UPDATES FROM THE JCIRA LEGISLATION/POLICY TRACKING TEAM

​Disclaimer: JCIRA’s Federal Legislation/Policy Tracking Team does not provide original reporting or legal advice. Our team curates a weekly collection of updates in the area of national immigration policy from journalists, government sources, and subject matter experts that directly impact the immigrant community on the Olympic Peninsula. Please refer to the cited sources. For more information on how to take action on pending policies and legislation, please visit 5 Calls and the Take Action Network. We encourage you to use the links provided below to contact your state or congressional representative about the issues covered in these briefs.

Washington State
Senator Mike Chapman
Representative Adam Bernbaum
Representative Steve Tharinger

Federal
House Representative Emily Randall
Senator Patty Murray
Senator Maria Cantwell

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july 11, 2026

Washington State
Update: Immigration arrests surge nationwide, including in South Sound
A recent surge in immigration arrests has worried the immigrant community and advocates in and around Thurston County. Leslie Cushman, an activist who co-leads a rapid response team in Thurston County, said her network has recently observed or received information about many arrests in Shelton, Lacey and Centralia. “There’s a big surge going on,” Cushman said on Monday. “There are lots of arrests up and down I-5 right now.” Families needing assistance in Thurston County can contact Advocates for Immigrants in Detention Northwest. The group coordinates detainee location, identification and family contact, provides luggage, food and clothing, and connects people with local groups for next steps. 
Source: The Olympian 7/6/26 
Advocates for Immigrants Northwest


Federal Agencies
Update: ICE arrests 10,000 people across US in 5-day span, A sharp surge in Trump's deportation push
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 10,000 people over a five-day period at the end of June, marking a major push by the agency tasked with carrying out Trump's mass deportations agenda. The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, the arrests continue to surge. According to the New York Times, ICE officers have arrested people at check-ins with immigration authorities, during traffic stops and on the street. The total number of arrests during the five-day period starting Friday, June 26, and ending Tuesday, June 30 translates into roughly 2,000 arrests per day. The arrest news also comes as the number of people entered into ICE detention facilities climbed in June to roughly 39,000.
Source: ABC News 7/4/26 

ICE Kills Immigrant in Houston
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during what the agency is calling a routine “targeted enforcement operation.” Federal agents say they stopped Araujo, described only as an undocumented Mexican national and called the shooting self-defense, saying Araujo used his vehicle as a weapon. So far, no dash-cam or body-cam footage has surfaced and no independent witnesses have been quoted. 
Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, whose district includes the East End, said Araujo’s family and her constituents “deserve a complete and transparent accounting” and called for preservation of “all available footage, communications, and other evidence.”
Source: Migrant Insider 7/7/26

More than half of children in ICE immigration courts are representing themselves, DOJ data shows 
A new analysis of federal immigration data, conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice shows that legal representation appears to be one of the most important factors shaping children’s outcomes in immigration court. Of 751,861 children with pending removal cases, 57%—or 425,093 children—lacked legal representation. This rate is slightly higher than that of adults, 54% of whom are unrepresented in immigration court in pending cases. “Any possible way to be harsh and unforgiving is being utilized by the government at this point,” said former immigration judge Dana Leigh Marks, who presided over cases for more than three decades in San Francisco. “It makes me ashamed.” 
Source: Drop Site News 6/26/26 

Tech oligarchs are helping DHS set up authoritarian surveillance state, report says 
Supported by surveillance tools created by tech oligarchs, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is laying the groundwork that is dismantling rights beyond immigration and fundamentally changing democratic norms, according to a new report issued on June 23 by the nonprofits Mijente, Just Futures Law, and Surveillance Resistance Lab. “What is built in the name of controlling migrants increasingly becomes a tool for monitoring society as a whole,” the report stated. ICE’s tech surveillance now includes biometric databases, social media monitoring, location tracking, license plate readers, facial recognition, mobile phone extraction, drones, and AI-powered analytics extend far beyond immigration enforcement “Trump has emboldened ICE with new, supercharged surveillance capabilities and billions in additional funding. This is a textbook authoritarian tactic that makes the idea of showing up, speaking out, or organizing feel dangerous for Americans” said Nicole Schneidman, tech counsel and policy strategist at the nonprofit Protect Democracy. 
Source: Prism 7/7/26 
Executive / Judicial

Appeals Court sharply limits ICE's massive expansion of detention
A federal appeals court has sharply curtailed ICE’S bid to detain thousands of people without bond under a dramatic expansion of mandatory detention for immigrants who have established roots in the United States. The 2-1 ruling of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that people detained by ICE while awaiting the outcome of their deportation proceedings — under the Trump administration’s newly expanded policy — must be afforded a bond hearing within 90 days. Anything less would be a violation of their constitutional due process right. The panel emphasized that the vast majority of people targeted under the new policy were people without criminal records — therefore not dangers to their communities — whose established lives in the country make them unlikely to flee their immigration proceedings. The minimal risk of affording due process, they said, undercut the administration’s push to detain them en masse.
Sources: Politico 7/02/26
American Immigration Council 7/03/26

July 2, 2026

Washington State
Weekend wave of ICE arrests reported across western Washington
At least a dozen immigration arrests were reported across Western Washington over the weekend and into Monday (6/29), according to community tracking groups and videos shared on social media. The arrests spanned multiple cities, including Lakewood, Bellevue, Pacific, Shelton, Lynnwood, Auburn and in Kent as recently as Monday morning. The latest publicly available arrest data from the Deportation Data Project covers arrests through early March 2026. According to the database, roughly 750 immigration arrests were made in Washington state during the first three months of the year. More recent statewide arrest data is not yet publicly available, making it difficult to determine whether this weekend's activity represents a broader trend. 
Source: King5 News 6/29/26


Federal Agencies
Trump’s next ICE pick: A Trooper poised to turn local cops into Deportation Agents 
Trump has nominated Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma State Trooper, to serve as the Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The pick signals a broader push to integrate local and federal law enforcement through the 287(g) task force program, which allows ICE to deputize local police and jails. While Schroyer worked on Oklahoma’s 287(g) program, Oklahoma police departments held at least $47 million in ICE contracts. At the National Sheriff’s Association Conference earlier this month, Secretary of Homeland Security Mullin encouraged local police departments to work with Schroyer. Mullin said that Schroyer had joined DHS to advise agencies newly joining the 287(g) partnership program. “We have him on staff. He is fully committed and understands that the 287(g) program can be a tremendous asset to you and to the country.” 
Source: Mother Jones 6/28/26 

USCIS issues rare warning to former clients of 'Lawyer of Miracles' 
On June 26, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services posted an online notice urging former clients of former Tukwila attorney Alexandra Lozano to update their contact information so the agency can communicate with them directly about their immigration cases. Lozano resigned from the Washington State Bar Association in May in lieu of discipline, permanently ending her ability to practice law in Washington. Her resignation came after a growing number of former clients accused her of filing immigration applications they did not understand, forging signatures and submitting abuse-based immigration claims without their knowledge. 
Source: King5 News 6/30/26 

