October 2026

North Carolina lawmakers overrode Gov. Josh Stein’s veto in June, requiring four state public-safety agencies to enter ICE’s 287(g) program. The State Highway Patrol signed a Task Force Model agreement on September 27, days before an October 1 deadline tied to Senate Bill 153, the Border Protection Act. Enlace Latino NC, Conexión Migrante

The law names the Department of Public Safety, Department of Adult Correction, State Highway Patrol and State Bureau of Investigation. The Herald-Sun reported that Adult Correction signed a Warrant Service Officer agreement and that the agencies had to submit their agreements and policies to legislative overseers by October 1. The Herald-Sun See the North Carolina roster on 287(g) Watch.

MTC will reopen an Arizona prison as an ICE jail

Management and Training Corporation, the private prison company known as MTC, says it will reopen the former Marana prison in Arizona as an ICE detention center within 60 days. MTC told Arizona Luminaria the facility is expected to hold 775 people and employ 338 full-time workers. Arizona Luminaria

The reopening returns ICE detention to a prison marked by unresolved reporting about its years under MTC. LOOKOUT described a former employee’s account, corroborated in part by another former employee and state investigative records, that allegations of staff sexual misconduct were left out of a 2023 Prison Rape Elimination Act audit; MTC, the former warden and the Arizona Department of Corrections did not respond to the reporter’s requests for comment. LOOKOUT

I worked with Joe Neff and Alysia Santo on an investigation of MTC’s no-show prison workers in Mississippi. Our analysis conservatively estimated that MTC received millions of dollars for work it did not perform. The Marshall Project

A record year of deaths in ICE custody as watchdog capacity shrinks

Thirty-seven people have died while held in ICE custody since last fall, Bloomberg Law reports—the agency’s deadliest fiscal year on record. The deaths come as detention capacity expands and the administration has cut the DHS civil-rights office and eliminated funding for the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman. Bloomberg Law

Upcoming

This week (Mon–Fri)

• OCT 1: 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. WR Immigration (Wolfsdorf Rosenthal)
• OCT 2: USCIS says certain TPS work documents issued under Venezuela's 2023 designation remain valid through October 2 under a federal court order. We added this date because USCIS still identifies it, while its effect remains tied to litigation. USCIS

Next four weeks

• OCT 5: 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. Federal Register
• OCT 13: 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. Federal Register
• OCT 19: For Ukraine, USCIS lists October 19, 2026, on TPS documents; certain Sudan TPS work documents also remain valid through October 19, 2026. This is a date to watch, not a settled end date: Ukraine's statutory extension question and official implementation remain unresolved. USCIS

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Around the system

• Diversity-visa applicants seek relief after the fiscal-year deadline. A federal judge heard requests to keep processing 2026 diversity visas after September 30, with plaintiffs arguing the government had not resumed ordinary adjudications under an earlier injunction. Courthouse News Service
• An Austin, Texas, delivery driver shot by ICE remains in custody. A judge allowed the case against Wilber Rafael Garces Perez to proceed on an allegation that he assaulted an officer; his lawyers said he still needs medical care after the shooting. Spectrum News 1
• ICE says it has begun a sanctuary-city enforcement surge. DHS did not identify the cities involved, while Portland, Oregon, officials reaffirmed the city’s sanctuary policies. The Oregonian/OregonLive
• A Florida congresswoman again visited the Miramar ICE office. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz described holding-cell conditions and challenged ICE’s position that the site is not subject to detention standards. Miami Herald
• Colorado’s attorney general sued to stop a planned Hudson detention facility. The state’s case challenges the proposed GEO Group-operated site and puts another new detention build-out into court. Colorado Attorney General
• New Medicaid eligibility restrictions take effect October 1. Reporting points to coverage losses for some lawfully present immigrants, including people with asylum or refugee-related statuses. Prensa Libre
• Twenty-one state attorneys general opposed DHS’s asylum-interview rule. Their comment says the rule would allow USCIS to send affirmative-asylum cases directly into removal proceedings without an asylum-officer interview. Virginia Attorney General
• Venezuela TPS reaches its October 2 endpoint. The immediate question is what happens next for people covered by the 2023 designation and their employment documents, pending further court or DHS action. El Salvador
• USCIS and DOJ are renewing denaturalization scrutiny in alleged-fraud cases. The narrow point: citizenship obtained through a material lie can be challenged in federal court; this is not a general citizenship-review program. La Opinión
• The administration told Fox News it has revoked more than 250,000 visas. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott described the figure as a cumulative tally since January 2025; the department has not released a public case-by-case breakdown alongside the announcement. Fox News

The Supreme Court will decide whether the Trump administration can deny bond hearings to people placed in immigration detention during removal proceedings. The justices agreed Thursday to hear a challenge to the administration’s July 2025 policy; lower courts have split over whether people fighting deportation can ask an immigration judge to consider their release. Reuters, El Paso Matters / AP, NBC News

USCIS fee changes take effect this month; visa queues shift

USCIS will raise several H.R. 1 immigration-related fees on October 16. The annual asylum fee, certain initial work-permit fees, the TPS application fee and the parole fee are among the charges being adjusted; USCIS says affected benefit requests postmarked on or after that date without the correct fee will be rejected. USCIS, Federal Register, Newsweek

The October Visa Bulletin brings some movement for people waiting for employment-based green cards, while other lines barely change. That means some people can file green-card applications now, while approvals may come later and others must wait. State Department, Clark Hill, Ogletree

