their legal challenge continues. The ruling allows the administration to move ahead with ending the designation, while plaintiffs may continue pursuing a claim that racial or national-origin bias influenced the decision. Newsweek, Straits Times, CNN en Español

Recent weeks have seen TPS protections expire for several groups. People who lose TPS can also lose work authorization and protection from removal if they do not have another immigration status or avenue available. Sahan Journal

USCIS updates public-charge guidance for permanent-residence applicants

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published updated guidance on public-charge inadmissibility for covered applicants seeking adjustment to lawful permanent residence. The guidance explains which immigration categories are exempt and how a public-charge bond may be considered. USCIS, Telemundo McAllen, El Nuevo Herald

Officers are directed to assess the totality of the circumstances rather than treat one benefit or personal factor as automatically decisive. The factors identified include age, health, family circumstances, financial resources, education and skills, so the review turns on the applicant’s circumstances as a whole. El Comercio

Court oversight and new detention plans put immigrant children in focus

A court has moved to require additional independent oversight connected to protections for children in immigration detention. That puts compliance with safeguards for children held by the government under closer judicial attention. The Marshall Project, El Diario

Federal officials are seeking operators for an emergency facility intended to hold unaccompanied immigrant children. The proposed site would expand custody capacity and has drawn attention to the conditions and services available to children in government care. The Independent

The Independent article appears to refer to a contract originally posted July 16 to the System for Award Management. SAM.gov

Detainees describe medical-care and health concerns at Colorado ICE facility

Former detainees, a health worker and records reviewed by Telemundo describe concerns about medical attention, respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses, food quality and tuberculosis-related conditions at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) processing center in Aurora, Colorado. ICE said there were no active tuberculosis cases or people still subject to contact tracing at the facility. Telemundo

Broader reporting examines a disconnect between ICE facility health ratings and reported health concerns, including deaths in detention. The gap raises questions about what formal inspections and evaluations capture, making this a distinctive Spanish-language reporting lane in the day’s coverage. Project on Government Oversight, CalMatters, KPBS Public Media

Around the system

• Chicago lawmakers are pressing the Justice Department to end mass immigration-court hearing practices that they say raise due-process concerns. WBEZ Chicago

• An Idaho investigation found that Canyon County probation officers compiled a list of foreign-born people for ICE and shared information about probation appointments, raising concern that people with lawful status could be swept into immigration enforcement based on birthplace rather than verified status. InvestigateWest

• San Diego County ended arrangements allowing federal immigration agencies to use local firearms-training facilities. Associated Press

• Employment-based green-card backlogs have reached record highs as USCIS delays and denials increase, according to a new report from the American Immigration Council.

• ICE officials are due at a contempt hearing over the repeated detention of a Baltimore-area resident after a federal judge ordered his release. The court is considering whether officials responsible for the rearrests defied prior orders, with possible sanctions if contempt is found. The Banner

A coalition sued the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, following Monday’s announcement, to block the fixed-stay policy for students, exchange visitors, researchers and foreign journalists. The case challenges the rule replacing duration-of-status admission with fixed periods. El País, Forbes, Al Jazeera

For people in longer F and J visa programs, staying beyond the fixed period could mean filing an extension request with USCIS. Students who need more time would have to apply for an extension of stay, potentially adding fees, biometrics and an interview to programs that run longer than the initial admission period. Bloomberg Law

Mexico presses for accountability in deaths tied to U.S. immigration custody and operations

English-language coverage of Mexico’s response has been thin, but El País is reporting an accumulating legal and diplomatic effort over 17 Mexican deaths connected to ICE custody or operations. Mexico has filed 20 complaints with U.S. authorities, requested a Justice Department investigation and raised the cases with the United Nations. El País, El Mañana de Reynosa

The campaign is still developing, not a settled international human-rights finding. Its next significance depends on how U.S. prosecutors, courts and international bodies respond to Mexico’s complaints and requests for investigation. Enfoque Noticias, La Chispa

Court-ordered oversight puts immigrant children's detention conditions under new scrutiny

A judge has ordered independent monitoring and closer court supervision after findings about conditions in facilities holding immigrant children. The order makes the government’s compliance with detention standards an immediate issue for children in those facilities. The New York Times

The oversight order arrives amid separate concerns about legal representation and plans for additional child-detention capacity. Those are distinct developments, but together they put both the conditions of custody and the safeguards available to unaccompanied children under pressure. American Immigration Council, El Espectador

