Trump Admin Making Major Change to US Citizenship Application Process

The Trump administration is reported to be making another change to the way immigrants applying for United States citizenship are scrutinized, using a long-unused process. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo first obtained by CBS News, and later confirmed by the department to Newsweek, showed that "neighborhood checks" would be brought back into use by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). "The Immigration and Nationality Act directs USCIS to conduct personal investigations and incorporating neighborhood investigations will help enhance these statutorily required investigations to ensure that we are meeting congressional intent," USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow, in a statement to Newsweek, in part. Why It Matters President Donald Trump and his Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, have been making various changes to the immigration system since January, stating that these are necessary to ensure national security is maintained and illegal immigration is halted. Immigration advocates have warned that some stricter measures put up unnecessary barriers to legal status for those who have been living within U.S. law for decades. Naturalization ceremony Spectators clap during a naturalization ceremony for new U.S. citizens at Seattle Center on July 4, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. David Ryder/Getty Images What To Know The policy memo, dated August 22, 2025, outlines the return of neighborhood investigations for individuals applying for U.S. citizenship or naturalization. The step has essentially been unused since 1991. In the memo, USCIS states that these checks are necessary to fully determine an immigrant's eligibility for citizenship, including where they have lived over the previous five years, their "good moral character"—another recently emphasized part of the process—and adherence to the U.S. Constitution. USCIS said it was using its authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to restart neighborhood checks for all immigrants applying for citizenship, unless a waiver is granted. Read more Immigration ICE Raids Loom Over Mass US Naturalization Ceremony Kilmar Abrego Garcia Asks Judge To Stop Bondi and Noem From Attacking Him Spouse of DACA Recipient Detained by ICE—'We Will Never Get Back That Time' New Data Shows Loss of Student Visa Holders Will Cost US Billions The memo said USCIS may request information from applicants, including testimonies from neighbors, employers, co-workers, and business associates who could back up their application. The agency said preemptively submitting such documentation as part of an application may help move the case along. USCIS has also implemented other vetting policies in recent weeks, including checking for "anti-Americanism" when reviewing all immigration benefits and checking social media profiles. What People Are Saying USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow, in a statement to Newsweek: "USCIS is working to ensure that only the most qualified applicants receive American citizenship. The Immigration and Nationality Act directs USCIS to conduct personal investigations and incorporating neighborhood investigations will help enhance these statutorily required investigations to ensure that we are meeting congressional intent. "Americans should be comforted knowing that USCIS is taking seriously it's responsibility to ensure aliens are being properly vetted and are of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well-disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States." What's Next USCIS said its policy manual, which guides all its work, would be updated accordingly to reflect the change. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Emboldened Democrats are starting to push back on Trump’s immigration plans

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats were plunged into political crisis, especially splintered on immigration and border security, after their thorough defeat last year in an election in which President Donald Trump made hard-line immigration action a centerpiece of his campaign. That may be changing. From New York to California, Democratic lawmakers are talking more about their immigration plans, showing up at detention centers to conduct oversight on the conditions and at times getting into confrontations with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. It’s putting a spotlight on Trump’s agenda to deport millions of people, suggesting Democratic lawmakers are feeling emboldened to push back. Still, they have a ways to go before advancing a unified agenda of their own. Yet their actions show how the ground is shifting in the American immigration debate — away from border policies to questions about the future for millions of people who are already in the country without permanent legal status. “Is there an opening for Democrats? Yeah,” Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who has pushed his party for years to emphasize border security, told The Associated Press. “Say strong on border security, focus on criminals and all that, but do not deport the folks with good records.” Democrats are ramping up visits to detention centers Across the country, Democrats have shown up — sometimes unannounced — at immigration detention centers to check on reports of unsanitary and unsafe conditions and draw attention to the Trump administration’s actions. Congressional Democrats have sued the Department of Homeland Security for blocking them from making unannounced site visits, saying they have a right to do so under federal law. “Transparency matters. Oversight matters. Accountability matters,” said Rep. Joe Neguse earlier this month after he and other Colorado Democrats visited a detention center in Aurora, near Denver. “You certainly can expect to see the Democratic members of Colorado’s House delegation continue to lean in on all fronts.” It’s a change of focus for some within the Democratic Party even from the beginning of the year, when many lawmakers were arguing that the party needed a new approach on immigration that emphasized stronger enforcement. Some Democrats even helped advance several Republican bills aimed at migrants who are accused of crimes. Yet as the Republican president’s deportation efforts ramped up this year and ensnared people without criminal backgrounds who were caught up in the fervor to remove noncitizens, Democrats began to mobilize. “Hardworking, middle-class individuals — all us just looking to earn the American dream,” said Rep. Lou Correa, a California Democrat, referring to Alejandro Barranco, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran whose father was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents in southern California, where he lived for decades. Barranco was at the Capitol for a July event organized by Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee where they decried Trump’s administration as “unaccountable, unlawful and unconstitutional.” Republicans hold firm even as public opinion shifts Still, Republicans believe they continue to have the upper hand in the immigration debate. They are already pointing to Trump’s success in deterring migrants from coming to the U.S. border with Mexico. “We’ve never seen such — first of all — a horrible situation with the border as we saw under President Biden and the Democrats, only to see all that reversed after the election. Now it’s one of the most secure southern borders we’ve had in years,” said Sen. Steve Daines, a Montana Republican. Daines charged that Democrats are “rudderless, they’re out of ideas, and the ideas they do have are out of touch with where I think most Americans are at, particularly hardworking middle-class Americans and our Hispanic community as well.” But there are signs that public support is slipping for Trump’s approach. An AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found in July that only 43% of U.S. adults said they approved of his handling of immigration, down slightly from the 49% who supported his work on the issue back in March. A poll from Gallup that was circulated widely among Democrats that month found that almost 8 in 10 Americans say immigration is “a good thing” for the country, an increase from 64% a year ago and a high point in the nearly 25-year trend. “I do think the American public is seeing this administration for what it is,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat. “It’s not just targeting dangerous, violent criminals. The vast majority of people being arrested, being detained, being deported even, many without due process, have no criminal convictions, no violent history,” he added. “They’re actually people who the first Trump administration designated as essential at the outset of the COVID pandemic. So that cruel irony is not lost on people.” There’s still a search for consensus Democrats are trying to seize the moment with a flurry of proposals on immigration. Broadly, the proposals move away from policies that have allowed large numbers of migrants to enter the country, such as asylum and temporary protected status, in favor of expanding visas and other means of legal immigration. The Center for American Progress, a leading liberal policy organization, has released an immigration framework that starts with the imperative to “safeguard America’s security.” The New Democrat Coalition, a moderate group of more than 100 House Democrats, also released a plan that calls for toughened border security while “expanding safe, legal avenues for immigration.” “What we really need to do is overall fix the broken immigration system. It doesn’t mean that we can’t have border security.” Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, said at a town hall this month. “We have crossings at almost zero, and I think there should be credit given to the president for that, but why not use this opportunity to pass immigration reform?” Gallego, who won a Senate seat in Arizona last year while Trump also carried the state, has released a plan that calls for tightening restrictions on asylum and pushing other countries in the region to accept asylum seekers. Democratic leaders in Congress, meanwhile, are still forming their own plans as they try to win over more liberal members who are concerned about changing the asylum system. Other Democrats are looking for more immediate ways to aid immigrants who have been in the country for years but face an uncertain new reality under the Trump administration. Padilla said he hopes Republicans can get behind his legislation that would open a pathway for a green card to people in the country under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, and others who have lived in the country for at least seven years. He said Republicans are starting to hear the public backlash to the Trump administration’s handling of deportations “and maybe think differently, so we’ll see if now’s the time.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

