Actions by state & local governments in the wake of high-profile operations in Minneapolis typify a recent wave of opposition to aspects of federal immigration enforcement Muzaffar Chishti & @kathleenbush.bsky.social explain how ⤵️ https://bit.ly/4aUjcZo

an immigration court has dropped the deportation case against grad student Rümeysa Öztürk, after trying to revoke her student visa over an op-ed she’d co-written in a Tufts University student paper. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

A sharp decline in border arrivals, the end of Biden-era parole programs, increased deportations of noncitizens from inside the U.S., and more-recent restrictions to legal immigration have likely led to a sharp decrease in net international migration. Decreases in job growth will naturally follow.

This is why many argue for graduated penalties for immigration violations, with the penalty tailored to the severity of the violation. Under current U.S. law, it's often deportation or nothing.

In a @kff.org survey from fall '25, nearly half of likely undocumented immigrant adults, and one in seven who are lawfully present, said they had avoided medical care since January '25 due to immigration-related concerns -- recent increases in ICE presence could further exacerbate these challenges

Haitian TPS holders had to wait all day to learn if they would still have protections and work authorization as of tomorrow. This decision keeps their TPS in place for now. Almost guaranteed that the administration will appeal.

BREAKING: We're challenging the Trump administration’s sweeping suspension of immigrant visa processing for people from 75 countries. This discriminatory, nationality-based ban on legal immigration strips families and working people of the process guaranteed by law.

Essential context for discussions about the future of immigration: If the country loses immigrants, on net, this year or next, the U.S. population will begin to shrink for the first time in the nation's history. (1918 may have been an exception.) Gift link below

2017 research showed high-profile immigration enforcement actions can increase low-birthweight births. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28115577/ Just one of the ways that indiscriminate enforcement tactics leave indelible effects on children's well-being. For more, see my colleague Valerie Lacarte's piece

FWIW, immigrants who are not "lawfully present" are already barred from purchasing insurance through ACA exchanges, even at full cost, as well as being barred from subsidies for ACA insurance premiums.

Do any taxpayers think this is a good use of their money? Arresting vetted refugees with no criminal record who have applied for green cards, flying them to TX, putting them in ICE detention, interviewing them, and releasing them with an approved green card?? Why? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/u...

An emerging patchwork of Trump visa policies is blocking entry for students, immigrant talent, and family of American citizens. It's the flipside of a mass deportation campaign in the US interior that's using any available tool to restrict new immigrants or foreign visitors.

With news of ICE's focus on Maine, recommending my colleagues @colleenputzelkav.bsky.social & Valerie Lacarte's profile of ME's small immigrant population. ME's immigrants are a mix of long-settled, well-integrated folks, and newcomers from diverse origins, bolstering the workforce of an aging state

If you missed our @migrationpolicy.bsky.social webinar yesterday on Trump's immigration policies, check out the recording here: @nickmiroff.bsky.social talked about the administration challenging the value of immigration & the role of immigrants in our society

TOMORROW: Beyond Shock & Awe: Immigration Actions in the 1st year under Trump 2.0 Join @kathleenbush.bsky.social & @migrationpolicy.bsky.social colleagues Muz Chisti and Doris Meissner as we unravel the sweeping changes to immigration policy this last year www.migrationpolicy.org/events/immig...

As the US government expands it's travel ban, USCIS is also expanding its pause on immigration applications and its re-review of green cards, asylum, citizenship, and other benefits it granted since 2021. Applications from all 39 countries are now subject to the pause and re-review.

The Trump admin says it aims to file 100-200 denaturalization cases per month, a huge increase. But these cases are hard to file and win, and require a lot of DOJ resources, and the DOJ is incredibly stretched thin already. So we’ll see; I have serious doubts about their ability to do this.

USCIS said yesterday they're shortening the validity period for work permits for asylum & green card applicants + others from 5 yrs to 18 months. Combined with USCIS' slowing processing, & the end of auto-extensions while people renew, this will cause MANY people to churn in & out of the workforce.

Heads up: Right before Thanksgiving, a proposed regulation to restrict asylum applicants' access to work authorization cleared a key government review step. That means we could see a proposed regulatory change soon. But no details yet on what it might do. (1/2)

USCIS published a policy memo declaring (1) a pause on all affirmative asylum decisions, (2) a pause on all applications (green card, citizenship, change of visa, etc) for the 19 travel ban countries, and (3) a re-review of all benefits granted to people from the 19 countries who came since 1/20/21

The Trump admin has paused all immigration and naturalization processes for people from one of the 19 travel ban countries; including Cuba and Venezuela. Even people who fully passed the citizenship exam are having their cases put on hold, just inches from the finish line.

Belatedly noticing that the State Dept. updated its refugee resettlement data through October. In February-October 2025, the US resettled just 506 refugees(!) 342 of those (2/3) were South Africans. www.rpc.state.gov/admissions-a...

Great piece on how immigration and Medicaid policies are making aging care —already tough work —even tougher. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...