A court restores limits on ICE courthouse arrests

A federal judge struck down the Trump administration policy that allowed ICE to make immigration-courthouse arrests with broad discretion. The order vacates the 2025 policy as applied to immigration courthouses and restores the earlier, narrower limits on such arrests. Gothamist, amNewYork, ACLU

ICE tightens the rules for vehicle stops

ICE has barred high-speed chases and imposed new requirements for vehicle stops after a series of shootings. Internal guidance says only trained officers may conduct stops, participating vehicles must have lights and sirens, and agents must wear activated body cameras. Telemundo / AP, CNN en Español

Renee Good’s family files suit

The family of Renee Good, who was killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis in January, has filed two civil lawsuits against the federal government and immigration officials. One alleges wrongful death and excessive force; the other alleges a conspiracy to violate civil rights. NPR, Sahan Journal, Bloomberg Law

Upcoming

Next four weeks

• OCT 5: The Office of Refugee Resettlement wants to revise the forms its inspectors use to check whether shelters for children who arrive without a parent or guardian meet licensing and other legal requirements. Comments close October 5. Federal Register
• OCT 13: USCIS can require certain immigration applications and petitions to be filed online instead of on paper, with a waiver process for people who cannot file electronically. Comments on the interim rule close October 13. Federal Register
• OCT 16: USCIS fee increases required by H.R. 1 take effect October 16. Immigration benefit requests postmarked that day or later can be rejected if they do not include the new required fee. Federal Register
• OCT 18: The Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division is directed to begin reviewing previously filed H-1B labor-condition applications to decide whether action against sponsoring employers may be warranted. The Insightful Immigration Blog

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

Around the system

• Pregnant, postpartum and nursing people are still being held in ICE custody. The 19th reports that DHS confirmed 363 people in those groups were deported between January 2025 and mid-February 2026; a new 19th/YouGov poll found most respondents said they should not be detained or should be detained only in exceptional circumstances. The 19th
• Homebuilders say immigration enforcement is deepening an existing construction-labor shortage. The industry’s trade group says immigrant workers account for more than a quarter of the construction workforce; reporting from Arizona, South Texas and the Mid-Atlantic describes workers staying home, delayed projects and higher costs. KJZZ, Marketplace, Axios
• Connecticut’s new protected-location law took effect Thursday. It restricts civil immigration arrests at schools, hospitals, houses of worship and other covered places. WFSB
• Los Angeles has codified parts of Mayor Karen Bass’s immigration-enforcement directive. The ordinance restricts federal use of city property for staging and processing, and requires city police to document immigration-enforcement incidents when they respond. Los Angeles Magazine, NBC Los Angeles
• Bloomfield, New Jersey, schools briefly sheltered in place after federal agents made an arrest outside Berkeley Elementary School. Officials said the arrest occurred on a public sidewalk and that no students or staff were in danger. NJ.com

Julian Curo-Churata died after a medical emergency while in ICE custody in Louisiana. ICE said the 47-year-old Peruvian national, held at Richwood Correctional Center, was found in medical distress on September 28 and taken to Ochsner LSU Health Monroe Medical Center in Monroe, Louisiana. He was pronounced dead early the next day. ICE says the preliminary cause is unknown and an autopsy will determine the official cause. ICE, Tampa Free Press, Progreso Hispano News

ICE said it notified DHS oversight offices, Curo-Churata’s spouse, attorney and the Peruvian consulate, but has not publicly explained the medical episode. His habeas case was still active when he died. Immigration-data researcher Austin Kocher, in an independent analysis rather than ICE’s account, identifies Curo-Churata as the 37th person reported dead in ICE custody in fiscal 2026. Habeas Dockets, Austin Kocher, Latin Times

Court blocks $100,000 H-1B payment

A second federal court has blocked the administration’s $100,000 H-1B payment while challenges proceed. U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. issued a preliminary injunction in Global Nurse Force v. Trump, finding challengers were likely to prevail on claims that DHS bypassed required rulemaking. The order bars enforcement of the payment, which the administration had renewed last month. JURIST, Fragomen, Global Nurse Force docket

The California ruling follows a Massachusetts order that also blocked collection, and an appeals court left that earlier injunction in place. The practical result: USCIS should not collect the $100,000 payment while the two orders remain in force. The administration could still pursue new rulemaking or continue litigating. Reason

ICE tightens vehicle-stop rules after shootings

ICE has issued tighter vehicle-stop rules after a succession of shootings and a short-lived summer pause in many traffic stops. A September 30 memorandum says officers may not pursue drivers who refuse to stop, but must record vehicle details for later investigation. Only officers with specified training may lead ordinary or high-risk stops, and vehicles used for stops must have lights and sirens. ABC News, PBS NewsHour / AP

The memo, signed by ICE Executive Associate Director Marcos D. Charles, also requires body cameras to be worn and activated. Trained officers may still use pinning or spike strips, so the directive narrows how stops are conducted rather than ending them. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin briefly paused most stops after fatal July shootings in Maine and Texas, but President Trump ordered ICE to resume them. CBS News, NPR

Maine ICE observers say surveillance data followed them to the border

Maine residents who watched ICE activity say federal agents put their photos and vehicle details into a Palantir-built case-management system used by Homeland Security Investigations. Their lawsuit says the information was collected during a January enforcement operation. Plaintiffs’ preliminary-injunction motion, WIRED, Hilton v. Noem docket