DOD Moves to Order Military Lawyers to Be Immigration Judges 
The Defense Department is planning to begin involuntarily activating military lawyers to serve as immigration judges and to represent the government in cases involving detained migrant children, according to recent recruitment emails. Migrant children’s ballooning time in government custody has prompted congressional scrutiny over their treatment. The offers come as federal prosecutors’ offices have been hit with a wave of career lawyer exits under Trump’s second term. The tapping of military lawyers to serve at the country’s more than 70 immigration courts, as well as special prosecutors at US attorneys’ offices and elsewhere, has prompted criticism from former military lawyers and government attorneys who say the moves allow for unprecedented military involvement in civilian law enforcement. 
Source: Bloomberg Law 6/29/26 

UN rights chief calls for investigations into US deaths in immigration custody
The United Nations human rights chief on Friday (6/26) called for independent investigations into deaths of people in U.S. immigration custody. "Those responsible for violations of the law must be held to account, and the rights of the victims’ families to truth, justice and reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence must be upheld," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's inspector general is examining deaths of people in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody from October 2021 through March 2026. According to U.S. Government data, nineteen people died in ICE detention this year. Five of those deaths were classified as suicides. Last year 33 deaths were recorded after Trump launched his mass deportation campaign in January 2025.
Source: Reuters 6/26/26Executive / Judicial
Supreme Court makes it easier for border agents to deport green card holders accused of crimes 
The Supreme Court's conservative majority on Tuesday (6/23) bolstered the ability of federal border agents to remove from the country lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, who may have committed a crime involving "moral turpitude." In a 6-3 decision by Justice Clarence Thomas in Blanche v. Lau, the court said border agents do not bear the burden of having to prove by "clear and convincing evidence" that an immigrant seeking to re-enter the country after a trip abroad had committed a crime before denying them admission. They need only show that there was reason to believe they had. "The Immigration and Nationality Act does not impose that requirement," Thomas wrote. 
Source: ABC News 6/24/26 

The Supreme Court Just Saved Birthright Citizenship 
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present remain citizens at birth. The chief justice didn’t hedge. Roberts wrote there was “scant evidence for this dramatically revisionist view” that a person’s domicile determines their allegiance to the country — a direct rejection of the administration’s core legal theory. He went further in language built for the history books: “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.” 
Source: Migrant Insider 6/30/36

Supreme Court Validates Trump Attack on TPS 
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday (6/25) cleared the way for the Trump administration to deport 350,000 Haitian and 6,000 Syrian residents from the US after stripping them of their Temporary Protected Status last year. A federal judge temporarily delayed the administration’s TPS terminations in February. The judge said DHS had not followed the legally required steps to determine whether Haiti and Syria were safe enough for people with temporary status to return. In the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito sidestepped the question of whether DHS has properly considered the conditions in Haiti and Syria, stating that the TPS statute allows “no judicial review of any determination... with respect to the... termination” of a designation. He said that meant the court could not review either the final decision to terminate status or any of the individual decisions leading up to it. 
Source: Common Dreams 6/25/2026

Supreme Court Clears Way for Trump administration to Revive Restrictive Policy for Asylum Seekers
The Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday (6/25) for the Trump administration to potentially revive an immigration policy once used to turn back migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. The justices, in a 6-3 decision, overturned a lower court order blocking the practice that limited the number of people who could apply for asylum each day. The policy began under the Obama administration and then expanded during President Donald Trump’s first term. Under federal law, migrants who arrive in the U.S. must be able to apply for asylum and be screened for fear of persecution in their home countries. The Justice Department argued that people stopped by authorities haven’t arrived in the country, so immigration agents don’t have to let them apply. But attorneys for people seeking asylum say the law has long meant anyone arriving at a port of entry should be screened, and blocking arrivals disregards the nation’s ideals. U.S. law allows people seeking refuge to apply for asylum once they are on American soil, regardless of whether they came legally. To qualify for asylum, they must show a fear of persecution in their homeland for specific reasons, like race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. 
Source: APNews.com 6/25/2026

JUNe 27, 2026

Federal Agencies

Five Immigration Policy Scoops Everyone Else Missed 
Pablo Manríquez of Migrant Insider highlights issues of note that have been underreported by mainstream media sources. This includes the swearing in of 45 new immigration judges in a  single day, changes to mandatory fees for asylum cases, and a new Board of Immigration Appeals precedent. The new BIA precedent tells people to ask ICE first before asking the court to pause their deportation. And trafficking survivors will need a DOJ permission slip to get a Green Card on time. 
Source: Migrant Insider 6/22/26  
 
DACA renewal delays fuel worries Trump is quietly undermining ‘Dreamers’
Concerns are mounting on Capitol Hill and among immigration advocates that the Trump  administration is quietly gutting a landmark program allowing unauthorized immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to stay, work and study legally in the United States. A major immigrant rights advocacy group recently documented in a study that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is taking months longer on average to renew legal protections for recipients of the DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] program, often referred to as “Dreamers.” Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) said she had “serious concerns” about the slowdown in processing. “These delays are leaving hundreds of thousands of Dreamers who grew up in America stuck in legal limbo, unable to participate in the workforce and contribute to communities they call home.”
Source: Politico 6/21/26  
 
Green Card Holders Face 75% Citizenship Fee Increase Under New DHS Proposal
DHS has proposed raising fees for citizenship applications by about 75 percent, while  eliminating fee waivers and reduced rates for most applicants, according to a notice  published for public comment in the Federal Register. It marks a major shift in federal policy by aligning naturalization fees with what DHS calls the “full costs” of adjudication, including expanded screening and vetting requirements mandated by recent executive orders. The changes would affect hundreds of thousands of lawful permanent residents each year, potentially delaying naturalization for lower‑income immigrants and shifting more of USCIS’s operating costs directly onto applicants. The comment period on this proposal is open on the Federal Register until 8/24/2026. 
Source: Newsweek 6/22/26
Federal Register Filing 6/23/26 


Executive / Judicial

Federal Judge Bars ICE From Making Arrests in Immigration Courts
In a class action lawsuit a federal judge in California issued an order on Tuesday blocking immigration agents nationwide from making arrests inside immigration courts. The decision halts what had been one of the most aggressive aspects of President Trump’s mass deportation campaign. The judge called officials’ decision-making processes “arbitrary and capricious,” saying they had failed to consider alternative options and had dismissed their own prior concerns that courthouse arrests would “disincentivize” immigrants from attending their hearings. It also struck down a blanket waiver issued by ICE in June 2025 that allowed its field offices to hold detainees in short-term holding rooms for up to 72 hours or beyond, a significant departure from the agency’s traditional 12-hour limit. Last month, a federal judge in Manhattan barred such arrests in immigration courts in New York City, but Tuesday’s ruling by Judge Pitts prohibits such arrests anywhere in the country. The decision is likely to be challenged as the Supreme Court has substantially limited the ability of lower-court judges to block  executive branch policies nationwide.  
Source: The New York Times 6/23/2026