@kff.org analysis finds that almost half of noncitizen adults living in the U.S. have one of the health conditions that may be grounds for visa denial based on new State Dept. guidance. The analysis also finds that noncitizens are much less likely than U.S. citizens to have one of these conditions.

Before this ruling, the Trump admin had said that anyone who originally crossed the border without authorization was to be held in immigrant detention without the chance for release on bond. This had left lawyers scrambling to file habeas petitions for their detained clients.

Yo DC peoples: Did you love the City Paper? Did you subscribe to DCist? Wanna get more of that in your life? Subscribe to @51st.news! 5 stars. Do recommend. Link: 51st.news/membership/?...

NEW: Since the start of this year, more than 600 immigrant children have been placed in government shelters by ICE. That number, which has not been previously reported, is the highest since recordkeeping began a decade ago.

Trump Admin planning a rule to re-decide whether *every* refugee who entered under Biden meets their criteria for a refugee. That’s 230,000 people! And no appeals! www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

The Trump administration cannot expand rapid deportations, a 2-1 panel of the D.C. Circuit ruled reut.rs/49y5vR3

“what wasn’t always fully considered was that the choking-off of immigration would reduce labor demand as well: The immigrants who aren’t here because of Mr. Trump’s policies not only aren’t working here; they’re also not spending money here.”

After more than two months with no updates, ICE has finally released new detention statistics. ICE reports a total of 65,135 detainees as of Nov. 16, 2025. www.ice.gov/detain/deten...

Increased immigration enforcement, especially at workplaces, may bring the 30-year old E-Verify program back into the national conversation. But the administration remains amibavlent about the program-both touting its use and warning against reliance. Read more in MPI's latest bit.ly/MPIeverify

The White House just blasted this out under the headline "Good News You May Have Missed"

Has anyone seen if the Census Bureau has said anything about when the rest of the 2024 ACS products will be released?

One early indicator of whether immigrants are leaving the U.S. (or entering) is K-12 school enrollment data. This great AP story tracks several districts & finds a mixed picture: New students still coming from abroad to many districts, but in lower numbers, & Palm Beach County losing 6,000 students.

New foreign student enrollment in the US fell 17% this fall www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Breaking the Cycle of Dysfunction at the U.S. Immigration Courts MPI has a new report out describing the crisis at the courts--there are 3.8 million deportation cases pending That means people in need of protection aren't getting it, and people ineligible aren't being removed

"...while the raids continued, the flow of information about them did not." From @geoffhing.bsky.social and @jillcastellano.bsky.social www.themarshallproject.org/2025/11/15/d...

I had a first interview for a non-academic job, at an academic conference, in a hotel room suite in fall 2012. There were at least two other women in the room with me (thank goodness) and we were at a table, but there was a bed visible. These practices were absolutely BANANAS.

A huge amount of state resources intended to fight crime - from the FBI to state and local police to DEA agents to IRS tax enforcement - have been redeployed to immigration enforcement. It is a great time to be a criminal in America.

ICE typically releases detention statistics on Fridays. It's the first Friday since the end of the shutdown, but it appears that ICE has not uploaded a new file yet. We are approaching two months since the last update.

"More than enough" Senate Democratic Caucus members to pass shutdown deal led by Shaheen, King and Hassan, source familiar with deal says - CR through Jan. 30 - ACA bill vote on bill of Dems' choosing in December - Minibus has RIF reversals and "protections" against them in future

SNAP surveys SNAP users. Already half of them are saying they are skipping meals.

What are the effects of the shutdown on SNAP users? Propel provides an app to SNAP users to allow them to track their spending and so can offer real-time estimates of needs. About 70% of SNAP households have a $10 or less balance on their SNAP card accounts. www.propel.app/shutdown-fun...

I see a lot of folks looking for ways to help families losing access to SNAP benefits during the shutdown. GiveDirectly already has an electronic payment system set up so that it can quickly send cash to the lowest-income SNAP recipients -- you can donate here: www.givedirectly.org/snapgap/

With a steep decrease in migrant arrivals at the US-MX border, the Trump administration has directed its focus to enforcement in the US interior. In a NEW @migrationpolicy.bsky.social short read, I describe key data trends using the latest FY25 data. ⬇️ www.migrationpolicy.org/news/new-era...

With FY25 over, @ruizags.bsky.social summed up the year in border arrivals & deportations. In short "[ICE] recorded more deportations from within U.S. communities during FY 2025 than the Border Patrol apprehended people crossing the Southwest border illegally—the first time since at least FY 2014."

The Trump administration has officially set the annual refugee ceiling for FY 2026 at 7,500. "The admissions numbers shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa ... and other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands." Link below

"Maine offers an example of an important question facing policymakers nationwide how to manage broad policy challenges, such as housing and labor shortages, while simultaneously assisting communities in need of additional support immigrant and U.S. born alike" www.migrationpolicy.org/research/mai...

I see a lot of folks looking for ways to help families losing access to SNAP benefits during the shutdown. GiveDirectly already has an electronic payment system set up so that it can quickly send cash to the lowest-income SNAP recipients -- you can donate here: www.givedirectly.org/snapgap/