The suit says a record involving plaintiff Carlyn Williams prompted extra screening for Williams and her spouse when they returned from Canada, and it alleges agents used facial recognition. Those are allegations in an active civil case, not court findings. DHS calls the suit meritless and denies operating a domestic-terrorist database. Central Maine, Protect Democracy

One to watch: the Chelsea Cox noncitizen-voting ruling

A Miami federal judge dismissed the charge that Chelsea Cox, a noncitizen, voted in a federal election. The ruling held the federal ban unconstitutional, but it does not change Florida’s voter-registration rules or create a nationwide right for noncitizens to vote. It is a district-court ruling in one case, and the Justice Department has appealed. Opinion and order, CBS News, Fox News

Around the system

Children are still reaching immigration court without lawyers. AFP reports that litigation blocked an earlier effort to cut federally funded legal services for unaccompanied children, but providers say the network remains disrupted as new contractors take over. The result is visible in courtrooms where young people and, in some cases, young parents are expected to navigate asylum claims without counsel. France 24 / AFP

Questions continue around Louisiana’s new ICE holding site. Reporting from central Louisiana describes a planned Alexandria-area facility near a major deportation-flight hub. ICE has characterized the site as a short-term staging area for families and children, while advocates point to the absence of public detail about operations and how long people could be held. NOLA.com / Gambit

ICE’s hiring drive has come with unusually rapid turnover. Workforce data reviewed by USA Today, and reported by the Washington Examiner, show more than 2,900 ICE employees left in the first half of 2026 even as the agency continued a large hiring push. The report says resignations and firings—not retirements—made up most departures, renewing concerns about fast recruiting, vetting and training. Washington Examiner

Latino voters are souring on Trump and Republicans, a new NBC News/Telemundo poll finds. Among Latino registered voters, Democrats led 59%–35% on which party should control Congress. Two-thirds said the administration’s deportation policies had gone too far, and Trump’s approval rating with the group was 27%. NBC News

Columbia Journalism School has paused admissions to its M.A. program for a year. Dean Jelani Cobb said the school is reworking a degree created in a very different media market; Reuters also reported that declining international applications and uncertainty over visa policy were part of the calculation. Current students and the school’s M.S. programs are not affected. NBC News / Reuters

A small North Dakota hospital is showing the local stakes of the H-1B debate. West River Hospital in Hettinger, North Dakota, employs 19 foreign workers, including Filipina ultrasound technician Marichu Castillo Villamiel, who came on an H-1B visa. The hospital has used overseas recruitment for hard-to-fill nursing and laboratory jobs while serving communities across North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. KQ2 / CNN

ICE arrests more than doubled in 15 states and Washington, D.C., as local departments entered or widened federal partnerships, according to a Marshall Project analysis of Deportation Data Project records. In Georgia, WABE found ICE working more quietly through local police this summer, away from the administration’s earlier city-centered operations. The Marshall Project, WABE, PBS NewsHour

The machinery is often 287(g): local officers, county jails and ICE share the work of an arrest. ICE’s September report shows the program operating through both local-custody encounters and task-force arrests. New federal funding is helping drive the expansion: States Newsroom reports that the program’s new local partners have multiplied as Congress funded state and local enforcement, while Vermont reporting shows what the quieter federal presence can look like on the ground. ICE (Monthly Encounter Report), States Newsroom, Addison Independent

Recovered Factory’s rebuilt 287(g) Watch makes the local roster easier to search by state and agency, then takes readers to individual-agency records. Tory Lysik’s redesign adds more useful search and context, but the public roster still cannot show how authority is used in a particular town or jail; that record often requires public-records requests to local police departments, sheriffs and counties. 287(g) Watch

Mexico sends troops to Tamaulipas as shooting claim in U.S.-Mexico joint operation remains unresolved

Mexico has sent 500 Army and National Guard personnel to five Tamaulipas border municipalities under Operación Concurrente, with two UH-60 helicopters, drones and counter-drone equipment. The Mexican force operates on its side of the Rio Grande as both governments reinforce security coordination along this stretch of the border. Proceso, The Washington Post

The deployment follows a Sept. 26 encounter near Garceño, Texas, in which the Coast Guard says personnel taking part in a joint interdiction operation took fire and returned it. No one was reported injured, and U.S. officials have not publicly identified the shooters. The incident sheds light on the countries’ relationship on this stretch of the border: coordination has intensified even as the account that prompted it remains disputed. Military.com, El País

President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico had not seen evidence that shots came from Mexican territory and asked Washington to provide it. Mexico’s forces have nonetheless begun mirror patrols with U.S. counterparts; the identity of any shooter, cartel involvement and the precise sequence behind the reported gunfire remain unresolved. Al Jazeera, El Universal

Minneapolis tracks ICE as federal charges follow

Signal chats, neighborhood spotters and legal-support networks that grew around Operation Metro Surge are now part of a federal prosecution theory. Reason reports that residents used encrypted chats to report ICE activity, warn businesses and track agents; a June indictment alleges 15 protesters coordinated through social media, texts and encrypted messaging to impede enforcement. The defendants have pleaded not guilty. Reason

Judge stops Big Bend wall work, for now

A federal judge halted border-barrier construction and related ground disturbance across Texas’s Big Bend sector while the case moves ahead. Judge Kathleen Cardone found the challengers likely to succeed on at least one claim and likely to suffer irreparable harm without interim relief. PBS NewsHour / AP, KRWG Public Media

The order pauses bulldozers, not the case. It does not settle the underlying challenge or permanently invalidate the government’s waiver authority; CBP told local reporters it was working with the Justice Department on next steps. Marfa Public Radio

