Editor's note: Today, Austin Kocher is hosting an event about habeas relief for children in prolonged detention. Read his “Habeas for Children” post for details. On Saturday, Sept. 26, journalist Perla Trevizo will moderate a panel on ICE detention at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas.
Public-charge rule takes effect as states challenge broader immigration screening
A broader public-charge test took effect Friday for people seeking green cards. USCIS officers may again weigh use of means-tested public benefits, alongside an applicant’s age, health, finances and other circumstances. The change replaces the narrower 2022 framework. USCIS, Federal Register, GBH
Twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., are asking a federal court to block it. Their lawsuit argues that the rule gives the agency too little guidance about what officers may count against an applicant. Colorado Attorney General, New York Attorney General complaint, CNN
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States press for access to inspect ICE detention facilities as conditions face scrutiny
Washington, Massachusetts and Colorado are pressing to enforce state health-and-safety rules inside privately run ICE detention facilities. The cases test whether states can inspect facilities that hold people for the federal government; Washington’s dispute with GEO remains active, while a court has blocked part of Colorado’s law. News From The States, Washington governor, Colorado General Assembly
San Diego County is pursuing its own leverage at Otay Mesa. The county threatened licensing action after saying the detention center failed to report a suspected tuberculosis case, amid its ongoing lawsuit with DHS over local oversight. KPBS, NBC 7 San Diego, inewsource
Florida’s now-shuttered Alligator Alcatraz offers a grim example of what scrutiny can surface. A Homeland Security watchdog confirmed that small cages were used there; a former detainee told NBC News he spent more than 15 hours in one, while facility records put stays at under two hours. NBC News, DHS inspector general, The New York Times
Salvadoran TPS holders await clarity on protection and work authorization
DHS says Salvadorans with TPS remain protected until it announces a decision on the designation. The administration has ended TPS for most of the countries that still had it at the start of the year, but has not said when it will decide El Salvador’s case. POLITICO, WYPR, Telemundo
That leaves a large community waiting for the notice that will settle both protection from removal and work-permit paperwork. Reporting from NBC News and Telemundo shows misinformation already complicating decisions for people who have lived in the United States for decades. NBC News, Telemundo
Upcoming
The next four weeks.
- Sept. 18, 2026
People applying for a green card from inside the US face a broader public charge test — whether an officer thinks they might come to depend on government benefits — after DHS scraps the narrower 2022 rule. USCIS is issuing a new edition of the green card application (Form I-485) and will stop accepting older editions from that date.
- Sept. 25, 2026
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which houses unaccompanied immigrant children, wants to keep using its mental health assessment form and to merge its two illness-reporting forms (active TB and non-TB) into a single Onsite Health Intervention Form. Comments are open until the deadline.
- Sept. 28, 2026
Immigration judges would be able to fine people who defy their authority in court (contempt), under a proposed rule setting out who can be penalised, how much, and how to appeal — aimed mainly at lawyers and others appearing in deportation cases. Comments can be filed until 11:59 p.m. Eastern on September 28, 2026.
- Oct. 1, 2026
A new fiscal year's supply of employment-based green card numbers becomes available on October 1, so the October 2026 Visa Bulletin — the State Department chart that sets who can file or be approved based on their place in line (priority date) — may show forward movement in backlogged categories such as EB-2 India.
- Oct. 5, 2026
The federal office that houses immigrant children who arrive without a parent or guardian, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), wants to revise the forms its inspectors use to check whether shelters are meeting licensing rules and other legal requirements. Anyone can comment until October 5, 2026.
- Oct. 13, 2026
USCIS can now require that certain applications and petitions be filed online rather than on paper, and the rule sets out how it will designate which ones. People who cannot file electronically can ask for a waiver. The change is already in force as an interim final rule, but comments are open until October 13, 2026.
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Around the system
A heavily redacted DHS email shows personnel circulated a list of jurisdictions that provide election materials in languages other than English. NPR first reported the email, from last year; it remains unclear why the list was shared. NPR
A federal appeals panel held that border officers may manually search travelers’ phones without a warrant or individualized suspicion. The decision treats such searches as routine border searches; it did not decide the rules for more invasive forensic extractions. Newsweek
The Associated Press has published a new map and search tool tracing where people released at the border said they were headed. It is based on anonymized CBP records obtained through FOIA, with results suppressed for ZIP codes showing fewer than 10 people. AP
A Borderless Magazine investigation found Somali asylum seekers being moved through accelerated immigration-court schedules in Chicago. Its reporters observed cases in which people had little time to obtain corroborating evidence; EOIR said it is adjusting schedules to handle cases timely and lawfully. Borderless Magazine
A federal judge in Southern California ordered immigration agents to document the particular facts supporting any warrantless arrest on flight-risk grounds. The preliminary injunction was unsealed this week after the court found evidence of an ongoing practice that did not make the required assessment. LAist / CalMatters