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 ICE agents had been detaining green card applicants at routine interviews conducted at USCIS field offices.
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 among immigration judges occurring earlier this year. In the past 10 months, EOIR fired more than 125 judges, causing delays in immigration court proceedings across the country.
The courts in Massachusetts and Illinois were among the most affected by these departures. The good news is these newly hired judges will begin serving across 16 states nationwide.
Who are the new judges?
On October 3, 2025, a coalition of labor unions, healthcare providers, academic institutions, and religious groups, filed a lawsuit urging a federal court to strike down the $100,000 fee imposed on new H-1B petitions by the Trump administration for workers outside the United States.
What the Lawsuit Says
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues that the fee which took effect September 21, violates both the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. Plaintiffs claim the President lacks authority to unilaterally impose a fee of this kind, especially one designed to raise revenue or direct government spending.
The Trump administration’s sudden rollout of the H-1B fee caused immediate disruptions:
The fee is seen by critics as a threat to institutions that rely heavily on skilled foreign workers—such as universities, health systems, and religious groups—particularly in fields already facing staffing shortages.
The legal immigration landscape was shaken once again late Friday evening when the President issued a new proclamation barring new H-1B workers from entering the United States—unless their employers pay a $100,000 fee for each sponsored employee.
The proclamation took effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Sunday, September 21, and will remain in effect until a court order halts its implementation.
Emergency Litigation
A surge of emergency lawsuits is expected to be filed by impacted H-1B workers and their sponsoring employers, seeking a nationwide injunction to stop the implementation of the executive order. A court could issue an injunction as early as Monday. We will provide litigation updates as they develop in the coming days.
Highlights of the Executive Order
In the hours after the proclamation was issued, chaos unfolded as H-1B visa holders, advised by their employers and legal counsel, abandoned flights and canceled international travel due to uncertainty about how the proclamation would be enforced at the U.S. border.
Adding to the uncertainty was the absence of clear guidance from immigration authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), about how the proclamation is to be enforced against current H-1B visa holders and approved beneficiaries.
On September 18, 2025, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the implementation of a newly revised civics test for naturalization applicants, known as the 2025 Naturalization Civics Test.
This updated version builds on the 2020 test—and will replace the existing 2008 civics examination for most applicants.
The civics test remains a key component of the naturalization process, intended to evaluate an applicant’s knowledge of U.S. history, government, and civic responsibilities. While the English language portion of the test remains unchanged, the civics section has been updated to improve clarity and educational relevance.
What’s New & What’s the Same
Key Changes in Test Procedure
Flickr Creative Commons Attribution Jeroen Akkermans
In the last months, the U.S. Department of State released two significant policy updates that impact both immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants. These updates focus on a core change: applicants will now be required to have their visa interviews in their place of residence or country of nationality.
This change has significant consequences for third-country nationals who have traditionally applied for U.S. visas outside their country of nationality, particularly those renewing H-1B, E, O, and L visas, as well as immigrant visa applicants outside the United States.
Immigrant Visa Applicants Must Apply in their Country of Residence
On August 28, 2025, the State Department announced that, starting November 1, 2025, immigrant visa applicants must attend their interviews at a U.S. consulate or embassy located in their country of residence, or in their country of nationality, with limited exceptions. The update applies across all immigrant visa categories, including Diversity Visas.
There are exceptions to this rule, though they are limited. Exceptions may be granted in rare cases involving humanitarian or medical emergencies, or in circumstances involving specific foreign policy considerations. Applicants residing in countries where routine U.S. visa services have been suspended or paused will need to process their case at a designated consular post, which is typically assigned by the State Department to handle cases from those particular regions.
Existing appointments for immigrant visa interviews scheduled prior to November 1st will not be cancelled or rescheduled.
Same Policy Applies to Nonimmigrant Visa Applicants
A similar change was later announced on September 6, 2025, for nonimmigrant visa applicants. Effective immediately, nonimmigrant visa applicants must also apply for their visa in their country of residence or nationality. This means that individuals cannot simply choose a different country’s embassy based on convenience or shorter wait times unless they reside there or are citizens of that country. This applies to all third country nationals who previously traveled to embassies or consulates in Mexico or Canada to renew their nonimmigrant visas.
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 with authority—to investigate, arrest, and prosecute individuals violating U.S. immigration laws.
What’s Changed?
As we celebrate the contributions of hardworking individuals across the nation, we want to take a moment to thank you — our valued clients — for your trust and partnership.
We’re proud to support individuals and families who work tirelessly to build new lives, strengthen their communities, and pursue opportunities in a new country. Your dedication inspires the work we do, and we’re honored to stand beside you in your legal journey.
Wishing you and your loved ones a safe, restful, and well-deserved Labor Day!
On August 21, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department is temporarily pausing the issuance of work visas for foreign nationals seeking employment as commercial truck drivers in the U.S.
“Increasing numbers of foreign drivers behind the wheels of large tractor-trailers on America’s roads are putting lives at risk and threatening the jobs of American truckers,” Rubio stated in a post on X.
The likely reason behind this drastic move is a deadly highway crash that occurred in the state of Florida, involving a commercial truck driver who made an illegal U-turn killing at least three people.
Federal authorities claim that the driver entered the United States illegally, did not speak English, and held a limited-term commercial driver’s license from the state of California. According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the federal government confirmed the driver’s legal presence in the United States when it approved his commercial driver’s license in 2024.
Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order directing the enforcement of a rule requiring commercial drivers in the U.S. to meet English proficiency standards, with violators subject to being taken out of service. Based on an internal investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the driver failed to establish English proficiency “providing correct responses to just two of 12 verbal questions and only accurately identifying one of four highway traffic signs.”
On Friday August 15th, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a new policy memorandum (PM-602-0188) increasing the scrutiny of applications for U.S. citizenship, as part of the Trump administration’s latest efforts to tighten eligibility for naturalization.
Specifically, USCIS has directed immigration officers to evaluate additional factors when assessing whether applicants demonstrate “good moral character,” a key requirement for naturalization, alongside passing English and civics tests.
The requirement of “good moral character” is typically met when applicants have no criminal history or have not engaged in conduct that would disqualify them from U.S. citizenship, such as committing violent crimes or aggravated felonies.
Friday’s policy memorandum however expands this determination stating that the “good moral character” assessment must involve more than a “cursory mechanical review focused on the absence of wrongdoing.” The expanded policy will now require “a holistic assessment of an alien’s behavior, adherence to societal norms, and positive contributions that affirmatively demonstrate good moral character.”
This directive mandates greater scrutiny of factors that could show a lack of “good moral character,” which go beyond the crimes and disqualifying conduct previously taken into consideration by USCIS.
Visa Lawyer Blog