Around the system

At Minnesota’s Fort Snelling immigration court, a release order did not mean release. MPR News reports that people who won habeas relief were met by federal agents before they could leave the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building and taken back into ICE custody, often to county jails that contract with the agency. Lawyers say the practice tests what a court-ordered release means in practice. MPR News

Tennessee’s arrest-and-detention numbers have climbed sharply. An analysis of Deportation Data Project records by Tennessee Lookout found that immigration arrests and detention in the state rose nearly four-fold during the administration’s first year, compared with the final year of the Biden administration. The outlet reports that nearly 15,000 people were detained during the first 19 months of the current term. Tennessee Lookout

South Dakota has extended National Guard help with ICE’s paperwork. Gov. Larry Rhoden’s office says seven Guard members have helped process 1,013 deportations since July 2025, and his new order keeps the arrangement in place through September 2027. The state has not said how many of those people lived in South Dakota; its Highway Patrol also has an ICE agreement under which trained troopers can question people about immigration status and hold them for ICE. South Dakota Searchlight

ICE is expanding its Batavia, New York, detention center to hold women. Public contracting records reviewed by EL PAÍS show DHS plans to spend about $17 million to expand and equip the Buffalo Service Processing Center, with space for up to 100 women. The plan follows New York’s move to bar county jails from housing people for ICE, leaving the agency to seek capacity elsewhere in the state. EL PAÍS

A new federal suit says ICE is using a Miramar, Florida, field office as a detention center. The class action alleges that DHS and ICE have held people there for days in crowded conditions, deprived them of medical care and confidential access to lawyers, and pressured them to sign documents. The claims, filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Americans for Immigrant Justice, are allegations in an ongoing case. Creative Loafing Tampa

An investigation examines solitary confinement after suicide concerns in ICE custody. Southern California News Group reviewed medical records and more than 300 emergency-call recordings from the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in Adelanto, California, documenting suicide attempts and the use of solitary confinement for people in crisis. Mental-health experts told the outlet that isolation can intensify the danger it is meant to manage. Citizens’ Voice / Southern California News Group

In New Jersey, faster immigration-court calendars are reshaping asylum cases. NorthJersey.com reports that some lawyers have been given as little as two weeks to prepare complex asylum claims. In Newark immigration court, it found, all but one of 488 asylum applicants were denied in August; the report cites TRAC data showing a 94% denial rate nationwide that month. NorthJersey.com

A nurse seeks her day in court after an encounter at Delaney Hall. The Guardian follows Norma Bowe, a registered nurse and professor who says ICE agents threw her to the ground at the Newark, New Jersey, detention center while she was tending to a child distressed over her father’s detention. Video captured the episode; Bowe’s legal action is now one of the cases emerging from the facility. The Guardian

A federal judge dismissed a church-led challenge to Tennessee’s harboring law without reaching its core constitutional claims. The ruling found that Lutheran churches, a landlord and a family member lacked standing because they could not show an immediate threat of prosecution. The law remains in force; in court, state lawyers said it applies to for-profit conduct undertaken with an intent to conceal, though the judge noted that reading is not explicit in the statute. Tennessee Lookout

The Department of Health and Human Services has created an in-house legal division to advise and represent children who arrive in the United States without a parent or legal guardian. The new division sits within HHS’s Office of the General Counsel; its published mandate includes legal orientation, advice and representation in immigration proceedings. Federal Register, Los Angeles Times

The change follows the administration’s break with the Acacia Center for Justice, whose contract had supported a nationwide network of lawyers for unaccompanied children. HHS says the unit will help reunify children with family and provide legal support; advocates question whether lawyers employed by the department responsible for children’s custody can serve as independent counsel. HHS has not said when the division will begin operating or what role nonprofit providers will retain. AP, Bloomberg Law

A judge blocks the administration’s immigration fines

A federal judge in Boston has stopped the administration from assessing or collecting civil penalties against people who did not leave after final removal orders. The program sought up to $998 a day and applied penalties retroactively, producing notices as large as $1.8 million. Reuters, Public Justice

Judge George O’Toole found the challengers were likely to prevail and that collection could cause irreparable financial harm. His order also stays ICE’s interim rule streamlining civil-penalty procedures while the class action proceeds. court order, Bloomberg Law

Chicago lawsuit challenges Border Patrol shooting

Marimar Martinez, a U.S. citizen shot five times by a Border Patrol agent during last year’s enforcement operation in Chicago, has sued the federal government. Her attorneys allege that ballistics analysis contradicts the agent’s account that Martinez drove toward him; the Federal Tort Claims Act suit seeks damages, while Martinez also has called for a criminal investigation. Those are allegations in the suit, not judicial findings. WTTW, NBC News, CBS Chicago

The government is the defendant, not the agent. Reporting on the filing says federal prosecutors dismissed the criminal case initially brought against Martinez after the shooting; CBP said the agent was placed on administrative leave and that use-of-force incidents are investigated and reviewed. Chicago Sun-Times, Block Club Chicago

A record of U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents

ProPublica has published a searchable record documenting more than 500 U.S. citizens detained by federal immigration agents during the current administration, including children, teenagers, people questioned about their citizenship and people detained while recording enforcement activity. It is a reporting database, not an official government count, and it makes visible a pattern otherwise scattered across local incidents. ProPublica