Around the system

• A federal appeals court upheld an injunction requiring DHS to follow more restrictive enforcement rules at or near the houses of worship named in the case; specified activity, including arrests authorized by administrative or judicial warrants, remains permitted. Government Executive

• Colorado is suing GEO Group to enforce a tuberculosis-related public-health order at the Aurora immigration detention center. The Colorado Sun

• The Oklahoma County sheriff is seeking approval for deputies to receive ICE training under a proposed enforcement arrangement; county commissioners deferred a vote. News 9, KOKH

• Dallas attorney Anibal Anibowei has petitioned the Supreme Court to decide whether border agents may search travelers’ phones without a warrant, after conflicting federal appellate rulings. Reason

• An Indiana state court dismissed the attorney general’s appeal in a lawsuit over local cooperation with ICE in St. Joseph County, Indiana. WNDU

Harvard is advising some international students and scholars to be in the United States by Sept. 15. The Harvard Crimson reports that the university is advising F-1 and J-1 students and J-1 scholars in on-campus programs to try to be in the country when DHS’s final rule takes effect. Mexico City’s Excelsior describes the same rule and the coalition lawsuit seeking to stop it.

The rule replaces Duration of Status with fixed admission periods—generally up to four years for F-1 and J-1 students, with an “Admit Until Date” on the I-94—and shortens the F-1 post-completion grace period from 60 days to 30. It is scheduled to take effect Sept. 15, subject to congressional review. The lawsuit’s preliminary-injunction request has not been granted; Harvard says the rule remains in place for now.

What changes to green-card rules and USCIS forms mean

The public-charge rule changes how DHS evaluates some applications for admission or a green card. The Federal Register says it replaces the 2022 framework on Sept. 18. USCIS guidance says the new approach applies to applications to enter the United States and to Form I-485 filings submitted on or after that date. Officers will review each case as a whole and may consider specified benefits received on or after Sept. 18; earlier benefits remain under the prior framework. Receiving a benefit alone does not mean an application will be denied. The Hill describes the added scrutiny green-card applicants may face, while La Nacion explains the practical changes for migrants.

USCIS is also replacing three key forms, with no grace period. Form I-485 is the green-card application; Form I-539 extends or changes some temporary stays; and Form I-765 is the work-permit application. The new 09/18/26 I-485 edition replaces the 01/20/25 edition. The new 09/15/26 I-539 and I-765 editions replace the 08/28/24 and 08/21/25 editions. USCIS says filings after each cutoff must use the current edition or be rejected.

After TPS decisions, workers and families face new realities

Sudan and Ukraine are in an interim phase, not a settled endpoint. USCIS’s Sudan page and Ukraine page list Oct. 19 as the current end date and describe individualized notices extending certain pending renewal applicants’ EADs through that date. Through the Immigration Lens notes that what happens afterward remains unresolved.

Honduras illustrates the downstream question. Infobae reports that the Honduran government is planning for possible returns while emphasizing that losing TPS does not mean everyone returns immediately. Other applications, family circumstances and litigation can change a person’s options.

Churches, TPS and the politics of immigration enforcement

A federal appeals court kept tighter limits on immigration enforcement at the houses of worship covered by a lawsuit. Politico, Government Executive and Maryland Matters report that the Fourth Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction requiring DHS agents to follow the more restrictive 2021 sensitive-places rules at the plaintiff congregations while the case continues. The ruling is not a nationwide ban: warrants and some emergency actions remain exceptions.

In Ohio, churches are part of the response to the end of Haiti’s TPS. In a conversation with Austin Kocher, Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman described congregations that built relationships in Haiti, sponsored people who fled, and are now confronting the possibility of their neighbors’ deportation. He pointed to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s description of deporting those families as “sending them back to hell.”

Colorado, GEO and the limits of detention oversight

Colorado’s fight with GEO Group is to gain access to records needed for a tuberculosis investigation. The Colorado Sun and Denver Post report that the state sued after GEO missed a deadline to provide records about a June case at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado. A separate ruling blocked parts of Colorado’s new detention-inspection law, according to Colorado Newsline.

The facility’s May ICE Office of Detention Oversight report rated it Superior, with all 29 reviewed standards compliant and zero deficiencies. That is an internal ICE assessment under its own standards, not an independent resolution of the TB records dispute or evidence that GEO caused a particular infection; this week the Project on Government Oversight published a deep dive into what they call ICE’s “broken” facility inspection system.