To replenish their ranks, DOJ loosens requirements for temporary immigration judges

In a significant policy shift following the firing and departure of over 100 immigration judges, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday that temporary immigration judges will no longer need to have experience in immigration law. The Executive Office for Immigration Review, a sub-agency of the Department of Justice, filed a rule in the federal register announcing that EOIR leadership, "with the approval of the Attorney General," can now select temporary immigration judges who don't have experience in immigration law to oversee cases. MORE: Mass exodus of immigration officials could delay millions of deportations "Immigration law experience is not always a strong predictor of success as an immigration judge and EOIR has hired individuals from other Federal agencies and Department components without prior immigration experience who have become successful and exemplary," the notice said. Previously, temporary immigration judges had to be former appellate immigration judges, EOIR administrative law judges, or attorneys with more than 10 years of experience in immigration law. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Federal agents patrol the halls of immigration court at the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building, on Aug. 25, 2025, in New York. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images The notice comes as more than 107 immigration judges have been fired, taken the Department of Government Efficiency's "Fork in the Road" resignation offer, or transferred out of immigration adjudication, according to the union representing immigration judges. Immigrant advocates have condemned the firings, calling them politically motivated. There is currently a backlog of more than 3.7 million immigration cases awaiting adjudication. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

National TPS Alliance v. Noem - filed Aug. 29, 2025

Immigration Law Plaintiffs established a likelihood of success on their claims that the Secretary of Homeland Security lacked authority to vacate a prior extension of temporary protected status to Venezuelan nationals; a district court did not abuse its discretion by determining that plaintiffs face irreparable harm based on the vacatur of the extension of their status, and that the balance of equities and the public interest favored plaintiffs. National TPS Alliance v. Noem - filed Aug. 29, 2025 Cite as 25-2120 Full text click here >http://sos.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0825//25-2120

Fired immigration judge: 'I fear due process is being violated'

An immigration judge fired by the Trump administration said she fears the court system is being set up to fail. It comes as the union representing the judges said close to 15% of the judges have accepted buyouts, not been renewed or been fired by the Trump administration. What You Need To Know The union for immigration judges reports the number of judges who have left or been fired since the beginning of the Trump administration is in excess of 100 New money allocated for immigration funding shows a disparity between an increase in enforcement compared to the courts One former judge says she believes the Trump administration is trying to pressure judges to rule in certain ways “It’s been pretty brutal since January and the dark times are still continuing,” said Jennifer Peyton, who was the supervisory judge for Chicago's immigration courts until this summer. She got an email on July 3 — while she was on vacation — informing her she had been let go. The Department of Justice told NY1 it does not discuss personnel matters. “I don’t know why I was fired. But I do know why I wasn’t fired," she said during a Zoom interview with NY1. "I wasn’t fired for cause.” Peyton said she is considering legal action now. In September 2024, the total number of immigration judges was 735, according to the federal government. A chart that a Department of Justice spokesperson referred to NY1 indicates this summer, there were 685 judges. But that number may actually be significantly lower. There are only 608 judges with active online hearing rooms, which Peyton said is a requirement for judges. A spokesperson for the National Association of Immigration Judges said the union has tracked more than 100 who have left or been let go since President Donald Trump’s inauguration. “If you have a 3.8 million backlog [in immigration cases nationwide] and you’re trying to get these cases heard fairly, judiciously and uniformly, should you fire 100 judges since January?” asked Peyton, rhetorically. Another former immigration judge in the northeast who was fired this year told NY1 in a phone call that her backlog of hearings in recent months had gone from one month long to as far as 2027. And that’s not bad when compared to others whose backlogs reach into the 2030s. According to a breakdown from the American Immigration Council, the recently passed federal budget bill provides $170 billion in additional funding to immigration and border enforcement. Funding for detention capacity, border wall and checkpoint upgrades, and enforcement and removal account for $126.5 billion, or about 75% of that new funding. For prosecutions of noncitizens, including for immigration judges, it is $3.3 billion, or just under 2% of the new money allocated. “What does that tell you about where our country is heading and the importance that this administration places on the judges hearing these applications?” Peyton asked. That’s part of the problem. The number of pending immigration cases has not helped either. Federal data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse — an organization that keeps data on the federal government's enforcement activities — indicates backlog has been increasing substantially each of the last three presidents. It went from just over 344,230 to 516,031 during President Barack Obama’s second term. It rose to 1,262,765 at the end of the first Trump administration and up to 3,716,106 cases by the end of Joe Biden’s presidency. So a bigger backlog, fewer judges and more enforcement is making it harder in the courts, according to former judges NY1 has consulted with. And while the budget bill allows for the number of judges to go up to 800, it’s not clear how quickly judges will be hired. It's a process that can take months, even a year, to hire an immigration judge, according to a third former judge, who recently left, that NY1 spoke with. The Department of Justice declined to comment on the timeline to hire new judges, but there are openings listed online for immigration judges. Peyton said she fears that the courts are being set up to fail. “I fear due process is being violated and that justice is being kicked to the curb,” she said. She said part of that comes from what she described as a pressure campaign from the Trump administration on specific cases. NY1’s cameras have documented the current deportation process at the federal courthouse at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan. It’s where undocumented people, at times, have their immigration cases dismissed only to be taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody inside the courthouse, a legal move called expedited removal. It's a legal procedure being used by the Trump administration to detain people who illegally entered the United States within the past two years. One immigration lawyer told NY1 it nearly guarantees they end up deported. Peyton pointed to a letter she received in May which told judges that "motions to dismiss may be made orally and decided from the bench" and that "a 10-day response period is not required." “I felt the pressure that this was an email using the words 'may' but really felt like a ‘should,’” Peyton said. But not all judges felt the pressure from that letter. The fired immigration judge who ruled on cases in the northeast told NY1 that she never felt compelled from the Trump administration to dismiss cases to trigger the expedited removal process. The Department of Justice declined to answer NY1’s question about this email. Peyton said the fact that so many judges have been let go since January is in the back of the minds of many of the judges that reported to her in Chicago. "There’s a definite pressure on the neck to comply with any directive or email that you have received because you want to keep your job," she said. Peyton spoke out in the weeks after her firing about her concerns. But NY1 asked why not address this before? She said she wanted to keep what she called her dream job. “I still felt I was doing the right thing every day I went into work and I applied the law to the facts in front of me and I adjudicated those cases on the merits,” she said. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

To replenish their ranks, DOJ loosens requirements for temporary immigration judges

In a significant policy shift following the firing and departure of over 100 immigration judges, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday that temporary immigration judges will no longer need to have experience in immigration law. The Executive Office for Immigration Review, a sub-agency of the Department of Justice, filed a rule in the federal register announcing that EOIR leadership, "with the approval of the Attorney General," can now select temporary immigration judges who don't have experience in immigration law to oversee cases. MORE: Mass exodus of immigration officials could delay millions of deportations "Immigration law experience is not always a strong predictor of success as an immigration judge and EOIR has hired individuals from other Federal agencies and Department components without prior immigration experience who have become successful and exemplary," the notice said. Previously, temporary immigration judges had to be former appellate immigration judges, EOIR administrative law judges, or attorneys with more than 10 years of experience in immigration law. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Federal agents patrol the halls of immigration court at the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building, on Aug. 25, 2025, in New York. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images The notice comes as more than 107 immigration judges have been fired, taken the Department of Government Efficiency's "Fork in the Road" resignation offer, or transferred out of immigration adjudication, according to the union representing immigration judges. Immigrant advocates have condemned the firings, calling them politically motivated. There is currently a backlog of more than 3.7 million immigration cases awaiting adjudication. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Why Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Case Marks Such a Troubling Shift for American Justice

