- The Trump Administration introduced a new interim rule that adds new hurdles to asylum seekers, continuing the administration’s ongoing assault on humanitarian immigration paths. The new rule allows USCIS asylum officers to deny an asylum claim without reason and without even offering an interview. Asylum applicants whose applications are denied would then be immediately referred to removal proceedings where the applicants are treated more like criminal defendants instead of victims seeking humanitarian protections and could also be subject to mandatory detention. The administration claims that the move is intended to relieve the backlog of asylum cases pending before USCIS, but by pushing cases directly to the immigration courts, they will simply add to the 3+ million case backlog that the courts currently face. This new policy is effective as of Monday, and advocates around the country are preparing legal challenges.
- Thousands of TPS holders from Haiti and Syria lost their work authorization on Monday and face imminent arrest and removal from the country. This follows last month’s Supreme Court decision allowing the administration to terminate these programs despite the dangers in the two countries as well the unashamed racial animus that drove the administration’s decisions. Allies in Florida are already concerned that ICE is surging officers and resources to Miami to target the area’s large Haitian population, and New York is reporting a heavy ICE presence in Brooklyn and other area communities.
- Although Trump had vowed to ask the Supreme Court to rehear the recent birthright citizenship case, the 25-day window for such a request passed on Tuesday with no action. This means that the Court’s decision to protect the 14th Amendment remains without, although members of Congress are still looking at ways to undermine the Constitution.
- Over 24,000 unaccompanied children will likely lose their representation in immigration court on Friday as federal contracts to provide legal services expire. Many non-profits around the nation have been providing these children with legal assistance under the 2008 William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which requires that unaccompanied minors have legal counsel. In March 2025, the Trump Administration attempted to rescind a contract with Acacia Center for Justice, an organization that subgrants to 100 legal service providers around the country. While a June 2025 court decision theoretically restored that funding, the administration stopped paying invoices in November. Service providers estimate that the administration owes them around $65 million for work already performed in 2026 and have sued to receive these funds. The next hearing in that case is scheduled for next week.
- One of the witnesses to the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston was released from immigration detention on Wednesday following a court order. Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego was an employee of Salgao Araujo’s and riding in the van with him when ICE officers shot and killed his boss. ICE has claimed that the killing was in self defense, but Rojas Pliego and other witnesses have disputed that account in sworn statements.