<![CDATA[Immigration Roundup]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EOi8!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F478c4341-8768-48c6-a6af-6c2c9166b292_3306x3306.jpegImmigration Rounduphttps://amihutchinson.substack.comSubstackWed, 02 Sep 2026 17:54:56 GMT<![CDATA[IMMIGRATION ROUNDUP| August 21-29]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-august-21-29https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-august-21-29Sun, 30 Aug 2026 21:44:44 GMTEvent Announcement: September 24, 2026. Deportation Inc.: Investigating the Business of Migrant Removal, presented by SITU Research, Lawfare, and The Intercept.

Five Songs

For years, I’ve curated a playlist called “Ami’s All-Time Favorites”, a compilation of the songs I go back to time and again. Mostly, they’re the songs that meant the most to me at a given time, and the ones I reach for when I’m least able to accept the present. But they’re also the songs that invariably make me smile. Here’s five of them:

1. Enya - Orinoco Flow

2. Talking Heads – This Must be the Place

3. Tom Petty – Wildflowers

4. Wang Chung – Dance Hall Days

5. New Order – Blue Monday

IMMIGRATION HEADLINES

August 29, 2026

August 28, 2026

August 27, 2026

August 26, 2026

August 25, 2026

August 24, 2026

August 22, 2026

August 21, 2026

OPINION & DEEP READS

Jessica Yellin and Rohan Montgomery, What Happens When the Government Takes People, News Not Noise (Aug. 28, 2026)

Aura Bogado, The county prosecutors who became ICE informants, Injustice Watch (Aug. 25, 2026)

Beth Schwartzapfel and Anna Flagg, Trump’s ICE Has Detained More People Than the Population of Atlanta, The Marshall Project (Aug. 25, 2026)

Nick Miroff, ICE Has Quietly Changed Its Deadly-Force Rule, The Atlantic (Aug. 25, 2026)

Aura Bogado, Illinois promised to protect immigrants. Local officials helped deport them anyway., Injustice Watch (Aug. 25, 2026)

LEGAL COMMENTARY

The Fifth Circuit Ended the Alien Enemies Act Case Without Deciding It (Aug. 29, 2026) (Ashtalks)

César García Hernández, Immigration Jailing Policy Nears Supreme Court, Immigration Law Unhinged (Aug. 28, 2026)

Adam Keith and Nina Moraitou-Politzi, Why the Trump Administration is Pushing States to Quit the ICC, and How Member States Can Push Back, Just Security (Aug. 27, 2026)

The Judge Who Wanted The Door Shut Tighter (Aug. 25, 2026) (Ashtalks)

INTERNATIONAL / HUMAN RIGHTS

Kanishka Singh, UN rights office condemns US designation of Palestine Action as ‘terrorist’ group, Reuters (Aug. 27, 2026)

Sarah Elaine Harrison, The Boat Strikes Aren’t Part of a War. They’re Murder., Lawfare (Aug. 27, 2026)

Hannah Garry, et al., Experts Declare International Law Principles Supporting Women’s Resistance to Gender Apartheid, Just Security (Aug. 26, 2026)

POLICY UPDATES

USCIS, DHS Proposes Additional H-1B Fee (Aug. 24, 2026)

USCIS, Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility

August 18, 2026 – USCIS published PA-2026-09, updating the Policy Manual regarding the public charge ground of inadmissibility under INA § 212(a)(4) in response to the Final Rule issued on July 20, 2026. The updated guidance is effective Sept. 18, 2026, and applies to all applicable applications for adjustment postmarked or electronically filed on or after that date.

From CLINIC:

Practitioners are encouraged to file adjustment applications before Sept. 18 to take advantage of the current 2022 public charge regulations. USCIS will publish a revised edition of Form I-485. Practitioners should review the entire updated guidance, such as pages 49 onward and the scenarios on page 60. See CLINIC’s new article summarizing the Policy Manual changes and the previously published article discussing the Final Rule.

EOIR, Final Rule: Inflation Adjustment for EOIR HR-1 Fees

On Aug. 21, 2026, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) published a final rule making inflationary adjustments to certain immigration filings as required by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Effective October 1, 2026:

  • Form EOIR-26: $1,060

  • Form EOIR-29: $1,060

  • Form EOIR-45: $2,070

  • Motions to reopen or reconsider a decision of an IJ: $1,095

  • Motions to reopen or reconsider a decision of the BIA: $1,060

  • Motions to reopen or reconsider a decision of an IJ or BIA that is based exclusively on an application for relief that does not require a fee: $950

  • Motions to reopen or reconsider a decision of an IJ or BIA that is based exclusively on a prior application for relief that did not require a fee: $950

  • Form EOIR-40: $730

  • Form EOIR-42A: $730

  • Form EOIR-42B: $1,690

EOIR will update its website and EOIR Payment Portal to reflect the new filing fees.

Agency Memos & Announcements (From AILA) [accessible to the public]

USCIS Updates Guidance on Rosario Class Action Protections for Asylum-Based EAD Applicants (Aug. 26, 2026)

USCIS Policy Alert on Investigations and Examinations for Naturalization Eligibility (Aug. 25, 2026)

DOJ Launches National Fraud Detection Center to Strengthen Oversight of Taxpayer-Funded Programs (Aug. 24, 2026)

Department of State Rescission of Syria’s Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (Aug. 24, 2026)

bonus.

Actual footage of me rolling past the EOIR.

[I’m generally against the use of AI, but this was worth it.]

]]><![CDATA[IMMIGRATION ROUNDUP | News, Resources, & Policy]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-news-resourceshttps://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-news-resourcesSun, 23 Aug 2026 00:12:27 GMTIn a beleaguered attempt to get caught up on news, policy, and legal resources, today’s roundup includes select immigration headlines from the past ten (10) days, as well as policy updates sand legal resources since about August 5.

But first:

Pernicious (adj.): causing or capable of causing irreparable harm, often through evil or insidious corrupting or undermining.

Several weeks ago, a sympathetic client (“X”) with no criminal history was arrested by ICE at an airport and transferred to a detention facility in Arizona. There, he was coerced into signing for voluntary departure—a “request” that we successfully withdrew, resulting in the issuance of a Notice to Appear. ICE has refused to provide proof that X’s arrest was preceded by a valid Form I-200 (Administrative Warrant).

A hearing was set for August 21, and a bond motion underway. Both X and his fiancé had hope.

That hope was fleeting. On Sunday, ICE put X on a plane and transferred him to Texas—something I did not learn about until the following day.

All day Monday, the online detainee locator showed “0” (no results found). But X was in custody. In fact, he was cuffed and shackled for over 30 hours, like cattle on the way to auction. And throughout the journey, both he and the other detainees were encouraged to sign for “voluntary” deportation.

For all intents and purposes, detainees disappear when they’re moved within the United States (and elsewhere). ICE does not notify counsel if or when a transfer is scheduled to occur (or to where), and for however long that transfer takes, the detainee is forced incommunicado. Though I found some comfort in the fact that ICE did tell me (on Monday) where X was going, that information proved to be false.

I find it unnecessary and frankly infuriating that seemingly every ICE Field Office and every detention center has its own (unpublished) procedures for submission of documents, contacting Enforcement and Removal Operations, and requesting legal calls. I’ve found locations in Texas and Louisiana to be especially onerous.

Being in removal proceedings is hard enough.

Being detained while in removal proceedings combines fear with abuse and neglect.

Being detained and hiring an immigration attorney often requires substantial resources. Hours are spent driving to and from the detention center, communicating with clients and their family, and preparing for proceedings that are adjudicated expeditiously.

Having an immigration attorney is a privilege that matters. Represented, non-detained immigrants are 5x more likely to win their cases.

Detained, represented noncitizens are 2x more likely to win their cases and 3.5x more likely to be released from custody. See Immigration Court Legal Representation Dashboard and A Federal Defender System for Immigrants is Long Overdue.

By moving X to Texas, ICE has deprived him of both his substantive and procedural due process rights. The work my colleagues and I have put into X’s case is for naught, as his fiancé must now hire a new attorney who can represent him before a different judge, in a different jurisdiction, where less favorable laws apply. And instead of having a hearing on August 21, he waits an additional twenty days.

ICE’s pernicious behavior is cruel and calculated.

IMMIGRATION HEADLINES

August 20, 2026

August 19, 2026

August 18, 2026

August 17, 2026

August 15, 2026

August 14, 2026

August 13, 2026

August 12, 2026

August 11, 2026

Older Headlines of Note

OPINIONS, DEEP READS, & REPORTS

Virgil Wiebe, #53. Immigration Podcasts (Aug. 20, 2026)

Alexandra Markovich and Adriana Navarro, Judges ruled deporting at-risk migrants home could lead to persecution or torture. ICE is detaining them anyway., Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting (Aug. 20, 2026)

Isabel Del Mastro and Rene Kladzyk, Inside ICE’s Broken System for Inspecting Detention Facilities, Project on Government Oversight (Aug. 18, 2026)

Arjun Singh, The Fight Begins Over Student Workers, Migrant Insider (Aug. 18, 2026)

Lauren Villagran, Parents are Giving Up Green Card Fights to Get Their Kids Out of Immigrant Jail, The Marshall Project (Aug. 18, 2026)

  • AEH Comment: Children are not supposed to be held in immigration detention for longer than 20 days. But ICE doesn’t play by the rules, forcing some families to choose between continuing with their cases and saving their children from detention.

  • Related: The same day this story was published, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee of the Central District of California made public her order appointing an independent monitor to oversee conditions for children in immigration detention, noting numerous violations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection under the Trump administration. Among other requirements, the Order provides for unannounced checks for at least a year at Dilley and detention cells along the border to make sure the government is adhering to the settlement agreement that limits kids’ time in detention.

Shifra Dayak, Refugee admissions to the U.S. are dropping sharply in Trump’s second term, Pew Research Center (Aug. 17, 2026)

Andrew Marantz, How Far Will the Trump Administration Go to Deport Mahmoud Khalil?, The New Yorker (Aug. 17, 2026)

Jennie Murray, Here is our way forward on immigration, The Hill (Aug. 15, 2026)

David Averre, Thank You for Your Service…Now Get Out of America, Newsweek (Aug. 12, 2026)

Austin Kocher, New Tool Now Available: The ICE Detention Mortality Dashboard (Aug. 12, 2026)

Dara Lind, The Great Delegalization, The New Yorker (Aug. 10, 2026)

MULTIMEDIA

Immigration Review with Kevin A. Gregg (available here)

Code Switch, How farm work became the exception to Trump’s border crackdown, NPR (Aug. 11, 2026) [33 min.]

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

CLINIC, Rapid Response Toolkit (Updated August 7, 2026)

CLINIC, A Litigation Journey: The Path of a Policy (Aug. 5, 2026)

FORUM, Explainer: Trump Administration Issues New Executive Orders Targeting Birthright Citizenship and Birth Tourism (Aug. 13, 2026)

National Immigrant Justice Center, Explainer | New Rule Puts Asylum Seekers at Risk, Tramples Due Process Protections (Aug. 21, 2026)

National Immigration Project

National Immigration Law Center

Asian Law Caucus: Explainer – Understanding Birthright Citizenship (Aug. 17, 2026)

ATTORNEY RESOURCES

**As always, AILA members can (and should) log on to review recent practice advisories and alerts.

Immigrant Legal Resource Center, US v. Lopez: Ninth Circuit Holds Cal. Pen. Code § 273.5 not a Crime of Violence (Aug. 11, 2026)

CLINIC: USCIS Expands Public Charge Discretion: What Immigration Practitioners Need to Know (Aug. 21, 2026)

SEE BELOW RE: RECENT USCIS ALERTS

LEGAL COMMENTARY

Jeremiah Johnson (former Immigration Judge), When Soft Pressure Hardens (Aug. 21, 2026)

Lisa Davis, New International Criminal Court Sanctions and the Threat to U.S. Democracy, Just Security (Aug. 20, 2026)

Kristin de la Vega (CLINIC), A Circuit Split Ripe for Review: Mandatory Detention Under INA § 235(b)(2)(A) (updated Aug. 19, 2026)

· Updated following the First Circuit’s decision in Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz (Aug. 13, 2026)

Emile Ayoub and Hannah James, No Warrant, No Problem: Administrative Subpoena Powers and an Outdated Fourth Amendment Doctrine, Just Security (Aug. 17, 2026)

GOVERNMENT ACTIONS & POLICY UPDATES

Center for Disease Control: Order: Suspending the Right to Introduce Certain Persons from Countries Where a Quarantinable Communicable Disease Exists

· Citing Ebola, CDC Extends Title 42 Order to Suspend Entry of Those Recently in South Sudan, DRC, or Uganda. The extended order is effective until Sept. 11, 2026.

· Text of the Order can be found here.

USCIS recently issued three processing alerts for affirmative asylum filings, all effective August 21, 2026. (Summaries below provided by CLINIC).

  • Asylum Interviews: Applicants must establish exceptional circumstances to reschedule an interview. USCIS will not issue a Failure to Appear Warning after a missed interview; instead, for applicants in lawful status it will administratively close and dismiss the application, and for applicants without status it will refer the application to an IJ, unless the applicant timely requests a reschedule with evidence of exceptional circumstances.

  • Biometrics Appointments: Applicants must establish exceptional circumstances to reschedule an asylum-related biometrics appointment. If an applicant misses the appointment, USCIS may dismiss the asylum application and refer applicants who lack status to an IJ, unless the applicant submits a request to reschedule with evidence of exceptional circumstances within 10 calendar days.

  • Evidence: Applicants must submit all evidence to the asylum office at least 14 calendar days before a scheduled interview. Late evidence may be excluded or may trigger a rescheduled interview that could affect employment authorization eligibility.

USCIS also recently published an interim final rule amending regulations governing e-filing for certain benefits, the process USCIS will follow to require e-filing, and how applicants may request a waiver if they are unable to file online.

And on August 5, 2026, USCIS published PA-2026-06, updating the Policy Manual on the use of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing to establish a genetic relationship when primary evidence is unavailable, unreliable, or insufficient. The updated guidance requires officers to suggest DNA testing when a benefit requestor has not met their burden of establishing a genetic relationship. That same day, USCIS published PA-2026-05, updated guidance in the Policy Manual regarding evidentiary standards, RFEs, and NOIDs.

Brenda J. Oliver, H-1B Workers Could Lose 60-Day Grace Period Under DHS Proposal (Aug. 18, 2026)

Delighted. That’s how I felt when, on a recent bike ride to work, I saw this:

90s kids will know.

But for those who haven’t seen The Fifth Element, I think this is also the BIA’s most recent prompt for amicus briefing.

ELATED: How I felt ten blocks later.

(Could be precedent-setting).

]]><![CDATA[IMMIGRATION ROUNDUP | Legal Resources ]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-legal-resources-081https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-legal-resources-081Sat, 08 Aug 2026 23:18:04 GMTFor years, noncitizens with pending relief have generally been permitted to travel freely within the United States, whether for work, for pleasure, or anything in between.

Not anymore.

Pursuant to a May 2025 Memorandum of Agreement between the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ICE is now arresting noncitizen travelers – most of whom have valid work permits, valid Real IDs or passports, no criminal records, and pending claims or overstay status – with the help of information provided by TSA. The travelers are promptly whisked away and detained.

Within the past two weeks alone, I’ve heard of a bridesmaid being arrested on her way to a bachelorette party, an employee being arrested after attending a work conference in another city, and at least one person who was coerced into signing voluntary departure paperwork without ever having the opportunity to consult with an attorney.

So, what’s the takeaway? Other than the obvious (noncitizens and certain LPRs should not travel), attorneys should request any and all arrest paperwork, including Form I-213 and the administrative warrant (if there is one – if not, or if it was prepared after your client’s arrest, habeas may be an option).

(In other news, Trump issued a new Executive Order aimed at narrowing the availability of birthright citizenship on Thursday: Continuing to Protect the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship).

HIGHLIGHTED RESOURCES

Immigration Tracker: State and Local Edition (CLINIC).

  • Per CLINIC, the State and Local Edition is “a monthly resource designed to keep Affiliates informed about significant state and local immigration law and policy developments. Each issue highlights policy updates, including newly enacted legislation and court orders. These brief policy summaries provide key updates and useful resources for Affiliates and the communities served.”

  • Per me, bookmark this!

American Immigration Council’s new interactive feature, Map The Impact, provides comprehensive state and local (economic) immigration data. In the United States, for example:

In Wisconsin (where I’m from):

And in Arizona (where I live):

NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING

You’ve likely heard by now that the Department of Justice, EOIR, has proposed new regulations authorizing IJs to hold immigration attorneys, noncitizens, and their witnesses in civil contempt for any of the following five categories of conduct:

(1) attorneys’ and representatives’ repeated failure to appear or to appear on time for scheduled hearings or pre-hearing conferences, including those held via telephone or video conferencing, without good cause;

(2) repeated failure to comply with Immigration Judge orders to timely file pleadings, applications, pre-hearing statements, evidentiary submissions, or any other filings, without good cause;

(3) disorderly or abusive behavior or language in and around the courtroom and before the Immigration Judge or abusive language in any filing with the Immigration Court;

  • AEH Comment: According to the notice of proposed rulemaking, this “includes, but is not limited to, behavior or language that impugns the integrity of the court, unfairly maligns the competence or impartiality of the presiding Immigration Judge, is defamatory or slanderous, or inappropriately accosts any individual in the courtroom.”

    • At the same time, attorneys who don’t call out or draw attention to the current lack of impartiality are, at least in my opinion, doing a disservice to their clients.

(4) knowingly or recklessly making a false statement of material fact or law, or knowingly or recklessly offering false evidence, and for attorneys and representatives, failing to take appropriate remedial measures after becoming aware of the falsity of previous material statements or evidence; and

  • AEH Comment: Hopefully, all attorneys avoid deliberately lying or presenting false evidence, and hopefully all attorneys do take appropriate remedial measures. I wonder, though, what will constitute “recklessness” in this context. If an Immigration Judge determines that my client’s application for asylum is “frivolous,” was it “reckless” of me to represent them? Or (assuming I did not know it was a frivolous claim), was I zealously representing my clients rights?

(5) willfully misleading, misinforming, threatening, or deceiving any person (including a party to a case or an officer or employee of the Department), concerning any relevant matter relating to a case.

  • AEH Comment: At least it’s “willful.”

Ultimately, what’s most interesting to me is that, under the proposed regulations, Immigration Judges will be authorized to hold anyone but government employees in civil contempt. According to the NPRM, this is because government employees are subject to their own disciplinary procedures. That may be true, but I don’t think it’s too farfetched to assume that DHS is not currently disciplining their attorneys for conduct that lacks candor to the court.