June 20, 2026

Washington State
WA congresswoman raises water quality concerns after 9th visit to Tacoma ICE facility
U.S. Rep. Emily Randall heard new concerns about water quality inside the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma during her ninth oversight visit to the facility on Tuesday. Randall met with five detainees who raised repeated complaints about the water inside the center. "Almost every person described the water as cloudy, weird taste, weird sulfuric smell," Randall said. The congresswoman's visit comes shortly after Congress approved new immigration enforcement funding, including an additional 70 billion dollars for ICE and border operations. "This funding was granted without any additional guardrails on treatment and detention facilities, or on ICE agents' operations in the streets in our communities," Randall said. 
Source: KING 5 6/16/26 


Federal Agencies
Trump administration has separated dozens of children from their parents for a second time 
An investigation by the Associated Press has found the Trump administration has separated dozens of immigrant children from their parents for a second time. These families had been previously separated during Trump’s first term as he enforced his so-called zero-tolerance policy, leading to hundreds of children being separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump officials have re-separated the families in violation of a landmark legal settlement (The 1997 Flores Settlement) that was meant to reunite immigrant children with their parents. Under Trump’s second term, some of these parents have been detained in ICE jails, and others wrongfully deported and forced to leave their children in the U.S. Meanwhile, an estimated 500 babies and toddlers have been reportedly jailed by ICE since Trump’s return to the White House. 
Source: Democracy Now 6/10/26
 
Trump Administration Says It Will Restart Asylum and Immigration Processing 
The Trump administration said on Friday (6/12) that it would comply with a court order to restart processing asylum and other immigration applications filed by a broad swath of people who had been left in legal limbo for months. The move comes after a federal judge in Rhode Island last week struck down a suite of policies imposed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a major blow to the administration’s expanding efforts to restrict legal immigration. The policies included a global hold on asylum applications filed with the agency and a freeze on immigration applications filed by people from 39 countries, largely in Africa and the Middle East, that are subject to Trump’s travel ban. 
Source: The New York Times 6/12/26 
 
ICE removed detainee protections after private outreach from top contractor 
Geo Group, which oversees more than a dozen ICE detention facilities, has faced lawsuits in three states alleging it violates minimum-wage laws by paying some immigrant detainees $1 a day to work. Geo asked that ICE remove lines in their contracts saying contractors needed to follow state and local laws around the treatment of detainees and that ICE amend language to support its legal position in these cases. The company also asked that the standards specify that detainees are not employees of the facilities where they work. The new national detention standards, which ICE posted to its website Monday, include some of Geo’s requested changes. The document says detainees are not employees “and are not entitled to wages or benefits under applicable wage laws or labor regulations.” The revised rules no longer say detainees must be paid at least $1 per day, and no longer include several references to contractors having to comply with state or local laws. 
Source: The Washington Post 6/16/26 

Executive / Judicial
ICE detention policy won at 5th Circuit Court. Then Judges found a way to reject it. 
In February, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of ICE’s new mandatory detention policy, determining immigration court judges could continue to deny bond hearings to immigrants who entered the country unlawfully. 
However, judges bound by the appeals court’s holding have overwhelmingly continued to reject the detention policy, concluding that ICE has violated detainees’ constitutional due process rights. As a result, judges in Texas and Louisiana have ordered bond hearings or release of ICE detainees more than 1,200 times on due process grounds since the appeals court’s ruling, according to a POLITICO analysis. It's an indication that the Trump administration's aggressive departure from longstanding ICE detention practices is testing more than just the interpretation of complicated and sometimes contradictory federal immigration laws; some judges see it as testing the Constitution itself. 
Source: Politico 6/13/26

Federal Court Upholds Revised H-2A Wage Rules 
A federal judge in California has allowed the Trump administration’s revised wage framework for temporary agricultural workers to remain in effect. The ruling rejects a union-backed effort to halt a rule that farm groups say will reshape labor costs across U.S. agriculture while critics warn it could depress already fragile farmworker wages. In a decision issued last week, U.S. District Judge Kirk Sheriff denied a request from the United Farm Workers for a preliminary injunction against the Labor Department’s interim final rule governing the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, — the baseline wage intended to ensure foreign guest workers do not undercut domestic farm labor. The court found the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate “irreparable harm,” a key legal threshold for emergency relief, concluding that claims of future wage losses and financial hardship were largely speculative. The ruling allows the administration’s October 2025 policy to remain in place as litigation continues, marking a significant, if preliminary, victory for agricultural employers who have long argued that the prior wage-setting system inflated labor costs beyond market realities. 
Source: WKKG.com 5/17/2026 

june 13, 2026

Federal Agencies

Congress Passes GOP’s $70 Billion Immigration Bill 
A bill to provide nearly $70 billion for immigration enforcement narrowly passed the House on Tuesday and now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature, bolstering the administration’s deportation agenda for the remainder of his time in the White House. The bill passed by a vote of 214-212, over the objections of Democrats. The Senate passed the bill on Friday; Trump is expected to sign it into law on Wednesday. The White House says the bill will provide $38 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $26 billion for the Border Patrol and another $5 billion to cover unforeseen costs. It frontloads routine annual funding, ensuring a virtually uninterrupted flow of money as the Trump administration seeks to deport some 1 million people per year. The funding comes on top of the nearly $140 billion that the Republican-controlled Congress gave ICE and Customs and Border Protection last year as part of Trump’s tax and spending cuts bill. 
Source: Seattle Times 6/9/26 

ICE will stop reporting deaths of newly released detainees 
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is ending a policy that required the agency to report the deaths of former detainees that occurred within 30 days of their release from federal custody. The policy, issued during the Biden administration, directed the agency to review and report all detainee fatalities, including those that occurred post-release. The policy reversal by the Trump administration comes amid scrutiny from lawmakers and immigrant advocates over the rising death rate of detained immigrants in federal custody. There have been 49 deaths in ICE custody since the start of the second Trump administration, according to lawmakers. 
Source: ABC News 6/4/26 