A federal judge in New York vacated the State Department policy that had directed consular officers to pause or refuse immigrant-visa processing for nationals of 75 countries. Judge Jeannette A. Vargas found that the policy was contrary to law and exceeded the secretary of state's authority. CourtListener (opinion and order), NPR

The ruling removes the blanket nationality-based policy, but it does not automatically reopen every affected case or order the government to issue every visa. Applicants may still face other reasons for delay or refusal. AfghanEvac warned that the ruling alone does not restart every pathway for Afghan applicants. Khaama Press

The case was brought by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, African Communities Together, U.S. citizen family sponsors and employment-based visa applicants. The next practical question is how the State Department identifies cases affected only by the vacated policy and communicates with applicants. CourtListener docket

The order also does not erase separate travel restrictions. And an immigrant visa is permission to seek admission as a permanent resident, not a guarantee that a person will be admitted at the border.

Haiti sees the first deportation flight since TPS ended

ICE sent 161 adults to Cap-Haïtien on Thursday in the first deportation flight to Haiti since the administration ended Temporary Protected Status for Haitians. Haitian officials said former TPS holders were among the passengers but did not say how many; the flight also included people in removal proceedings, people with criminal histories or prior charges, and people sent because they had a Haitian parent. AP News, Miami Herald

Haitian officials said former TPS holders were among the passengers but did not say how many. The flight also carried people in removal proceedings, people with criminal histories or prior charges, and people sent because they had a Haitian parent; it landed in northern Haiti because commercial flights to Port-au-Prince remain restricted amid gang violence.

Ninth Circuit keeps the Adelanto order in force

The news from Adelanto, an ICE facility in Southern California, is that a unanimous Ninth Circuit panel rejected the federal government’s request to pause the order requiring immediate improvements. The July 16 preliminary injunction remains in effect while the appeal proceeds. The panel also said the federal government remains responsible for constitutionally acceptable conditions even though GEO Group operates the facility, and pointed to possible remedies including withholding payment, financial penalties or moving people held there. LAist

The injunction requires clean drinking water, adequate food and sanitation, mold remediation, privacy, clean clothing and bedding, outdoor recreation and meaningful visitation. It also limits disruptive headcounts and administrative segregation, requires a remedial plan for medical care and disability accommodations, and provides for two independent monitors. It is preliminary relief, not a final decision on the merits. The court’s order, CalMatters, Public Counsel

The court record and ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight record measure different things. ODO’s September 2025 inspection rated Adelanto “Good,” with three deficient standards and six findings; its February 2024 inspection rated the facility “Superior,” with one deficient standard and one deficiency. ODO is an internal review with its own standards and narrower scope, while the lawsuit addresses facility-wide conditions and constitutional and disability-rights claims. The “Good” rating does not disprove the litigation record, and the preliminary injunction is not a final merits decision. ODO report, ODO report, ICE ODO inspection library

Around the system

Maryland privacy and civil-rights advocates asked Attorney General Anthony Brown to investigate companies they allege sold or shared residents’ location, vehicle, personal and ITIN data with law-enforcement or immigration customers. The complaint names Penlink, Motorola, Thomson Reuters, Insight LPR, LexisNexis, Flock Safety and ThunderCat Technology. The attorney general’s office said it was reviewing the complaint; Penlink and Thomson Reuters disputed the allegations. NPR, CBS Baltimore,

The Trump administration appealed its loss over sanctuary policies in Newark, Jersey City, Paterson and Hoboken, New Jersey. A federal judge had dismissed the challenge, saying the cities’ policies largely reflected an existing state directive limiting local cooperation with federal civil immigration enforcement. New Jersey Monitor

The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office announced a memorandum with ICE that gives certain deputies authority to perform immigration-enforcement tasks. The announcement adds an Oklahoma agency to the expanding set of local law-enforcement bodies working under 287(g) agreements. KTUL

New York sheriffs were considering a legal challenge as the state’s deadline for ending existing ICE agreements approached. Newsday reported that as many as 20 sheriffs were discussing joining a lawsuit; seven of the 12 agencies with formal 287(g) agreements had said they would end them. Newsday, New York attorney general

Maine police departments are adjusting to a law that limits when they can ask about immigration status, share personal information with ICE or CBP, or honor civil immigration detainers. The law took effect July 29, and local agencies describe new procedures while saying they will comply with it. Portland Press Herald

Missing something, or spotted an error? Reply to this email — corrections run at the foot of the next issue.