ATTORNEY RESOURCES

Practice Advisories and Alerts:

National Immigration Project (shout out to Michelle Mendez!):

Other Advisories:

**As always, AILA members can (and should) log on to review recent practice advisories and alerts.

LEGAL COMMENTARY

REPORTS

Muzaffar Chishti and Greg García, In Its Second Term, Trump Administration Quietly Expands Family Separation, Migration Policy Institute (July 30, 2026)

NILC, The Impact of Immigration Enforcement and Anti-Immigrant Policies on K-12 Schools, Educators, and Immigrant Youth and Families (Aug. 4, 2026)

Matthew Lisiecki and Vicky Virgin, Meeting the Moment: Lessons Learned from Asylum Seeker Workforce Integration in New York City, Center for Migration Studies (July 28, 2026)

ILRC, A Platform for Immigrant Justice and Building a New Way Forward (July 29, 2026)

American Immigration Council, What State Lawmakers Can Do to Protect Immigrants: Privacy, Public Safety, and Detention Reform (July 28, 2026)

UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute, The Cost of Fear: The Impacts of Immigration Enforcement on Small Businesses and Latino Entrepreneurs in LA County (July 22, 2026)

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

INTERNATIONAL / HUMAN RIGHTS

UNHCR: 75 years on, the Refugee Convention remains a lifeline for millions (July 24, 2026)

Summer 2026 edition of the International Migration Review (IMR)

BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS

Ten points to whoever writes the best haiku about the current state of the BIA.

In July, the Board issued 14 published decisions (4 designated as precedent by the Attorney General). Of those, there were DHS interlocutory appeals (both about pretermission), two DHS bond appeals, one Respondent bond appeal, three Respondent merits appeals, four DHS merits appeals, one timely motion to reopen, and one remand from the Tenth Circuit. All DHS appeals were sustained.

So far, we’ve seen two published decisions in August (both DHS appeals, both sustained):

Matter of MOMPLAISIR, 29 I&N Dec. 820 (BIA 2026)

(1) The Department of Homeland Security properly authenticated the Form I-213 (Record of Deportable/Inadmissible Alien) and the Form I-94 (Arrival/Departure Record) by attaching to each document a Form G-24 (Certification of Documents) signed by the District Records Manager.

Matter of H-I-A-H-, 29 I&N Dec. 823 (BIA 2026)

(1) Remand is warranted because the Immigration Judge’s favorable credibility finding does not meaningfully address apparent inconsistencies and other unresolved concerns regarding the respondent’s testimony.

(2) The Immigration Judge erred in determining that the Department of Homeland Security had not rebutted the presumption of a well-founded fear of future persecution based on the feasibility of internal relocation without considering that the respondent had relocated and remained there for several years without harm.

SELECT CASE LAW

For more in-depth review of and commentary about recently published case law, see Immigration Review Podcast with Kevin A. Gregg.

From Episodes 326 and 327 (not including BIA cases) (descriptions provided by Kevin)

Rodriguez Vazquez, et al. v. Bostock, et al., No. 25-6842 (9th Cir. July 30, 2026)

  • class action; no mandatory detention for EWIs; Hurtado; seeking admission; INA § 235(a)(2)(B); Laken Riley Act; applicant for admission entry; canon against superfluity

Cirrus Rojas v. Olson, et al., No. 25-3127 (7th Cir. July 30, 2026)

  • mootness; deemed; no mandatory detention for EWIs; Hurtado; seeking admission; INA § 235(a)(2)(B); applicant for admission entry; canon of constitutional avoidance; plain text

United States v. Lopez, No. 24-3268 (9th Cir. July 28, 2026)

  • Cal. Pen. Code § 273.5; crime of violence; Borden; Gomez; mens rea and use of force; recklessness; general intent crimes; assault; battery; use of “willful” in statute not determinative

Perez-Hernandez v. Blanche, No. 25-3592 (6th Cir. July 28, 2026)

  • motion to suppress; egregious constitutional violate; race-based stop; Miranda warnings; intra familial dispute in Guatemala; nexus; relocation for CAT

Kim v. Blanche, No. 24-2042 (1st Cir. July 30, 2026)

  • sua sponte motion to reopen; conviction vacatur; citation to vacatur statute alone sufficient to establish procedural or substantive defect; Super. Ct. R. Crim P. 11

Extra case roundup

  • Mahdawi v. Trump, 2026 WL 2090981 (2d Cir. 2026) – habeas & § 237(a)(4)(C)

  • Suri v. Trump, 2026 WL 2123557 (4th Cir. 2026) – habeas & § 237(a)(4)(C)

  • Fuentes v. USCIS (4th Cir. July 24, 2026) – SIJ, statutory interpretation, and parental benefits

Rana v. Blanche, No. 25-1862 (1st Cir. July 23, 2026)

  • M-A-M-; mental health safeguards and credibility; indicia of incompetency; IJ affirmative duty; Maoists; Nepal

Garcia Demetrio, et al. v. Blanche, No. 25-991 (9th Cir. July 20, 2026)

  • age and immutability; particular social group; mother of adolescents; single mothers; nexus reviewed de novo; Mexico

Diaz-Boyzo v. Blanche, No. 17-72894 (9th Cir. July 23, 2026)

  • crime of child abuse, abandonment, or neglect divisibility; enhancement; Or. Rev. Stat. § 163.160(1)(a), (3)(c); criminal negligence

Torres-Casas v. Blanche, No. 25-172 (9th Cir. July 22, 2026)

  • qualifying relative age-out for non LPR cancellation of removal purposes; predictive findings; remanding non-LPR cancellation denials pending at the BIA; hardship

A case I didn’t read but which crimmigration nerds might enjoy: United States v. Jonathan Lppez, No. 24-3268 (9th Cir. July 28, 2026) (Crimes of Violence)

More Recent Cases (key topics / holdings):

Claudia Marilyn Saravia Martinez v. Todd Wallace Blanche, No. 25-60400 (5th Cir. Aug. 3, 2026)

Dismissing untimely petition for review.

For no reason whatsoever, Circuit Judge James Ho wrote a 10-page concurrence, arguing that equitable tolling is never available under 1252(b)(1).

Circuit Judge Stephen A. Higginson wrote a three-page dissent, arguing that the petitioner is a “poster child” for equitable tolling.

Yahya Ameen Musleh Al Saidi v. Todd Blanche, No. 21-6589 (2nd Cir. Aug. 3, 2026)

Deferral of removal (CAT), credibility, corroboration, forfeiture of argument on appeal, whether IJ must make a negative credibility finding before requiring corroboration.

Held: “We hold that an immigration judge does not need to make an adverse credibility finding before requiring corroboration. The immigration judge may require corroboration whenever it would be reasonably expected to be available and would be helpful to his consideration of the case. Accordingly, the lack of corroboration was an independent basis for denying the relief of deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture.”

United States v. Alonso Pineda-Torres, No. 24-10290 (11th Cir. Aug. 3, 2026)

Whether Congress may make a conspiracy to commit drug trafficking in international waters a criminal offense – held: Yes, under the “necessary and proper” clause.

United States v. Jesus Manuel Slagueido, No. 25=2088 (10th Cir. Aug. 3, 2026)

Writ of Coram Nobis, Sixth Amendment, Padilla v. Kentucky, Chaidez, Strickland, ineffective assistance of counsel, pre-Padilla duty to inform noncitizen defendants of immigration consequences of their pleas, retroactive application of Padilla, due diligence

Jeremias Medrado Pasqual-Andres v. U.S. Att’y Gen., No. 22-12848 (11th Cir. Aug. 4, 2026)

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Matter of Lozada, failure to challenge key issues on appeal, appropriate disciplinary authority, failure to file complaint with the state bar, substantial compliance

NOTE: This case was briefed and argued well before the Board’s recent decision in Matter of L-R-M-C- & V-A-M-M-, 29 I&N Dec. 757 (BIA 2026).

Kadiatou Babila Keita v. Todd Blanche, No. 24-1226 & 24-2155 (4th Cir. Aug. 4, 2026)

Guinea, Withholding of Removal, Cancellation of Removal, Female Genital Mutilation, whether a grant of WOR renders an applicant ineligible for cancellation where the basis of withholding (FGM to Keita’s daughters) formed the hardship for cancellation (same), failure to hear testimony, right to full and fair hearing, opportunity to challenge third country of removal

Rustico Lascina v. Todd Blanche, No. 24-3373 (8th Cir. Aug. 6, 2026)

Departure Bar, Motion to Reopen

The Eighth Circuit joins every other circuit court to hold that the departure bar contained in 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(d) conflicts with the statutory right to pursue reopening under 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7).

Salaruddin Eqbal v. Todd Wallace Blanche, No. 25-60504 (5th Cir. Aug. 6, 2026)

Credibility, material inconsistencies, Afghanistan, Taliban, Tajik ethnicity, failure to consider key evidence

GRANTING Petition for Review where no reasonable factfinder could find a material inconsistency, warranting remand for the agency to determine credibility again. The Fifth Circuit included instructions to consider and address specific key evidence in the record.

Leandro Edimar Spindola v. Todd W. Blanche, No. 25-3600 (6th Cir. Aug. 7, 2026)

Brazil, asylum / withholding / CAT, serious-nonpolitical-crime bar, attempted murder (Brazilian law), whether intent is necessary to apply the bar

“Serious reasons for believing” a noncitizen committed a serious nonpolitical crime outside the US = probable cause standard.

PFR denied where substantial evidence supported BIA’s conclusion that the government met its burden.

Lesvi Lucia Monzon Guzman v. Todd Blanche, No. 25-1351 (1st Cir. Aug. 7, 2026)

El Salvador, asylum / withholding/ CAT, nexus to a statutorily protected ground, 1-year-bar, membership in a particular social group, mixed motive, “one central reason”

Denying PFR where alleged past persecution lacked nexus to any protected grounds:

  • Not gender, because the record demonstrates Monzon was targeted during past robberies for financial gain

  • Not family ties, because the record demonstrates Monzon was targeted for revenge after she convinced her sister to file a report against the perpetrator

  • Not political opinions, because the record demonstrates that neither Monzon’s victimization by economic crime nor threats are connected to an ideological opposition to gangs.

Note: Footnote 3 – We’re somehow still operating on the presumption of regularity?

]]><![CDATA[IMMIGRATION ROUNDUP | News & Policy]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-news-and-policyhttps://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-news-and-policySun, 02 Aug 2026 21:12:49 GMTToday: Top immigration headlines and policy updates.

Up Next: Legal resources and case law.

What a week (or two). The Board of Immigration Appeals – known henceforth as the Biased Immigration Authority, component of the EOIR [Executive Office for the Elimination of Immigrant Rights] – remains unmoored from reality (more on this later in the week). Immigration enforcement is (once again) ramping up. Foreign national student enrollment is at an all-time low, threatening future innovation and leadership. Access to asylum and approval rates are at an all-time low, while individuals who have held TPS for decades face the prospect of forcible return to war-torn, leaderless countries. See Josiana Valsaint, I’m a Haitian TPS holder. Over 330,000 of us hold our breath as Congress decides our future, The Guardian (July 31, 2026).

Human beings are suffering.

But, we carry on. (At least Todd Blanche hasn’t been confirmed yet, right?)

Book Recommendation: On July 21, local (Tucson) journalist and author, John Washington, published How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigration Detention (Haymarket Books, 2026). Please read it.

Recommended Substack: Austin Kocher provides unparalleled insight into America’s immigration enforcement system, backed by data and presented in multiple formats, multiple times per week. (I’m 90% certain he doesn’t sleep).

HIGHLIGHTED ISSUE

MANDATORY DETENTION - TWO MORE CIRCUIT COURTS OF APPEALS WEIGH IN

Mattathias Schwartz, Two More Appeals Courts Rule Against Trump’s Detention Policy, New York Times (July 30, 2026)

Kyle Cheney, Two more federal appeals courts reject ICE mass detention policy, Politico (July 30, 2026)

So, let’s take a look at where do the Circuit Courts stand.

* § 1225 (INA § 225) applies = Win for the government’s position that all noncitizens present in the United States without admission are “seeking admission” and therefore subject to mandatory detention, regardless of how long ago they entered.

§ 1226 (INA § 236) applies = Win for noncitizens. Section 1225(b) applies to noncitizens entered at the border, while § 1226(a) applies to unadmitted noncitizens apprehended in the interior.

** Petition for cert. filed, No. 26-104 (U.S. July 24, 2026).

† Petition for cert. filed, No. 25-1415 (U.S. June 22, 2026)

+ Petition for cert. filed, No. 26-43 (U.S. July 14, 2026)

OTHER NEWS

Ximena Bustillo, The Trump administration has undercut the U.S. asylum program. These 3 charts show how, NPR (July 30, 2026)

Michelle Hackman, U.S. Weighs $100,000 Fee for Foreign Students Wanting to Work After Graduation, Wall Street Journal (July 30, 2026)

Myah Ward, Asylum seekers fear case dismissal if they miss a $100 fee — even when notices fail to arrive, Politico (July 29, 2026)

Lindsay Whitehurst, Deadline passes for Trump to ask Supreme Court to reconsider birthright citizenship ruling, Associated Press (July 28, 2026)

Hamed Aleaziz and Miriam Jordan, ICE Arrests Surge at Airports, Opening New Front in Deportation Drive, New York Times (July 28, 2026)

  • AEH Summary: The administration is now arresting foreign citizens with expired U.S. visas as they travel through airports, primarily for domestic flights. According to DHS, “This administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport.”

Kristina Cooke, Thousands of children, sponsors arrested by ICE after tips from US child migrant agency, Reuters (July 28, 2026)

Gisela Salomon and Matt Sedensky, Loss of work authorization sows confusion for thousands of Haitian immigrants and their US employers, Associated Press (July 28, 2026)

Celine Castronuovo, Trump Moves to Shift Asylum Cases to DOJ Immigration Judges, Bloomberg Law (July 27, 2026)

Alex Horton, et al., Deadly U.S. boat strikes have failed to curb cocaine supply, Pentagon and DEA officials say, Washington Post (July 27, 2026)

Lisa Mascaro, Trump’s border czar says vetting of ICE officer is under internal review after Maine shooting, Associated Press (July 26, 2026)

Miriam Jordan, The Choice Facing Some Immigrants: Pay $1.8 Million in Fines or Leave, New York Times (July 22, 2026)

Maanvi Singh, et al., US immigration agents arrested a record number of people in June, data shows, The Guardian (July 21, 2026)

OPINION AND ANALYSIS

Mia Osmonbekov, Immigration Bonds Lack Bounds, Arizona Daily Star (Aug. 1, 2026) [via Cronkite News]

  • AEH Comment: The arbitrariness of all things immigration is particularly acute in the context of bond. We prepare by expecting the unpredictable, both from DHS attorneys and the IJs. Where the results are anything but guaranteed, I’m frankly thrilled to walk away with a $5,000 bond.

Kate Morrissey, Immigration Officials Misused Weapons Hundreds of Times During Protests, Report Finds, Beyond the Border (July 28, 2026)

Trump’s National Killer Police Force, The Intercept (July 24, 2026) [43 min., transcript available]

Douglas MacMillan, et al., ICE officials warned of dangerous crowding. See how they kept packing people in., Washington Post (July 22, 2026)

Nick Miroff, The Secretary of Homeland, The Atlantic (July 21, 2026) [Background on Markwayne Mullin, or “How Qualifications and Experience Don’t Matter”]

Ken Salazar, The Cost of America’s Broken Immigration System, TIME (July 20, 2026)

GOVERNMENT & POLICY UPDATES

Interim Final Rule Allows USCIS to Refer Affirmative Asylum Cases Without an Interview. On July 28, DHS published a rule that would authorize USCIS to refer certain affirmative asylum applications directly to EOIR without first conducting an asylum interview.

EOIR Closes Batavia Immigration Court (July 21, 2026)

The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement announced plans to interview 800 Afghans who live in the united States. Ted Hesson, Federal agency seeks to interview Afghan immigrants, alarming refugee groups, Wash. Post (July 24, 2026).

TPS for Haiti. On July 27, the Trump administration terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for about 340,000 Haitians in the United States. Per FORUM, “According to agency sources and internal documents, ICE plans to ramp up arrests and deportations of Haitian migrants.”

  • Related: On July 22, Senate Republicans blocked a unanimous consent request to vote on legislation extending TPS to Haiti for three years.

On July 30, 2026, the State Department issued a proposed regulation that would expand the grounds for termination of a J-1 exchange visitor’s participation in their cultural exchange program. See United States: State Department Proposes Expansion of J-1 Exchange Visitor Termination Rules, Fragomen (July 30, 2026).

[Select] Bills Introduced and Considered (From FORUM’s Policy Bulletin)

S. 5094 - Real Courts, Rule of Law Act

The bill would establish, under Article I of the Constitution of the United States, a court of record, known as the United States Immigration Courts.

H.R. 9919 - Ban Birth Tourism Act of 2026

The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for the inadmissibility of certain aliens seeking citizenship for children by giving birth in the United States.

H.R. 9854 - Citizenship Act of 2028

The bill declares that any person who enters the United States without authorization or for the purpose of engaging in birth tourism is considered an invader and amends section 301(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to exclude the children of invaders from birthright citizenship.

Something Positive:

I’ve recently returned from a brief trip to the Midwest for a much-needed dose of “Wisconsin Summer.” As always, I was reminded of how much I love being an aunt.

Liam (4).

Lucilia (7). “No one go in the hideout. No little kids allowed.” (We think).

]]><![CDATA[IMMIGRATION ROUNDUP | Legal Resources]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-legal-resourceshttps://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-legal-resourcesTue, 21 Jul 2026 19:50:40 GMTEvent Announcement (from Austin Kocher): “Agents of Chaos and Cruelty”: A Conversation with the ACLU’s Naureen Shah & Denise Bell about ICE’s Reckless Attacks on American Communities – Wednesday, July 22

For your consideration:

On July 15, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) introduced H.R. 9710, the Third World Immigration Moratorium Act. The bill would prohibit, with limited exceptions, entrance to the United States by nationals of 40 countries (plus Palestine): Afghanistan, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the Palestinian Authority.

Sure, the bill is all but certain to die in the House. Let it sink in anyway.

Consider, for example, that 26 of the countries listed are in Africa. 19 are majority Muslim. At least eight are home to humanitarian emergencies identified by UNHCR. Nearly all of them have a poverty headcount ratio greater than 50%.

Consider too that the term “Third World” inherently implies racism and hierarchy. It is a phrase coined by the First Word (the “Global North,” “Core,” “Developed Nations”) to segregate and exclude the other.

Finally, recall that in September 1935, Adolf Hitler’s Germany passed the Nuremberg Laws: the Rich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor. These laws were designed to redefine national belonging. Today, they’re condemned as the framework for the Holocaust.

Maybe that’s too close for comfort. Maybe that’s the point.

ATTORNEY RESOURCES

Practice Advisories:

AEH Summary of Rule / Advisory:

Practice Alerts [accessible to AILA members, students, and paralegals only]:

Practice Alerts [accessible to the public]:

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

ILRC, What You Need to Know Now About Public Charge (July 21)

Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, How are laws changing for asylum seekers? (last updated July 8, 2026)

  • Excellent summary of time-sensitive updates for asylum seekers.