Kilmar Abrego Garcia has spent the past several months on an involuntary tour of detention centers at home and abroad. Back in March, Immigration and Customs Enforcement picked up the Maryland dad and took him to immigration detention facilities in Louisiana and then Texas before the U.S. government flew him to the notorious Salvadoran megaprison CECOT—which Trump administration officials have admitted was a mistake. Months after a federal judge ordered him returned to the U.S., he was brought back in June and immediately taken into criminal custody in Tennessee before he was once again ordered released, at which point he was swiftly put back into ICE custody and shuttled to a facility in Virginia. Over the course of a few months, Abrego Garcia has been in at least three immigration detention facilities, one criminal facility, and a foreign gulag entirely unauthorized to receive U.S. detainees, all while the government has failed at every attempt to establish a clear legal basis for his detention. It is effectively ferrying him from one type of custody to another only when it skirts close to being in open contempt of court. According to Abrego Garcia’s lawyers, he was offered a plea deal for the thin trafficking charge federal prosecutors are pursuing against him with the promise that he would then be deported to Costa Rica; if he refused, federal authorities would instead send him to Uganda, a country he’s never been to. That’s exactly what Trump officials then moved to do before the same federal judge ruled that he could not be deported until at least early October while she considered the legality of their deportation efforts; in the interim, Abrego García is renewing his application for asylum. This is the first time in a decade of covering immigration that I can recall the explicit use of a removal location as a cudgel to gain compliance, especially in a separate criminal matter. Advertisement It’s easy to lump this odyssey in with the rest of the Trump-era immigration enforcement spectacle, but I’d argue that it is more of an avatar for the collapse of various systems into an all-encompassing expression of government power. Lawyers, journalists, and researchers have long used the term crimmigration to refer to the interplay between the criminal and civil immigration systems—how a criminal charge can trigger immigration consequences, for example. Still, due process generally demands some independence between the processes; except where explicitly laid out in law, you shouldn’t be able to bundle them together, in the same way that it would be obviously improper to, say, threaten someone with a tax investigation unless they plead guilty to unrelated charges. Yet since the beginning of Abrego Garcia’s ordeal, the government has been trying to make his case about essentially whatever will stick, flattening the immigration and criminal aspects into one sustained character attack. It attempted to justify his deportation by tarring him as a gang member, an accusation that was based on comically flimsy evidence and which the government never tried to escalate to proving in court. Per internal Department of Justice whistleblower emails, officials desperately cast about for scraps of evidence to paint him as a hardened MS-13 leader and basically struck out. After a federal judge ordered that he be brought back, the Justice Department devoted significant resources to retroactively drumming up charges over a three-year-old incident that police didn’t act on at the time, in which the government’s main witness, unlike Abergo Garcia, is a convicted felon. It is so flimsy that his lawyers are pursuing the rare defense of vindictive prosecution, pointing out the obvious fact that the criminal charge was ginned up as punishment and PR in itself. Advertisement It’s not that the specific contours of the legal cases are immaterial or that we shouldn’t pay attention to the arguments and evidence that the administration is trotting out (or, as the case may be, attempting to manufacture). These things all create precedent and they signal what the administration is willing to do and how judges can or will exercise their power. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the specifics of the immigration and criminal cases are effectively beyond the point, and this is all really about bringing the awesome weight of the government down to bear on a designated enemy. Related From Slate Ruben Reyes Jr. What Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Case Says About America Read More The administration is attempting to create a situation where Abrego Garcia cannot actually win, even if he does ultimately succeed in his immigration and criminal cases. His life has become untenable despite the fact that the administration has, despite dedicating significant resources to the search, failed to produce any conclusive evidence that he is a public danger or a criminal or really anything but the normal “Maryland man” descriptor that they’ve taken such issue with. This is an effort to demonstrate to everyone the Trump administration might consider an enemy that it has both the will and capacity to destroy their lives by a thousand cuts. Abrego Garcia is perhaps the most acute example because he sits at the intersection of an array of vulnerabilities: he is a noncitizen without clear-cut legal status, is not wealthy, has had criminal justice contact in the past, and is a Latino man, a demographic that right-wing figures have spent years trying to paint as inherently dangerous. Each of these characteristics provides a certain amount of surface area for the government to hook onto in order to punish him for the offense of making them look bad through the self-admitted error of deporting him illegally. Advertisement Recommended for You What Taylor Swift’s Engagement Can Tell Us About the State of Marriage in America My Mom Wants Me to Forget My Stepfather’s Racist “Joke” About a Children’s Character. No Way. I’m Finally Leaving My Wife. Unfortunately, She Controlled All of Our Money. This is unforgivable for reasons that go beyond ego or malice; as Trump and officials like Stephen Miller move to tighten their authoritarian grip in areas of political opposition, they’re relying partly on might but also partly on a sense of infallibility and inevitability. To put in court documents that they erred in removing this one man to one of the most hellish places on Earth is, in their view, to call the entire legitimacy of their enterprise into question, and that cannot stand. It is more useful to look at Abrego Garcia’s case as the ultimate extrapolation of this strategy, which is being deployed to various extents against administration opponents like, for example, Federal Reserve board governor Lisa Cook. Trump is attempting to fire her ostensibly over allegations of mortgage fraud, though the administration itself is barely even pretending that this is anything but the easiest and quickest entry point they could find to come after an ideological opponent, or at least a potential obstacle. If Cook had had some hypothetical immigration issue, the administration would almost certainly have latched onto that instead. It’s all a means to an end. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Ibarra-Perez v. U.S. - filed Aug. 27, 2025

A lawsuit for damages brought by a Cuban immigrant, who was deported to Mexico after he claimed persecution in his home country, alleging he was recruited and threatened by gang members before he fled back to the U.S. and obtained asylum, was not barred by 8 U.S.C.§1252(g), which provides that no court shall have jurisdiction to hear any cause or claim by or on behalf of any alien arising from the decision or action…to commence proceedings, adjudicate cases, or execute removal orders. Ibarra-Perez v. U.S. - filed Aug. 27, 2025 Cite as 24-631 Full text click here >http://sos.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0825//24-631

Immigration advocates alarmed over detention of Daca recipient: ‘No legal basis’

Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago had already made it past the security line at the El Paso airport when two border patrol agents called her in for questioning and whisked her away to an immigration detention center. Nearly a month after her arrest, she and her family still aren’t clear why she is detained. Santiago is a beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program – which has allowed her to legally live and work in the US. “They have no legal basis for why they detained her or why they’re holding her or why they’re trying to deport her,” said her spouse, Desiree Miller. And immigration officials have yet to provide her or her family any clear answers, she added. Since her arrest on 3 August, Santiago’s case has alarmed immigration advocates across the US, as it illustrates the increasing vulnerability of hundreds of thousands of young people who arrived in the US as children and were granted temporary protections from deportation through the Obama-era Daca program. The case against Kilmar Ábrego García is a study in sadistic absurdity Moira Donegan Moira Donegan Read more Although there have been no regulatory changes to the program, the administration has tried to strip 525,000 Daca recipients, also known as Dreamers, of benefits. In July, Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assistant press secretary, claimed, falsely, that “Daca does not confer any form of legal status in this country” and urged recipients to self-deport. Earlier this month, Javier Diaz Santana, a deaf and mute Daca recipient, was detained during a raid at his work site, and officials confiscated the tools he relied on to communicate. Jose Valdovinos, another Daca recipient, was detained outside a gas station while in the passenger seat of a vehicle being driven by his wife. “We hadn’t seen this before,” said José, Santiago’s older brother – who is also a Daca recipient. “It was very fast and very aggressive.” On Wednesday, Santiago is set to appear at a hearing before an immigration judge – who will determine whether she will be released back home, or remain in detention. In the weeks since Santiago’s arrest, activists have organized vigils in El Paso, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Long Island, Boston; Tempe, Arizona, and Seattle to protest the detaining of the 28-year-old immigration rights activist and community organizer. Meanwhile, immigration officials told Santiago and her lawyers they wanted to deport her because she had entered the US illegally. “It didn’t make sense,” said Miller. Santiago had come to the US with her family when she was just eight years old, and was legally allowed to remain in the US through the Daca program. The DHS said she was arrested due to charges of “trespassing, possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia”. But Santiago had not been convicted of any crimes, Miller said – and her record had not prevented her from renewing her Daca status seven times. “The administration is messaging that they’re deporting criminals and illegal aliens. And like they use all these words to try to take away from the fact that the people who are being detained are human, that they are family members,” Miller said. Santiago had been on her way to Austin to attend a conference on family and community-run farms when she was arrested. Miller, who works alongside Santiago at the local community organization, had caught an earlier flight to attend the same conference. Miller was rattled when Santiago sent them a shaky video of two border patrol officers stopping her at the airport, insisting she put her phone away and come with them to answer questions about her employment documents. Then, for the next several hours, Miller heard nothing. “I was messaging and calling her.” Santiago had been stopped at airports before, so Miller hoped the silence was an indication that she had boarded her flight. A few hours later, Santiago had managed to call a friend from a detention center. Miller rushed back home. In the weeks that followed, Santiago told her spouse and family she was unable to sleep because the lights at the detention center were on all night and the guards were loud. She found it difficult to eat the food that was provided and get medical care as needed. José, Santiago’s brother, said he could hear the exhaustion in her voice. “But I know she has a strong spirit,” he said. Miller said they’ve been unable to rest. “It’s really hard for me to, like, sleep and eat and do anything out here comfortably, knowing that she’s not able to sleep in there,” they said. The couple married in January – and since Miller is a US citizen, Santiago had been considering applying for a green card soon. “It’s like the constant threat that they could come and take someone you love,” Miller said. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Judge dismisses Trump lawsuit against Maryland-based judges over handling of immigration cases

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed an unusual Trump administration lawsuit against every federal judge in Maryland over a standing order that limits the government’s ability to quickly deport immigrants. U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen, who normally sits in Virginia but was assigned the case because the Maryland judges could not participate, wrote in the ruling that suing the judges was not the correct avenue by which to challenge the order. At issue was a standing order issued by Chief Judge George Russell on May 21 and updated a week later that described how federal judges in Maryland should handle cases involving immigrants facing imminent risk of deportation. The order imposes a temporary stay of deportation for two business days while a case is considered. The Justice Department sued, saying Russell had no authority to issue such a blanket order that effectively acts as a broad injunction against government actions without any assessment of whether the individual immigrants have valid cases. But Cullen, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, concluded that the administration would have to find another way to challenge the order instead of taking the unusual and confrontational approach of suing the judges directly. “Much as the Executive fights the characterization, a lawsuit by the executive branch of government against the judicial branch for the exercise of judicial power is not ordinary," he wrote. "Whatever the merits of its grievance with the judges of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, the Executive must find a proper way to raise those concerns,” he added. Russell issued the order amid a flurry of Trump administration actions seeking to expedite deportations, sometimes without people being given the opportunity to challenge the decision. One of the highest-profile cases in the country, involving a Salvadoran man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the government says was wrongly deported back to his native country, arose in Maryland. Cullen wrote in Tuesday's ruling that, among other things, the administration lacked legal standing to sue and the judges are immune from such a lawsuit. Recommended Trump administration FEMA employees placed on leave after criticizing the Trump administration in open letter Congress Sen. Susan Collins drowned out by protesters at Maine ribbon-cutting event He did not address the substantive question of whether Russell had authority to issue the standing order. The ruling is in line with comments Cullen made when he heard a hearing in the case in Baltimore on Aug. 13. The Justice Department and a lawyer representing the judges had no immediate statement on the ruling. The government indicated in a court filing that it would appeal the decision. The dispute is the latest clash between the Trump administration and the judiciary, with administration officials harshly criticizing judges who rule against Trump's policies. Cullen referred to some of those comments in a footnote that took issue with the administration's rhetoric. "Although some tension between the coordinate branches of government is a hallmark of our constitutional system, this concerted effort by the Executive to smear and impugn individual judges who rule against it is both unprecedented and unfortunate," he wrote. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Inside ICE, Trump's migrant crackdown is taking a toll on officers