The Trump administration is preparing to revoke the business and tourism visas of up to 200,000 people who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum, according to State Department documents obtained by The Associated Press and two U.S. officials. AP, The Hill

The plan would cover B-1 and B-2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026. The State Department says it is coordinating with DHS to identify and revoke the visas on a rolling basis; the department declined to confirm the number, saying it would remain dynamic. The revocations are not final, and officials told the AP they would not necessarily lead to immediate deportation. Al Jazeera

The legal tension is that U.S. law allows a person who is physically present in the country to apply for asylum regardless of immigration status. That rule does not settle the separate question of whether the government may cancel a visitor visa, but it helps explain why the reported plan is likely to face a legal challenge. 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (Aug. 23, 2026 text)

A proposed $103,265 price tag for new H-1B petitions

DHS proposed a new $103,265 fee for every H-1B petition subject to the annual cap, including petitions eligible for the 20,000 advanced-degree exemption. The charge would be paid when the petition is filed and would sit on top of other applicable fees. USCIS, Federal Register

The proposal is not a final rule. DHS says it would not apply to H-1B petitions that are not subject to the cap, including petitions filed by certain nonprofit research organizations, governmental research organizations and institutions of higher education. The agency estimates the fee would raise about $8.8 billion a year based on an expected 85,000 cap-subject petitions. Reuters, WR Immigration

This is a separate proposed charge from the earlier $100,000 H-1B payment, which was blocked by a judge. The new proposal is aimed at cap-subject petitions; it does not by itself describe a fee for every H-1B filing, extension or amendment. American Bazaar

ICE reports 1,328 arrests in a two-week Washington-region operation

DHS says ICE arrested 1,328 people in Virginia and Maryland between Aug. 1 and Aug. 14 during an operation it called “Operation Safe Community — Washington, D.C.” The agency says much of the operation focused on the Washington suburbs, while officers also conducted actions throughout both states. DHS, Telemundo, El Diario NY

Nearly 400 of those arrested had either been convicted of or charged with crimes in the United States, according to DHS. That is an agency-reported breakdown, not an independently audited count; the department also listed arrests involving people it identified as members of MS-13, 18th Street Gang and Tren de Aragua. Fox 5 DC, WJLA

Around the system

In Chicago, immigration agents arrested a man after an apparent collision with his pickup truck, and a standoff followed when a tow-truck driver initially refused to help remove the agents' SUV. Block Club Chicago reported that Illinois State Police confirmed the crash, no injuries were reported, and a second tow truck later removed the vehicle. Block Club Chicago

A federal judge dismissed the Trump administration's lawsuit against Washtenaw County, Michigan, allowing the county to keep policies limiting cooperation with ICE. The ruling said federal immigration law does not generally require local governments to use their resources for a particular federal request. CBS Detroit, The Detroit News

Rensselaer County, New York, said it would join a federal lawsuit challenging a state law that bars local law-enforcement agencies from working with ICE under 287(g) agreements. The law was set to take effect Tuesday; WAMC reported that 11 of the other 12 New York jurisdictions with agreements planned to withdraw. WAMC

Legal-aid groups are challenging a USCIS policy that allows asylum officers to bypass the affirmative asylum interview and refer some cases directly to immigration court. The groups say the change could move more cases into an already strained adversarial system; USCIS says it is intended to direct resources toward timely adjudication. KJZZ

ICE held more than 45,000 people in detention in July, the highest monthly total since Donald Trump returned to office, according to a new Deportation Data Project release and The Marshall Project’s analysis. It is the first independent confirmation of the detention surge after ICE figures first surfaced in Fox News and CBS News reporting. Deportation Data Project, The Marshall Project

The DDP release counts more than 610,000 people detained since Trump’s second inauguration. The Marshall Project separately reports that more than 270,000 people spent at least a week in detention during 2025 and Austin Kocher's analysis shows most of the people arrested have no criminal background in the US. Austin Kocher

Courthouses are part of the enforcement fight

The Justice Department sued Franklin County Municipal Court in Ohio over a rule that restricts civil immigration arrests at the courthouse. The court says people who must appear for court business should be able to do so without civil arrest there; the federal complaint argues the rule unlawfully interferes with immigration enforcement. The case turns a long-running argument about courthouse access into a direct legal fight. Courthouse News, Justice Department complaint

