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/

As @kreighbaum.bsky.social smartly points out here, we also know that in June, 213,000 *renewal* work authorization applications were pending >6 months. That's the best predictor of how many people might be kicked out of the workforce without auto-extensions if USCIS doesn't speed processing.

The US government’s detention of unauthorized immigrants has grown at an unprecedented scale and speed From 39,000 detainees in January to 61,000 in September, the numbers may reach 107,000 in 2026 Our experts explain the transformation: https://bit.ly/47Mk9Tc

To give a sense of how many people this may affect, in September, USCIS had 911,946 applications for employment authorization documents that had been pending over 6 months. (People are instructed to file for renewals no more than 6 months in advance) www.uscis.gov/sites/defaul...

USCIS announced it plans to stop auto-extending work authorization periods while people file to renew. Auto-extensions have existed since 2016, to help people maintain jobs during USCIS delays. Under current processing times, applicants for green cards and asylum may see gaps in work authorization.

October 2025 SEVIS data show that international student enrollment is DOWN 1% from October least year (10,000 fewer active student visa holders). This solves a data puzzle we saw in September, in which student arrivals at U.S. borders were down from last year, but SEVIS enrollment numbers were up.

Happy to share that MPI has updated its online data tool that profiles the country's unauthorized immigrant population at the national, state, and local level to use 2023 American Community Survey data. Check it out here:

This is so important to know! And also, ICE does report 2x/year on the number of US citizens arrested, detained, and deported, in their detention data. Those are currently updated through April 22, 2025, and very low. www.ice.gov/detain/deten...

"The proposals also advise Mr. Trump to prioritize Europeans who have been “targeted for peaceful expression of views online such as opposition to mass migration or support for ‘populist’ political parties.” That appeared to be a reference to the European far-right political party [AfD]."

This is big news for the tens of thousands of spouses of H-1Bs who have permission to work in the U.S. About 70,000 spouses of H-1Bs were approved for new or renewal work authorization documents last fiscal year.

So glad that @tanvi.bsky.social followed up on this group of people; those who were in Border Patrol detention centers on the days Trump took office, people from countries where deportation wasn't easy for the Trump admin, who ended up dumped in Panama to send a message to other migrants.

USCIS processing data for April-June 2025 show a HUGE drop in U visa applications submitted. (Or maybe in U visa applications that USCIS bothered to open & enter in the system?) Just 68(!) applications were received & entered, compared to 12,000 in Oct-Dec, and 11,000 in Jan-Mar.

The U.S. is entering a visa bond war on top of our tariff war? Mali imposes reciprocal visa bonds on American visitors after the U.S. imposes up to $10,000 bonds on visitors from Mali. www.reuters.com/world/africa...

It's the last day to register for MPI / CLINIC / Georgetown Law's Annual Law and Policy Conference. Don't miss out!

There's so much going on in immigration news right now, but quick reminder that the DC Appellate Court will hear arguments at 2pm ET today about one of the Trump administration's most potent deportation tools--expanded expedited removal We wrote about the authority for @migrationpolicy.bsky.social

President Trump is reportedly setting the lowest refugee ceiling ever (since the creation of the refugee program in 1980) for this fiscal year, at 7,500, with most slots going to Afrikaners.

BREAKING: Federal judge BLOCKS a new ICE policy that went into effect last week to automatically detain unaccompanied migrant children on their 18th birthday when they “age out” of shelter care. The TRO enforces a court order in a case brought by @immcouncil.org and @immigrantjustice.bsky.social.

President Trump is reportedly setting the lowest refugee ceiling ever (since the creation of the refugee program in 1980) for this fiscal year, at 7,500, with most slots going to Afrikaners.