AGENCY POLICY MEMOS, UPDATES, AND GUIDANCE

Executive Office for Immigration Review:

  • Public Access to EOIR Hearings (July 15) – PM 26-06

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services:

  • USCIS Signature Policy - Policy Alert 2026-03

  • USCIS – SAVE updates on status of TPS EADs for Burma, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

  • USCIS – E-Verify updates on status of TPS EADs for Burma, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen

  • USCIS Policy Alert on Attorney / Representative Conduct - PA-2026-04, referencing new Part D- Attorneys and Representatives (Policy Manual)

    • AEH Comment: The list of grounds for discipline is mostly self-explanatory – the type of stuff you’d get in trouble for under the ethical rules of any jurisdiction (which begs the question, does USCIS think that it has the authority to regulate attorneys?). But some of the grounds go significantly further than what USCIS should be allowed to determine:

(From FORUM’s Policy Bulletin) Trump Administration Moves to Restrict Bank Lending Access for Immigrants without Work Authorization.

On July 13, three federal bank regulators — the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit Union Administration — issued joint guidance stating that borrowers who lack work authorization may pose an “elevated credit risk” because their ability to generate income, maintain employment, and remain financially stable may be more uncertain. While the guidance does not create new legal requirements, it urges banks to more closely scrutinize mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, and other consumer credit extended to non–work authorized borrowers, emphasizing that institutions should “identify, measure, monitor, and control” these risks through underwriting that considers a borrower’s willingness and capacity to repay.

AGENCY RULEMAKING

New Public Charge Rule - 2026-14539 (91 FR 45324) – Published on July 20, 2026

  • Rescinding 2022 guidance. Effective on September 18, 2026, applies to applications for admission made on or after 9/18/2026 or applications for adjustment of status postmarked or electronically filed on or after 9/18/2026.

USCIS final rule changing the admission period in the F, J, and I classifications from duration of status to an admission for a fixed time period. It has been classified as a major rule subject to congressional review. The effective date is 9/15/26. (91 FR 44976, 7/17/26)

REPORTS

FORUM, After Recent Shootings, Officials Must Re-evaluate Enforcement Strategies, Training, and Vetting Procedures (July 17, 2026)

Andrew Thrasher, A $22,000 Per-Child Bounty System, Maxwell Commons (July 17, 2026)

Migration Policy Institute, Mexican Immigrants in the United States (July 16, 2026)

Lauren Villagran, Amid Increased Scrutiny, ICE Detention and Deportation Data Goes Dark, The Marshall Project (July 15, 2026)

Human Rights Watch, “You’re Only Getting Out Deported or Dead” (July 15, 2026)

Muzaffar Chisti and Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, From Last Resort to Intimidating Enforcement Tool: Denaturalization in the Trump Era, Migration Policy Institute (June 24, 2026)

Theresa Cardinal Brown, Unintended Consequences: National Security and Law Enforcement Concerns with ICE’s Surge, Council on National Security and Immigration (February 9, 2026)

OTHER UPDATES

From FORUM’s July 17 Policy Bulletin

BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED

S. 5023 - Ban Birth Tourism Act

  • AEH Comment: Once again, demonstrating that the facts do not matter. Birth tourism is exceedingly rare.

AEH: With thanks to Justice Kavanaugh …

  • S. 4983 - Harry Reid Immigration Stabilization Act

    • The bill would “would eliminate birthright citizenship, institutes a cap on refugee admissions, reforms the broken asylum system, and streamlines the deportation process, among other border security measures.“

  • S. 4973 - American Citizenship Act

    • The bill would amend section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to restrict the meaning of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

  • S. 4954 - The Citizenship Act of 2026

    • The bill declares that any person who enters the United States without authorization or for the purpose of engaging in birth tourism is considered an invader and amends section 301(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to exclude the children of invaders from birthright citizenship.

  • H.R. 9662 - Birthright CLAIM Act of 2026

    • The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to impose limits on birthright citizenship for aliens and unauthorized migrants.

Other Bills . . .

  • H.R. 9745 - Orlin’s Law

    • The bill would require certain protections for any dependent child whose parent is a detained alien.

  • H.R. 9742 - English Language Proficiency Act

    • The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to alter the naturalization requirements, including the English language, history, principles, and form of government of the United States.

  • H.R. 9659 - Fund Schools, Not ICE Act

    • The bill would transfer certain unobligated funds appropriated to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Secure America Act to the Department of Education to carry out programs under part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965,

  • H.R. 9656 - Illegal Alien Patient Reporting Act

    • The bill would amend title XI of the Social Security Act to require hospitals participating in Federal health care programs to report certain information related to immigration status.

BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS

Matter of L-R-M-C- & V-A-M-M-, 29 I&N Dec. 757 (BIA 2026)

A motion to reopen based on ineffective assistance of counsel must include a copy of the bar complaint filed with disciplinary authorities and proof of the filing of that complaint, or an explanation why a bar complaint was not filed.

Matter of LOPEZ-DAVILA, 29 I&N Dec. 763 (BIA 2026)

(1) The decision of a parent to leave his or her United States citizen child in the United States without parental care does not, on its own, create exceptional and extremely unusual hardship as required for cancellation of removal under section 240A(b)(1)(D) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(D). Matter of Ige, 20 I&N Dec. 880 (BIA 1994), followed.

(2) Parental care is not the only care sufficient for a qualifying relative child who is remaining in the United States.

  • AEH Comment: The “orphans aren’t exceptional” decision.

Matter of H-L-S-M-, 29 I&N Dec. 767 (BIA 2026)

(1) The Immigration Judge clearly erred in finding it more likely than not the applicant will be tortured if removed to either Mexico or Guatemala based on general country conditions evidence and expert witness testimony about corruption while overlooking key facts regarding the applicant’s individualized circumstances, including lack of past torture, the passage of time since the applicant received threats, and the vague and indirect nature of the threats.

(2) The applicant did not establish that a public official is likely to acquiesce to his torture by gang members where the record shows elements within the government have taken action to combat criminal organizations, even if such efforts have not been effective.

Matter of A-G-O-F-, 29 I&N Dec. 772 (BIA 2026)

(1) “Brazilian children” and “abandoned Brazilian children” are not cognizable particular social groups because they are not defined with sufficient particularity.

(2) The Immigration Judge clearly erred in determining that the respondent’s past harm was perpetrated by individuals that the government of Brazil was unable or unwilling to control when the government arrested one of the perpetrators in connection with other crimes, the respondent has not shown that the other perpetrator is still at large because of an inability or unwillingness of the government to investigate and punish his crimes, and the government provides services for abused children to help authorities protect them.

(3) The respondent did not establish eligibility for humanitarian asylum because he did not show that the government was unwilling or unable to protect him from the harm he suffered in the past.

  • AEH Comment: Apparently the Board doesn’t understand what humanitarian asylum is.

RECENT CASE LAW

[Not included this Roundup. As always, please check out Immigration Review with Kevin A. Gregg]

And finally, something silly:

The chances of being killed by a doodle are low …

… But never zero.

Stay cautious, my friends.

]]><![CDATA[IMMIGRATION ROUNDUP | July 10-17]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-july-10-17https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-july-10-17Sat, 18 Jul 2026 21:20:14 GMTSomething From Home (Madison WI): Natalie Eilbert, Donald Trump’s War on the War-Torn, The Cap Times (July 14, 2026)

Something Joyful: Melissa Del Bosque, From Fear to Hope: At a Tucson Summer Camp, Asylum-Seeking Children Find Joy Again, The Border Chronicle (July 14, 2026)

Something for the Soul: Mumford & Sons (feat. Sierra Ferrell) – “Here” (2026) and Sierra Hull – “Mad World” (2022)

HIGHLIGHTED ISSUE

IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT & FATAL ENCOUNTERS WITH ICE

The Context: Two fatal shootings, both of U.S. citizens, in Minneapolis in January. Two more fatal shootings in the span of four days in July, prompting ICE to issue an internal memo directing agents to “cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.” President Trump reversed that decision the following day.

The Shootings:

The Victims: Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero (26) and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo (52)

At vigil, sons of man killed by ICE in Houston call for accountability

[Meredith Kohut for the New York Times]

Un altar improvisado con carteles, flores y una fotografía de Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero

[Christopher Capozziello para The New York Times]

The Coverage:

HIGHLIGHTED ISSUE

HAITI, TPS, & HEALTHCARE WORKERS

NOTE: Since July 10, the Trump administration has issued updates regarding the termination of TPS for nationals of Haiti, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. See News & Alerts, USCIS.

RELATED: From SCOTUSblog, “In a filing submitted on July 9 and docketed on Monday, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the justices to order the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to reconsider its ruling in a challenge to the decision by then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to end protections for Venezuelans and Haitians in the United States under a program that allows foreign nationals to remain in the United States and work here when they cannot safely return home.”

NEWS

July 17, 2026

Michelle Borstein, A pastor’s lengthy ICE detention leaves his Colorado parishioners torn (Wash. Post)

July 16, 2026

Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, DHS pledged body cams for all immigration agents. Months later, that hasn’t happened (NPR)

Jasper Ward, UN experts concerned by Trump’s removal of immigration judges (Reuters)

Nick Penzenstadler, Cities that block ICE could lose police, rape kit funding, DOJ says (USA Today)

Naisha Roy and J. David McSwane, DHS Plans “All-Out War” on Immigration Scammers as Fraud Complaints Double (ProPublica)

July 15, 2026

Zach Montague, Court Filings Describe Ongoing Contact Between ICE and Iran on Deportations (NY Times)

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas and Joshua Eaton, 5-year-old spent 118 days alone in federal immigration custody in CT before reuniting with her mom (CT Insider)

Michael Biesecker, Report: Detainees at ICE facility in Texas report frequent beatings and other human rights abuses (Associated Press)

July 14, 2026

David Ovalle and Hamed Aleaziz, Man in Florida Fatally Hit by Truck While Fleeing ICE, Official Says (NY Times)

Mexico files criminal complaints in US over migrant deaths in custody (Reuters)

Josie Fischels, Some international artists are skipping U.S. tours. Others may follow suit (NPR)

July 13, 2026

Tim Henderson, Appeals court reverses decision on immigrant detention, leaving no-bond policy in place (Stateline)

Terrence McCoy, Mexico demands criminal investigations into ICE killings (Wash. Post)

Paul Ingram, Trump admin violating treaty against torture, Az immigration advocates tell UN (Tucson Sentinel)

DEEP READS, OPINION & ANALYSIS

INTERNATIONAL

On July 13, the Trump administration announced plans to “dismantle” the International Criminal Court (ICC). The following day, Just Security compiled a list of reactions from leading experts, all worth reading. It’s also worth keeping in mind – as noted by several experts - that the ICC exercises jurisdiction over citizens of non-state parties when war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide are implicated. Are these not peremptory norms? And if our own justice system can’t or won’t hold U.S. personnel accountable for war crimes (or crimes against humanity, or genocide), is the official U.S. position really that the rights of man simply . . . don’t apply when they’re violated by the United States? Guess so.

Anna Sayko and Jeanne Sulzer, Implementing Universal Jurisdiction in Ukraine, Just Security (July 16, 2026)

Kristen Gelineau, More than 500 feared dead as officials investigate reports of boats capsizing with Rohingya refugees, Associated Press (July 16, 2026)

Eric Tucker, Human rights groups sue over Trump administration’s sanctions on ICC for investigations into Israel, Associated Press (July 15, 2026)

Fifty migrants feared lost in Mediterranean, 10 survive after boat capsizes, security sources say, Reuters (July 14, 2026)

Emma Farge, Most support refuge for people fleeing persecution, Ipsos poll shows, Reuters (July 14, 2026)

Business and Human Rights Centre, China: Undocumented Myanmar workers face detention, abuse, and deportation (July 9, 2026)

Eric Katz and Natalie Alms, Trump Is Deploying Every U.S. Refugee Officer to Just One Country, NOTUS (July 9, 2026)

  • AEH Comment: Some of you might be thinking “Sudan,” “Syria,” “Afghanistan,” “Yemen,” or “Ukraine.” That’s an understandable instinct, but Trump isn’t concerned with actual humanitarian needs; rather, the peculiar optics of admitting exclusively the eighth (or so) generation of descendants of Dutch Boers from South Africa. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Image by artist adrianalaartista (from Instagram)

]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | Resources, Reports, and Recent Case Law]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-resources-reportshttps://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-resources-reportsSat, 11 Jul 2026 00:44:54 GMTHappy Friday to everyone, except the Fifth Circuit, who granted rehearing en banc and vacated Sosnava Rodriguez v. Ortega.

Something Positive: As immigration attorneys, advocates, and people who believe in a world where all human beings are treated with dignity and respect, most of us have grown habituated to feeling discouraged. (Admittedly, my status quo for the past 18 months has been somewhere between rage and despair).

So, take a second to celebrate a recent win; I’m sure you can think of something.

I’ll go first.

Almost seven years ago, one of my clients—I can’t possibly do her justice, but I can confirm that she’s truly remarkable—fled her country to seek protection in the United States. To save her own life, she made the impossible decision to leave her young children behind in the care of a relative.

In the years since, my client volunteered, worked with incoming refugees, cared for vulnerable adults, and advocated for basic human rights. She also battled disease and suffered numerous trips to the ER, invasive surgeries, and lengthy hospitalizations.

After years of frustrating setbacks, my client was granted asylum. Almost immediately, she petitioned for her children to join her in the United States. That process took over two years, and in the meantime my client pursued an advanced degree in hopes of continuing her advocacy work. Her motivation, though, has always been the moment she’d get to hold her children again.

That moment came last week, and while I can’t share photos, I can tell you that, even for just a moment, the world felt lighter.

ATTORNEY RESOURCES

American Immigration Lawyers Association, Practice Alert: TPS and Parole Status Updates Chart (Updated July 10, 2026)

American Immigration Council, Blanche v. Lau and Advising LPRs With Criminal Legal System Encounters About Travel Abroad (July 7, 2026)

Asian Law Caucus, Understanding U.S. Department of Transportation Changes for Non-Domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses (July 6, 2026)

ILRC: Living with Texas SB 4: An Unprecedented State Deportation Scheme (July 6, 2026)

American Immigration Lawyers Association, Practice Pointer: U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Update Regarding Searching Electronic Devices at U.S. Ports of Entry (July 1, 2026)

ILRC: Denaturalization and Revocation of Naturalization (July 1, 2026)

ILRC: Immigration Consequences of Prop 36 and Other New California Offenses Part Two: Property Crime Offenses (June 30, 2026)

ILRC: New BIA Procedural Rules: What’s in Effect and What’s Not (June 26, 2026)

For those who have an account with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, several resources have been released and/or updated over the past few weeks. For those who do not and who are eligible, I highly recommend that you register for access to their materials. Open to attorneys representing noncitizens, pro se asylum seekers, expert witnesses for immigration cases, and organizations/clinics that offer expert evaluations.

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

National Immigration Project, What Does the TPS Decision Mean for Me? (July 1, 2026)

National Immigration Law Center, Green Card Holders: Know Your Rights & Risks During the Second Trump Administration (Updated July 8, 2026)

National Immigration Law Center, Steps to Take if Your DACA Renewal Is Delayed (Updated July 7, 2026)

National Immigration Law Center, Community Alert: Immigration Arrests at Airports (Updated July 8, 2026)

Asian Law Caucus, Know Your Rights: Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Executive Order (July 7, 2026)

REPORTS

National Immigration Law Center, How States Are Fighting Back Against Trump’s Mass Deportation Machine (July 9, 2026)

  • This report captures pro-immigrant state laws enacted in 2025 and bills signed in the first five months of 2026 to address immigration enforcement.

National Bureau of Economic Research, Immigration, Innovation, and the Geography of Growth (June 2026)

FORUM, Current Status of DACA: Explainer (June 30, 2026)

CLINIC, Outsourcing Our Human Rights Obligations: Tracking the Administration’s Use of Bilateral Agreements to Externalize Due Process (June 30, 2026)

Immigration Equality: Delivered to Danger: How the Trump Administration’s Third-Country Agreements Threaten the Lives of LGBTQ Refugees and Asylum Seekers (June 2026)

Center for Migration Studies, The Origins, Consequences, and Uncertain Legacy of the Trump Administration’s Humanitarian, Refugee, and Immigration Policies: A Comprehensive Analysis (June 23, 2026)

POLICY UPDATES

The National Immigration Law Center recently summarized proposed legislation introduced in the 119th Congress that would benefit noncitizens.

FORUM Policy Bulletin: July 2 and July 10

BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS

Matter of T-D-E-, 29 I&N Dec. 732 (BIA 2026)

  • An Immigration Judge may not determine that a respondent is credible solely because the respondent was candid in admitting he previously lied to obtain immigration benefits.

Matter of Juan Andrew Vizcaino Aybar, 29 I&N Dec. 736 (BIA 2026)

  • Under 8 C.F.R. § 1003.19(c)(1), the proper venue for a respondent’s request for bond redetermination is the Immigration Court having jurisdiction over the respondent’s place of detention.

Matter of R-A-N-, 29 I&N Dec. 739 (BIA 2026)

  • (1) Conscription does not serve as a standalone basis for asylum in the absence of a nexus to a protected ground.

  • (2) Conscription that would require an alien to engage in inhuman conduct condemned by the international community constitutes persecution only when the conscription or required conduct is tethered to a protected ground. Matter of A-G-, 19 I&N Dec. 502, 506 (BIA 1987), clarified.

  • (3) International condemnation of the Russian military’s actions is insufficient to render conscription persecutory; rather, the respondent must demonstrate that, if conscripted, he himself would necessarily be required to engage in inhuman conduct on account of a protected ground.

AEH Comment: And once again, the Board is exercising its rarely used authority to entertain DHS’s interlocutory appeals to correct “recurring misapplication” of BIA precedent issued during the current administration.

Matter of E-A-R-M-, 29 I&N Dec. 746 (BIA 2026)

  • The Department of Homeland Security’s oral motion to pretermit the respondents’ applications for asylum and related protection was sufficient to provide the requisite notice of its intent to remove the respondents to a third country pursuant to an asylum cooperative agreement.

Matter of N-E-R-S-, 29 I&N Dec. 753 (BIA 2026)

  • DHS is not required to provide an implementing instrument showing the operating procedures for an asylum cooperative agreement (“ACA”) or a complete set of operative terms and criteria in order to establish that an alien is subject to the terms of the ACA in the context of the safe third country bar to asylum eligibility.

RECENT CASE LAW

[selected cases – for a more in depth review of all recently-published federal decisions and BIA decisions, check out Immigration Review with Kevin A. Gregg]

June 30, 2026 - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that the Trump administration’s policy of mandatory detention without bond hearings for noncitizens who entered without inspection and are apprehended in the interior – is unlawful. Santillan Quiroz v. Mullin, No. 26-6019 (10th Cir. June 30, 2026).

  • The Tenth Circuit joins the Second, Sixth, and Eleventh circuits in rejecting the Trump administration’s re-interpretation of a 30-year-old immigration statute. The Fifth and Eighth Circuits have agreed with the government.

  • We’re still waiting on decisions from the First, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits.

In other detention / due process news . . .

On July 2, 2026, the Fifth Circuit ruled that people facing immigration detention have the right to meaningful due process protections and must be afforded a bond hearing within 90 days. Sosnava Rodriguez v. Ortega, No. 26-50183 (5th Cir. July 2, 2026). [Huge shout-out to University of Minnesota Law School alumni Becky Cassler, who argued the case before the Fifth.]

If this seemed too good to be true, it’s because it was. As I (pessimistically) predicted the very day the case was decided, the government filed a motion for rehearing en banc. And as expected, the conservative majority of judges was happy to grant that request on July 10, 2026.

