An internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy memorandum provides new insights into how immigration enforcement works inside people’s homes. According to the memorandum, as early as May 2025, ICE told officers and agents they could break into people’s homes without a judicial warrant, as long as they had an…
A chilling photo of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos in Minnesota has put a human face to rising concerns over aggressive immigration enforcement actions taken by ICE officials. Since that photo made national headlines, we’ve learned that federal immigration agents detained the boy and his father outside their home in Columbia…
On December 2, 2025, USCIS issued a policy memorandum placing a hold on numerous immigration benefit requests and ordering the re-examination of previously approved cases. What the Memo Says: Key Provisions Pending benefit requests frozen for many nationals. USCIS is pausing processing of all pending immigration benefit requests if the…
San Diego’s immigration community has been rattled by new reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is arresting individuals with no criminal history during routine green card interviews at USCIS offices—a practice that is historically unprecedented and deeply alarming. What’s Happening Starting in early November, immigration attorneys began reporting that…
A federal judge has issued a court order requiring that immigrants detained at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center in downtown Los Angeles be granted access to their attorneys in a timely manner. The ruling comes after lawyers reported that detainees were frequently denied phone access, had…
On November 5th the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the country‑specific designation of South Sudan will be terminated for the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. The TPS designation for South Sudan will end on January 5, 2026. What’s the background? South Sudan was first designated for TPS in 2011 due…
This week, the Justice Department announced that it has hired 36 new immigration judges — 11 permanent and 25 temporary — for the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), a key agency that handles immigration court proceedings in deportation cases. What’s happening? The hiring comes after several months of layoffs…
Introducing sweeping changes, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has expanded its role by gaining law enforcement powers previously limited to agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Under a new final rule published today, USCIS will now recruit 1,811-classified special agents—fully empowered officers…
A new UC Berkeley IGS poll shows that a strong majority of California voters disapprove of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics. Nearly 70% of respondents said they are unhappy with how immigration is being handled in the state — and many reported emotional responses to images of raids, describing…
On August 1st the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced new policies that could make immigrants applying for green cards through family-based petitions more vulnerable to deportation. The changes appear in various updates to USCIS’ Policy Manual which states that immigration officials can begin removal proceedings for immigrants who…