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Around the system

• New York officials warn that fear could keep immigrants from health care: City health officials say the administration’s expanded public-charge assessment could cause some New Yorkers to avoid Medicaid, food aid and other benefits even when they remain eligible. The rule applies only to some immigration cases, but the concern is that confusion will deter people from seeking care; New York’s Essential Plan continues to cover some groups losing federal Medicaid eligibility. Gothamist

• A disabled asylum seeker alleges neglect in a Pennsylvania county jail: Carlos Moreno says Cambria County Prison failed to provide medical, language and disability accommodations during nearly six months of ICE detention. The prison’s warden said the facility met the federal detention standards; Spotlight PA’s investigation also examines the revenue Pennsylvania county jails receive for ICE detention contracts. Spotlight PA

• A public window into proceedings at 26 Federal Plaza: A new viewing arrangement is giving the public access to immigration proceedings at New York City’s 26 Federal Plaza that otherwise unfold out of public view. Documented

• Colorado voters will weigh a broader channel to ICE: Amendment 81 would require Colorado law enforcement agencies to notify ICE about some people charged with crimes when officers know they lack lawful status or cannot determine status within 72 hours. The measure would not repeal Colorado’s sanctuary laws outright, but it would expand required contact with ICE; opponents warn of racial profiling and other consequences. The Denver Post

• Harvard’s international-student case reaches the appeals court: The First Circuit heard the administration’s continuing effort to block international students from enrolling at Harvard. Lower-court orders have kept students enrolled while the appeal proceeds, as the administration argues it may use national-security authority against the university and Harvard calls that theory an unprecedented threat to other institutions. The Boston Globe

ICE leadership gave agents a verbal directive Tuesday to make 3,000 immigration arrests a day, CNN reports. The reported target—19,000 arrests a week, allowing for lighter weekend staffing—would push the agency about 1,000 arrests above its recent daily average. DHS said there are “NO quotas on arrests,” but two sources told the outlet that leadership gave agents the directive while pressing them to make as many arrests as possible for deportation. CNN

People held at a Texas ICE camp begin a hunger strike

People held at the El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas, began refusing food Sept. 29 to protest prolonged detention. The group’s stated demand is transfer out of the Fifth Circuit, where the Trump administration has so far prevailed in its effort to keep people in immigration detention without bond; ICE did not respond to questions about the strike or the people taking part. The Marshall Project

287(g) agreements meet resistance in Florida and Utah

Doral, Florida residents are pressing their city to end its 287(g) agreement with ICE, but city lawyers say Florida law requires it. The mayor says that remains the legal team’s view, based on the state’s sanctuary-city law and the attorney general’s warning to Fort Myers. Advocates read the statute differently: they say it specifically requires written ICE agreements from sheriffs and county-jail operators, while other local agencies must make “best efforts” to support federal enforcement. WLRN, Miami Herald, 287(g) Watch

North Valley Police in Moroni, Utah, are reconsidering their 287(g) training agreement after traffic stops by officers assigned to ICE led to five federal detentions. The chief said the department understood its role to begin after an arrest for a Utah offense, said officers did not know why ICE detained the five people, and said the department would not seek federal money through the agreement. The two disputes show how an ICE agreement can look settled on paper but become contested in ordinary local policing. ABC4, 287(g) Watch

DHS proposes a steep new cost for international graduates who want to work

DHS has proposed a $70,000 charge when a school recommends an international student for the first period of Optional Practical Training, or OPT. OPT lets students on F-1 visas work temporarily in jobs related to what they studied. Under the proposal, the school—not the student—would pay before its international-student official could make the recommendation in SEVIS, the federal student-record system; USCIS would not issue the student’s work permit if the fee had not been paid. A later OPT period would carry a proposed $30,000 charge. DHS

The proposal would not require students to write a $70,000 check themselves, but schools could pass the cost to students or employers. That could decide whether recent graduates can use a work authorization long built into the student-visa path. It remains a proposal, with public comments open through November 9. Fragomen, American Bazaar

Around the system

ICE buys electric-shock gloves. ICE signed a $16.7 million August contract for 6,000 pairs after agency leaders had a military study finding that shocks could produce rapid compliance and leave participants afraid of another exposure. The study tested whether the devices got people to comply, not whether they were safe for the people ICE may subject to them. CNN Español/AP, AP

A judge limits warrantless plate-reader tracking. A federal judge in Oklahoma suppressed evidence after a deputy used Flock’s plate-reader network to reconstruct about a month of one driver’s cross-state movements, treating the accumulated location record as a search requiring a warrant. The ruling is a district-court decision, but it takes aim at how a local stop can turn into a wide-ranging surveillance trail. Court order, Reason

A lawsuit challenges new green-card rules for people already in the U.S. The plaintiffs say USCIS is treating a lawful choice to apply for permanent residence from inside the country as a negative factor, while also allowing some applications—including pending ones—to be denied without first asking for more evidence. Newsweek, The Daily Record

A judge blocks an asylum restriction at the border. The ruling found that Trump’s order suspending asylum access at the southern border went beyond the president’s authority, while delaying the effect long enough for the administration to appeal. KRGV

The tuition cases are about whether students can still afford college where they grew up. Twenty-four states and Washington, D.C., are in active litigation over in-state tuition for immigrant students; if those policies fall, a student’s ties to a state may matter less than whether their family can absorb nonresident tuition. News From The States

A DHS review found missed care before a man’s death in Conroe, Texas. Luis Núñez Cáceres, who had been held at the Joe Corley Processing Center for seven weeks, died after staff delayed his evaluation, missed monitoring problems and failed to order some diagnostic tests, according to the agency’s mortality-review committee. Houston Chronicle

