A new lawsuit today asks a federal judge to end a recent policy shift at DHS, under which ICE agents have used their own administrative warrants to force entry into peoples’ homes without sign-off from a judge. It brings together three families whose homes were raided and claims clear 4A violations.

In more than 1,000 schools in almost every region of Russia, schoolchildren during class lessons are making supplies and equipment for the war: protective clothing, camouflage nets, trench candles, medical supplies, etc. From Verstka (Ru): verstka.media/detskie-shve...

In its new rule, DOL contrived a ‘gap’ between the wages of H-1B visa holders & average US workers in the same area/occupation to justify raising required minimum salaries by 21% to 33%. The goal is fewer high-skilled immigrants. @mclem.org @erikbryn.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

A contradiction central to the current debate: While the White House highlights “historic lows” in illegal entry, DHS justifies broad law enforcement powers by finding a continued “mass influx of aliens.” @mclem.org @douglasrivlin.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

Great news! Here's the full order. It blocks DHS from arresting and interrogating lawfully present refugees on the basis of a crazy argument that in 1980, without anyone noticing, Congress mandated that all refugees be detained on their 1-year anniversary in the U.S.

Trump admin policy of reducing immigration has slowed labor force growth, economic growth and job creation. According to the Fed Chair, the US has seen no growth in the US labor market and no net private-sector job creation over the past several months. @mclem.org www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

Trump’s DOJ purged the Board of Immigration Appeals of anyone deemed too likely to vote in favor of an immigrant facing removal. The result has been a rubber stamp, one so obvious that the admin is actually trying to get rid of it almost entirely and just replace it with an automatic denial system.

A fair asylum system isn't just humane it's more efficient, more accurate, and stronger on rule of law. Read the full AILA brief: aila.org/library/policy-brief-modernizing-americas-asylum-system. More analysis at austinkocher.substack.com

Kate with the 🧾on Hegseth's flip flop on support for Ukraine.

Russia has for more than 4 years been committing the crimes against humanity of the deportation, forcible transfer, and enforced disappearance of Ukrainian children. From last week's report of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine. news.un.org/en/story/202...

Analysts say the problems identified in the Borjas paper show that the $100,000 H-1B fee is flawed and are a tax on talent. @mclem.org says a correct analysis would imply the optimal tax on foreign-born talent is zero. @adamposen.bsky.social @erikbryn.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

I toured the border last May to report on this circular logic: The administration essentially created invisible military bases to establish grounds for military "trespassing" arrests, inventing a back door to use the military for domestic law enforcement on US soil: www.huffpost.com/entry/milita...

Majority of Canadians say it’s better to depend on China than on the US under Trump. In other key allies - Germany, UK, France - a plurality say the same. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

My argument with a GOP senator exposed how the Trump administration’s extremism gets a pass from Congress www.ms.now/opinion/sen-...

@scottlincicome.bsky.social believes Democratic voters support freer trade but elected officials split between those firmly against tariffs & those only anti-tariff for now due to Trump. “How these splits shake out will be a defining issue for the Democratic party.” www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

The United States' status as the top destination for global talent was hard won, through generations of wise and pragmatic compromise by Conservatives and Liberals, and the sweat of institution-builders. Shattering that tradition is the opposite of Conservative. It will harm all of us, permanently.

Who could have guessed www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The SCOTUS tariff case forced DOJ’s attorney to ask judges to allow the $100K H-1B fee as an immigration restriction even if it’s unlawful as a tax. But attorney Jon Wasden says, “If it’s a tax, it has to go through Congress.” @mclem.org @douglasrivlin.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

Although many attorneys believe the DHS H-1B lottery rule is unlawful, no company or business group filed a lawsuit against it. Likely reasons: Fear of retaliation & saving resources to battle other restrictive H-1B/student rules. @mclem.org @douglasrivlin.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

A new national survey finds 70% of Americans think the Trump administration is too focused on deportations. Immigration enforcement ranks as a top driver of defection among Trump's own 2024 voters. austinkocher.substack.com/p/new-pollin...

Feel like it should be a big deal that the part of the government that is growing most quickly is teaching its new hires to violate the constitution. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/u...

Deep breath. I'm honored and excited to join the faculty of America's oldest research university, Johns Hopkins. I'll start this summer as a full professor, one of the founding faculty at the brand-new School of Government and Policy. We're building something unique & important, even historic.

Spent half an hour talking with Tommy Tucker of WWL First News about the 4th anniversary of the Russo-Ukraine War, where things stand, how Putin stays in power, and more. Had enough of a conversation that I got to break down "collective action problems" and "personalist dictatorship" along the way.

