- While advocates wait for US Citizenship and Immigration Services to publish a new proposed rule on Public Charge, it would appear that the State Department has already issued guidance for their staff that would restrict visa issuance. The new guidance only applies to visas, both immigrant and non-immigrant, being processed at consular offices abroad, but lists potential medical issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity as potentially making someone inadmissible as a Public Charge.
- As the Trump Administration seeks more data from states on their immigrant populations, many states have been pushing back, unwilling to assist with the administration’s inhumane enforcement regime. However, lawmakers have discovered that many of these states may be inadvertently sharing such data through a 3rd party non-profit service that law enforcement has partnered with for over 50 years. US Senators recently sent a letter to governors encouraging them to block ICE access to this state level data, and we have to wait to see how these states will react. Massachusetts is one of few states that already blocked this data from going to the Nlets, in part because of concerns with who might be able to access the data.
- DHS continues its siege of Chicago, and the latest reports show them tear gassing a US citizen family on a shopping trip. As we had reported last month, a federal judge had placed restrictions on DHS’s use of tear gas in Chicago, in part because of the traumatic impact it was having on children in the city. Separately, a judge ruled on Wednesday that hundreds of ICE arrests in the city could be in violation of a court order from 2022. Over a dozen named plaintiffs could be released before the end of the week, and hundreds more could be eligible for release in the coming weeks.