DHS Plan Could Strip Work Permits From Nearly 1 Million Migrants
The Trump administration moved to further limit legal immigration Thursday with a new proposal that would place more restrictions on who can work legally in the United States and for how long. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it was looking to tighten rules around work authorizations, known as EADs, particularly for those with humanitarian parole and non-DACA deferred status, as well as those facing potential deportation. Under the proposal, DHS would sharply limit eligibility for "discretionary" employment authorization, requiring applicants to prove economic need, pass enhanced background checks, and meet stricter case-by-case criteria. "Work authorization has long been one of the primary mechanisms by which the government encourages self-sufficiency, workforce participation, and compliance with immigration requirements," Adam Klein, a former DHS official and a co-founder at Globali.ai, told Newsweek. "Restricting or making access to work authorization more uncertain does not make people disappear; it often makes them more economically vulnerable and can push individuals toward informal labor markets." 
Source: Newsweek 6/4/26 
You may comment on the proposal at the Federal Register website until 8/4/26

US Accepts Only White Refugees For Sixth Consecutive Month 
According to the US Refugee Admissions Program, since October 1, 2025 the US has accepted 6,668 refugees. Of those, 6,665 were white South Africans. Three—admitted last November—were from Afghanistan. No other refugees were admitted. Last October, the Trump administration announced that it would cut the number of refugees admitted per year to the US to 7,500—practically all of whom will be white. The administration has since spent more than $100 million to fight the “emergency” of “white genocide” in South Africa. The Trump administration sees Afrikaners, as victims of white “genocide”—a racist conspiracy theory promoted by many on the far right, notably Elon Musk. In May, the US increased the number of white South Africans it planned to admit by 10,000, to 17,500, claiming that “unforeseen developments in South Africa created an emergency refugee situation.” A spokesperson for South Africa’s foreign ministry said to the New York Times that same month that “the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being ‘refugees’ is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy.” 
Source: Mother Jones 6/6/26 
 Executive / Judicial

Judge says Trump Officials Must Restart Asylum and Immigration Processing 
In a searing 135 page opinion, Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr., District Court of Rhode Island, wrote that actions to lock eligible asylum seekers out of the immigration system and deny others temporary work permits had made it functionally impossible for a broad swath of people to remain in the country. He said the measures were improperly fueled by “anti-immigration sentiments” and contrary to immigration laws. The decision was a major blow to the Trump Administration in its growing campaign to not only cut off illegal immigration but tighten legal immigration and pressure noncitizens, including many with legal status, to leave the United States. The hold on asylum applications by USCIS also paused immigration applications filed by people from 39 countries subject to the president’s travel ban. The ruling (nationwide) forces the government to return to the normal adjudication process and begin resolving more than a million backlogged applications. 
Source: New York Times: 6/5/26 

Federal Judge Blocks ICE Policies Targeting Immigrant Crime Survivors 
A federal judge has blocked key immigration enforcement policies that advocates say threatened survivors of domestic and sexual violence who are seeking humanitarian protections in the United States. The ruling blocks ICE from detaining certain applicants while their cases are pending. The lawsuit was filed by several legal advocacy organizations, challenging recent policies they say undermined long-standing congressional protections for immigrant victims of crime and abuse. The preliminary ruling does not resolve the case but provides immediate, nationwide protections as litigation continues. “This is a deeply important victory for immigrant survivors,” said Archi Pyati, CEO of the Tahirih Justice Center, a nonprofit providing legal and social services to immigrant survivors. “For years, Congress has recognized that survivors need protection, not punishment, and the importance of ensuring that all victims and witnesses feel safe to come forward and report crime.” 
Source: NEPYORK 6/1/26 

Lawyers accuse immigration courts of holding ‘sham’ bond hearings 
In a broad pattern that’s emerged in recent months, Judges have been assigning extremely high bond figures, in some cases up to $50,000 to immigrants who have no criminal history and have often lived in US communities for years. Unlike criminal court which only requires 10% of the bond to be secured, immigration court requires the bond in total. “We’ve seen the Trump administration fire immigration judges and hire deportation judges,” said Cassandra Lopez, a lawyer with Al Otro Lado, a San Diego immigrant rights organization.“ Pasadena-based immigration lawyer Stacy Tolchin noted many clients are giving up and self deporting. “That’s why the government is using immigration detention. “It’s not because these people are a danger or a flight risk. We’re concerned that this really is just a sham court at this point”. 
Source: KPBS 6/4/26 

june 6, 2026

Washington State

DOJ sues WA and three other states for denying ICE agents undercover license plates 
The Trump administration is suing to challenge the refusal of Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington state to issue confidential license plates to ICE agents. ICE is seeking access to such plates to carry out arrests as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown. The justice department said the policies threaten the safety of federal immigration agents, exposing officers to harassment, tracking and assaults while they carry out arrests. Massachusetts governor Maura Healey said the state supports legitimate criminal investigative work but added “that’s not what we are seeing from ICE and its unconstitutional tactics. “We are not going to use state resources to help ICE operate in secret, and without accountability, while refusing to provide basic information about who they are arresting and why,” she said. 
Source: The Guardian 5/28/26

3 Spokane ICE protesters found guilty in conspiracy case 
The three were part of an ICE protest in June of last year that formed as agents attempted to transport a group of immigration detainees to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. A day after the protest, the U.S. Justice Department sent out a mass email to all 93 U.S. attorneys ordering federal prosecutors to prioritize cases against protesters who defy federal immigration enforcement and to publicize those types of cases. Acting U.S. Attorney for Eastern Washington Richard Barker resigned as prosecutors were considering the cases and posted on LinkedIn that he was grateful he “never had to sign an indictment or file a brief that I didn’t believe in,” and later told The Spokesman-Review in an interview he “was concerned about the Department’s senior leadership in Washington, D.C., staying true to the values of what we hold dear: upholding the rule of law without fear or favor.”
Source: The Seattle Times 5/29/26 


Federal Agencies

Actually, Most Immigrants Won’t Need to Leave U.S. to Get Green Cards, D.H.S. Says, Most Likely to Impact Applicant Spouses of Citizens
DHS announced last week that immigrants applying for a green card would now have to return and apply at a consulate in their home country except in “extraordinary” cases. But on Friday, DHS said it was not a blanket change and that it would be up to individual immigration officers to decide whether someone should be forced to go abroad to gain a green card. The guidance seemed likely to have the most marked impact on immigrants applying through family sponsorship, since they are less likely to have an underlying business visa to live and work in the country. Over the past few decades, many immigrants came on temporary visas, married U.S. citizens, and were allowed to stay in the U.S. while applying for green cards despite technically overstaying their visas. If forced to leave and apply from abroad, immigrants who have significantly overstayed a visa could well be prevented from coming back. “It’s very clear they’re trying to go after that,” said Doug Rand, a senior U.S.C.I.S. official during the Biden administration. “Because if now suddenly you can’t adjust status, and you have to go home to your home country, joke’s on you, now you’re barred from coming back for 10 years.”
Source: The New York Times 5/29/26 