Here’s what Emma Winger of the American Immigration Counsel had to say:

Unfortunately, the Fifth Circuit just granted sua sponte en banc rehearing and vacated the panel decision in Sosnava Rodriguez. As such, the panel decision is no longer precedential or binding on district courts in the Fifth Circuit or on other panels. However, under circuit law, its reasoning can still be cited as persuasive. See, e.g., Cheejati v. Blinken, 106 F.4th 388, 395 (5th Cir. 2024) (noting that while prior panel decision was vacated, “we find its reasoning persuasive); Munn v. City of Ocean Springs, Miss., 763 F.3d 437, 441 (5th Cir. 2014) (finding persuasive a prior decision vacated en banc). As such, while practitioners should no longer cite Sosnava Rodriguez as binding authority, its reasoning can be relied upon as persuasive.

AEH Comment: FWIW, the en banc panel consists of Judges Elrod, Jones, Smith, Stewart, Richman, Southwick, Haynes, Graves, Higginson, Willet, Ho, Duncan, Engelhardt, Oldham, Wilson, Douglas, and Ramirez, who were appointed by:

  • Reagan: Jones, Smith

  • Clinton: Stewart

  • George W. Bush: Elrod, Engelhardt, Haynes, Southwick, Richman

  • Obama: Higginson, Graves

  • Trump: Ho, Wilson, Oldham, Duncan, Willett

  • Biden: Ramirez, Douglas

Riley v. Bondi – Where do the Circuit Courts stand on judicial review, equitable tolling, and untimely Petitions for Review?

On Monday, July 6, a divided Seventh Circuit panel joined the Sixth Circuit (Oxlaj-Perez v. Blanch) to hold that the 30-day deadline to seek judicial review of decisions issued in withholding-only proceedings is subject to equitable tolling and that “placeholder” PFRs can be held in abeyance until withholding-only proceedings are complete. E.E.V. and M.C.C.-G. v. Blanche, Nos. 25-2256 & 25-2268.

The Fifth Circuit, on the other hand, has held that the 30-day deadline is a mandatory rule that must be enforced when raised. Liao v. Bondi.

The Ninth Circuit’s decision in Navarette v. Bondi, meanwhile, holds that challenges to decisions issued in reasonable-fear or withholding-only proceedings are reviewable only when they’re reviewed alongside colorable challenges to the final order of removal.

BONUS: Summer in the Sonoran Desert is miserable, but not riding bikes isn’t an option, so we make the best of it. Plus, my husband, David, turned 50 😊

]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | June 28-July 9]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-june-28-julyhttps://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-june-28-julyFri, 10 Jul 2026 03:58:24 GMTToday: Immigration News, Opinion, Analysis, International Highlights

Up Next: Legal Resources, Government Actions, and Case Law

Something Admirable: Cincinnati Magazine recently published a series of articles highlighting the immigrant experience in and around Cincinnati, Ohio. We can’t love and accept our neighbors unless we know them first. Hats off to the journalists and authors.

Something Inspiring: On July 7, 2026, over 1,200 former DOJ employees wrote a letter calling on senators to reject Todd Blanche as Attorney General. It gives me a modicum of hope.

Something Fun: Jim Henson’s Labyrinth just turned 40, which reminds me that this is what I envision when I imagine Trump’s White House ballroom.

HIGHLIGHTED ISSUE:
DEATH OF LORENZO SALGADO ARAUJO

PODCAST: Hanna Rosin, Who Can Hold ICE Accountable?, Radio Atlantic (July 9, 2026)

Allison McCann, What We Know About Immigration Officers Shooting at People in Vehicles (July 8, 2026)

Lekan Oyekanmi, et al., Family Demands an Independent Probe After ICE Officer Fatally Shoots a Man in Houston, Associated Press (July 8, 2026)

Colleen Deguzman and Lomi Kriel, Son of man killed by ICE agent calls for investigation, says “My father would have complied.”, The Texas Tribune (July 8, 2026)

Adrian Carrasquillo, He Lived Here for 35 Years. Put Three Kids in College. ICE Killed Him., The Bulwark (July 8, 2026)

Pablo Manríquez, ICE Killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo on a Houston Street Today. It’s Using the Same Script It Always Uses., Migrant Insider (July 7, 2026)

NEWS

July 9, 2026

July 8, 2026

July 7, 2026

July 6, 2026

Mullin and his deputies have adopted a lower-profile approach to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, mothballing the flashy and aggressive tactics employed by his predecessor Kristi Noem. While the Department of Homeland Security continues to deport large numbers of unauthorized immigrants, it is making fewer arrests in public, holding back from deploying fresh waves of immigration agents to hotspots and has scrapped a plan to expand mega-warehouse detention facilities.

[AEH Comment: “Mothballing” is an underrated transitive verb. I urge us all to employ it more often.]

July 5, 2026

July 4, 2026

Defending human life also includes welcoming, protecting and assisting immigrants, whose hopes, sacrifices and contribution have formed part of the history of this country from its very beginning. In every generation, those who have arrived seeking freedom, opportunity and a place to belong have helped to shape the nation’s character. To receive them with compassion and generosity is not only an act of charity, but also a recognition of the dignity that belongs to every human person. - - Pope Leo XIV

July 2, 2026

July 1, 2026

June 30, 2026

June 28, 2026

DEEP READS, OPINION & ANALYSIS

Virgil Wiebe, Immigration Podcasts (July 9, 2026)

Jeremiah Johnson, Deportation Judges (July 9, 2026)

In Our communities can’t keep living in immigration limbo, Florida State Representative Fabián Basabe calls on the U.S. Congress to rewrite the law on Temporary Protected Status. “America can enforce its laws while treating people with dignity. Those ideas are not mutually exclusive.” The Hill (July 8, 2026).

James Palmer, The Myth of Chinese Birth Tourism, Foreign Policy (July 7, 2026)

Quinta Jurecic, The Death of Renee Good Has Yet to Be Properly Investigated, The Atlantic (July 6, 2026)

César García Hernández, Citizenship Red Card, Immigration Law Unhinged (July 6, 2026)

Mica Rosenberg and Jeff Ernsthausen, These Immigrant Kids Were Once Protected. Under Trump, Their Deportations Have Tripled., ProPublica (July 6, 2026)

Highlights (written by the reporters):

  • Rollback of Protections: The Trump administration has gutted policies that gave immigrant minors access to legal counsel and relief from deportation while they applied to stay in the U.S.

  • Detained and Removed: ProPublica’s analysis found unaccompanied minors are being detained and removed at about three times the rate as during the final years of the first Trump presidency.

  • Wave of Deportation Orders: Immigration courts have issued more than 10,000 removal and voluntary departure orders each month for immigrant minors — nearly four times the rate as Trump’s last term.

Reem Akkad, et al., What, to the Immigrant, Is Your Fourth of July?, The Marshall Project (July 3, 2026)

Thomas Wolf and Samuel Breidbart, Supreme Court Upheld Birthright Citizenship, but Ruling Should Have Been Unanimous (July 2, 2026)

From Austin Kocher:

César García Hernández, Protecting ICE Detention, Immigration Law Unhinged (June 30, 2026) [re: SCOTUS’s acceptance of Montoya Palacios v. Liggins (4th Cir.)]

INTERNATIONAL

Happenings in South Africa

Other Happenings

PODCAST: Changing Climate, Changing Migration

]]><![CDATA[IMMIGRATION ROUNDUP | Trump v. Barbara]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-trump-v-barbarahttps://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-trump-v-barbaraThu, 02 Jul 2026 20:05:10 GMTEarlier this week, I shared a brief overview of the Supreme Court’s decisions in four recent cases, each of which negatively impacts the rights (and lives) of real human beings and has real (read: predictably deadly) consequences.

On June 30, SCOTUS issued its last major immigration decision of the term, Trump v. Barbara, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts. It is both encouraging and deeply unnerving. A win, to be sure, but one that is tempered by context and reality.

Since Tuesday, dozens of scholars, journalists, and organizations have responded to the ruling. Let’s dig in.

BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP (IS ALIVE)

The Case: Trump v. Barbara

The Context: Racism and xenophobia?

The Context, continued: The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, passed by Congress in 1866 and ratified on July 9, 1868, provides that [a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

The meaning of these words has been clear for over 150 years.

The Issue: As explained by Chief Justice Roberts in the opening paragraphs of the opinion:

At issue in this case is whether the Constitution guarantees citizenship to children born of parents unlawfully or temporarily present in the United States.

The [Citizenship Clause of the] Fourteenth Amendment provides: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order No. 14160, titled Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship. The Order provides that children born of persons unlawfully or temporarily present in the United States are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States—and thus do not qualify for citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment or the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which uses the same language.

Several parents filed suit, some on their own behalf, others on behalf of (and in the name of) their children. They argued that the Executive Order violates the Fourteenth Amendment and the INA. The District Court agreed. It provisionally certified a nationwide class of children who would be denied citizenship by the Order and preliminarily enjoined the Order’s enforcement. We granted certiorari before judgment.

The Decision: 6-3. The Court held the constitutional line, but just barely. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for a five-justice majority joined by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett, and Jackson. The majority struck down President Trump’s executive order based on the plain text of the 14th Amendment and affirmed that the Constitution guarantees citizenship to all children born on American soil (with limited exceptions).

Separately, Justice Kavanaugh agreed that Trump’s order is unlawful but hinged his decision on federal statutes passed in 1940 and 1952, opening the door to Congress changing the law in the future.

The Dissent: Three justices – Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch – would overturn a constitutional guarantee. As summarized by Jeremy McKinney, past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association:

The dissents are worth reading together, because what divides them says as much as what unites them. Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Gorsuch, wrote the principal dissent and built it on domicile: the Clause guarantees citizenship only to those born and domiciled here, and the children of temporary foreign visitors, attached to and subject to another sovereign, fall outside it. Justice Alito, writing only for himself, reached the same destination by a different road. For Alito the test is allegiance, citizenship for those who at birth owe allegiance solely to the United States. Two of the Court’s most committed textualists, reading the same words, could not agree on why those words exclude the children in front of them. When a dissent cannot settle on a rationale, it is usually because the rationale arrived after the result.

Justice Gorsuch joined Thomas but wrote separately, and his separate opinion is the one that practitioners should not skip. He voted to dissolve the injunction on a procedural ground. Respondents brought a facial challenge, which means an executive order with any lawful application survives the challenge. Per Gorsuch, because the order lawfully reaches the children of genuinely temporary visitors, the facial challenge should have failed. But he did not stop there. Justice Gorsuch openly doubted that the order could constitutionally reach the children of parents who have built a permanent home in this country, even without status. If those parents are not domiciled here, he asked, then where are they domiciled, given that everyone is domiciled somewhere? He all but conceded that the order could not lawfully reach the very families it was written to target.

See also Mark Walsh, Birthright citizenship: “We break no new ground today”, SCOTUSblog (Jun. 30, 2026, 6:00 PM).

POST-DECISION REACTIONS

POTUS (on social media)

“The Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation, with the support of the President, that has now been determined during this process … No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!”

Legal Analysis and Commentary:

For a detailed, empirical overview of the decision – we’re talking word counts, coded concept mentions, term counts and use, citations to precedent, etc. – see Adam Feldman, Breaking down the birthright-citizenship decision, SCOTUSblog (Jun. 30, 2026, 4:07 PM).

Select Organizational Responses:

[And a few more: The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, States United Democracy Center, World Relief, Asian Law Caucus, Jesuit Refugee Service]

Media/Independent Journalism Coverage:

FINAL THOUGHTS

So, is Trump v. Barbara a win for the U.S. Constitution? Yes. But there’s cause for concern.

Congress doesn’t need to codify the unambiguous text of the 14th Amendment. Yet, reading Justice Kavanaugh’s opinion and the dissents, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a coordinated effort to give Trump the tools to do just that. See Jacob Knutson, Despite Supreme Court ruling, the battle over birthright citizenship is just beginning, Democracy Docket (June 30, 2026).

Per Steve Vladeck, the Court reached the right result in Trump v. Barbara, but the decision is also a formidable placeholder for what could happen with even one small shift in the Supreme Court.

]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | June 13/21 - June 28 ]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-june-1321-junehttps://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-june-1321-juneMon, 29 Jun 2026 19:20:23 GMTNEWS (June 21-28)

For news, commentary, and analysis of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Cisco, Blanche, Doe/Miot, and Al Otro Lado, see Immigration Review | SCOTUS.

Kyla Guilfoil, et al., Trump says he’s nominating former Oklahoma State Trooper Lance Schroyer to be ICE director, NBC News (June 27, 2026)

Maria Sacchetti and Lauren Kaori Gurley, Nursing homes, factory owners and immigrants brace for fallout from Supreme Court ruling, The Washington Post (June 26, 2026)

John Eligon, Thousands Flee South Africa as Anti-Immigrant Attacks Grow, NY Times (June 26, 2026)

Austin Kocher, ICE Reports 20th Detained Death of 2026, 63-year-old Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez from Mexico (June 26, 2026)

Julian Mark, et al., Supreme Court hands Trump major victories on his immigration agenda, NY Times (June 25, 2026)

Ishani Desai, Judge Throws Out Federal Suit Against 4 N.J. ‘Sanctuary’ Cities, NY Times (June 24, 2026)

Michael Barbaro, As Trump Purges Immigration Judges, One Speaks Out, NY Times (June 23, 2026)

Fatima Khan, ‘Devastating’: lives of nurses and patients upended by Trump migrant crackdown, The Guardian (June 23, 2026)

David Ovalle and Patricia Mazzei, Vendors Told to Start Dismantling ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Center, NY Times (June 23, 2026)

Blake Brittain, US judge blocks Trump administration SNAP restrictions on soda, candy, Reuters (June 22, 2026)

Jim DeFede, Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” shutting down permanently, sources say, CBS News (June 22, 2026)

Judge blocks Trump administration’s use of revamped immigration database to check voter rolls, Reuters (June 22, 2026)

Eric Bazail-Eimil, DACA renewal delays fuel worries Trump is quietly undermining ‘Dreamers’, Politico (June 21, 2026)

OPINION & ANALYSIS (June 22-28)

Andrew Thrasher, 2,033 Law Enforcement Contracts Feeding the Deportation Machine, Maxwell Commons (June 27, 2026)

Austin Kocher, This Week by the {Immigration} Numbers (June 27, 2026)

  • Highlighted by Austin: Per TRAC Reports, Immigration Judges are currently denying 93.8% of asylum cases.

A denial rate near 95 percent means that the immigration courts have effectively ceased to function as a venue where asylum claims receive genuine adjudication. - Austin Kocher

Also from Austin Kocher, Mega Masters: The Data Behind the Latest Scheme to Manufacture Removal Orders (Part 1 and Part 2 – Why Mega Masters Are Only New-ish)

The Government’s Exit Strategy: How DOJ Is Trying to Lock Abrego Garcia Out of Court, Ashtalks (June 25, 2026)

Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Hamed Aleaziz, How Trump Turned America’s Refugee Program Into a Pathway for White People, NY Times (June 23, 2026)

Adam Harris, What Will Happen to Birthright Citizenship?, The Atlantic (June 22, 2026)

Multi-Media

DOCUMENTARY FILM: The Welcome Table, A film by Josh Fox

Jeva Lange, How a Documentary About Climate Migration Found a Happy Ending, Heatmap (June 22, 2026)

INTERNATIONAL

The Democratic Republic of the Congo filed a case against Rwanda on Friday at the International Court of Justice, accusing it of legal responsibility for decades of violence in eastern DRC and violations of international conventions on genocide, racial discrimination, discrimination against women, and torture. See Ange Adihe Kasongo, Congo Files ICJ Case Against Rwanda Over Role in Conflict, Reuters (June 26, 2026); and Jean-Yves Kamale and Mark Nanchereau, Congo files an ICJ case against Rwanda over decades of violence in eastern Congo, Associated Press (June 26, 2026).

Podcast: World of Immigration, Why Is Sudan’s Humanitarian Crisis Largely Invisible? (Migration Policy Institute, June 25, 2026)

Refugee numbers dropped in 2025 – but aid cuts and others trends suggest little to celebrate, The Conversation (June 18, 2026)

Camille Lee Coz and Ravenna Sohst, The Future of Reintegration Is a Key Missing Piece in Europe’s Focus on Returns, Migration Policy Institute (June 2026)

Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, et al., Rebuilding Lives in Guatemala: Understanding Returnee Profiles and Reintegration Challenges, Migration Policy Institute (June 2026)

PRACTICE ALERTS / ADVISORIES (June 13-28)

American Immigration Council

American Immigration Lawyers Association

CLINIC

FORUM

The Dream.US and Equal Chance for Education, In Their Own Words – The Authorization Gap: The Case for Permanent Protections for Dreamer College Graduates (June 2026)

NIPNLG

GOVERNMENT ACTIONS

Capitol Hill Reader (June 28, 2026) [compiling Presidential Actions and actions of Congress]

Andrew Kreighbaum, DHS Advances Rule Nixing Automatic Renewal of Work Permits, Bloomberg Law (June 24, 2026)

N-400 Fee Increase. The proposed rule would increase the price of filing for naturalization by at least 75%. 91 FR 37500, 6/23/26.


BILLS INTRODUCTED AND CONSIDERED (compiled by FORUM)

S. 4800

Land of the Free Act - This bill would repeal the ground for deportability under section 237(a)(4)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act relating to noncitizens whose presence or activities in the United States are reasonably believed to have serious adverse foreign policy consequences.
H.R. 9259

Fair Day in Court for Kids Act of 2026 - This bill ensures unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings are provided free legal counsel by the Secretary of Health and Human Services and given access to their immigration files before removal proceedings.

H.R. 9361

Worst of the Worst Act - The bill directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to create and maintain a publicly accessible database that contains information about each criminal alien who is released from custody.

H.R. 9365

HEART Act of 2026 - The bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish an office to assist communities in providing mental health services to individuals experiencing fear-based trauma related to immigration law enforcement actions taken by Federal agencies.

H.R. 9447

Getting Terrorist Fanatics Out (GTFO) Act - The bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for denaturalization of certain persons who provide support for terrorism.

  • AEH Comment: Someone is very proud of this name. (It’s not me).

H.R. 9479

The Remigration Act - The bill establishes grounds for revocation of citizenship and immigration status, to review certain asylum and refugee grants, and require repatriation of denaturalized individuals with their children.

H.Res. 1375

Reaffirming the importance of the United States promoting the safety, health, and well-being of refugees and displaced persons in the United States and around the world
Sponsored by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California) (34 cosponsors)
S.Res. 775

A resolution reaffirming the importance of the United States promoting the safety, health, and well-being of refugees and displaced persons in the United States and around the world
Sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) (27 cosponsors)

BIA DECISIONS (June 15-29)

Matter of T-D-E, 29 I&N Dec. 732 (BIA 2026) [Asylum, Credibility, Burkina Faso, Visa Fraud]

  • An Immigration Judge may not determine that a respondent is credible solely because the respondent was candid in admitting he previously lied to obtain immigration benefits.

  • Remanded to permit the IJ to “properly assess the respondent’s credibility.”

  • AEH Comment: Like all good sixth grade book reports, the final paragraph of this decision begins with “In conclusion”.