ICE officers face burnout, frustration amid Trump's aggressive enforcement Public outrage grows over ICE's arrest tactics ICE launches recruitment drive to hire 10,000 officers WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Under President Donald Trump, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has become the driving force of his sweeping crackdown on migrants, bolstered by record funding and new latitude to conduct raids, but staff are contending with long hours and growing public outrage over the arrests. Those internal pressures are taking a toll. Two current and nine former ICE officials told Reuters the agency is grappling with burnout and frustration among personnel as agents struggle to keep pace with the administration’s aggressive enforcement agenda. Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here. Advertisement · Scroll to continue The agency has launched a recruitment drive to relieve the stress by hiring thousands of new officers as quickly as possible, but that process will likely take months or years to play out. All of those interviewed by Reuters backed immigration enforcement in principle. But they criticized the Trump administration's push for high daily arrest quotas that have led to the detention of thousands of individuals with no criminal record, as well as long-term green card holders, others with legal visas, and even some U.S. citizens. Most of the current and former ICE officials requested anonymity due to concerns about retaliation against themselves or former colleagues. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Report This Ad Americans have been inundated with images on social media of often masked agents in tactical gear handcuffing people on neighborhood streets, at worksites, outside schools, churches, and courthouses, and in their driveways. Videos of some arrests have gone viral, fueling public anger over the tactics. Under Trump, average daily arrests by the 21,000-strong agency have soared, up over 250% in June compared to a year earlier, although daily arrest rates dropped in July. A bar chart with three groups of two bars showing that ICE arrests have surged under Trump during his term up to late July, 2025, compared to the same period a year before under Biden. A bar chart with three groups of two bars showing that ICE arrests have surged under Trump during his term up to late July, 2025, compared to the same period a year before under Biden. Trump has said he wants to deport "the worst of the worst," but ICE figures show a rise in non-criminals being picked up. ICE arrests of people with no other charges or convictions beyond immigration violations during Trump's first six months in office rose to 221 people per day, from 80 people per day during the same period under former President Joe Biden last year, according to agency data obtained by the Deportation Data Project at University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Some 69% of immigration arrests under Trump were of people with a criminal conviction or pending charge, the figures show. Some ICE investigators are frustrated that hundreds of specialized ICE investigative agents, who normally focus on serious crimes such as human trafficking and transnational gangs, have been reassigned to routine immigration enforcement, two current and two former officials said. In an interview with Reuters, Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, acknowledged that the long hours and reassignment of specialist agents had frustrated some ICE personnel but said Trump's January 20 declaration of a national emergency around illegal immigration warranted it. "There's some staff that would rather be doing other types of investigations, I get that, but the president declared a national emergency," Homan said. Homan, who spent three decades in immigration enforcement and joined ICE at its inception in 2003, said the long hours should lessen as hiring of new ICE staff speeds up. "I think morale is good. I think morale will get even better as we bring more resources on," he said. Another stress factor for more senior officials is the perpetual threat of being removed for failure to produce arrests, underscored by multiple changes of leadership at ICE since Trump took office in January, five of the ICE officials said. In response to a request for comment, a senior official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, downplayed concerns about morale, saying officers were most bothered by being targeted in assaults, as well as criticism from Democrats. The senior official said ICE personnel "are excited to be able to do their jobs again" after being subjected to limits under Biden. INTENSE PRESSURE Item 1 of 5 Assistant Director of Field Operations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Matthew Elliston’s badge and gun holster at a Q&A held for media during a two-day ICE job fair in Texas to help fill vacancies for deportation officers and attorneys, in Arlington, Texas, U.S. August 26, 2025. REUTERS/Shelby Tauber [1/5]Assistant Director of Field Operations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Matthew Elliston’s badge and gun holster at a Q&A held for media during a two-day ICE job fair in Texas to help fill vacancies for deportation officers and attorneys, in Arlington, Texas, U.S. August 26,... Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more At the center of the complaints, the current and former ICE officials said, was the demand by the White House for ICE to sharply increase immigration arrest numbers to about 3,000 a day, 10 times the daily arrest rate last year under Trump's Democratic predecessor, former President Joe Biden. In some cases, officers on raids have gone to wrong addresses following leads that relied on artificial intelligence, increasing the chances of picking up the wrong person or putting an officer in danger, according to one current and two former officials. “The demands they placed on us were unrealistic. It was not done in a safe manner or the manner to make us most successful,” the current official said. During recent raids in several U.S. cities, masked ICE agents have been confronted by angry residents demanding they identify themselves and chasing them out of neighborhoods. "In a lot of communities, they're not looked upon favorably for the work they do. So I'm sure that's stressful for them and their families,” said Kerry Doyle, a former top legal adviser at ICE. ICE also faced backlash during Trump's 2017-2021 presidency, when activists and some Democrats made "Abolish ICE" a rallying cry, but the agency's more aggressive enforcement in recent months has further thrust it into the spotlight. Trump's public approval rating on immigration fell to 43% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll in August from a high of 50% in March as Americans took an increasingly dim view of his heavy-handed tactics against migrants. That view has been shaped in part by news reports of students being arrested on campuses or on their way to sports practice, parents being detained while dropping children at school, ICE officers breaking windows and pulling people from cars, and men surrounded and shackled while waiting at bus stops or at Home Depots to travel to work. One former ICE official said at the beginning of the administration, several former colleagues told him they were happy the "cuffs are off." But several months later, he said, they are "overwhelmed" by the arrest numbers the administration is demanding. "They would prefer to go back to focused targeting," he said. "They used to be able to say: 'We are arresting criminals.'" A line chart showing an increase of around 30% in the total population detained by ICE from the beginning of the second Trump administration to June 15. A line chart showing an increase of around 30% in the total population detained by ICE from the beginning of the second Trump administration to June 15. HIRING SPREE A Republican-backed spending package passed by the U.S. Congress in July gave ICE more money than nearly all other federal law enforcement agencies combined - $75 billion over a little more than four years - including funds to detain at least 100,000 migrants at any given time. The Trump administration has launched a vigorous recruitment drive on the back of the new funding to meet its goal of hiring 10,000 ICE officers over the next four years. Using wartime-style posters and slogans such as "America needs you," ICE has launched a media blitz highly unusual for a government agency, running ads on social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Homeland Security said more than 115,000 “patriotic Americans” had applied for jobs with ICE, although it did not say over what time period. The ICE hiring spree resembles a similar surge to onboard Border Patrol agents in the mid-2000s, which critics say increased corruption and misconduct in its ranks. Asked about the risk of bringing in less qualified people in the rush to staff up, Homan said ICE should choose “quality over quantity.” “Officers still need to go through background investigations, they still need to be vetted, they still need to make sure they go to the academy,” Homan said. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Wrongly deported migrant Abrego detained again, may be sent to Uganda

WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Kilmar Abrego, the migrant whose wrongful deportation to his native El Salvador made him a symbol of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, was detained again by U.S. immigration officials in Baltimore on Monday and may be deported a second time, this time to Uganda. The Trump administration's push to deport Abrego, 30, to an African country where he has no ties is the latest twist in a saga that began in March, when U.S. authorities mistakenly sent him to El Salvador. Abrego was brought back in June to face criminal charges of transporting migrants living in the United States illegally and was released on bond on Friday. The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Report This Ad He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers have accused the administration of vindictive prosecution. He also has denied the administration's claims that he is a gang member. Abrego, 30, was arrested at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in downtown Baltimore, where he reported for a scheduled interview on Monday morning, and then was sent to a detention facility in Virginia. During a hearing conducted by telephone on Monday afternoon, Greenbelt, Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said she planned to hold additional court proceedings on the administration's plan to deport Abrego to Uganda. The judge barred the government from removing him until such a hearing could be held. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Abrego's lawyers asked Xinis to prevent him from being deported again without the due process required under the U.S. Constitution. The judge voiced concern that the government had not offered assurances that Abrego would not be imprisoned in Uganda or sent back to El Salvador. Xinis said there was "an absence of process" around resolving Abrego's immigration claims to remain in the United States. "I just have nothing on the record that suggests defendants (the government) are taking that in good faith and operating as they should," the judge said. Drew Ensign, a Justice Department lawyer, told the judge that Abrego's deportation was not imminent and that so-called third-country removals - sending deportees to countries other than the one where they have citizenship - often take some time to execute. After being detained in Baltimore earlier in the day, Abrego was being held at an ICE detention center in Farmville, Virginia, according to the agency's online detainee locator. Xinis ordered the Trump administration to keep Abrego there at least overnight to preserve access to his attorneys. Abrego, a sheet metal worker who entered the United States illegally, had been living in Maryland with his wife, their child and two of her children - all of whom are American citizens - when he was arrested and sent to El Salvador. His lawyers have said the administration's handling of the case is indicative of the Republican president's push to expand executive power in immigration matters at the expense of due process mandated by the U.S. Constitution. Trump's administration has said aggressive deportations are needed after years of insufficient enforcement, including under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. His U.S. citizen wife, Jennifer Vasquez, and his brother Cesar accompanied Abrego to the ICE field office on Monday morning, where a crowd of supporters greeted him with chants of "Si se puede" - Spanish for "Yes we can." "When I was detained, I always remembered beautiful moments with my family, like going to the park or going to the trampoline with my children," Abrego said while choking up. "Those moments will give me strength and hope to keep fighting." A CARROT-AND-STICK APPROACH Item 1 of 6 Kilmar Abrego, the migrant whose wrongful deportation to El Salvador made him a symbol of U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration policies, attends an event with supporters as he appears for a check-in at the ICE Baltimore field office three days after his release from criminal custody in Tennessee, in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. August 25, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz [1/6]Kilmar Abrego, the migrant whose wrongful deportation to El Salvador made him a symbol of U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration policies, attends an event with supporters as he appears for a check-in at the ICE Baltimore field office three days after his release from criminal... Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more Abrego's lawyers have accused the administration of using a carrot-and-stick approach to try to coerce him to plead guilty to criminal charges of transporting migrants living illegally in the United States. His trial is scheduled for January. According to court filings, the administration had offered to deport him to Costa Rica - a Spanish-speaking country in Central America, like El Salvador - if he agreed to change his plea to guilty, but plans to deport him to Uganda if he does not. In a call with reporters on Monday afternoon, Abrego's attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said Abrego had notified the U.S. government that he would accept deportation to Costa Rica since the country had said it would provide him refugee status, but did not say whether he would agree to plead guilty to U.S. criminal charges. Sandoval-Moshenberg said Abrego could not lawfully be deported elsewhere without assurances that he would not be sent back to El Salvador, where he fears persecution. "We don't know if Uganda will even let him walk around freely in Kampala or whether he'll be inside of a Ugandan jail cell," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. Abrego's lawyers have acknowledged they have entered plea discussions with the government to possibly avoid deportation to Uganda. 'COMPLETELY UNCONSTITUTIONAL' Andrea Flores, a former top immigration official under Biden, said on the call that the Trump administration's threat of deportation to Uganda amounted to retribution for fighting his earlier removal to El Salvador. "There is no legal, public safety or national security reason for this retaliatory deportation," Flores said. Before Abrego's detention on Monday, he embraced his wife in the ICE field office's lobby before passing through a security checkpoint. About 45 minutes later, his wife and brother left the building without him. Abrego was deported despite a 2019 U.S. immigration court ruling that he not be sent back to his native country due to a risk of persecution by gangs. Abrego was flown back from El Salvador in June to face the charges brought by federal prosecutors in Nashville, Tennessee. Administration officials have called him a "monster," pointing to a protective order his wife filed against him in 2021. "We've got him under control. He will no longer terrorize our country," Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters at the White House on Monday. Trump said Democrats wrongly thought that supporting Abrego would help them win over voters, calling him an "animal" and referencing allegations of violence lodged by his wife in the 2021 protective order. After his release on Friday, Abrego returned to a family home in Maryland after more than five months of detention, including time in a mega-prison in El Salvador known for its harsh conditions. Video posted to social media by immigrant rights advocacy organization CASA on Friday night showed him entering a room where his family was waiting, setting down a bouquet of flowers and embracing his wife. Reporting Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Caitlin Webber, Toby Chopra, Chizu Nomiyama, Noeleen Walder, Mary Milliken and Will Dunham For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Feds fight to keep ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ open amid legal battle as 3rd challenge is filed