ICE is spending millions of dollars on iris scanners, expanding its arsenal of tech tools 
The Department of Homeland Security is expanding its capacity to scan irises as part of its mass deportation efforts, a move that has raised concerns among privacy experts that the agency, flush with an influx of funding, is gathering biometric data from people it detains. The agency awarded a $25 million no-bid contract last week to BI2 Technologies, a company that specializes in iris scanning. The new contract is more than five times the amount of the company's last DHS contract, awarded last fall. DHS requested more than 1,500 iris scanners, as well as access to the company's mobile app, including a database where iris scans are stored. Irises contain intricate patterns
that are unique to each person, similar to a fingerprint. 
Source: NPR 5/27/26 
 
Trump's immigration enforcers look into buying ad data. Industry insiders fear what comes next. 
The trillion-dollar industry that amasses and shares troves of Americans’ information is confronting a new ethical quandary. Immigration and Customs Enforcement published a request for information in January seeking input on how “commercial Big Data and Ad Tech providers can directly support investigations. The adtech industry has spent decades collecting information on hundreds of millions of people in the U.S. from social media profiles, apps, cell phones and web browsing activity, then uses that data to sketch out networks of people’s family, friends, favorite brands and travel habits. Concerns about the government’s use of the information go well beyond immigration enforcement. Critics warn that more access to this data could also give the government unprecedented detail on Americans’ political views, creating a potential tool to suppress opponents. “It’s very shocking to see that the government is trying to use the digital advertising ecosystem to find and target immigrants,” said Brian O’Kelley, CEO of AI-advertising firm Scope3. 
Source: Politico 5/30/26
              Federal Request for Information
 
Aliens.gov website teases UFOs, but touts immigrant arrests 
The White House launched Aliens.gov, a website that mimics a UFO portal but actually displays ICE immigration arrest data and uses alien imagery to portray migrants as an invasion, sparking criticism from immigrant‑rights groups which said it uses dehumanizing "invasion rhetoric" to demonize migrants. Also, the website has a tip line to report "encounters" to ICE. Sarah Mehta, deputy director of policy and government affairs for the ACLU’s equality division, told USA TODAY in an emailed statement that the website is "sickening." "It traffics in invasion rhetoric to demonize immigrants and makes a game out of its cruel enforcement operations, where right now, children are being separated from their parents and immigrants are trapped in deadly detention facilities," Mehta said. 
Source: USA Today 5/29/26 
 Executive / Judicial

Immigrant detainees sue over ‘horrific’ conditions at Texas ICE detention facility
It’s the first lawsuit against the detention center. Immigration advocates and former detainees have been calling for the massive facility to be shut down for months. The plaintiffs filed the suit on behalf of themselves, all detainees of the facility and future people held there. They’re seeking class-action status for the legal challenge. The complaint, filed in the U.S. Court for the Western District of Texas, details “inhumane” treatment inside Camp East Montana on Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. The suit describes a litany of abuse allegations, including a lack of medical care and physical violence at the hands of guards, and accuses the government of human rights and constitutional violations. “Detained people are regularly subjected to severe beatings or sexual harassment by guards; squalid living conditions; spoiled food/inadequate food; no meaningful programming or recreation; inadequate access to basic hygiene; outbreaks of disease and limited or no access to sunlight,” according to the complaint. 
Source: NPR 5/30/26

MAY 29, 2026

Washington State

ICE arrests surge in Eastern Washington as advocates report growing fear in Yakima Valley 
Community groups say nearly 20 people were arrested in one week as new data shows a sharp rise in immigration enforcement activity across Eastern Washington. KING 5 reviewed immigration enforcement data from the Deportation Data Project showing ICE activity is up roughly 190% in Eastern Washington compared to the same time last year. Advocates say they are also seeing a shift in tactics with some people being detained after attending hearings at the Yakima County Courthouse. Earlier this year, researchers with the University of Washington Center for Human Rights documented a major increase in immigration arrests across the Pacific Northwest after years of relatively steady activity. 
Source: King 5 News 5/20/26 
 
Trump’s no-bond policy for immigrants in custody played out for years in Tacoma, Washington
The denial of bond for many held on immigration charges has unleashed tens of thousands of lawsuits since July, alleging violations of constitutional rights against illegal confinement. The practice had already played out for years in Tacoma, where immigration judges at the Northwest ICE Processing Center started denying bond early this decade. Few people noticed outside the immigration attorneys there. But when the Trump administration adopted the theory last year, it echoed the judges’ reasoning. Neil Floyd, one of the four Tacoma judges, said clerks researched the issue for about six months before the judges decided Congress never authorized them to grant bond. “It was from our perspective, a pretty blatantly prosecutorial push to keep people locked up,” said Matt Adams, an attorney for Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which sued over the practice in March 2025. The case has not yet been scheduled for trial. 
Source: The Seattle Times 5/27/26 

Federal Agencies

Green Cards and Adjustment of Status: “The headline alarmed many, but the memo itself tells a more nuanced story”
On May 21, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a new policy memorandum on adjustment of status. According to the American Immigration Council, “adjustment of status is the process that allows certain people already inside the U.S. to obtain a green card without having to leave the U.S. to attend a consular interview abroad. The intent of creating this process was to keep families together and allow those that meet the requirements to stay in the U.S.”
Immigration firm Boundless Immigration explains that “the agency's press release declared that USCIS "will grant Adjustment of Status (AOS) only in extraordinary circumstances." That framing has understandably caused significant concern for the thousands of families currently in, or preparing to begin, the adjustment of status process inside the United States. [However,] the memo does not introduce new law. Instead, it instructs USCIS officers to remember that AOS has always been a discretionary benefit, not an automatic right, and that officers must carefully weigh all relevant positive and negative factors when adjudicating each application.‍”
No, Adjustment of Status Didn’t End – The USCIS Memo Does Not Change the Law!
Importantly, an FAQ from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center notes: “This memo does not create any new requirement that those who are adjustment of status eligible must leave the country. Leaving the U.S. can trigger consequences; be sure to speak to an attorney or Department of Justice (DOJ) accredited representative about your specific case before making any decision.”
You may learn more about what the memo does (and doesn’t) say, and who could be affected by visiting the following sources: 
American Immigration Council 5/27/26 New USCIS Memo May Force Most Green Card Applicants to Apply from Abroad, Causing Chaos and Confusion
Boundless Immigration 5/28/26 USCIS Issues New Policy Memo on Adjustment of Status: What Family-Based Applicants Need to Know
Boundless Immigration 5/28/26 USCIS AOS Memo: What Employers and Foreign National Employees Need to Know
Immigrant Legal Resource Center 5/28/26 FAQ: USCIS Memo on Adjustment of Status
Immigrant Legal Resource Center 5/28/26 (Versión en Español)