Matter of G-L-C, 29 I&N Dec. 717 (BIA 2026) [Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes 35-780-113(a)(3) – Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance, Particularly Serious Crime, Torture, Jamaica]

  1. The respondent’s conviction for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance in violation of title 35, section 780-113(a)(30) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes is for a particularly serious crime rendering her statutorily ineligible for asylum and withholding of removal.

  2. The respondent did not establish eligibility for deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture where past mistreatment in Jamaica based on her sexual orientation was inflicted by private individuals and she did not demonstrate that a public official would likely acquiesce to any torture.

Matter of BEST, 29 I&N Dec. 723 (BIA 2026) [212(h) waiver, extreme hardship, discretion, rehabilitation]

  1. The emotional and financial difficulties the respondent’s family members would experience as a result of the respondent’s removal do not constitute extreme hardship under section 212(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(h).

  2. The Immigration Judge erred in granting a waiver of inadmissibility and adjustment of status in discretion because the respondent’s equities were outweighed by his serious and lengthy criminal history and lack of persuasive evidence of rehabilitation.

Matter of C-L-R-, 29 I&N Dec. 726 (BIA 2026) [competency, M-A-M-, Withholding-Only, Clear Probability of Future Persecution, Mental-Health Based PSG]

  1. The applicant, who was found incompetent for purposes of his withholding-only proceedings and was appointed a qualified representative who submitted filings on his behalf, was provided with adequate safeguards to ensure the fairness of his proceedings.

  2. The Immigration Judge properly concluded that the applicant did not establish a clear probability of future persecution on account of his membership in a mental health-based particular social group because the evidence in the record did not establish a particularized risk of future persecution.

Matter of T-A-G-, 29 I&N Dec. 715 (BIA 2026) [interlocutory appeal, motion to pretermit, pending I-130s, future eligibility for relief]

  • The Immigration Judge erred in denying the Department of Homeland Security’s motion to pretermit the respondents’ asylum applications based on their potential eligibility for collateral relief.

Matter of P-A-C-, 29 I&N Dec. 708 (BIA 2026) [Matter of Kasinga, Matter of H-, withholding of removal, asylum, discretion]

  • The fact that a respondent is granted withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act is an important consideration in whether the respondent may be denied asylum as a matter of discretion based on a weighing of the favorable and adverse factors, considering the mitigating impact a grant of withholding of removal has on the risk of future persecution. Matter of Kasinga, 21 I&N Dec. 357, 367 (BIA 1996); and Matter of H-, 21 I&N Dec. 337, 347 (BIA 1996), distinguished.

Matter of A-C-M-, 29 I&N Dec. 703 (BIA 2026) [pro se, ACA, need for evidentiary h earing to resolve safe third country bar]

  • When an alien is subject to an asylum cooperative agreement (“ACA”) and the record is devoid of evidence showing the alien faces an individualized risk of harm in the ACA country of removal, it is generally unnecessary to hold an evidentiary hearing to resolve the applicability of the safe third country bar to asylum. Matter of C-I-G M- & L-V-S-G-, 29 I&N Dec. 291 (BIA 2025), followed.

Matter of Y-H-L-, 29 I&N Dec. 698 (BIA 2026) [corroboration of “credible but unpersuasive” testimony, forced abortion, China, IAC]

  1. Reconsideration is not warranted where the respondent has not shown error in the Board’s determination that the Immigration Judge properly required corroboration of credible but unpersuasive testimony and properly found that corroboration of an alleged forced abortion in China was reasonably available.

  2. The respondent did not demonstrate ineffective assistance of counsel because it was not unreasonable for counsel to rely on a certified translation of evidence that was submitted by the respondent’s prior counsel.

SELECT CASE LAW

For summaries of recently published federal case law (Courts of Appeals and BIA), see Kevin Gregg’s Immigration Review podcast.

Garcia Corrales v. Blanche, No. 24-6467 (9th Cir. 2026) [PFR granted]

  • Jesus Garcia Corrales timely filed a Notice of Appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals on February 5, 2024, via certified mail; however, the Notice was not delivered to the Board until March 18, 2024. The Board dismissed the appeal on April 30, 2024, as untimely, and Garcia Corrales thereafter filed a Motion to Reopen that included new evidence, as required - namely, proof that the Notice had been timely filed and arguing that the U.S. Postal Service’s unnatural delay was an extraordinary circumstance justifying equitable tolling. The Board inexplicably construed the Motion to Reopen as a Motion to Reconsider, and therefore deemed it untimely because it was not filed within 30 days of the

  • The Ninth Circuit wasn’t having it. Gotta love a panel comprised of Hurowitz, Gould, and Berzon.

On June 23, a federal judge in the Northern District of California issued a 71-page ruling vacating the Trump administration’s policies allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to make arrests at immigration courthouses nationwide, finding the agency’s conduct “arbitrary and capricious.” See Mike Spector, US judge vacates Trump immigration courthouse arrest policies, Reuters (June 23, 2026); and Jazmine Ulloa and Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Federal Judge Bars ICE From Making Arrests in Immigration Courts, NY Times (June 23, 2026)

Order, In Re Grand Jury Subpoenas, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

  • On June 17, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the District of Minnesota issued an Order quashing six grand jury subpoenas that had been served on the Minnesota Governor’s office, the Minnesota Mayor’s office, the St. Paul Mayor’s office, the Minnesota Attorney General’s office, and the Board of Commissioners for each Ramsey County and Hennepin County. The moving parties moved to quash the subpoenas on the basis that they were part of an unconstitutional effort to coerce Minnesota officials into assisting the federal government with enforcing civil immigration laws as well as to retaliate against them for failing to do so.

  • See A Grand Jury, Used as a Weapon, Ashtalks (June 22, 2026)

BONUS!

Bonus. If you know me at all, you know I love dogs. I’m the person at social events who spends 100% of my time with the dog and probably leaves without saying hello (or goodbye) to the humans.

So, you can imagine my joy this past week when my coworker accepted an unhoused man’s offer to give his puppy a home in exchange for $20. As my brother said, “$20 well spent!”

Meet Duke, the newest employee at Green Evans-Schroeder.

]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | SCOTUS]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-scotushttps://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-scotusSun, 28 Jun 2026 20:29:02 GMTDo you remember when the end of June was marked solely by anticipation of what the rest of summer had to offer? You were probably preparing for a long Fourth of July weekend: one filled with friends and family, fireworks, and the never-ending quest to roast the perfect marshmallow. It was peak summer, and summer meant good.

Well now you’re an immigration attorney (or professor, advocate, concerned citizen, etc.), and June’s metronome is the steady clicking of “refresh” on SCOTUSblog to see what’s left of due process after the Supreme Court issues its final decisions of the year.

This June has been no different. Below are the summaries of four recent decisions – each decided 6-3 along ideological lines – that negatively impact the rights of noncitizens. See Andrew Chung, On immigration, Supreme Court accedes to Trump’s restrictive agenda, Reuters (June 26, 2026).

  1. Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe I (June 23, authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett)

  2. Blanche v. Lau (June 23, 2026, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas)

  3. Mullin v. Doe and Trump v. Miot (June 25, authored by Justice Samuel Alito)

  4. Mullin v. Al Otro Lado (June 25, authored by Justice Samuel Alito)

The Alien Tort Statute (is Dead)

The Case: Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe I

The Context: Under 28 U. S. C. §1350 (the Alien Tort Statute), federal courts have jurisdiction to hear “any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” For years, foreign survivors of human rights abuses have brought claims under the ATS, looking to hold human rights violators – including corporations – accountable.

The Decision: Effectively overruling the Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machin, SCOTUS further narrowed (see Kiobel and Jesner) the scope of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) to hold that federal courts may not “create new causes of action for violations of international norms under the ATS” – stated otherwise, courts may not hear human rights claims against U.S. companies under the ATS. Separately, the Torture Victim Protection Act does not provide for aiding and abetting liability.

The Dissent: Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined in part by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Why It Matters: The Court’s holding all but forecloses future efforts to bring human rights claims under the ATS.

Selected Analysis:

Standard of Proof Required to Parole Returning Lawful Permanent Residents

The Case: Blanche v. Lau

The Context: A lawful permanent resident (LPR) returning to the United States from a brief trip abroad “shall not be regarded as seeking an admission into the United States” unless one of six exceptions applies (INA § 101(a)(13)(C), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(13)(C)). That is, LPRs are admitted as LPRs, unless a low-level immigration officer determines that any of six exceptions applies.

The Decision: The INA does not require that immigration officials have evidence – much less “clear and convincing evidence” – that an LPR is subject to an exception under INA § 101(a)(13)(C) – in this case, that an LPR “has committed” a crime involving moral turpitude – in order to deny them admission to the United States in favor of parole.

The Dissent: Justice Jackson, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan.

Why It Matters: Because noncitizens who are admitted to the United States have substantially greater due process rights than parolees, who are for legal purposes treated as though they never made an entry at all.

Takeaway: Among other things, LPRs with criminal histories, including pending or otherwise unresolved charges, should not travel outside the United States without consulting an immigration attorney.

AEH Comment: Note that several news articles and summaries published over the past week are misleading, e.g., Supreme Court makes it easier for border agents to deport green card holders accused of crimes, ABC News (June 23, 2026). Border Agents cannot refuse entry to LPRs, nor can they “revoke” an LPR’s status or deport them. They can deny legal admission, which is distinct from physical entry, and instead parole LPRs into the United States. And while immigration officials do routinely take away LPR’s physical green cards, an LPR remains an LPR until there is a final order of removal, and does have the option of applying for a replacement green card, even while proceedings remain ongoing.

Selected Analysis:

The next two cases, issued on June 25, were authored by Justice Samuel Alito. Chris Geidner, Thursday was Sam Alito’s big decision day. Was it his last?, LAW dork (June 25, 2026).

Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians

The Case: Mullin v. Doe, Trump v. Miot (consolidated)

The Context: There are many excellent fact sheets and practice alerts about TPS, a form of humanitarian relief offered to noncitizens from countries that the United States has determined are unsafe to return to. See American Immigration Council’s Fact Sheet, FORUM’s Fact Sheet, and the recently published What is Temporary Protect Status? From the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Decision: Courts lack jurisdiction to review non-constitutional challenges to TPS determinations – namely, decisions to extend or terminate TPS designations. Further, the majority found insufficient evidence of racial animus against Haitians to warrant an injunction. The Court permitted the Trump Administration to proceed with its plan to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians.

Interesting Aside: Justice Amy Coney Barrett has two adopted children from Haiti.

The Dissent: Please read it. As noted by Justice Elena Kagan, courts have authority to require compliance with the procedural requirements of TPS, including the steps the Secretary of Homeland Security is required to undertake before making any determination. (Compliance with procedure falls under the purview of “procedural due process,” which is a constitutional claim).

Why It Matters: As stated by counsel for TPS holders from Haiti, “The Supreme Court’s decision means that many, many people are going to die violent, needless deaths.” I encourage you to spend 10 minutes reviewing current country conditions in Haiti and Syria, where hundreds of thousands of people will now be forced to return.

In addition, as noted by César García Hernández in Mass De-Legalization, the Court refused to address the specific, racist comments made by Trump in the lead-up to the Secretary’s decision to terminate TPS for Haitians.

Selected Analysis:

Seeking Asylum at the Border

The Case: Mullin v. Al Otro Lado

The Context: See Lucas Guttentag’s piece for Just Security, below; and César García Hernández, Mass De-Legalization, Immigration Law Unhinged (June 25, 2026).

The Decision: The court upheld a metering policy that turned away asylum seekers at the border without having their claims heard. “We hold that an alien who is standing in Mexico does not ‘arriv[e] in the United States’ by attempting, and failing, to set foot in this country. An alien ‘arrives in the United States’ only when he crosses the border.”

Dissent (read from the bench, in part): Another recommended read. Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, who recognize the core principle of refugee protection. See Elizabeth Holdzman, I Helped Write the Refugee Act. Trump is Trampling It, Time (June 9, 2026).

Interesting Aside: Apparently, Justice Alito was not too thrilled that parts of the dissent were read aloud.

Why It Matters: In short, the Court hinges the futures – and potentially the very lives – of asylum seekers on the meaning of the word “in.” By concluding that migrants stopped just before the official international boundary are not arriving “in” the United States, the Court all but guarantees that asylum seekers will be physically blocked from setting foot in the United States.

Selected Analysis:

]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | News, Opinion, and Analysis]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-news-opinion-6dfhttps://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-news-opinion-6dfMon, 22 Jun 2026 20:24:24 GMTThis past week was the American Immigration Lawyers Association Annual Conference in San Diego.

A few thoughts.

  1. Immigration lawyers (maybe all lawyers?) are an odd bunch, but also a very fun bunch.

  2. Four puppies for a few thousand attorneys is a cruel ratio, and I still maintain that if I had entered the puppy enclosure and just refused to leave, there would have been zero consequences.

  3. The San Diego Zoo is now my favorite zoo.

A few shout-outs, i.e., people I enjoyed meeting, spending time with, or listening to: Kevin Gregg, Aaron Hall, Trina Realmuto (and everyone at the NILA event on Friday), Kari Hong, Johnny Sinodis (and other former colleagues at Van Der Hout), Katie Ruhl, Brenda Wylie, Natalie Cadwalader, my coworkers at Green Evans-Schroeder, and the person who laughed at my Dungeons and Dragons t-shirt.

NEWS

June 20, 2026

  • Gwynne Hogan, et al., ‘They have all the power’: investigation finds that 93% of ICE arrests in New York and New Jersey targeted Latinos (The Guardian)

  • Ximena Bustillo, A California man’s case highlights gaps in care and oversight at DHS detention centers (NPR)

    • AEH Comment: The facts here are so obnoxious. Parias, a TikTok streamer, was charged with assault on a federal officer after several agents surrounded his car – which was apparently not moving – told him to turn off the car and said, “I’m going to shoot you.” Just as Parias raised his hands, an officer did shoot him, and the bullet went on to hit another agent as well.

      • Ok, look. I haven’t taken hunter’s gun safety in over 25 years, but I promise that two of the first rules learned when operating a firearm are (1) know where your weapon is pointed, and (2) be certain of your target and what lies beyond it. I learned this when I was twelve.

    • Parias was charged with assault on a federal officer (for “weaponizing his vehicle”) which, conveniently, is a basis for mandatory detention under the Laken Riley Act. Funny how that works.

    • The government’s brief on appeal to the Ninth Circuit (following the District Court’s dismissal of the indictment with prejudice) can be read here.

June 19, 2026

June 18, 2026

June 17, 2026

June 16, 2026

“100% it’s going to result in deterioration of already problematic conditions of detention,” said Michelle Brane, a former Department of Homeland Security ombudsman who oversaw immigration detention practices during part of the Biden administration. “It’s consistent with their general practice, which is to eliminate accountability and oversight. They are not concerned with people’s basic rights or safety of detainees.”

June 15, 2026

June 13, 2026

OPINION and ANALYSIS

INT’L HUMAN RIGHTS, HUMANITARIAN, & REFUGEE LAW

PODCASTS & OTHER MEDIA

Immigration Review with Kevin A. Gregg (available Here)

Seasons 1 and 2 of Unsettled: Immigration in Turbulent Times

As always, please send recommendations for immigration-themed podcasts or podcast episodes.

BONUS - My favorite memes about the Washington D.C. reflecting pool.

]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | Practice Advisories and Government Actions (June 1 - 12, 2026)]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-practice-advisorieshttps://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-practice-advisoriesTue, 16 Jun 2026 04:30:01 GMTTrue to form, I overestimated my availability (and energy levels) and did not have time to review any recently published cases. As always, I recommend checking out Kevin Gregg’s most recent episodes of Immigration Review, available here.

You can also review recent decisions of the raging inferno previously known as the Board of Immigration Appeals here.

Practice Advisories and Alerts

National Immigration Project / National Lawyers Guild

American Immigration Council

National Immigration Forum

CLINIC

Immigrant Legal Resource Center

National Immigrant Justice Center

CATO Institute

Brookings Institute

Recommended Podcast: The World of Migration (Migration Policy Institute) (most recent episode – When Sports and U.S. Immigration Policy Collide)

International Refugee Law / Human Rights

European Union, Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, New migration and asylum rules enter into application: what is changing? (June 12, 2026)

IOM-UNHCR: EU Pact Offers Hope for Better Migration Management and Fairer Asylum Systems (June 12, 2026)

IOM: Haiti’s Displacement Crisis Hits Record 1.5 Million Amid Escalating Violence (June 5, 2026)

EU, Migration and Home Affairs, EUAA publishes latest asylum trends in EU+ countries (June 3, 2026)

Policy / Government Actions & Reports

U.S. Government Accountability Office, Immigration Detention: Waste and Performance Issues at Camp East Montana Provide Valuable Lessons for Future Facilities (June 9, 2026)

National Immigration Forum, Policy Bulletin — Friday, June 5, 2026 and Policy Bulletin — Friday, June 12, 2026 (Forum)

June 9, 2026 – Congress Passed $70 Billion Plan to Fund ICE and Border Patrol Through Remainder of Trump’s Second Term. The bill (S.2) was signed into law on June 10.

  • Per FORUM, “[t]he package provides approximately $38 billion for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), $22 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and an additional $5 billion for contingency and operational costs, securing funding for the administration’s immigration enforcement agenda through the remainder of President Trump’s term.”

BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED

[all summaries provided by Forum]

June 9, 2026

H.R. 9234 - Careworker Visa Act

This bill creates a new temporary W visa category for qualified careworkers, including childcare providers, eldercare workers, and in-home caregivers for individuals with disabilities. Additionally, this bill provides a pathway for certain immigrants already living in the U.S. since January 1, 2024, to obtain legal work status as caregivers if they meet requirements such as passing a background check, paying a $500 fee, and paying all taxes.

June 3, 2026

H.R. 9124 - Know Your Rights Act

This bill would require the U.S. Attorney General, with help from nonprofit organizations, to create and provide a legal orientation program (LOP) in every immigration detention facility. The program and detainees’ legal rights information must be available in English and the five most spoken languages at each facility.

H.R. 9132 - Preventing International Surrogacy Exploitation Act

This bill aims to prevent foreign nationals from using surrogacy arrangements in the U.S. by making those contracts invalid and penalizing brokers who help arrange them. It also seeks to limit immigration benefits for foreign parents involved in such surrogacy agreements.

H.R. 9134 - To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure that personally identifiable information provided in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid is not used for immigration enforcement, and for other purposes.

June 2, 2026

H.R. 9096 - To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to revoke the citizenship of any naturalized United States citizen convicted of a terrorism-related crime

H.J.Res. 190 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to clarify the 14th amendment does not provide for automatic citizenship for the children of aliens.

  • AEH Comment: Introduced by Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina with (surprisingly?) zero cosponsors.

May 29, 2026

H.R. 9068 - To strengthen hiring and screening standards for immigration enforcement officers and to strengthen uniform, identification, and professional conduct standards for such officers.

H.R. 9069 - To limit the Department of Homeland Security from detaining children and individuals with a cognitive disability and to prohibit immigration enforcement actions at sensitive locations without a court-issued criminal warrant.