A California death report describes failures at Adelanto. The account of Ismael Ayala-Uribe’s death at Adelanto ICE Processing Center centers on repeated lapses by medical staff before he died, adding another concrete case to the question of care inside ICE custody. Capital Gazette

Chicago’s food economy runs on immigrant labor at every stage. A local account follows workers through food production, distribution, grocery stores, restaurants and meat processing—the jobs that keep the city’s food system moving but often disappear from the conversation about immigration. Chicago Reader

Colorado voters will decide whether to open the door wider to ICE cooperation. Amendment 81 would change the state’s approach to working with federal immigration enforcement, putting a central piece of Colorado’s immigration policy directly before voters. The Denver Post

ICE briefly posted detention-death reviews, then removed them. The Conroe review was among more than two dozen mortality reports that appeared on the agency’s website late last month and disappeared without explanation, leaving the records to internet archives and news reporting. Houston Chronicle, Capital Gazette

Springfield mourns a Haitian student who lost legal status and died by suicide. Pierre Damas Bel was 20; the reporting follows his family and community after his legal protections ended in July, placing one death in the larger disruption facing Haitian families. PBS NewsHour, Miami Herald

The Labor Department will neither accept new PERM applications nor process pending ones involving Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Capgemini. The administration announced the company-specific action Thursday while accusing the firms of abusing employment-immigration programs and displacing U.S. workers. Those are the administration’s claims, not findings that the companies violated the law. Reuters, CNN, Politico

PERM is the employer-run step that opens the path to many work-based green cards. Before a company can ask USCIS to approve a worker’s immigrant petition, it usually has to show that it recruited for the job and could not find a qualified, available U.S. worker. The freeze does not cancel H-1B visas or green cards already granted. It stops these eight employers from moving new or pending cases through that earlier step. DOL, eCFR

For people already waiting, the immediate cost is more time without a clear endpoint. The government has not publicly set out how long the freeze will last or how it will handle deadlines and other cases caught in the middle. Microsoft disputed the administration’s characterization, saying most of its recent H-1B filings were extensions or status changes for employees already there, not new hires. Semafor, CNBC

The Supreme Court sends Venezuelan TPS case back to the Ninth Circuit

The Supreme Court has wiped out a Ninth Circuit ruling that favored Venezuelan TPS holders and told the appeals court to reconsider the case. In Mullin v. National TPS Alliance, No. 26-48, the justices granted the government’s petition, vacated the lower-court judgment and remanded the case in light of Mullin v. Doe. In plain English: the Court did not decide the TPS fight again from scratch; it erased the Ninth Circuit’s result and directed that court to take another look under a newer Supreme Court decision. Supreme Court order, SCOTUSblog

That grant-vacate-remand order changes the legal footing of the case, but it does not itself announce a new Venezuela TPS end date or make every Venezuelan removable overnight. Nor does it automatically void every work permit: a person’s ability to remain or work can depend on the country-specific federal notices, the next Ninth Circuit ruling and any other immigration protection they hold. For people whose only protection and work authorization came through TPS, the uncertainty is immediate; the Court’s short order simply does not answer every individual consequence. Univision, LA NACION

ICE appears to be using a New Jersey warehouse despite halted conversion plan

NPR found evidence that ICE has been using a warehouse in Roxbury, New Jersey, to hold people even though litigation and a court order halted its conversion into a detention center pending environmental review. The reporting follows vehicles after a Dover enforcement operation and includes accounts from people taken to the site; the New Jersey attorney general was reviewing similar reports. NPR’s evidence points to use of the warehouse, not to a completed or publicly acknowledged permanent detention conversion. NPR

A separate hunger strike begins at Folkston

Earlier this week, The Marshall Project reported on a hunger strike at the El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas. Now, 73 people are refusing food at the D. Ray James ICE Processing Center in Folkston, Georgia. People held there released a video and open letter describing prolonged detention, separation from family and alleged abusive conditions. This is a separate action at a different facility, with its own account of conditions and confinement. The Guardian

People in the video include asylum seekers who say they have been held for months or years. Their allegations concern medical care, food, water and staff conduct; they are not adjudicated findings. EL PAÍS reported that participants said they had open asylum cases, while GEO Group referred questions to ICE and DHS did not give a detailed response to other reporting. EL PAÍS

Around the system

• ICE waived Adelanto’s standard 14-day health assessment, according to a mortality review obtained by Scripps News. The review said care for Ismael Ayala-Uribe, who died after a worsening infection, “deviated beyond safe limits of practice.” DHS did not answer the outlet’s questions about whether the waiver remains in place. Scripps News

• Central Valley, California, school districts alerted families as reports of ICE activity spread. Fresno-area districts said they do not collect students’ immigration-status information and described support available to families amid concern about enforcement activity. Fresno Bee

• OPB verified a sharp rise in visible immigration arrests around Portland, Oregon. The outlet confirmed at least nine people detained Tuesday across Gresham, Troutdale and eastern Portland, with more reports of activity the following day. OPB

• GEO Group is challenging a new California detention law in federal court. Senate Bill 942 seeks to guarantee people in federal immigration detention access to mental-health services, medical care and adequate food; GEO argues that California cannot impose its standards on federal detention operations. Fresno Bee

• Civil-rights groups allege abuse and neglect at Florida’s “Deportation Depot.” Their demand letter describes claims involving pepper spray, beatings, medical neglect, food and water at Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, Florida. A DeSantis spokesperson called the allegations “fake,” while DHS and Florida emergency-management officials did not respond before publication. Miami Herald