“New studies have concluded the U.S. would prosper by welcoming more immigrants rather than reducing their entry and engaging in mass deportation. U.S.-born workers did not benefit from a decline in foreign-born workers in 2025.” @mclem.org @douglasrivlin.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

UT System votes to limit 'controversial topics' in class, raising concerns about academic freedom www.kut.org/education/20...

U.S. investors are pulling money out of their own stock market at the fastest pace in at least 16 years as Big Tech returns fade and better-performing overseas markets look more attractive. www.reuters.com/business/buy...

A MN protester accused of assaulting ICE officer had case dropped after vids showed no assault. LA protester accused of assaulting ICE w/ “hat” had case dropped; judge said govt acted in “bad faith” In Chicago, 92 ppl were arrested for assault/impeding ICE; 0 convicted DOJ keeps lying and losing:

You know this is a completely deliberate choice that is not required, because there was JUST another shutdown and they didn’t do it then. Anyway, not good that the admin is deliberately making air travel more annoying to try to win a political fight. Lot of people will miss flights.

I wrote a short piece on DHS's new refugee detention policy. For a fuller discussion with immigration attorneys and policy experts, register for AfghanEvac's briefing on Monday. austinkocher.substack.com/p/register-f...

Federal Judge Joseph Goodwin (West Virginia), on the reign of terror by “agents of the federal government—masked, anonymous, armed with military weapons … It is an assault on the constitutional order. It is what the Fourth Amendment was written to prevent.” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

To defend ICE’s tactic of profiling and demanding documents from anyone they encounter, DHS argues that other governments, including dictatorial regimes in Cuba and Venezuela, do the same. @mclem.org @douglasrivlin.bsky.social @adamkinzinger.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

“The Constitution does not permit the government to arrest thousands of individuals and then disregard their constitutional rights because it would be too challenging to honor those rights.“

Most US adults believe President Trump has overreached in his use of federal immigration forces apnews.com/article/trum...

The Tribune has obtained evidence from the case of a Chicago woman shot by Border Patrol that offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at one of the highest-profile investigations of Operation Midway Blitz. UPDATED STORY here with video and texts between agents www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/10/m...

The US Administration ordered her to seized off the street by masked agents, imprisoned incognito for weeks, all for thoughtfully expressing an opinion with zero advocacy of violence or harm to anyone. Sickening, anti-Conservative, anti-constitutional, anti-American. We are far better than this.

In this week's Receipts, I wrote about "Coalie," the Trump admin's anime-like new mascot for coal; and other failing efforts to revive manly sectors like mining and manufacturing. www.thebulwark.com/p/donald-tru...

NEW: Records reviewed by WIRED show DHS’s facial recognition app (Mobile Fortify) isn’t designed to actually "verify" identity—despite DHS claims and its agents relying on its matches to support probable cause in the field.

"Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency. And the rule of law be damned." Judge Fred Biery www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Trump administration has shrunk the number of locations for this year’s 2030 census field test, and added plans to test replacing temporary census workers with US Postal Service workers, raising concerns about the U.S. Census Bureau’s ability to produce a reliable national head count

Immigration policy is unlikely to change so long as Stephen Miller and the goal of mass deportation remain. GOP Sen. Thom Tillis compared Miller to the Lord of the Rings villain Grima Wormtongue, the advisor to King Theoden. @mclem.org @douglasrivlin.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

My take on Kevin Warsh: Markets have breathed a sigh of relief that Trump isn't trying to install Hassett as Fed chair. But Warsh is also a political animal; he just hides it better. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/o...

The White House could not be clearer here. It opposes immigration, period. It is radically, ideologically, categorically dead-set against immigration itself—against “all visas”. Against the very same immigration that brought Miller’s refugee ancestors to the United States.

For decades, nativists have said that mass deportation was about "the rule of law." Now we can see that they never cared about the rule of law at all. The Administration Misleads & Ignores Courts Most Often in Immigration Cases www.cato.org/blog/admin-m...

Latinas for Trump cofounder "worried for the first time that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents might stop her son, a young adult, because he looks Hispanic" www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...

JUST IN: In a new lawsuit, Minnesota officials say DHS mishandled evidence from today's crime scene and made "astonishing" law enforcement decisions. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Immigrants save lives too

New research concludes the Trump administration’s policies will reduce **legal** immigration to the United States by 33% to 50% over four years. www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

US citizen says he felt fear, shame and desperation a day after ICE officers broke down his door with guns drawn, handcuffed him and dragged him into the snow wearing half-dressed. He was later returned home without explanation or apology, he said.

A 33% to 50% legal immigration cut: “Analysts note there's no policy justification for the reductions in legal immigration other than a desire of Stephen Miller & others to allow fewer immigrants the opportunity to live in the US.” @mclem.org @douglasrivlin.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...