  • AEH Comment: Do we really need legislation to tell us not to detain children or persons with cognitive disabilities? Yes. Should we need it? [answer here] (this seems to be how new policies are made)

H.R. 9070 - To improve immigration enforcement transparency, preserve civil rights, and improve the accountability of immigration enforcement personnel, and for other purposes.

Bonus: A few more New York City pictures. But for my dogs (and the cost of living), I’d move to Brooklyn tomorrow.

[top: sister-in-law, me, spouse. bottom: brother, in his words “vibing”]

]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | News, Opinion, & Analysis (June 1-12, 2026)]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-news-opinionhttps://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-news-opinionSat, 13 Jun 2026 17:38:11 GMTSomething Personal: As a kid, I found it fascinating how adults could forget their age or reference something from “a few years ago” and either mean three years or thirty. But time works differently when your days are scheduled around lunch and recess and where the end of the school year is rewarded with a three-month lacuna of responsibility.

On May 30, I turned 37 years old – an age which, “a few years ago”, I would have classified as “not so young anymore” (and decidedly adult). Perhaps it’s the lack of excitement accompanying a milestone birthday or the fact that I’m no longer in my “mid-thirties” but rather – gulp – my “late mid-thirties” or – gasp! – my “early late-thirties”. Or maybe it’s the fact that my metric for comparison has always been my parents, who by age 37 had been married for 16 years, were in their second or third home, had three children, no student loan debt, and a very reasonable mortgage payment. (Millennials, can you even imagine?!)

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But despite the banality of turning 37, it’s an age that has new meaning for me since the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti earlier this year in Minneapolis. They were 37 years old, and in my most stressful and frustrated moments, I can’t help but imagine how grateful they would have been for even one more day – alone, in good company, exciting or mundane, stressful or relaxing, and all those things we take for granted in between.

The current administration has all but deflated many of us, but if you asked me today, I’d tell you how grateful I am to be 37, and how lucky I feel to spend another day fighting alongside you.

Something Fun: Three years ago, my brother Ian jokingly requested a trip to New York City for Christmas. I couldn’t deliver, but I did promise him that I’d take him for his 40th birthday, which is coming up later this summer. As expected, we ate a metric ton of bagels, drank all the coffee, ran in central park, rode the subway (huge hit), became overnight Knicks fans, and dove headfirst into nostalgia.

Something Inspiring: The Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island. I didn’t take many photos, but I did manage to get the “No ICE” banner flying in the distance. Not all heroes wear capes.

Selected News Highlights (June 1 – 12)

June 12, 2026

“It should almost go without saying — but the Court will say it anyway … court orders vacating and setting aside agency policies have immediate effect once they are issued,” McConnell wrote. “There is no excuse this time.”

June 11, 2026

June 10, 2026

June 9, 2026

June 8, 2026

June 6, 2026

June 5, 2026

June 4, 2026

June 3, 2026

June 2, 2026

June 1, 2026

Selected Opinion & Analysis (May 30 – June 12)

César García Hernández, Shaping Race, Immigration Law Unhinged (June 12, 2026)

Austin Kocher, In Good Company: Nine Immigration Conversations You Might Have Missed This Week (June 12, 2026)

Moustafa Bayoumi, Trump is stripping Americans of their citizenship at a shocking rate, The Guardian (June 10, 2026)

Elizabeth Holtzman, I Helped Write the Refugee Act. Trump is Trampling It, Time (June 9, 2026)

Andrew Free, Federal Judge Orders Release of Man Driven to Death’s Door by Medical Neglect in Essex Facility as Protests Grow Nationwide Over Violent Detention Conditions, #DetentionKills (June 4, 2026)

Corrie Aune and Lauren Villagran, 108 Days Apart: A Wife’s Fight to Free Her Husband From Delaney Hall, The Marshall Project (June 3, 2026)

Aala Abdullahi and Geoff Hing, ICE Detained Them, and Then They Vanished, The Marshall Project (June 1, 2026)

David J. Bier, Trump Isn’t Just After Undocumented Immigrants—He Wants 100 Million Americans Purged, Too, The UnPopulist (June 1, 2026) (shared by Dan Kowalski over at Involuntary Departure)

Charles Kuck, Opinion: The immigration memo that threatens 74 years of U.S. policy, Deseret News (May 30, 2026)

James Lartey, Bad Food. Poor Care. No Toilets. ICE Detention Misery Pushes Immigrants to ‘Voluntarily’ Depart., The Marshall Project (May 30, 2026)

Bonus Inspiration

On June 12, Forbes released a list of “America’s 250 Most Successful Living Immigrants”. It’s not clear what parameters were used to define “success” – Education? Wealth? Notoriety? Political acumen? – and I’d be willing to bet that if we removed money and politics and eliminated anyone associated with scandal, the list would look markedly different. That said, here are a few that I can get on board with.

#19. Lorne Michaels, 81 • Canada

In 1968, Michaels moved to Hollywood to write for the variety TV show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. Seven years later, he premiered Saturday Night Live.

#24. Katalin Kariko, 71 • Hungary

Before she won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for her work on mRNA vaccines, she came to the U.S. in 1985 from Hungary with about $1,200 stuffed inside a teddy bear for safekeeping

#25. Yo-Yo Ma, 70 • France

Born in Paris to Chinese parents, the world’s most famous classical musician performed for President John F. Kennedy as a child and has since won 20 Grammys

#38. Roald Hoffmann, 88 • Poland

As a child, Hoffmann was smuggled out of Poland to escape the Nazis. He immigrated to America and won the Nobel Prize in 1981 for discovering how to use quantum mechanics to predict chemical reactions. He’s also written several volumes of poetry and his plays have been performed around the world.

#50. Neil Young, 80 • Canada

The folk-rock legend drove across the border in a hearse in 1966 to start his music career.

#74. David Byrne, 73 • United Kingdom

The Talking Heads frontman also has an Oscar for writing the score to The Last Emperor and a Special Tony Award for his 2020 Broadway show American Utopia.

#92. Mazie Hirono, 78 • Japan

The U.S. Senator from Hawaii fled an abusive household with her mother in 1955 and came to the United States.

#94. Gloria Estefan, 68 • Cuba

The Latin music icon and her family came to the U.S. after the 1959 Cuban revolution.

#104. Omar M. Yaghi, 61 • Jordan

Yaghi cofounded two different cleantech companies based on his Nobel Prize-winning research into metal-organic frameworks, which can be used to capture and store chemical substances, such as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

#113. Martina Navratilova, 69 • Czech Republic

The women’s tennis GOAT won a record 59 Grand Slam titles, most recently the 2006 Mixed Doubles championship at the US Open when she was 49. She defected to the U.S. from Communist Czechoslovakia in 1975.

#125. Viet Thanh Nguyen, 55 • Vietnam

Nguyen arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 1975, and his experience inspired his novel The Sympathizer, which won multiple awards, including a Pulitzer; sold over one million copies and was adapted into a TV series.

#139. John Oliver, 48 • United Kingdom

The British-born comedian won three Emmys as a writer on The Daily Show before launching his own show, Last Week Tonight, which has won more than 30.

#163. Syukuro Manabe, 94 • Japan

Manabe won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2021 for his climate modeling.

#164. Thomas Sudhof, 70 • Germany

Sudhof’s Nobel Prize-winning discoveries underpin research initiatives into neurological conditions like autism and Alzheimer’s.

#171. Bernard Lagat, 51 • Kenya

After winning two Olympic medals representing Kenya, Lagat represented the U.S. at the 2007 World Championships, where he became the first athlete to win gold in both the 1500m and 5000m. He also holds the record for most total wins in the Wanamaker Mile with eight.

#200. Michael J. Fox, 64 • Canada

The Emmy-winning actor is best-known for roles on Family Ties and Back to the Future. Since going public with his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in 1998, he has led efforts to combat the disease through his eponymous foundation, which has funded more than $2 billion.

#202. Jose Andres, 56 • Spain

The James Beard Award-winning chef who launched Jaleo in Washington D.C., the first of more than 40 restaurants, provides humanitarian food aid around the globe through his organization World Central Kitchen.

#205. Olga Korbut, 70 • Belarus

Though Korbut represented the Soviet Union at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, her gold medal-winning performance galvanized a generation of American gymnasts, and when she came to the U.S. after the Cold War, she continued to inspire as a gymnastics coach and speaker.

#209. Iman Abuzeid, 41 • Sudan

Abuzeid was born in Saudi Arabia to Sudanese parents, moved to the U.K. for medical school, then came to the U.S. where she founded Incredible Health, which helps place nurses into job openings at healthcare providers.

#215. Angélique Kidjo, 65 • Benin

The five-time Grammy award-winning musician, who combines traditional West African rhythms with genres like Jazz, reggae and funk, fled her home country’s Communist regime to pursue creative freedom, going first to Paris and then New York City.

#225. Art Spiegelman, 78 • Sweden

The Pulitzer-winning author saw Maus, his classic graphic novel about the Holocaust, hit the bestseller list in 2022 after it was banned in Tennessee schools.

#249. Eugene H. Trinh, 75 • Vietnam

Trinh became the first Vietnamese American astronaut in space on the space shuttle Columbia in 1992. Afterwards, he led NASA’s physical sciences research division.

UP NEXT: On Monday, June 15, a summary of practice advisories, podcasts, policy updates, and case law from June 1-12, 2026.

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]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | May 17-26]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-may-17-26https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-may-17-26Wed, 27 May 2026 23:06:21 GMTI participated in oral arguments last week before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which translates roughly to 35 hours of hyper-focus, ten minutes of showmanship, and a full day to recover. (I know you’re a litigator if, like me, that sounds exciting. It usually is, albeit somewhat less so when you can’t discern why the Court denied a joint motion to submit the case on the briefs).

Unsurprisingly, I awoke from my appellate fever dream to see that the rule of law remains – decidedly – in retrograde. Despite clear precedent stating otherwise, the Trump Administration announced last week that adjustment of status (AOS) is an “extraordinary act of administrative grace” that, except in extremely limited circumstances, is not available to noncitizens who are in the country lawfully but temporarily. I’ll be doing a deeper dive later this week, but my initial reaction is this: if AOS isn’t available to temporary (nonimmigrant) visa holders, who does qualify? Dual intent visa holders? For all intents and purposes, did DHS just unilaterally decide that INA § 245(a) is superfluous? (Additionally, the fact that Patel v. Garland is the first case cited speaks volumes about the Administration’s intent. Almost like they’re weaponizing the doctrine of consular non-reviewability, no?).

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A NOTE ABOUT FUTURE ROUNDUPS: We’ll see if this comes to fruition, but I intend to change the format of future roundups. On Mondays, the post will focus on the past week’s BIA case law, practice advisories, and policy changes. (Time permitting, I’ll also include select federal case law). Then, on Fridays, the Roundup will include the week’s top immigration headlines, opinion pieces / blogs, and topics of interest. Please feel free to send me your comments and/or suggestions.

Something For FOIA Litigators: This amicus brief from Hausman v. ICE (re: access to information, FOIA) (Courtesy of Andrew Free @DetentionKills – see his post about it here and follow his work here.)

Music to Inspire: One of the greatest albums of all time.

NEWS

Selected News / Updates (May 17-26)

May 26, 2026

May 25, 2026

May 24, 2026

May 23, 2026

May 22, 2026

May 21, 2026

May 20, 2026

May 18, 2026

OPINION / POLICY / ANALYSIS

INT’L HUMAN RIGHTS, HUMANITARIAN,
& REFUGEE LAW

PODCASTS & OTHER MEDIA

Immigration Review with Kevin A. Gregg (available Here)

Migration Policy Institute: America’s Closing Door: Where Do Cuban Migrants Go Now? (May 18, 2026)

Robert Webber, The Maze - Episode 32: Adjustment of Status versus Immigrant Visa Processing: The Role of Temporary Intent, Webber Immigration News and Analysis (May 24, 2026)

PRACTICE ALERTS AND ADVISORIES

NIPNLG: Amicus Brief on Firm Resettlement Bar (May 26, 2026)

NIPNLG: Practice Advisory, Distinguishing Matter of M-A-F- in the Pretermission Context (May 22, 2026)

NIJC: EBSC v. Trump: An Explainer for Advocates on Vacatur of the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways Rule (May 19, 2026)

NIJC: Prolonged Detention Legal Representation Strategies (May 18, 2026)

AILA: Too many recent resources to list, but members should check out the following Practice Advisories: (1) Impact to Affirmative Asylum Applications of DHS Rule Implementing H.R.1 Immigration Fees and Consequences of Non-Payment (May 26, 2026); and (2) New Adjustment of Status Policy Mandating a High Bar for a Positive Exercise of Discretion (May 26, 2026)

GOVERNMENT ACTIONS

BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED (From Forum’s Policy Bulletin)

S. 4596 - A bill to strengthen hiring and screening standards for immigration enforcement officers and to strengthen uniform, identification, and professional conduct standards for such offers.

S. 4593 - A bill to amend title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act to require mandatory detention of aliens who are physically present in the United States, but have not been admitted to the United States.

S. 4590 - A bill to limit the Department of Homeland Security from detaining children and individuals with a cognitive disability and to prohibit immigration enforcement actions at sensitive locations without a court-issued criminal warrant.

H.R. 8920 - To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to share Individual Taxpayer Identification Number information with the Department of Homeland Security for the purpose of enforcing immigration laws.

BIA

Matter of I-B-M-S-, 29 I&N Dec. 628 (BIA 2026)

(1) The closer in time a change of venue request is made to an individual hearing, the less likely it is a party will be able to establish good cause. Matter of Rahman, 20 I&N Dec. 480 (BIA 1992), followed.

(2) Off-the-record dialogue in immigration proceedings should be limited, and the Immigration Judge must provide a true and complete summary of any off-the-record discussion.

(3) An Immigration Judge must act as a neutral and impartial arbiter, and the obligation of neutrality extends equally to an Immigration Judge’s treatment of both parties.

  • AEH Comment: Kevin Gregg has some great quips about this one over at Immigration Review. “Are you just trying to make a point, BIA? That’s not very appellate of you.”

Matter of L-A-D-, 29 I&N Dec. 634 (BIA 2026)

(1) The group “Mexican men with Schizoaffective Disorder,” defined only by such diagnosis, is not cognizable as a particular social group under the Immigration and Nationality Act. (2) A series of speculative occurrences that also lack evidence of persecutory intent is insufficient to demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution.

BONUS: Something joyful.

Summer weekends in Wisconsin.

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]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | May 5-15]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-may-5-15https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-may-5-15Sat, 16 May 2026 23:20:29 GMTI’ve been deep in Habeas land this week and last, reviewing hearing transcripts and pondering the best way to respond government attorneys who put forth absolute nonsense. I could use logic—or the law (remember that?)—but that’s so unoriginal. I mean, if I were a judge and forced to contend with some of these arguments, I’d at least like to be entertained by the response.

So, for every inane statement, argument, or brief by the government, whose public-facing litigation tactic seems to be using Trump Speak or AI to distract from reality, I recommend attorneys start incorporating some parody into their response.[1]

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For example:

The government—which uses autopen, by the way—argues against Petitioner’s release because (I’m paraphrasing) ‘immigration detention is officially GREAT again. No one wants to leave because it’s so great. Everybody here (even the haters and losers) knows it.’

Everyone is now saying the government suffers from IMMIGRATION DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. Really sad. They tell me it starts with book bans & intolerance. The vaccine’s amazing.

So-called civil immigration detention (which has a terrible record – approval ratings at their lowest in history!) is INHUMANE. But Petitioner doesn’t want to leave. He wants to stay alive. The President – who still doesn’t have a NOBEL PEACE PRIZE! – wants to deport Petitioner to a country he’s never been to, preferably one with a tremendous[ly bad] human rights record, so that he can be detained there. Is that the AMERICAN DREAM? SAD!!

[dictated but not read]

[1] Please don’t actually do this, unless you’re Mike Gillis and you work for The Onion. (But if you do, let me know).

SELECTED NEWS

May 15, 2026

May 14, 2026

May 13, 2026

May 12, 2026

May 11, 2026

May 8, 2026

May 7, 2026

May 6, 2026

May 5, 2026

POLICY / OPINION / ANALYSIS

César García Hernández, Texas Against the U.S. Constitution, Immigration Law Unhinged (May 15, 2026)

Andrew Free, Death by Toothache in Arizona ICE Lockup Confirmed by Medical Examiner, #DetentionKills (May 14, 2026)

From Alligator Alcatraz to the Eleventh Circuit: Two Men, Two Traffic Stops, and a Ruling That Reshapes the Map (Ashtalks (May 10, 2026)

César García Hernández, Trump Detention Policy Ready for Supreme Court, Immigration Law Unhinged (May 8, 2026)

REPORTS/PRACTICE ADVISORIES

Migration Policy Institute: Jacob Hofstetter, Adult English Instruction at Risk: The Threat of Federal Funding Cuts and Potential State Responses (May 2026)

American Immigration Counsel: Restoring Credibility and Humanity (May 12, 2026)

CLINIC: Practice Advisory: Options for Relief Under Asylum Law for LGBTQ Applicants (May 12, 2026)

NIPNLG: What to Know About Travel to the US During the World Cup (May 14, 2026)

California Dept. of Justice: Immigration Detention in California (2026)

Vera Institute: Newly Appointed Judges and the Rise of Voluntary Departure in Immigration Court (May 2026)

INTERNATIONAL

Robbie Gramer, Trump Still Hasn’t Appointed More Than 100 Ambassadors, Some to Key Allies (WSJ)

IOM: World Migration Report (2026)

Max Bearinger and Danica Choi, International Legal Challenges to the Trump Administration’s Immigration Policies, Lawfare (May 4, 2026)

OTHER MEDIA

Immigration Review Podcast with Kevin A. Gregg

Robert Webber, Webber Immigration News and Analysis, Episode 30: U.S. Immigration Law Update (May 2026)

POLICY HIGHLIGHTS

From FORUM’s Policy Bulletin

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks resigned on May 14 (apparently due to sexual misconduct)

May 12 - A coalition of Democratic senators from Arizona and California are calling on Congress and the White House to provide a permanent path to citizenship for Dreamers as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) renewal delays stretch into months and leave recipients unable to work.

May 5 - Senate Republicans released a $72 billion reconciliation package on May 5 to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through fiscal year (FY) 2029

On May 31, 2026, Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will step down and will be replaced by David Venturella.

And in this week’s edition of “WTF?” - BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED

S. 4501 – “BACK OFF Act” (AEH: are they running out of names?)

The bill would “bar aliens from admission to the United States to give birth on United States soil or remaining in the United States to undermine the sovereignty of the United States through birth tourism.”

S. 4542 - A bill to disqualify aliens from establishing good moral character, maintaining eligibility for asylum, and retaining lawful permanent resident status if they engage in activities in opposition to the United States Constitution, our form of government, or support Sharia law.

S. 4546 (companion to H.R. 8827) - A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish a national-interest standard for immigration, end certain family-sponsored immigration categories, revise standards relating to good moral character, eliminate the diversity immigrant category, revise public-charge and sponsor-support rules, revise naturalization requirements, reform employment-based immigration and H-1B visas, eliminate Optional Practical Training absent express statutory authorization, revise asylum procedures, require employment eligibility verification, establish additional penalties relating to unlawful presence and visa overstays, revise parole authority, and for other purposes.