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The federal government over the weekend asked a judge in Miami to put on hold her ruling ordering the winding down of an immigration detention center built by the state of Florida in the Everglades wilderness and nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” pending an appeal of her decision. Attorneys for the Department of Homeland Security said in their request for a stay that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams’ order last week, if carried out, would disrupt the federal government’s ability to enforce immigration laws. They asked the judge to rule on their request by Monday evening. The request came as a third lawsuit challenging practices at the facility was filed Friday by civil rights groups who claimed the state of Florida had no authority to run an immigration detention center. In a statement supporting the request for a stay, Garrett Ripa, field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enforcement and removal operations in Miami, said that the Everglades facility’s 2,000 beds were badly needed since detention facilities in Florida were overcrowded. “Its removal would compromise the government’s ability to enforce immigration laws, safeguard public safety, protect national security, and maintain border security,” Ripa said. Related Stories Judge to weigh detainees' legal rights at Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' Judge to weigh detainees' legal rights at Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' Federal judge in Miami issues split decision on 'Alligator Alcatraz' lawsuit Federal judge in Miami issues split decision on 'Alligator Alcatraz' lawsuit 'Alligator Alcatraz' detainees held without charges, barred from legal access, attorneys say 'Alligator Alcatraz' detainees held without charges, barred from legal access, attorneys say The environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, whose lawsuit led to the judge’s ruling, opposed the request. They disputed in a court filing Monday that the Everglades facility was needed, especially as Florida plans to open a second immigration detention facility in north Florida which Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has dubbed, “Deportation Depot.” During a tour of the Everglades facility last week, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost was told that only a fraction of the detention center’s capacity was in use, between 300 to 350 detainees, the Democratic congressman from Orlando said in a declaration on behalf of the environmental groups. ▶ Stay up to date with the latest U.S. news by signing up to our WhatsApp channel. “Defendants’ arguments for a stay are hyperbolic, disingenuous, inconsistent, untimely, unsupported by any competent evidence, and contrary to the facts,” the environmental groups’ filing said. The judge said in her order that she expected the population of the facility to decline within 60 days through the transferring of the detainees to other facilities, and once that happened, fencing, lighting and generators should be removed. She wrote the state and federal defendants can’t bring anyone other than those who are already being detained at the facility onto the property. Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe had argued that further construction and operations should be stopped until federal and state officials complied with federal environmental laws. Their lawsuit claimed the facility threatened environmentally sensitive wetlands that are home to protected plants and animals and would reverse billions of dollars spent over decades on environmental restoration. The detention center was quickly built two months ago at a lightly used, single-runway training airport in the middle of the Everglades. State officials signed more than $245 million in contracts for building and operating the facility, which officially opened July 1. President Donald Trump toured the facility last month and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations. A second lawsuit also was filed by civil rights groups last month against the state and federal governments over practices at the Everglades facility, claiming detainees were denied access to the legal system. Another federal judge in Miami last week dismissed parts of the lawsuit which had been filed in Florida’s southern district and then moved the remaining counts against the state of Florida to the neighboring middle district. Civil rights groups last Friday filed a third lawsuit over practices at the facility in federal court in Fort Myers, asking for a restraining order and a temporary injunction that would bar Florida agencies and their contractors from holding detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz.” They described “severe problems” at the facility which were “previously unheard-of in the immigration system.” Detainees were being held for weeks without any charges, they had disappeared from ICE’s online detainee locator and no one at the facility was making initial custody or bond determinations, the civil rights groups said. “Lawyers often cannot find their clients, and families cannot locate their loved ones inside ICE’s vast detention system,” the civil rights attorneys said. “Detainees have been prevented from accessing attorneys in numerous ways. Detainees without counsel have been cut off from the normal channels of obtaining a lawyer.” Immigration is a federal issue, and Florida agencies and the private contracts hired by the state have no authority to operate the facility, the civil rights groups argued in asking that their lawsuit be certified as a class action. The civil rights attorneys described harsh conditions at the facility, including flooding, mosquitoes, lack of water and exposure to the elements as punishment. At least 100 people already have been deported from the facility, including several who were pressured to sign voluntary removal forms without being able to consult with attorneys, they said. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

US Citizen Says ICE Agents Tried to Detain Him Because 'I Am Brown'