Non-citizens face more scrutiny on bank activities after Trump order
The order directs the Treasury secretary to issue an advisory to banks to identify red flags tied to payroll tax evasion, concealment of true account ownership, off-the-books wage payments, and labor trafficking. Among the examples of red flags cited are accounts in the names of shell companies, use of specific platforms to disguise wage payments, and repetitive cash withdrawals. The use of Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) should also be flagged when not accompanied by a Social Security number or a work visa. The White House also said Treasury and regulators should propose changes to the Bank Secrecy Act to make it easier to obtain information about clients, singling out documents issued by foreign consulates as risky. However, the directive was less extensive than a previous proposal floated by the Treasury requiring banks to collect clients' citizenship information. 
Source: Reuters 5/19/26 
 
Trump administration onboards largest-ever class of new immigration judges in bid to speed up deportation cases 
The Justice Department, which oversees the U.S. immigration court system, swore in 77 permanent immigration judges and 5 temporary immigration judges. The additions come after the ouster of dozens of immigration judges across the country over the past year. Immigration judges decide whether noncitizens the government is seeking to deport should be removed from the U.S. or allowed to stay. Despite their title, immigration judges are not part of the independent judicial branch and are instead employees of the Justice Department. While they're part of the executive branch, immigration judges are expected to be neutral. Still, the Trump administration has publicly referred to them as "deportation judges" in official job listings, calling on potential applicants in one ad to "deliver justice" to "criminal illegal aliens." 
Source: CBS News 5/21/26 
 
Immigration courts are using a new tactic to speed up deportations 
Immigration courts are drastically accelerating immigrants' hearings and bunching them together with the goal of issuing more deportation orders. The new and unprecedented tactic was shared with NPR by immigration attorneys and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Immigrants are now being scheduled for massive master calendar hearings — or "mega masters" — that include 100 or more people at a time. Immigration attorneys who spoke to NPR worry that immigrants, especially those without a lawyer, may not know that their hearing dates had been rescheduled for a sooner date, leaving them vulnerable to deportation. In some cases, little to no notice is being issued by the government by mail or electronically to immigrants or their lawyers, meaning those not regularly checking their online accounts could miss any changes. When someone does not appear for their scheduled hearing, even by mistake, the judge can issue an official removal order that allows immigration officers to detain and deport the person. 
Source: NPR 5/26/26

may 22, 2026

Washington State

Rep. Emily Randall to Hold Town Hall in Chimacum on 5/28
House Representative Emily Randall will be holding an in-person town hall in Chimacum on Thursday, May 28th from 6pm (doors open at 5:30.) An RSVP is required to receive the event location, which will be announced 48 hours prior to the town hall. This is a chance to speak directly with your representative about questions and concerns you may have regarding federal immigration policy, and her work in congress. 
RSVP Here

Years of complaints preceded lawsuit against Tukwila immigration attorney
A federal lawsuit is accusing a prominent Seattle-area immigration attorney of steering immigrants into abuse-based immigration claims they allegedly did not qualify for. The federal lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court, accuses Tukwila-based attorney Alexandra Lozano and her law firm of malpractice, consumer protection violations, breach of fiduciary duty and other claims. The lawsuit alleges clients were encouraged to pursue the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a federal immigration pathway available to victims of domestic abuse, even when clients said those allegations were not true. Seattle immigration attorney Omar Barraza, who is representing plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said the fallout could affect families for years. “Most of the cases that are being denied are being sent to deportation court,” Barraza said, “And it’s an uphill battle once it goes into a deportation process.” He worries the allegations could also undermine legitimate VAWA cases. 
Source: King 5 News 5/14/26 
 
WA doesn't do enough to help undocumented kids in foster care, lawsuit says 
In a lawsuit against Washington’s Department of Children Youth and Families, two teens in the custody of Washington’s foster care system claim that the state has failed to provide adequate immigration support to help them avoid the risk of deportation once they turn 18. “Every immigrant youth deserves to be screened, at the very least, for eligibility for legal services that can help them on their pathway to citizenship,” said Rhea Yo, executive director for Legal Counsel for Youth and Families, which is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “Youth in foster care are almost always eligible for immigration relief, but have lacked access to that relief because of DCYF's inaction.” According to Yo, “ Washington state, even though they hold themselves out to be pro-immigrant, significantly lags behind other states who already have policies, practices and procedures” to provide more proactive legal help for unaccompanied immigrant minors. 
Source: KUOW 5/15/2026 

Federal Agencies

Trump Just Handed Mass Detention Policy to a Private Prison Executive 
The new head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be David Venturella, a former executive of the GEO Group. Trump’s appointment of a veteran of the prison-industrial complex is a shocking display of how intertwined private industry and government bureaucracy have become. In 2023 Venturella was a senior vice president of the GEO group which holds $1 billion in ICE contracts. According to the SEC, even after retiring from the GEO Group, Venturella advised on new and existing contracts as a federal employee until January 2025. Ethics rules bar federal employees from working on contracts awarded to their former employers, but the Trump administration granted Venturella a waiver. “Private detention centers that contract with ICE will now run ICE. That’s probably the easiest way to explain it,” said Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) “You’re talking about a private prison company which profits off of the pain of immigrants now having their employee be the new head of ICE.” 
Source: The Bulwark 5/15/26 
 
ICE Moves to Hike Deportation Stay Fee by 387 Percent 
On May 7th ICE published a notice of proposed rulemaking to raise the filing fee for Form I-246 — the application used to request a discretionary stay of deportation or removal — from $155 to $755. It frames the fee increase as a cost-shift from “taxpayers” to “those receiving the direct services” — in this case, people who are already under final removal orders and, in many instances, asking for more time in the country because they are seriously ill, or because their child is a U.S. citizen. ICE projects the higher fee would extract roughly $2.25 million more per year from applicants, based on an estimated I-246 filings annually. The agency acknowledges it cannot fully model how many people will simply stop filing
because they can’t afford it. The rule notes that fee waivers remain available — but that ICE retains sole discretion over whether to grant them. The public can submit comments about the proposed rule until July 6, 2026. 
Leave a public comment at Regulations.gov 
Source: Migrant Insider 5/15/26 

Executive / Judicial

ICE officer charged in nonfatal Minneapolis shooting during Operation Metro Surge 
Hennepin County, Minn., Attorney Mary Moriarty on Monday issued an arrest warrant for an ICE officer accused of shooting a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis in January, during the height of “Operation Metro Surge.” Christian Castro, 52, faces four counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime, Moriarty said at a press conference. Castro is accused of shooting Julio Sosa-Celis on Jan. 14th. Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg, “through the door of a home with many people, including children, inside, while fortunately missing several others," Moriarty stated. The DHS previously told The Hill that “[Sosa] fled the scene in his vehicle and crashed into a parked car” before running away on foot. Morarity said that the accounts from ICE officers and eyewitnesses about the moments leading up to the shooting did not line up, prompting the investigation and subsequent charges. "His federal badge does not make him immune from state charges for his criminal conduct in Minnesota,” she said. 
Source: The Hill 5/18/26 

may 15, 2026

Federal Agencies


Immigrants are giving up their cases and leaving the U.S. in soaring numbers
Immigration judges issued more than 80,000 “voluntary departure” orders from January 2025 through March of this year, according to court data obtained by the Vera Institute of Justice and shared with The Washington Post. Such orders are granted to immigrants who request to leave on their own terms while giving up the opportunity to seek a new life in the U.S. They are not given a formal deportation order, which could make it easier for them to return legally in the future. Immigration attorneys say the spike reflects the mounting strain on people who are facing long stints in detention as they await a hearing in immigration court, where it has become increasingly difficult to win asylum.
Source: The Washington Post 5/8/26  