S. 4547 - A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to strengthen requirements for naturalization, to require instruction on the oath of allegiance and the principles of the Constitution, to establish consequences for fraud and concealment in the naturalization process, and for other purposes.

H.R. 8756 - To require certain aliens to disavow sharia law and take an oath to uphold the Constitution, and for other purposes.

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]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | Apr. 27 - May 4]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-apr-27-may-4https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-apr-27-may-4Tue, 05 May 2026 16:46:07 GMTI’d never really thought about the benefits of a ballroom. That is, until I read Alexandra Petri’s recent piece in The Atlantic, A Ballroom Would Have Solved This. As Ms. Petri notes, so many disasters—including the recent Correspondent’s Dinner shooting—could have been avoided if the White House had a ballroom. My personal favorites:

The Extinction of the Dodo: This bird’s sad fate is exactly why the president needs a ballroom. Without the protection and camouflage provided by a ballroom, he lacks a secure location in which to lay his eggs, and his defenseless, trusting young will be eaten by sailors.

The Titanic: The designers of the Titanic made one big mistake. The “unsinkable” Titanic included a ballroom, but that ballroom was not attached to the East Wing of the White House. Instead, it was in a big boat in the middle of the ocean. That left it vulnerable. Ballrooms are the safest place in the world, but only if you know what you’re doing.

Now that I have thought about the many benefits of a White House ballroom, Ms. Petri leads me to wonder: What else could be avoided with a ballroom? How many tragedies have we caused by failing to build more ballrooms? I’ll go first.

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  • Let’s start with the most obvious: school shootings. If the Correspondent’s Dinner shooting could have been avoided with a ballroom, surely campuses across the country could reduce gun violence if they, too, had ballrooms.

  • Speaking of shootings, Keith Porter Jr., Renee Good, and Alex Pretti would not have been killed if they had been in a ballroom instead of out protesting (or, in the case of Keith Porter Jr., celebrating on New Year’s Eve).

  • If all voting took place in a ballroom, we wouldn’t need a two-party system, because we’d all agree.

  • Women would not seek abortions if we had access to more ballrooms. This is just common sense.

  • High gas prices probably wouldn’t exist if there were more ballrooms, and even if they did, it wouldn’t matter because we’d all be having too much fun in our ballrooms to drive around.

  • Speaking of which, no one would be out protesting against ICE if we had a ballroom to go to.

  • But wait, aren’t ballrooms kind’ve . . . elitist? Yes, and that’s why we need them. No one wants their taxes to pay for “housing” or “public services,” but a ballroom? Absolutely. This is how we get the rich folks to pay in! (It’s also now we avoid the NIMBY debate altogether).

  • And finally, we could avoid litigation and thereby eliminate the Department of Justice (think of the *savings*) if only we had more ballrooms. DOJ said so itself in this hilarious (but real?) motion in National Trust for Historic Preservation v. National Park Service, et al.

HIGHLIGHTED READS

@ashtalks (substack)

May 1: Litigation roundup: Where the major cases stand

May 1: The Slow Dismantling of DACA

Apr. 28: The Second Circuit Just Ruled. Here’s What It Means.

What I’m Excited to Read: Pratheepan Gulasekaram, Borderline Constitution, 135 Yale L.J. 2065 (Apr. 30, 2026)

NEWS

May 4, 2026

Judd Legum, ICE has not paid for detainee medical care for 7 months (Popular Information)

Douglas MacMillan, Internal ICE records reveal widespread use of force in detention centers (Wash. Post)

Katie Moore, When Do ‘Detention Centers’ Become ‘Concentration Camps’? Experts Look to History (The Marshall Project)

May 3, 2026

Miriam Jordan, Doctors From Countries Under Travel Ban Now Allowed to Stay in U.S. (NY Times)

Quinta Jurecic, DOJ Enters a New, Even More Aggressive Phase (The Atlantic)

May 2, 2026

Dan Frosch, More Than Three Million People Have Lost Federal Food Aid (WSJ)

May 1, 2026

Nate Rayond, US judge blocks Trump from ending protections for 2,800 Yemeni nationals (Reuters)

April 30, 2026

Daniel Han, DOJ sues New Jersey over pro-immigrant college tuition laws (Politico)

Katherine Daily, Michigan Supreme Court approves rule banning civil arrests, including by ICE, at legal proceedings (Michigan Advance)

Carl Hulse and Michael Gold, House Passes Stalled Homeland Security Funding Bill, Ending Shutdown (NY Times)

Nate Raymond, US judge rejects Trump administration’s halt on immigration applications (Reuters)

Megan Janetsky and María Verza, Mexico to investigate US indictment of officials for alleged Sinaloa Cartel ties (Associated Press)

April 28, 2026

Kyle Cheney, Appeals court rules against ICE’s mandatory detention policy (Politico)

Jazmine Ulloa and Miriam Jordan, Trump Push to End Key Humanitarian Protection Reaches Supreme Court (NY Times)

April 27, 2026

Madeleine O’Neill, An Ingenious New Strategy for Blocking ICE Detention Warehouses Depends on a Minuscule Snail (Slate)

Hamed Aleaziz, ICE Warehouse Plan Faces Delay Over Lack of Environmental Reviews (NY Times)

Maria Sacchetti, Trump officials hire ‘deportation judges’ with less training, experience (Wash. Post)

OPINION / POLICY / ANALYSIS

Austin Kocher, This Week by the {Immigration} Numbers (May 1, 2026)

Scott Dworkin, ICE Got Nothing, The Dworkin Report (May 1, 2026)

Nicci Mattey, Reclassifying ‘Applicants for Admission’: How the Second Trump Administration is Reshaping Mandatory Detention, FORUM (Apr. 30, 2026)

Andrew Free, Breaking: 18th ICE Detention Death Confirmed, #DetentionKills (Apr. 30, 2026)

Mizaffar Chisti and Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, Though Rare, Birth Tourism to the United States Sparks Outsized Concern, Migration Policy Institute (Apr. 29, 2026)

Lawrence Glickman, Americans Once Understood Birthright Citizenship, The Atlantic (Apr. 28, 2026)

César García Hernández, TPS at the Supreme Court, Immigration Law Unhinged (Apr. 28, 2026)

Todd Howland, Apply the Minnesota Protocol to ICE’s Summary Executions, Just Security (Apr. 27, 2026)

Andrew Thrasher, ICE’s Failed Plans for Tribal Lands, Maxwell Commons (Apr. 27, 2026)

INT’L HUMAN RIGHTS, HUMANITARIAN, & REFUGEE LAW

Migration Policy Institute, From Exile to Return: Rebuilding Lives and States after Conflict (April 2026)

PODCASTS & OTHER MEDIA

Immigration Review with Kevin A. Gregg (available Here)

Lawfare Daily: The Dangers of Privatized, Automated Immigration Enforcement (Apr. 30, 2026) [43 min.]

PRACTICE ALERTS AND ADVISORIES

NIPNLG: Community Explainers – Habeas Explainer & Pro Se Filing Instructions (May 1, 2026) and Pretermission of Asylum Cases in Immigration Court / Terminación Prematura de los Casos de Asilo (Apr. 30, 2026)

NILA: Updated Practice Advisory – Everything Expedited Removal (May 1, 2026)

AIC: Karen Aho, New Dashboard Reveals Insights Into USCIS Backlogs and Processing Trends (Apr. 29, 2026)

IOM: Nearly 8,000 Migrant Deaths Recorded in 2025, New IOM Data (Apr. 21, 2026)

Reporters Without Borders: 2026 RSF Index – Pres Freedom at a 25-Year Low

ILRC: Infographic about California Post-Conviction Relief Vehicles (Apr. 28, 2026)

GOVERNMENT ACTIONS

FORUM, Policy Bulletin (May 1, 2026)

From the Bulletin:

Congress ended the record-breaking Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown on April 30 after the House passed a Senate-approved bill funding most of the department through September

The State Department issued a directive on April 28 requiring consular officers to ask all nonimmigrant visa applicants two new questions aimed at identifying potential asylum seekers: “Have you suffered or mistreated in your country of nationality or last habitual residence?” and “Do you fear harm or mistreatment upon returning to your country of nationality or last habitual residence?”

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) mandated “enhanced” security checks for a wide range of immigration applications on April 27, directing officers to resubmit pending cases for expanded FBI background screenings and refrain from approving any applications that have not undergone the new vetting.

On April 29, USCIS reached the cap of 27,736 supplemental H-2B visas for returning workers with start dates from April 1 to April 30, 2026.

BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED [select]

S. 4450 - A bill to prohibit covered financial institutions from collecting, maintaining, and disclosing information relating to the citizenship status and immigration status of consumers, and for other purposes

S.J.Res. 190 - A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Executive Office for Immigration Review relating to “Appellate Procedures for the Board of Immigration Appeals”

S. 4389 - A bill to protect children affected by immigration enforcement actions, and for other purposes

H.R. 8557 - To prohibit long-term custody in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facilities, and for other purposes

H.R. 8586 - To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to protect American workers and values

H.R. 8628 - To repeal section 101()(15)(U) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and for other purposes

H.R. 8639 - To develop a scenario-based training curriculum for immigration officers, and for other purposes

BIA

Matter of Shentu, 29 I&N Dec. 595 (BIA 2026)

An FBI Letterhead Memorandum indicating that the respondent is a potential national security risk warrants significant weight in bond proceedings.

Matter of Orozco Becerra, 29 I&N Dec. 600 (BIA 2026)

When respondents, including minor respondents, fail to appear for their hearing and the Department of Homeland Security has established that they received proper notice of the hearing and are removable as charged, the Immigration Judge lacks authority to administratively close removal proceedings and must proceed in absentia under section 240(b)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(b)(5)(A) (2018).

SELECT CASE LAW

A few Ninth Circuit cases:

Reach Community Development, et al., v. DHS, et al., No. 26-1575 (9th Cir. Apr. 27, 2026)

The panel granted the government’s motion for a stay pending appeal of the district court’s preliminary injunction enjoining federal law enforcement officers from using nonlethal crowd-control devices to disperse demonstrators gathered outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Oregon; and granted the government’s request to stay the district court’s proceedings pending appeal.

· Related: Dickinson v. Trump, No. 26-1609 (9th Cir. Apr. 27, 2026) (decided by the same panel of judges) (Granting government’s motion to stay pending appeal of the district court’s preliminary injunction enjoining the government from using non-lethal crowd-control munitions unless someone poses an imminent threat of physical harm to law enforcement or other persons.)

Sanchez Gonzalez v. U.S. Dept. of State, No. 23-4205 (9th Cir. Apr. 30, 2026)

Despite application of the Mandel exception to the doctrine of consular reviewability, the panel concluded that the Department of State provided a facially legitimate and bona fide reason for the denial of a U.S. citizen spouse’s visa.

And, in a welcome rebuke to the Fifth and Eighth Circuits:

A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled on April 28 that the Trump administration’s policy of mandatory detention without bond hearings violates the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) for noncitizens who entered without inspection but were not apprehended at the border.

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]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | Apr. 20-27]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-apr-20-27https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-apr-20-27Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:55:27 GMTCautious Optimism: The Fifth Circuit’s recent decision in USA v. Texas, which permits Texas’s 2023 state law—SB 4, empowering state and local police to arrest migrants who cross illegally from Mexico—to go into effect, is troubling. [TL;DR - The majority of the en banc court refused to reach the merits because, in its view, the Plaintiffs lack standing.]

But the Fifth Circuit is deeply and notoriously conservative. For that reason, the fact that 122 of the 159-page decision is comprised of dissents is a bit incredible.

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To be clear, I have not read the full 159-page decision. But based on my brief review of Judge Priscilla Richman’s 109-page dissent, this case is a worthwhile read for anyone lecturing or studying the contours of the Supremacy Clause and preemption.

NEWS

April 27, 2026

Alan Blinder, Judge Delays Order to Force Penn to Turn Over List of Jews on Campus (NY Times)

  • Yes. You read that correctly.

Kanishka Singh, Over 1,000 US TSA officers have left since start of shutdown, DHS says (Reuters)

Maria Sacchetti, Trump officials hire ‘deportation judges’ with less training, experience (Wash. Post)

April 25, 2026

Amy Qin, Texas Can Arrest People Who Illegally Cross at Mexico Border, Court Says (NY Times)

Hamed Aleaziz and Nicholas Nehamas, Under Trump, Green Card Seekers Face New Scrutiny for Views on Israel (NY Times)

Emma Goldberg, They Survived Torture. Why is the Program That Helped Them Closing? (NY Times)

April 24, 2026

Michael Wriston, Arizona Sues to Block ICE Detention Warehouse, Becoming Fourth State to Challenge Reengineering Initiative (Project Salt Box)

Ximena Bustillo, DHS starts deportation of woman whose loved one died in the Baltimore bridge collapse (NPR)

Mattathias Schwartz, Appeals Court Says Trump’s Ban on Asylum Claims at Border Is Illegal (NY Times)

April 23, 2026

Michael Gonzalez, ‘This Will Kill People’: Laredo Landowners Fight Wall and Buoy Plan Threatening Flood-Prone Communities (The Border Chronicle)

Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes, Senate Republicans clear go-it-alone path for ICE funding (Politico)

Ernesto Londono and Hamed Aleaziz, Justice Dept. Targets Hundreds of Citizens in New Push for Denaturalization (NY Times)

April 22, 2026

Lindsey Holden, Appeals court blocks enforcement of California ID law for federal officers (Politico)

April 21, 2026

Eric Bazail-Eimil and Meredith Lee Hill, Mullin: No more money to pay DHS employees as of May (Politico)

Jude Joffe-Block, She raised concerns about her company’s contracts with ICE. Then she lost her job (NPR)

Megha Rajagopalan, et al., Trump Is Said to Be in Talks to Send Afghans Who Aided U.S. Forces to Congo (NY Times)

Kyle Cheney, Appeals court overturns injunction that aimed to shut down ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ (Politico)

  • Re: Friends of the Everglades, et al., v. DHS, et al., No. 25-12873 (11th Cir.) (holding that the APA only permits review of final agency actions or conduct, not lack of action or failure to act, and further that the National Environmental Policy Act applies to non-federal action where there is major federal action. Also holding that lower court’s injunction was unlawful under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(f)(1).

  • Ashtalks has a great review of the Eleventh Circuit’s decision here.

Angélica Franganillo Diaz, Federal Appeals Court to Test Trump’s Immigration Arrest Tactics (Bloomberg Law)

Jack Healy, Immigration Agent Is Charged With Assaulting a Protester (NY Times)

April 20, 2026

Lomi Kriel, Egyptian family of six who have spent 10 months in Dilley’s controversial detention center freed (The Texas Tribune)

OPINION / POLICY / ANALYSIS

Andrew Free, Statistics and Tragedy, #DetentionKills (Apr. 26, 2026)

  • Includes two great resources for anyone who represents detained noncitizens or works in the immigration detention space. “Mortality in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention” in the Journal of the American Medical Association on April 16, 2026. doi:10.1001/jama.2026.3719; and “More US Immigration Detention, Less Oversight, and More Deaths.” (Apr. 16, 2026) doi:10.1001/jama.2026.4289.

Austin Kocher, This Week by the {Immigration} Numbers (April 24, 2026)

César García Hernández, Debating Domicile, Immigration Law Unhinged (Apr. 24, 2026) [also published on SCOTUSBlog on April 20, 2026]

Austin Kocher and Mike Levin, “Most Americans Want Both Security and Humanity”: My Conversation with Congressman Mike Levin on Detention Oversight and the Dignity Act (Apr. 23, 2026)

Rich Andre, 50 Days Until the World Cup: Travel Bans, ICE, and Iran Cause Uncertainty for Players and Fans, American Immigration Council (Apr. 22, 2026)

Poorvika Mehra and Katherine Tomaszewski, Designating Cartels as Terrorists Has Sweeping Legal Consequences, Lawfare (Apr. 22, 2026)

Minnesota Came Back With Everything, Ashtalks (Apr. 21, 2026)

David J. Bier, USCIS Cut Green Card Approvals in Half to Help ICE Arrest Legal Immigrants, CATO Institute (Apr. 21, 2026)

Gigi Liman, How a Gambling Warrant Could Change Immigration Enforcement Authority, Lawfare (Apr. 20, 2026)

Nancy Morawetz (professor extraordinaire), Improvidently Granted: The Sleeper Supreme Court Case Affecting the Rights of 12.8 Million Green Card Holders, Just Security (Apr. 20, 2026) (re: Blanche v. Lau)

INTERNATIONAL / HUMANITARIAN / REFUGEE

Gisela Salim-Peyer, Cubans’ Despair, The Atlantic (Apr. 23, 2026)

Michael Schmitt, A Primer on Just War Theory and the Iran War, Just Security (Apr. 20, 2026)

Gavin Blackburn, Nearly 900 Rohingya refugees dead and missing in shipwrecks in 2025, UNHCR says (MSN)

New immigration and asylum measures from Bill C-12 (the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act) have become law (Government of Canada)

GOVERNMENT ACTIONS

Policy Bulletin (Apr. 20-24), FORUM

  • BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED (copied directly from Forum’s policy bulletin)

o S.Con.Res. 33 A concurrent resolution setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2026 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2027 through 2035

o H.R. 8381 Safe Check-Ins for Immigrants Act. The bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to establish secure check-in procedures for immigrants, likely to reduce in-person enforcement contacts and improve administrative follow-up.

o H.R. 8387 - To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to limit alien eligibility for admission and naturalization and enable deportation and denaturalization for any membership, affiliation, or advocacy of socialist, communist, Chinese communist, Marxist, or Islamic fundamentalist doctrines, and for other purposes

o H.R. 8460 - To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to repeal the authority to grant temporary protected status, and for other purposes

o H.R. 8494 - To prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from entering into, modifying, extending, or renewing any contract or intergovernmental service agreement to establish or operate any new immigration detention model, including the use of warehouses, modular facilities, soft-sided structures, tent systems, and processing centers

o H.R. 8369 - No ICE in Schools Act .

o H.R. 8371 - Reform Immigration Through Biometrics Act

o H.R. 8443 - To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for a pause on the issuance of H-1B visas until certain limitations on the issuance thereof are implemented

o H.R. 8460 - To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to repeal the authority to grant temporary protected status, and for other purposes

PODCASTS & OTHER MEDIA

Immigration Review with Kevin A. Gregg (Here)

Lawfare Daily: The TPS Cases at the Supreme Court (Apr. 24, 2026) [53 min.]

PRACTICE ALERTS AND ADVISORIES

AILA Practice Alert: Updates on Pause on Decisions for Travel Ban Countries (Apr. 22, 2026)

AILA Practice Pointer: Birthright Citizenship Oral Arguments Before SCOTUS (Trump v. Barbara) (Apr. 22, 2026)

BIA

Matter of Yujing SHENTU, 29 I&N Dec. 595 (BIA 2026) – [pro se]

An FBI Letterhead Memorandum indicating that the respondent is a potential national security risk warrants significant weight in bond proceedings

Matter of Catalina SANTIAGO-SANTIAGO, 29 I&N Dec. 589 (BIA 2026)

The Immigration Judge erred in terminating removal proceedings based solely on the fact that the respondent has been accorded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and without considering the reasons for any opposition to termination.