In Illinois, prosecutors’ files reached ICE

An Injustice Watch investigation found prosecutors in one of every six Illinois counties sharing sensitive records with ICE, including court dates, scheduled jail releases, home addresses and photographs. The reporting found that some people were detained or deported after those disclosures. Illinois’ TRUST Act is supposed to prevent this kind of local cooperation with immigration enforcement, but prosecutors disagreed about whether their offices are covered. Injustice Watch

A judge blocked access to commercial-driver records

A federal judge temporarily blocked the administration from obtaining state-held information on roughly 17 million commercial drivers from CDLIS, the system states use to share licensing records. The order does not decide the case, but it means the records have not been handed over while the court considers a preliminary injunction. FreightWaves provides the trucking-industry context; The Center Square’s short video is a useful rehash. The attempted records access remains separate from trucking groups’ push for tighter non-domiciled-CDL eligibility rules. FreightWaves, FreightWaves explainer, The Center Square

Around the system

• USCIS anti-fraud officers are being diverted to the administration’s voter-fraud effort. The shift puts the officers on two “high-priority” initiatives: screening South African refugees and looking for alleged unlawful voters. The Guardian

• The administration asked the Supreme Court to revive its asylum ban at the U.S.-Mexico border. The filing seeks review of the lower-court ruling against the policy. NOTUS

• Federal denaturalization filings are increasing, according to TRAC’s review of court records. The cases seek to revoke U.S. citizenship through civil proceedings. ABC13 Houston

• The Justice Department targeted another Philadelphia “ICE Out” ordinance after prevailing in its challenge to the city’s ban on masks for immigration agents. The new dispute concerns limits on local cooperation with ICE. The Philadelphia Inquirer

The State Department has temporarily adjusted immigrant-visa appointments around the world while consular officers undergo new training that includes public-charge screening. The department has not announced when regular scheduling will resume. The reporting describes a pause or adjustment to immigrant-visa appointments and interviews; it does not establish that every visa category, every application or visa issuance after a completed interview is affected. Reuters, around the world: El Colombiano (Colombia), Claro Sports (Mexico), Asian Journal (includes information for Filipinos), South China Morning Post (China and Hong Kong)

Texas court denies Minnesota’s emergency extradition request

A federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, denied Minnesota’s emergency request to compel ICE agent Christian Castro’s extradition or keep him in Cameron County custody beyond the state’s 90-day pre-extradition limit. The ruling said Minnesota’s case was not ripe because Gov. Greg Abbott had not decided whether to issue a rendition warrant; the court found no legal deadline for Abbott’s ongoing investigation. The order does not decide the charges against Castro or prevent Texas from later granting extradition. Associated Press, Texas Tribune, Star Tribune, CourtListener

New York’s limits on ICE cooperation face a court challenge

New York’s Local Cops, Local Crimes Act now bars state and local agencies from maintaining 287(g) agreements or similar arrangements for civil immigration enforcement. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said the county would unwind its ICE agreement while joining a challenge to the law. Gothamist

Rensselaer County said it planned to join a federal lawsuit seeking to strike down the law and preserve its 287(g) agreement. The law does not prevent local law enforcement from assisting ICE with criminal investigations; its restrictions concern civil immigration enforcement. WAMC

Chicago removal orders for unaccompanied children

Six unaccompanied children, ages 12 to 17, received removal orders in a Chicago immigration-court docket. The orders do not by themselves establish that the children were deported. Attorneys, advocates and lawmakers told local reporters that the proceedings raised concerns about whether children could effectively understand and contest what was happening in court. WBEZ, Block Club Chicago

Background: Special Immigrant Juvenile status is a legal pathway for some children who have experienced abuse, neglect or abandonment and whose protections have been in question for years. The Marshall Project

Around the system

Federal authorities deported former Venezuelan military colonel Rafael José Quero Silva from South Florida to Venezuela after a DOJ immigration judge issued a removal order. U.S. officials said he had participated in the detention and torture of political dissidents during the Maduro government. WLRN

Kansas dairy production has expanded rapidly with immigrant workers central to that growth, KCUR’s Kansas City Today reported. The audio report examines the rural labor force behind one of the country’s fastest-growing dairy industries. KCUR

Migrant mothers protested outside ICE’s Baltimore office to demand removal of electronic ankle monitors. In this Spanish-language local video report, participants said the devices had brought stigma and interfered with work. Univision

A Kansas City woman is seeking to return after she was deported despite what she and her advocates describe as protection for crime victims. KCUR reports that Norma Zavala Levia’s case is now being pursued from outside the United States. KCUR