Thousands of asylum-seekers abandon their cases as ICE seeks to deport them to nations they aren't from
The Trump administration's unprecedented efforts to deport asylum-seekers to third countries has scared thousands into giving up their asylum claims, according to a CBS News analysis of recently released federal data. Third-country deportations "have more to do with fear than scale," said Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. Third-party nations like Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala and Uganda have signed "asylum cooperative agreements" with the Trump administration that allow the U.S. to re-route asylum-seekers there. Roughly 12,300 people withdrew or abandoned their asylum claims or agreed to voluntarily depart the U.S. according to immigration court data.
Source: CBS News 5/8/26
 
Trump’s Immigration Agenda Has Forced Hundreds of Kids Into Foster Care
The number of kids who were placed in foster care because immigration agents detained or deported their parents increased by nearly 49% in the 2025 fiscal year, according to new data from the federal government. A dashboard from the Department of Health and Human Services updated last week shows Immigration enforcement related entries into foster care jumped from 156 in 2024 to 232 in 2025. The data, which represents an undercount of reported cases from only 34 states, provides more insight into family separations happening under Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Approximately 6.3 million children in the U.S, most of whom are American citizens, live with at least one parent who is undocumented, according to an October analysis from the Migration Policy Institute. 
Source: NOTUS 5/7/26

ICE puts new restrictions on members of Congress inspecting detention centers
A new Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy requires members of Congress to seek advance approval in order to speak with detainees during oversight inspections at detention facilities. ICE now requires members of Congress to identify specific detainees by name at least two business days in advance of visiting an immigration detention facility. California Rep. Mike Levin said the new policy effectively defeats the purpose of unannounced oversight visits. “I think it’s a deliberate effort to make sure we don’t hear from people in ICE custody. Observation is a necessary part of any inspection because you don’t really know what’s going on without talking to people in a way that’s unplanned.”
Source: LA Times 5/12/26
 
DHS wants to build AI smart glasses
ICE agents in at least six states have been spotted wearing Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses during enforcement operations. Now, the Department of Homeland Security is requesting $7.5 million to develop its own smart glasses that would let agents identify people on the street in real time using facial recognition and other biometric data. The DHS is requesting the funding to develop critical technologies, analytic tools, and data systems to strengthen DHS’ ability to encounter, transport, detain, and remove individuals who are in the U.S. unlawfully. ICE has set a target delivery date of September 2027 for the new technology to be in use.
Source: Yahoo News 5/12/26
 
Executive/Judicial

Judge Rules ICE Arrests Violated Order Requiring Warrants in D.C.
In a 45-page opinion, Judge Beryl A. Howell, District of Columbia, wrote that the Department of Homeland Security has relied on guidance that advised immigration agents to make arrests without warrants in cases beyond what she had dictated in her December 2025 order. Howell had previously agreed that the Trump administration had ignored rules intended to prevent indiscriminate arrests as agents worked to meet quotas, particularly targeting people who appeared to be Latino. The next month, Todd M. Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, circulated a memo authorizing all ICE personnel they could immediately arrest individuals deemed “likely to escape” before a warrant could be obtained. Howell said that guidance was at odds with her order, which required agents to demonstrate a real belief that a suspect might flee and to take into account factors that might suggest they would not, including their ties to the community. Howell further stated that the agency’s continued implementation of that January guidance left her “no alternative but to prohibit reliance on the memorandum in its entirety” in Washington DC. Judges in California, Illinois, Colorado and Oregon have come to similar conclusions about Trump administration detention policies and have also imposed limits on arrests without judicial warrants.
Source: New York Times 5/7/2026
 

MAY 7, 2026

Legislative


DHS Shutdown Ends, House and Senate pass budget resolution approving pathway for further ICE funding
The House on Thursday approved a Senate-passed bill that would fund much of the Department of Homeland Security, ending the record 75-day shutdown of the sprawling federal agency. The bill does not provide new funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Border Patrol, however, as Democrats demand changes to immigration enforcement. Asked what had changed in the month since the bill passed in the Senate, Johnson noted the party’s progress on funding ICE and the Border Patrol. On Wednesday, the House passed a budget resolution that would create a pathway to fund both agencies for the rest of Trump’s term. That measure has already passed the Senate. The budget resolution instructs congressional committees to draft legislation and authorize $70 billion to pay for ICE and the Border Patrol for roughly the next three years. Under that budget "reconciliation” process, Republicans would be able to pass the legislation on their own, with no Democratic support needed in the House or the Senate. If nearly all Republicans are on board, the GOP would not need to make any of the policy changes demanded by Democrats to fund ICE and the Border Patrol.
Source: NBC News 4/30/26 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/congress-expected-end-record-75-day-parti al-government-shutdown-rcna342903 


Federal Agencies 


US tells embassies to deny visas to applicants who say they fear return to home country 
Applicants seeking a temporary visa to the United States must now tell a consular officer that they have not experienced harm and do not fear returning to their home country. If they answer yes or decline to respond to either question, the chance they will be denied will increase dramatically. Under both US law and the 1951 Refugee Convention, the right to seek asylum is not conditional on how someone enters the country or what they told a visa officer. But the new policy creates a screening mechanism that would filter out victims of persecution, including domestic abuse survivors and journalists who have received death threats before they ever reach US soil, regardless of whether their stated purpose of travel is legitimate. There is also a risk of perjury. An applicant who correctly fears return but answers “no” to obtain a visa has made a material misrepresentation to a federal officer, which is a crime that carries a permanent bar from the United States. 
Source: The Guardian 2/28/26 
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/28/us-applicants-visa-refusal-immigration 

Doctors From Countries Under Travel Ban Now Allowed to Stay in U.S.
A Department of Homeland Security policy stemming from a travel ban that was put in place in January had frozen decisions on visa extensions, work permits and green cards for citizens of 39 countries. Late last week, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its website, without a formal announcement, to indicate that physicians are no longer subject to the processing hold. The United States faces a shortage of about 65,000 physicians, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. More than 60 percent of foreign physicians practice primary care, including family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, which many American doctors shun because of grueling workloads and lower pay compared with other specialties. Source: The New York Times 5/3/26 

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/us/trump-travel-ban-doctors-us-immigration.html? unlocked_article_code=1.f1A.-HY3.7A2-4lrYRH19&smid=em-share