BONUS

Last week, I gave praise to my “dumb dog,” Linus. But lest we forget that I also have an incredibly, annoyingly smart dog named Emmet.

And finally, my nephew Liam loves pigs and recently got to hold one. Midwest Things.

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]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | Apr. 13-19]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-apr-13-19https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-apr-13-19Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:22:54 GMTAs the owner of an unquestionably “dumb dog”, I enjoyed reading Emily Athens’ recent piece in the New York Times, “In Defense of Dumb Dogs.” Sure, a well-trained, intelligent pup makes for a great companion, but there’s something about the vacant stare of an aloof, stage five clinger whose hobbies include napping and trying to catch flies (he’s never gotten one) that really makes me smile.

(Truly, for a mix between two highly intelligent breeds, Linus really went in the opposite direction.)

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Something Positive: Though the stories are not inherently “positive”, I’m encouraged by the number of former Immigration Judges who are speaking out against their terminations and the weaponization of the EOIR. In addition to several recent articles, CBS’s Sunday Morning included a segment in its April 19, 2026, edition. Available here.

Something Funny: Setting aside the sheer absurdity of it all, the President’s recent social media posts continue to spur some of the best comedy and parody we’ve seen since – well, since Trump 1.0. Jon Stewart’s take on the President’s Jesus-turned-doctor AI image made me cackle.

Watch it here. (7:22 – 8:00)

NEWS

Selected News / Updates (Apr. 13-19, 2026)

April 19, 2026

Sonja Sharp, Ordered free, still locked up: Judges fume as Trump administration holds ICE detainees (Los Angeles Times)

April 18, 2026

José Olivares, ICE deported 174 DACA recipients through most of last year, agency head says in letter (The Guardian)

  • From the article: “To be clear: DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country,” a DHS spokesperson said. “Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime.”

    • AEH: Idiotic.

Laura Strickler, ICE releases delayed detainee death reports as 2026 total rises to 17 (NBC News)

April 17, 2026

Carolyn Komatsoulis, ‘Fundamentally unfair’: Idaho federal judge criticizes immigrant’s treatment (Idaho Statesman)

Ximena Bustillo and Anusha Mathur, Logjam of U.S. immigration applications puts millions at greater risk of deportation (NPR)

ICE’s hiring spree led to influx of recruits with questionable qualifications, investigation shows (Associated Press / The Guardian)

Catherine Porter and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, French Widow Detained by ICE in Alabama Is Released After 16 Days (NY Times)

Vimal Patel, Tufts Student Who Was Held in Immigration Detention Returns to Turkey (NY Times)

April 16, 2026

Aaron Pellish, Top ICE official leaving Trump administration (Politico)

· Lyons is “a phenomenal patriot and dedicated leader who has been at the center of President Trump’s historic efforts to secure our homeland and reverse the Democrats’ sinister border invasion,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said in a statement. (AEH: Is Stephen Miller next? Here’s to wishful thinking!)

Emiliano Rodríguez Mega, Trump Deported Them. A Costa Rican Mountain Town Took Them In. (NY Times)

Ximena, Bustillo, Top five takeaways from Homeland Security budget hearings (NPR)

Daniella Silva, Death rate in immigration detention has reached a 22-year-high, raising physicians’ concerns (NBC News)

Adam Taylor, Trump administration pushes nations to sign ‘trade over aid’ declaration (Wash. Post)

April 15, 2026

Maia Spoto, et al., In Overloaded Immigration Courts, Detainees Fight Long Odds (1) (Bloomberg Law)

Gaige Davila, Longtime Immigration Court Interpreter Arrested by ICE at South Texas Airport (Texas Observer)

· The state’s only licensed Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu legal interpreter is now languishing in a Raymondville detention center. She’s lived in America for 35 years. Copy of the habeas petition filed on her behalf: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28039903-meenu-batra-habeas-petition/

Eric Bazail-Eimil, House advances measure to protect Haitian immigrants (Politico)

April 14, 2026

Clement Bonnerot, et al., Congo to receive first group of deportees from US this week, sources say (Reuters)

  • As a former African Studies and Human Geography Major at UW-Madison, I take special interest in human rights issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. I’d encourage everyone to read King Leopold’s Ghost (Adam Hochschild); In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz (Michaela Wrong); Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa (Jason Stearns); and The War That Doesn’t Say Its Name: The Unending Conflict in the Congo (Jason Stearns). Then spend some time with OHCHR’s most recent Universal Periodic Review, followed by the UN Security Council’s reporting from 2025 and 2026, and then tell me this is a “safe” third country.

Alyssa Lukpat, Maine Lawmakers Pass Ban on Large Data Centers (WSJ)

Brittany Gibson, ICE deported 442k people in fiscal year 2025 (AXIOS)

A.C. Thompson and Gabrielle Schonder, Caught in the Crackdown: As Arrests at Anti-ICE Protests Piled Up, Prosecutions Crumbled (ProPublica / Frontline)

OPINION / POLICY / ANALYSIS

Cesar García Hernández, Funding the New Normal, Immigration Law Unhinged (Apr. 17, 2026)

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, New ICE Arrest Statistics Shed Light on Who the Agency is Targeting in American Communities, American Immigration Council (Apr. 17, 2026)

Andrew Free, Another Civilly Detained Migrant Dies in Federal Prison, #DetentionKills (Apr. 17, 2026)

· See also Austin Kocher’s recent post, which similarly includes excellent data and graphics.

Andrew Thrasher, Mis-Immigration, and the Information Crisis Behind ICE’s Growth, Maxwell Commons (Apr. 16, 2026)

16 Million Eligible Immigrant Voters May Help Decide the Winners and Losers of the 2026 Elections, American Immigration Council (Apr. 16, 2026)

Rachel Poser, et al., The View From Inside Trump’s D.H.S., New York Times (Apr. 14, 2026)

Mitch Therieau, Into the Right-Wing Dreamworld | DHS’s Regime of Images, The Drift (Apr. 13, 2026)

David J. Bier, Trump Has Cut Legal Immigration More Than Illegal Immigration, CATO Institute (Apr. 13, 2026)

INTERNATIONAL / HUMANITARIAN / REFUGEE

Samy Magdy and Sam Mednick, Sudan enters a fourth year of war as officials lament an ‘abandoned crisis’, Associated Press (Apr. 16, 2026)

Danish Refugee Council warns 4 million more face displacement as aid drops, Reuters (Apr. 16, 2026)

Around 250 missing after Rohingya boat capsizes in Andaman Sea, UN agencies say, Reuters (Apr. 14, 2026)

France: Landmark ruling finds Lafarge and former executives guilty of financing terrorism in Syria (Business & Human Rights Centre) (Apr, 13, 2026)

GOVERNMENT ACTIONS

Policy Bulletin (Apr. 13-17), FORUM

  • BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED

    • H.R. 8302 - Stop Illegal Aliens Drunk Driving Act

    • The bill would amend the definition of aggravated felony in the Immigration and Nationality Act to include certain serious drunk driving offenses. This is a companion bill of S. 3584.

    • Sponsored by Rep. Young Kim (R-California) (3 cosponsors)

    • 04/15/2026 Introduced by Rep. Young Kim

    • 04/15/2026 Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

House Advances Bill to Restore Protections for Haitians

The House voted to advance a bill that would reinstate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals, setting up a final vote. The bill would grant three years of protection, allowing Haitians to live and work legally in the U.S. Lawmakers pointed to ongoing violence and instability in Haiti, as well as workforce needs in sectors like healthcare.

U.S. Restricts Visas for Those Deemed to Support ‘Adversaries’

The State Department said it has begun restricting visas for individuals in the Western Hemisphere accused of supporting U.S. adversaries, with 26 people already affected. The policy targets those who “direct, fund, or provide significant support” to activities seen as undermining American interests, though officials did not name those involved.

PODCASTS & OTHER MEDIA

Immigration Review with Kevin A. Gregg (Here)

[PREVIOUSLY POSTED]– The Melting Pod, Claire Trickler-McNulty, Amanda Baran, Doug Rand. (Originally shared on March 23, 2026).

· Quotable (episode 1): “ICE is a schizophrenic organization.”

The DHS shutdown and U.S. immigration policies could hinder the World Cup, Consider This (NPR) (Apr. 19, 2026) [10 min.]

PRACTICE ALERTS AND ADVISORIES

NIPNLG: Practice Alert: Guidance on Adjustment of Status for Youth with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status Using INA § 245(h) with a Non-SIJS Petition (Apr. 14, 2026)

ILRC: Infographic about California Post-Conviction Relief Vehicles (Apr. 17, 2026)

ILRC: Arguments for Using the SIJS-based Adjustment Provision to Adjust Based on a Different Petition (Apr. 13, 2026)

BIA

Matter of A-M-Z-F-, 29 I&N Dec. 551 (BIA 2026)

Parties in Immigration Court have no right to give a closing argument unless they demonstrate that the denial of such argument would constitute a due process violation.

  • How about the right to a full and fair hearing and a reasonable opportunity to present one’s case?

  • Rekha Sharma-Crawford responded appropriately:

“More confirmation from the BIA that they are a kangaroo deportation machine. This time, the BIA says that parties have no right to a closing argument. I mean, after the “no one needs to come to court” decision, this should not be surprising. But, for the rest of the due process-loving legal community, this is pretty extraordinary.

Do they realize that the right to due process is more than window dressing? Honestly, the BIA shows every day that they are corrupt. Congress needs to dissolve it altogether. They should not be funded because they are not credible.”

SELECT CASE LAW

A federal appeals court concluded that U.S. District Judge James Boasberg had overstepped his authority by continuing to pursue possible contempt charges against administration officials who signed off on deportations to El Salvador. See Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein, Appeals court again blocks Boasberg contempt probe into Alien Enemies Act deportations, Politico (Apr. 14, 2026)

USA v. Gonzalez-Reyes, No. 23-3532 (9th Cir. Apr. 15, 2026) (2-1 decision; dissent by Judge de Alba)

  • Affirming District Court’s denial of Higinio Gonzalez-Reyes’ motion to dismiss a criminal charge under 8 U.S.C. § 1326. Gonzalez-Reyes argued that his state conviction for rape under California Penal Code § 261(a)(2)—which was the predicate act for his removal—is not an aggravated felony under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and that because he was allegedly wrongfully removed, he cannot be charged with criminal reentry.

  • The panel held that even if Gonzalez-Reyes satisfied the first two prongs of the collateral attack provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(d) (exhaustion and deprivation of review), he did not meet his burden to prove that his removal was “fundamentally unfair” under the third prong because 261(a)(2) is a categorical match to the federal definition of rape.

Other Published Decisions:

Taveras Martinez v. Blanche, No. 24-1741 (1st Cir. Apr. 17, 2026)

USA v. Zeledon Hernandez, No. 24-4665 (4th Cir. Apr. 16, 2026)

Andre Gardner v. Blanche, No. 24-1553 (4th Cir. Apr. 14, 2026)

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]]><![CDATA[Immigration Roundup | Apr. 5 - Apr. 12]]>https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-apr-5-apr-12https://amihutchinson.substack.com/p/immigration-roundup-apr-5-apr-12Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:14:30 GMTIt’s tough [read: frustrating, infuriating, heart wrenching] times, especially for anyone impacted by ICE’s detention juggernaut.

Last week, I received a panicked call from the sisters of a detained client. Their brother – a husband, father, and professional with no criminal history anywhere in the world – had not called for several days and they were unable to deposit money into his commissary account. In my experience, this typically means a detainee has been or will imminently be released, transferred, or deported.

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But in this case, it was because their brother – who has been ill for several weeks and complaining about lack of adequate medical care – has been hospitalized. ICE refused to provide any additional information, purportedly because the sisters are not their brother’s list of approved family members.

Of course, this was all news to me. ICE does not make a habit of relaying important [read: any] information to attorneys.

Has your client been ordered released? Fine. We’ll take them randomly between 11pm and 5am to a bus stop without any means of communication. We will not be returning their personal property.

Is your client being transferred? Too bad. We’ll tell you after it’s done. Maybe.

Is your client ill? In quarantine? You’ll figure it out eventually.

Does your client have a custody review that you’d like to submit evidence for? They don’t. We just schedule those to nominally comply with the regulations.

Do I sound bitter?

Annoyed?

Yeah. Especially when it took over 24 hours for ICE to tell me the one thing my client’s sisters wanted to know – yes: he’s alive. (But also no, we can’t tell you where he is. No, he doesn’t get a phone call. No, we won’t tell you when he’s discharged).

It shouldn’t be this hard.

SOMETHING POSITIVE

But wait! Music makes (almost) everything better. Do yourself a favor and check out some recent releases from a few of my favorite artists:

Charley Crockett, Age of the Ram

Parlor Greens, Emeralds

Johnny Blue Skies, Mutiny After Midnight

And this Friday, Vincent Niel Emerson will release Blue Stars. While you wait, watch the music video for Little Wolf’s Invincible Yellow Medicine Plant (from 2023’s Golden Crystal Kingdom)

NEWS

Selected News / Updates (Apr. 5 – Apr. 12)

April 11, 2026

Miriam Jordan, Second Venezuelan Doctor Detained in South Texas by Immigration Agents (NY Times)

Hamed Aleaziz, et al., Judges Fired After Blocking Deportations of Pro-Palestinian Students (NY Times)

Michael Crowley, U.S. Moves to Deport Son of Prominent Figure in Iranian Revolution (NY Times)

[not immigration] John Kruzel, For Aging US Supreme Court Justices, the Politics of Retirement Looms Large (Reuters)

April 10 2026

Madeleine Ngo, Trump’s Changes Lock Some Employers Out of H-1B Visa Program (NY Times)

Jia Lynn Yang, The Next Phase of the Immigration Crackdown Is Quieter — and More Destabilizing (NY Times)

April 9, 2026

Nicholas Nehamas, et al., How Trump Purged Immigration Judges to Speed Up Deportations (NY Times)

Jake Offenhartz, Immigration board denies Mahmoud Khalil’s appeal, bringing activist one step closer to deportation (Associated Press)

Mayeni Jones, US Has Let In 4,499 Refugees Since October – All But Three Were South African (BBC)

April 8 2026

Nate Raymond, Trump administration cannot nix legal status of 5,000 Ethiopians, US judge rules (Reuters) [see African Communities Together v. Noem, infra]

April 7, 2026

Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke, Exclusive: ICE arrested more than 800 people after tips from US airport security agency (Reuters)

Andrew Free, Speedway Slammer’s 2nd Death in 6 Weeks (#DetentionKills)

  • “On Saturday ICE announced the April 1 passing of a 55 year-old Vietnamese man, Tuan Phan Bui, at the Miami Correctional Facility in Bunker Hill, Indiana. Bui’s death is the 15th of 2026, the 27th of Fiscal Year 2026, and at least the 48th acknowledged death stemming from ICE detention or apprehension since the start of the current administration.”

  • See also Austin Kocher, ICE Reports 15th Detained Death of 2026 at Miami Correctional Center in Indiana (Apr. 8, 2026) (“To repeat. Not roughly one death per week. Not roughly one death every 6 days. One death every 6-point-zero days. . . . This is a perfectly morbid example of what social scientists mean when they talk about systemic violence.”)

April 5, 2026

Rachel Leingang, Trump’s mass deportation plan has broken the quiet of small US towns: ‘We have to take care of each other’ (The Guardian)

Miriam Jordan, ICE Agents Detain Newlywed Spouse of Soldier Training to Deploy (NY Times)

OPINION / POLICY / ANALYSIS

Julia Gelatt, Trump Restrictions on Legal Immigration Could Sharply Reduce U.S. Population Growth, Migration Policy Institute (Apr. 2026)

Dan Kowalski, This is Your EOIR on Trump, Involuntary Departure (Apr. 11, 2026)

César García Hernández, Reaching Safety, Immigration Law Unhinged (Apr. 10, 2026)

Pablo Manríquez, Canadian Firm With No ICE Experience Just Won $704 Million Arizona Warehouse Contract, Migrant Insider (Apr. 10, 2026)

Philip Hamburger, Allegiance, Birthright, and Citizenship, Law & Liberty (Apr. 9, 2026)

St. John Barned-Smith and Ko Lyn Cheang, Inside ICE detention centers, medical misdiagnoses and delays prove deadly, San Francisco Chronicle (Apr. 9, 2026)

New Data Reveals ICE Has Set Aside $257 Million to Pay Local and State Law Enforcement, fwd.us (Apr. 9, 2026)

Andrew Thrasher, A Quarterly Update on 287(g), Maxwell Commons (Apr. 7, 2026)

Pablo Manriquez, No Way In: How Trump Shut the Door on Iranian Refugees, Migrant Insider (Apr. 7, 2026)

Anna Flagg and Shannon Heffernan, ICE Has Detained 6,200+ Kids in Trump’s Second Term, Up 10x Since Biden Left Office, The Marshall Project (Apr. 6, 2026)

INT’L HUMAN RIGHTS, HUMANITARIAN, & REFUGEE LAW

Judd Legum, “Just following orders” is not a defense for war crimes, Popular Information (Apr. 8, 2026)

PODCASTS & OTHER MEDIA

Immigration Review with Kevin A. Gregg (available Here)

Austin Kocher and John Washington, ICE Camps?, Lit & Border News (Apr. 8, 2026) (48 min.)

Changing Climate, Changing Migration (MPI), First Displacement, then Disasters: How Refugees Contend with Climate Change (Apr. 9, 2026) (30 min.)

David Frum, What it Means to Be American, The Atlantic (Apr. 8, 2026) (58 min.)

PRACTICE ALERTS AND ADVISORIES

NIPNLG: National Immigration Project Submits Comment Opposing DOJ Ethics Rule (Apr. 6, 2026)

NIPNLG: National Immigration Project and 38 Immigration Organizations Submit Comment Opposing Rule Seeking to Gut the BIA (Apr. 8, 2026)

NILC: Know Your Rights – Bond (Apr. 9, 2026)

NILC: Elizabeth Choo, Detained Immigrants Are Using Habeas Corpus to Escape Medical Neglect (Apr. 8, 2026)

SELECT CASE LAW

Perez-Funez v. Department of Homeland Security, No. 81-cv-01457 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 6, 2026)

This lawsuit established the basic procedural safeguards that all unaccompanied children must receive to prevent their unlawful removal from the United States. Federal District Judge Michael Fitzgerald found that legal developments during the last four decades did not justify terminating the injunction in its entirety and that DHS’s new advisal is coercive and violates the terms of the original injunction.

African Communities Together, et al., v. Noem, et al., No. 26-10278-BEM (D. Mass. Apr. 8, 2026) (postponing the effective date of the termination of TPS for Ethiopia)

“As of the date of the executive order, entitled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” seventeen countries had TPS designations. In the twelve months between the issuance of the order and filing of this suit, Secretary Noem announced the termination of twelve TPS countries—every single TPS country for which she conducted a periodic review during that period. Perhaps it has been a banner year for disaster recovery and geopolitical stability worldwide. The evidence, and common sense, suggests otherwise.”

PSA: It’s not all doom and gloom. There’s still bikes. And coffee.

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