North Carolina’s veto override is bringing state agencies into ICE’s 287(g) system

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