• A new BIA precedent says return travel to a claimed country of persecution can abandon a pending protection case. In Matter of M-R-I-, the Board held that return under advance parole presumptively abandons asylum, withholding and Convention Against Torture claims unless the person establishes compelling reasons. EOIR (Matter of M-R-I-)

• Unions, immigrant-rights groups and green-card applicants sued over two USCIS policies. Their complaint challenges a policy treating adjustment of status from inside the United States as an adverse factor and another allowing denials without first issuing a request for evidence or notice of intent to deny. Filing the suit did not itself pause either policy. Complaint, USCIS policy alert

• DACA renewal delays are leaving some recipients without work authorization before USCIS reaches their applications. CBS News found the pending-renewal backlog climbed above 125,000 while the number of active recipients declined, though USCIS says it has recently increased adjudications. CBS News

Ukraine and Sudan TPS holders remain protected for now

Oct. 19 is the printed end date for the Ukraine and Sudan Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations. DHS said Sunday that holders remain protected for now and final decisions will come “at the appropriate time”, a provisional assurance also reported by The Washington Sun. By law, DHS must review each designation at least 60 days before expiration. If it does not determine in time that conditions no longer qualify, the designation automatically extends six months, unless DHS chooses 12 or 18 months. Whether that automatic extension has taken effect for Ukraine and Sudan remains unclear. [CBS News, The Washington Sun, News From The States]

An Oct. 18 morning briefing from Modern Law Group said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) still listed October 19 and no Federal Register notice had appeared at that point, before DHS’s later Sunday assurance. The assurance prevents the printed date from operating as a clear Monday cutoff, but it is not yet a formal extension or termination. [Modern Law Group]

The work-authorization confusion puts employers in a bind. Work authorization is another unresolved issue: the latest USCIS notices say qualifying TPS-based Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for Ukraine and Sudan are extended only through October 19. Those notices direct employers to use October 19 for Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) and E-Verify. DHS’s newer assurance has not been matched by updated USCIS work-authorization instructions. [USCIS]

Mexican man dies in immigration custody in Laredo, Texas

Emiliano Andrade Covarrubias, 56, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Laredo Processing Center on Saturday and became the seventh person to die while detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Texas this year. The cause of death and whether he had sought medical care remain unknown; an autopsy was being performed. The Texas Tribune reported the death and cited ICE’s release. [The Texas Tribune, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement]

Judge leaves New York City, New York, sanctuary laws in place

A federal judge dismissed the Justice Department’s challenge to New York City, New York, rules limiting local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, finding that federal law does not require local assistance. The ruling leaves the provisions in place, but it does not prevent ICE from conducting federal enforcement. [Reuters]

DHS cuts refugee-status response window to 10 days

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) interim final rule, published in the Federal Register and effective October 14, cuts the response window from 30 days to 10 for refugees who receive a Notice of Intent to Terminate (NOIT). The rule applies when DHS determines that a person did not meet the legal definition of a refugee at admission; it does not automatically terminate every refugee’s status. The Federal Register rule sets out the change. The Associated Press and Univision also reported it; refugee advocates warned that 10 days may leave too little time to find counsel, translate documents or obtain records. [Associated Press, Univision] Somos Utah’s Spanish-language report also covers the new deadline. [Somos Utah]

Around the system

• Fake images generated with artificial intelligence (AI) are circulating in California’s Bay Area communities, prompting fear and plans to respond to raids that had not occurred. [The San Francisco Standard]

• Tri-Cities, Washington, ICE records show 132 arrests from January 2025 through July 2026; half were not classified by ICE as involving people convicted of crimes or facing pending charges. Of arrests with a known method, 99 were at-large and 32 were custodial. [Tri-City Herald]

• Honolulu, Hawaii, voters will consider a charter question on the police department’s role in federal immigration enforcement. The proposed amendment would allow assistance only when required by statute or court order and after the requesting agency’s identity and authority are confirmed. [Hawaiʻi Public Radio]

• Members of Congress reported mold and hair in shower areas, dirty cookware and denied access to detainees after an unannounced visit to Adelanto, California. Those conditions come from the lawmakers’ account of the visit. [Orange County Register]

• Immigrant disaster-recovery workers fear Florida enforcement operations could worsen a hurricane-cleanup labor shortage, workers and organizers told The New York Times. [The New York Times]

• DHS extended GEO Group’s Aurora, Colorado, detention-facility contract by two months, through December 15, while a longer contract is being pursued. [CBS Colorado]

• A federal judge ordered the release of San Diego City College student Renatho Casseus from ICE detention in San Diego, California after a habeas petition challenged his detention. [KPBS]

• Detainees at Camp East Montana, the ICE facility in El Paso, Texas, asked a judge for independent monitors and changes to health care and living conditions, citing deaths and alleged failures. The filing requests relief; it is not a ruling. [El Paso Matters]

• USCIS’s updated fiscal year 2027 filing-fee schedule took effect October 16, covering forms including I-131, I-589, I-765, I-821 and I-941. [USCIS]

• A public-records review details the proposed family-detention contract at England Airpark in Alexandria, Louisiana, including nearly $3 million in projected lease revenue over five years. [Verite News]

• The Deportation Data Project released a dataset on the ICE 287(g) Program, through which state and local law-enforcement agencies assist federal immigration enforcement, covering active and historical agreements since 2002, cooperation type, dates, geographic scope and links to nearly all agreements. The project also provides an interactive data explorer alongside the dataset announcement. [Deportation Data Project]

Local surveillance data that travels, a split over extraordinary-ability green cards, and Mexico’s pursuit of accountability while border cooperation continues.