Internal ICE records reveal widespread use of force in detention centers The reports detail how guards have increasingly used chemical agents and physical tactics on detainees, including groups demanding adequate water, food and medical care. During the first year of Trump’s second term, detention staff used force 37 percent more times than the previous year. The number of people subjected to force rose even more sharply, to 1,330 individuals — a 54 percent increase from the previous year. ICE requires facilities to report every time force is used and then review each incident to determine whether guards acted appropriately. However, the reports analyzed by The Post do not indicate whether those reviews happened or what they found.
Source: The Washington Post 5/4/26 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/05/04/ice-detention-centers-force/ 

DHS closes office of immigration detention watchdog 

The Department of Homeland Security is closing an office responsible for investigating misconduct and abuse in the immigration detention system, according to an internal email to DHS employees obtained by HuffPost. The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman is in the process of removing all its public signage and ending its inspections. The closure of the ombudsman’s office adds to the lack of oversight of immigration jails nationwide, despite the Trump administration’s efforts to surge detention capacity. There are around 60,000 people being held in immigration detention facilities currently. Over 30 people died in ICE custody last year — making it the deadliest year for ICE detainees since 2004. So far this year, ICE has reported 18 deaths in custody, marking an even deadlier pace so far. 
Source: The Huffington Post 5/4/26 
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/immigration-detention-ombudsman-closure_n_69f8facee4b0115dd7bf98e5 

FBI Redirected a Quarter of Staff to Target Immigrants Under Trump’s Deportation Push 

There were 279 FBI personnel working on “immigration-related matters” before Trump took office in January 2025. In total, 9,161 people at the FBI worked on immigration between Trump’s inauguration and September 7 of last year, out of a total of 38,000 FBI employees. “That is a huge, huge number of people,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. “This is just a somewhat shocking scale that we’re looking at.” The FBI is not the only federal agency to massively reorient itself toward immigration. The Justice Department dropped thousands of criminal cases last year in an attempt to funnel its efforts—almost singularly—toward convicting immigration cases. Altogether, the chief law enforcement agency closed some 23,000 criminal cases in the first six months of Trump’s term, including investigations into terrorism, white-collar crimes, and drugs, while prosecuting 32,000 new immigration cases. 
Source: The Intercept 5/1/26 
https://theintercept.com/2026/05/01/fbi-ice-immigration-enforcement/

Executive/Judicial 


Federal judge blocks Trump's Halt on immigration applications
On Thursday (5/1) U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick determined that President Trump’s halt on processing immigration applications for citizens of countries listed under his travel ban was unlawful, granting an injunction on a policy she determined was unfairly leaving thousands in limbo. Judge Kobick tore into a number of Trump administration policies enacted after an Afghan man attacked two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., last year, killing one, as well as a thwarted terror attack. “These are thin reeds on which to rest an assertion of reasoned decisionmaking. With respect to the criminal acts planned or committed by Afghan nationals, the government makes no argument as to how two serious, but isolated, violent crimes planned by two people from one country is rationally connected with a policy stopping adjudication of benefit applications by people from 39 different countries, as well as applications for asylum by people from every country in the world,” Kobick wrote in the decision.
Source: The Hill 5/01/26 
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5859141-judge-blocks-trump-administration -pause-immigration-applications/

APRIL 30, 2026

Washington State

WA Law Banning Face Coverings by Law Enforcement has key difference from overturned California law
In March, Washington legislators passed a bill mandating that all law enforcement officers, including federal immigration officers, show their faces while performing their official duties in the state. The Supremacy Clause in the Constitution mandates that federal law take precedence over state law — an argument the Trump administration used to challenge a similar law in California, which was blocked in February by a federal judge. The judge said California’s “No Secret Police Act” violated the Constitution by targeting federal police and not state and local police equally. While Washington state’s new law mirrors the one in California, it holds a key distinction: It applies to all federal, state and local law enforcement — potentially bolstering its chance of holding up in court.
Source: Politico 3/19/26   

Federal Agencies

Work inside DOJ office that helps immigrants get legal aid stalls after personnel shuffle 
The Recognition and Accreditation program certifies non-attorneys so they are authorized to assist immigrants on everything from naturalization petitions to representation in the Justice Department's immigration courts. The office has failed to approve a single new application since March— after its attorneys were quietly reassigned to other offices. The reassigned DOJ lawyers were responsible for renewing and approving new applications for the program. Since the reassignment took place, the office has continued to receive between 40 and 60 new applications per week. 
Source: CBS News 4/23/26 
  
Justice Department makes it easier to deport those with DACA status
A new precedent decision published Friday (4/24) by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) says being a DACA recipient is not enough reason to provide relief from deportation. Friday's order is the latest step by the Trump administration to strip away protections from DACA recipients. "For over a decade, DACA has endured relentless, politically motivated attacks," said Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, deputy director of Advocacy and Campaigns at United We Dream, an organization fighting for the rights of immigrants. "This decision is yet another step in dismantling the program without the government taking responsibility for ending it outright. ... This is a quiet rollback of protections, and our communities are paying the price in real time."
Source: NPR News 4/25/26 
  
Justice Dept. Targets Hundreds of Citizens in New Push for Denaturalization
The Justice Department has identified 384 foreign-born Americans whose citizenship it wants to revoke, part of a push to increase the pace of denaturalizations by assigning the cases to prosecutors in dozens of U.S. attorney’s offices across the country. Between 1990 and 2017, the government filed an average of 11 per year. It tended to go after people who had committed war crimes overseas before becoming Americans. “This kind of mass denaturalization campaign will be based on a distortion of the law and is another transparent effort to destabilize long-established principles of US citizenship,” said Lucas Guttentag, a former DOJ official in the Biden administration and a professor at Stanford Law School. “Genuine fraud when it actually occurs has always been aggressively pursued.” 
Source: The New York Times 4/23/26 
  
Asylum-seekers could lose right to work under proposed Trump administration rules 
Currently asylum-seekers must wait six months after filing an asylum request before they can work legally, but the Trump administration is seeking to extend that to one year. The proposal would also pause any new requests for work permission during times of high asylum case processing backlogs. Since the backlog is now 1.4 million asylum cases, that would effectively stop new and renewal work request applications for anywhere from 14 to 173 years, the administration estimates. If the rule takes effect, it could cause wage losses of $27 billion to $127 billion a year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimated. 
Source: Stateline 4/23/26 
 

US DHS to vet immigrants for what it calls extremist views, raising free speech concerns 
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Monday (4/27) that past statements espousing what it labeled extremist views from immigrants applying for green cards and naturalization would "warrant closer scrutiny." Free speech advocates are raising concerns that it could stifle First Amendment rights. The Trump administration includes criticism of Israel as a potentially disqualifying factor. Immigration officers were told to weigh those factors as "overwhelmingly negative," it added. 
Source: Reuters 4/27/26 
 

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