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…
Source: Flickr Creative Commons Attribution mollyktadams Recent court documents submitted by the government in the case, State of Texas v. United States of America (1:18-cv-00068), reveal that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may soon resume processing initial DACA applications for individuals living outside of Texas. Since 2021, new DACA requests had…
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…
On September 3, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the termination of the 2021 designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) previously granted to Venezuelans by President Biden. The government’s actions mean that the 2021 designation for Venezuela TPS and any associated TPS-related protection and documentation for beneficiaries will expire on…
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…
In a significant victory for civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups, a federal appeals court has upheld a lower court’s decision to temporarily block federal immigration agents from conducting immigration-related arrests in Los Angeles without reasonable suspicion. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling late Friday, marking a…
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that lower courts cannot issue nationwide injunctions blocking the Trump administration’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, except in class action lawsuits. Prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling, at least three different lawsuits had secured nationwide injunctions protecting all individuals potentially affected by Trump’s executive…
Attribution: Gage Skidmore On Friday July 11, 2025, a federal judge ruled that the government’s ongoing immigration raids in Southern California and its denial of legal counsel to detained immigrants likely violates the Constitution. In so ruling, the court issued two temporary restraining orders (TROs) barring the Department of Homeland…
In a significant ruling handed down on Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the power of federal judges to impose nationwide injunctions against President Trump’s executive order aimed at denying birthright citizenship to children born in the U.S. to noncitizens. While the justices did not rule on the legality of…