AU.S. citizen who was reportedly arrested by federal immigration agents outside his workplace in Simi Valley, California, believes he was targeted because of his skin color. Newsweek has contacted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment. Why It Matters The arrest raises concerns surrounding racial profiling by federal agents. There have been several cases of U.S. citizens who have been apprehended by officials and made allegations of racial profiling. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been facing increased scrutiny as President Donald Trump's administration looks to remove millions of migrants to fulfill his pledge to conduct the largest mass deportation program in U.S. history. Federal agents Law enforcement officers outside a Home Depot during an operation on August 15, 2025, in Los Angeles. Gregory Bull/AP What To Know Rodrigo Almendarez, a U.S. citizen born in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, told Fox 11 that federal agents approached him without identifying themselves or explaining why he was being detained. "I am dark skin, I am Mexican, I am brown. It makes me mad. Really mad. Like I said, I'm American. You know, my background is Mexican, but I was born in this country. They would have got off and asked me, 'Hey, sir, we have a question.' I could have answered, but they didn't. They profiled me, just tried to grab me like if I was a criminal," Almendarez told the outlet. Almendarez, who works as a driver for JB Wholesale Roofing and Building Supplies, was doing his job when the agents approached, Fox 11 reported He told the outlet he believes his appearance played a significant role in his wrongful detention. Read more Immigration Supreme Court to Decide If ICE Can Arrest Based on 'Apparent Ethnicity' ICE Detains Dad of Two US Marines at Alligator Alcatraz—'Not Really Fair' ICE Director Says Agents Won't Be at DC Schools as Classes Start Dad Detained by ICE Outside His Child's Elementary School Only after Almendarez showed his identification and a coworker intervened were the agents persuaded to release him, according to Fox 11. Cellphone footage captured part of the encounter, showing the agents moving to detain Almendarez. Surveillance video obtained by Fox 11 shows the agents' SUV was left in drive and rolled forward. An agent had to dash after it, and the vehicle's passenger-side mirror was shattered in the confusion. Almendarez told Fox 11 the incident made him feel mad and upset due to his status as a U.S. citizen. He added that he would have been happy to cooperate if agents had asked him any questions, but he maintains they did not. What People Are Saying Rodrigo Almendarez told Fox 11: "They just got me by surprise. I didn't know what was going on, who they were. What did I do wrong? They never told me who they were or who they were looking for or anything." What Happens Next Almendarez says he intends to file a lawsuit over the incident. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

When immigration shows up at daycare: crackdown in DC terrifies families and workers

Early on Tuesday morning, as parents went to drop off their young children at a bilingual childcare center in north-west Washington DC, they received a message from the administrator saying that unmarked cars were parked directly outside. Shortly after 8am, federal agents in tactical vests arrested two people unaffiliated with the center, the administrator said. “While these activities are not connected to our program, we are closely monitoring the situation and taking extra precautions to ensure everyone feels safe entering and leaving the building,” read the message to parents, reviewed by the Guardian. Foram Mehta, whose son attends the daycare, said she had feared immigration raids there for months, but her fears escalated when Donald Trump sent national guard troops and federal agents to Washington two weeks ago. She said she was concerned about her own safety as a brown person, even though she’s an immigrant in the country lawfully, and also worries for her undocumented neighbors. She, and other Washington residents, including undocumented parents and caregivers, said they were avoiding parts of the city where federal agents have been reported, and she said her parents who are visiting were “strictly forbidden to go anywhere alone – even down the street to the grocery store”. A woman speaks in front of a crowd. Judge blocks White House from defunding 34 municipalities over ‘sanctuary’ policies Read more In a city already upended by the second Trump administration’s mass firings of government workers, Trump’s decision to take over the city’s police force, send thousands of federal agents to Washington, and ramp up immigration enforcement has left many residents on edge and grappling with how to go about their lives in a city that no longer feels safe. The return to school for most public schools on Monday has cast that in sharp relief. The White House said on Friday that 719 people had been arrested since the start of the federal crackdown, with many hundreds of them immigrants in the country without legal documents. On the ground, that has looked like federal agents patrolling the streets for undocumented immigrants, setting up checkpoints at busy intersections, stopping delivery drivers and pedestrians, and detaining immigrants at their places of work. The crackdown has especially been affecting parents and caregivers as the new school year begins. Parents told the Guardian they were scared to send their children to school. Nannies are calling out or asking to be escorted to and from work. Daycares are having to implement new safety precautions. Once off limits for immigration enforcement and arrests, schools and daycares feel as if they are no longer safe for employees and for children, many Washingtonians said. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment. Last week, Ice’s acting director, Todd Lyons, told NBC that Washington parents should not expect to see Ice officers at schools on the first day Monday, but that they may come to school campuses in the future. “It’s gotten to the point where people are scared to be out and about,” said Amie Santos, a Washington resident who lives near the daycare. “Nothing about this is making DC safer.” For many Washingtonians, the potential targeting of people and institutions that care for small children has been especially alarming. Multiple people told the Guardian they were struggling with childcare, as so many who work as nannies or in childcare centers are immigrants. Claire, a mom who asked not to use her real name due to fears about her undocumented nanny, said her caretaker called out of work last week with short notice, saying she was concerned about reports of increased police and arrests. Homeland Security Investigations agents conduct traffic checks at a checkpoint along 14th Street in north-west Washington DC on 13 August 2025. View image in fullscreen Homeland Security Investigations agents conduct traffic checks at a checkpoint along 14th Street in north-west Washington DC on 13 August. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP “She said there’s a very heavy police presence and she’s hearing all of these stories from other nannies and from friends and acquaintances that there are all of these checkpoints,” Claire said. “She said she and her husband are both staying home and not coming into work, either of them.” Claire gave her the week off and is working to figure out options to make her more comfortable to return to work this week, including offering to pick her up from her home. The nanny, who has been in the country for almost three decades, has a teenage child, and “she is so concerned about deportation – that something could happen to her and her husband – that she has asked if we would take care of her child if that were to happen”, Claire said. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to This Week in Trumpland Free newsletter A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Other parents said they were driving their children to the neighboring state of Maryland to meet their nannies who live there, or that their nannies have been staying inside rather than venturing outside, or driving throughout the city rather than walking. In a neighborhood parents group, a mom on Tuesday shared a document template for parents to fill out and give to their nannies as they escort their children around the city. “In the event that [NANNY’S NAME] is detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) or any other law enforcement authority, this letter affirms that [CHILD’S NAME] is my child and should be immediately returned to me, [HER/HIS MOTHER/FATHER/PARENT] and legal guardian,” the template reads. “Under no circumstance should [CHILD’S NAME] be taken into government custody or placed in foster care.” With the new school year beginning in the middle of Trump’s federal takeover, parents are also concerned about what might be happening at schools. Sebastien Durand, the director of facilities at a public charter school in north-west DC whose role involves student safety, said the school had engaged with families this week before the school year begins. “It was made clear to us that they are all extremely scared,” he said. “Quite a bit of them were actually asking if we can go back to a pandemic era-type of school where they didn’t have to come to school and we had to provide something remote.” He said he explained to them that legally they can’t do that, but the school decided to use its own funds to run buses from the closest Metro station to the campus for at least the next two weeks. The school is concerned about attendance, he said, especially with rates still lower than desired since the pandemic. For children that have already started the school year, the first week has been fraught. Santos’s five-year-old son started kindergarten on Monday at school in north-west DC. On the second day of school, there were unmarked police cars with agents who appeared to be in tactical gear parked in front of the school, she said. That evening, parents were told the school was enhancing security measures and all students, parents and caretakers would be required to wear colored lanyards with photo identification to enter school grounds. The school will also be running a bus for students and caretakers from the Metro to the parking lot. “As you can imagine, it’s been hard,” Santos said. “We had to talk to our son about what was going on, why there was increased security, the importance of kindness, that not everybody feels safe and welcome. “With kids going back to school, there are intimidation factors at play,” she added, “and it’s creating an aggressive environment that I don’t think is conducive to learning or to children.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

What to know about visas for foreign truckers and the politics of a deadly Florida crash

