- Yesterday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s nationwide injunction blocking enforcement of Trump’s order denying citizenship to certain children under the 14th Amendment. Despite the Supreme Court’s decision last month that nationwide injunctions were generally not allowed, the appeals court found that this case fits into an exception in the Supreme Court’s ruling where a nationwide injunction was necessary to provide “complete relief” to states that are a party to the suit. The court also found that while individual plaintiffs were not covered by this exception, they are covered by the class action injunction issued by a separate court.
- On Monday, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the administration to move forward with ending TPS for Afghans and Cameroonians. The court found that the plaintiffs had, “stated a plausible claim for relief with regard to the alleged ‘preordained’ decision to terminate temporary protected status”, but found that the plaintiffs presented insufficient evidence for the “extraordinary” relief sought. The case will continue to move forward in the district court.
- Earlier this month, ICE issued a memo instructing officers to deny bond to anyone who entered the country without inspection. The memo recognizes that those in immigration court proceedings will still be able to request bond from a judge, and encourages officers to gather evidence to argue for continued detention. ICE is already detaining 56,000 people on civil charges, and new funding from Congress could increase that to 100,000 in detention every day.
- Federal agencies have been recently issuing new directives restricting certain immigrant populations from accessing many federally funded programs. The most harmful of these was a directive issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which added new restrictions on programs such as Head Start and Community Services Block Grants. However, implementation of these restrictions remains unclear. For example, HHS has said that information regarding verification and individual programs is still pending. For service providers unsure of how they should be reacting to these changes, the National Immigration Law Center has just released guidance advising non-profits against denying access to these programs without further clarity from the federal government.