Agencies in five other states searched Akron's camera data for immigration enforcement

Akron’s Flock camera data was searched thousands of times for immigration enforcement outside the city, according to Signal Akron. On Feb. 9 alone, agencies in Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and Kansas accessed the system at least 41 times explicitly for federal immigration enforcement — the same day Akron’s council condemned ICE tactics. The city moved in May to block outside agencies’ immigration-related searches, but millions of unlabeled searches continued, leaving questions about whether local restrictions can meaningfully limit use of the shared surveillance network. [Signal Akron]

A Nebraska judge upholds the EB-1A "final merits" step

Two federal judges in Nebraska have reached opposite conclusions about how USCIS decides extraordinary-ability green card petitions. EB-1A is for people in science, the arts, education, business or athletics who demonstrate sustained national or international acclaim. In his Sept. 25 *Agarwal v. Miller* ruling, Chief District Judge Brian C. Buescher upheld USCIS’s “final merits” review, rejecting the reasoning of Judge Joseph F. Bataillon’s Jan. 28 *Mukherji v. Miller* ruling, which ordered approval of a journalist’s petition. As Cyrus D. Mehta and Manjeeta Chowdhary explain, the disputed second step lets USCIS deny a petition after the applicant meets the evidentiary criteria if the agency concludes the overall record does not establish extraordinary ability. [U.S. District Court, Nebraska; The Insightful Immigration Blog]

Mexico announces U.S. complaint over Laredo detention death

Mexico will file a U.S. complaint over the death of Emiliano Andrade Covarrubias, 56, at the Río Grande Processing Center in Laredo, Texas, President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Monday. He died Saturday; his family told Mexican officials he had diabetes and hypertension and might not have received all his medication. The Foreign Ministry says it will send a complaint to the Webb County prosecutor and seek guarantees of consular access to detention centers to monitor medical care. Mexico counts 18 citizens who have died in ICE custody or during immigration operations since Jan. 20, 2025. [N+]

Mexico’s campaign already includes 20 complaints filed with state and county prosecutors in July, a referral of 17 deaths to the Justice Department, and a request for U.N. human-rights scrutiny. It has also kept border-security cooperation intact: after the Coast Guard said it exchanged gunfire near Garceño on Sept. 26, Sheinbaum demanded evidence that shots came from Mexico while agreeing to coordinated patrols on both sides of the border. The new complaint and demand for consular access extend that parallel legal and diplomatic pressure. [UPI, Al Jazeera]

Wilder lawsuit tests ICE's use of another agency's criminal warrant

A lawsuit over the October 2025 raid at La Catedral Arena in Wilder, Idaho, tests whether ICE can use another agency’s criminal warrant for mass immigration arrests. TIME reports that an FBI warrant targeting alleged illegal gambling led to 105 immigration arrests. The plaintiffs’ ACLU complaint and Sept. 8 brief opposing dismissal argue that ICE used the unrelated warrant as cover to go looking for immigration violations, raising Fourth Amendment questions that could affect joint operations elsewhere. DHS says the arrests were lawful; a motion to dismiss remains pending. A new ACLU film released Monday revisits the raid’s impact on families; KTVB also posted a one-year-later investigative special. [TIME; court filings; ACLU; KTVB]

Inside ICE, officials describe pre-election escalation and reversals

ICE officials describe a pre-midterm scramble of enforcement surges, politically charged investigations and abrupt policy reversals, according to Karl Loftus’s reporting for The Intercept. Officials speaking anonymously point to a September voter-fraud investigation across nine states, announced surges into sanctuary cities, and a brief order to stop arrests of immigrants without criminal histories that was then reversed. DHS denied the stand-down order existed; officers told The Intercept they followed it for several days. One called it a “midterm panic move.” [The Intercept]

287(g) Watch adds sheriff-election information

Our 287(g) Watch project now includes sheriff-election information on agency pages for every race we could find, including whether a candidate signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE. Those agreements let local officers take on federal immigration-enforcement duties. The update puts the candidates alongside each agency’s participation record.

Around the system

• A Haitian Creole-language guide explains access to gender-affirming care in New York City. Documented’s guide for LGBTQ+ immigrants covers anti-discrimination protections, care options and where to seek help. [Documented]

• ICE wants more staff at its intelligence operations in Vermont. The agency is looking to boost staffing at intelligence hubs in the state. [VTDigger]

• San Antonio has gone to court to stop a proposed ICE detention center. The city sued to halt the facility, which is reported to have a capacity of 1,500 people. [La Opinión]

• A man who says he is a U.S. citizen was left with a fractured arm after an ICE detention in Long Beach. Video of the encounter has drawn widespread anger. [Los Angeles Times]

• Detained young people with pending special immigrant juvenile cases have a new legal avenue. The National Immigration Project and the End SIJS Backlog Coalition launched a habeas project for detained SIJS youth. [National Immigration Project]

• A website is cataloging the agents who take part in enforcement operations. ICE List documents agents' involvement in operativos and is drawing attention among immigrant communities. [Conexión Migrante]

• Construction firms say Butler County's ICE agreement swept up longtime workers. Employers describe arrests of workers with no criminal records under the county's arrangement with the agency. [CBS Pittsburgh]