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced this week that the U.S. will pause issuing work visas to some foreign truck drivers, warning darkly that they are “endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.” He provided no details Thursday in his two-sentence post on the social platform X, leaving some in the trucking industry wondering if many drivers would be affected. The short answer: No. But the announcement appeared to be as much about politics as road safety, coming as a deadly Florida crash involving a foreign truck driver became increasingly politicized, with the offices of two ambitious governors battling publicly over responsibility. With the Florida crash spilling into national politics, here’s what you should know: Related Stories Truck driver in fatal Florida crash is denied bond Truck driver in fatal Florida crash is denied bond DeSantis sends top deputy to California to oversee suspect's handover after crash DeSantis sends top deputy to California to oversee suspect's handover after crash Truck driver in deadly Florida crash was in US illegally, DHS says Truck driver in deadly Florida crash was in US illegally, DHS says Will many drivers be affected? It depends how you define “many,” and the exact number isn’t clear. But it appears that at most a few thousand of the country’s estimated 3.5 million commercial truck drivers would be affected by the new directive. The pause is aimed at drivers applying for three types of visas, the State Department said Friday, most notably the H-2B visa for temporary workers. Only roughly 1,500 visas for truck drivers were issued this fiscal year under the program, and 1,400 last year, according to Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. ▶ Stay up to date with the latest U.S. news by signing up to our WhatsApp channel. The program has helped offset what many observers see as a persistent shortage of commercial drivers. But H-2B visas are capped for most years at 66,000, with drivers making up only a couple percent of the total. The other two visa categories listed by the State Department are the E-2, for people who make substantial investments in a U.S. business, and the EB-3, which is for skilled workers such as health care employees, IT professionals and skilled tradespeople like electricians. Trucking groups are pleased … and relieved The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, a trade association representing small-business truck drivers, applauded the administration for “seeing through the myth of a truck driver shortage and continuing efforts to restore commonsense safety standards on our nation’s highways.” The association dismisses talk of scarcity, saying there are often independent truckers available but companies prefer drivers who cost less. Jerry Maldonado of the Laredo Motor Carriers Association, a group of 200 trucking companies operating on both sides of the southern border, was relieved when the State Department released more details about Rubio’s announcement. Mexican and Canadian drivers operate in the U.S. with B-1 visas, he said, which allow non-U.S. citizens to enter the country briefly. Some worried those visas could also be paused. “The announcement did scare some people, but I’m glad for the clarification,” Maldonado said. The deadly Florida crash Rubio’s announcement came after three people were killed when truck driver Harjinder Singh made an illegal U-turn on a highway, according to the state’s Highway Patrol. A nearby minivan slammed into Singh’s trailer as he made the turn. Singh and his passenger were not injured. The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that Singh, a native of India, was in the country illegally. The crash quickly turned political, with supporters of Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, blaming California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom. Both men have been mentioned as possible presidential contenders. Homeland Security said Singh obtained a commercial driver’s license in California, one of 19 states that issues licenses regardless of immigration status, according to the National Immigration Law Center. “Three lives lost because of Gavin Newsom. Because of California’s failed policies,” Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins said Thursday at a news conference in Stockton, California. Singh, who flew to California after the Aug. 12 crash, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in that city. DeSantis sent Collins to California to oversee Singh’s return to Florida, where he is charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations. Collins, accompanied by law enforcement personnel, escorted Singh onto the plane. A Newsom spokesperson called Collins’ trip a “photo op” and criticized Florida officials for letting a “murder suspect walk.” Safety? Or politics? Trump administration and Florida officials insist that their concerns center on immigration and road safety. In recent months the administration has taken steps to enforce English-language proficiency requirements for truckers, following incidents in which drivers’ ability to read signs or speak English may have contributed to traffic deaths. On Friday the State Department also said the government is launching a review of how it screens foreign drivers and “enhanced vetting” will apply to those without valid visas. Others see things differently. “It’s part of this game to show the voters who put Trump in power that he’s doing his daily job to enforce immigration,” said Joseph, of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “You create fear and panic in communities that there’s a bunch of ‘illegal alien’ drivers on the roads.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia taken into ICE custody, but judge blocks deportation for now

BALTIMORE — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who reunited with his family last week after 160 days apart following his mistaken deportation to El Salvador, was taken into ICE custody Monday after an immigration check-in, but a judge later ruled that he cannot be deported, for now. The check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore was part of the conditions of his release Friday from federal custody. While such meetings are usually routine and meant for case updates, Abrego's attorneys had expected he would be taken into ICE custody after the Trump administration announced over the weekend its intention to deport him to Uganda. "There was no need to take him into ICE detention. ... The only reason they took him into detention was to punish him," for using his constitutional right to speak up and fight proceedings, said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego's attorneys. Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks at a podium Kilmar Abrego Garcia, appears for a check-in at the ICE Baltimore field office three days after his release from criminal custody in Tennessee, in Baltimore, Md., on Aug. 25, 2025Elizabeth Frantz / Reuters Monday afternoon, Sandoval-Moshenberg said Abrego was being held at a detention center in Virginia on Monday afternoon. What we know about Abrego Garcia's case Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in March due to what officials described as an “administrative error.” In April, a judge ordered the Trump administration to return Abrego — spurring a legal back-and-forth that involved the Supreme Court. Abrego was returned to the U.S. on June 6, following an indictment in a federal court in Nashville. The indictment charged Abrego with transporting within the U.S. people who were not legally in the country. He was released from federal custody on parole on Friday and had a tearful reunion with his family after months apart. Minutes after his release, immigration authorities notified Abrego that they intend to deport him to Uganda. Separately, the Trump administration offered him a plea deal that would ensure his eventual deportation to Costa Rica. Abgrego filed a new lawsuit in federal district court for the district of Maryland "seeking to ensure that he is not removed from the United States pending his immigration proceedings." The suit challenges Abrego's deportation to Uganda or any other country unless and until he’s had a fair trial, Sandoval-Moshenberg said. He later argued that deporting his client to any country without any credible assurances that he can stay there would be “just a very inconvenient layover to El Salvador.” At a hearing Monday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered that Abrego must remain stay detained in the U.S. — temporarily blocking his deportation to Uganda — until she holds an evidentiary hearing. The judge said there are "several grounds" on which there may be jurisdiction for her to exercise relief — including that Uganda has not agreed to offer Abrego protections, like being able to walk freely, being given refugee status and not being re-deported to El Salvador. Before his ICE check-in appointment and detainment Monday morning, Abrego addressed reporters while surrounded by family, supporters, faith leaders and his legal team, who were all calling for his freedom. "My name is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and I want you to remember this, remember that I am free and I was able to be reunited with my family," he said in Spanish before a translator repeated in English. "This was a miracle. Thank you to God and thank you to the community," Abrego added. "I want to thank each and every one of you who marched, lift your voices, never stop praying and continue to fight in my name." Abrego was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, in violation of a 2019 court order. After much legal resistance, he was returned to the U.S. in June and hit with human smuggling charges out of Tennessee, which he pleaded not guilty to. The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Abrego of being a gang member part of the notorious MS-13, which his attorneys have denied. Abrego’s lawyers have said he illegally immigrated to the U.S. when he was 16 to join his brother in Maryland to escape gang violence in El Salvador. The Trump administration offered Abrego a plea deal last week, his lawyers said in a Saturday court filing that was part of their efforts to get the charges in Tennessee dropped over what they consider to be "vindictive" and "selective" prosecution. If he pleads guilty to the federal charges out of Tennessee and serves time, he can be deported to Costa Rica. The Costa Rican government said he'd live as a free man there, according to the filing. Sandoval-Moshenberg said his client would not accept the plea deal as Abrego "will not accept charges of which he's not guilty." This means the agreement to be deported to Costa Rica could be off the table. Abrego's attorneys rebuffed the Trump administration's apparent attempt to strong-arm him. Gary Grumbach reported from Baltimore, Marlene Lenthang from Los Angeles, and Rebecca Cohen from New York. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.