USCIS Forms Update Notice

Good afternoon, We recently updated the following USCIS form(s): Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) 01/20/2025 10:37 AM EST Edition Date: 01/20/25. Starting May 1, 2025, we will accept only the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the 04/01/24 edition. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions. Form I-131A, Application for Carrier Documentation 01/20/2025 09:26 AM EST Edition Date: 01/20/25. Starting May 1, 2025, we will accept only the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the 04/01/24 edition. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions. Form I-212, Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission into the United States After Deportation or Removal 01/20/2025 08:59 AM EST Edition Date: 01/20/25. Starting May 1, 2025, we will accept only the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the 04/01/24 edition. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions. Form I-602, Application by Refugee for Waiver of Inadmissibility Grounds 01/20/2025 08:47 AM EST Edition Date: 01/20/25. Starting May 1, 2025, we will accept only the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the 04/01/24 edition. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions. For more information, please visit our Forms Updates page.

USCIS Updates Policy to Recognize Two Biological Sexes

WASHINGTON— U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is updating the USCIS Policy Manual to clarify that it only recognizes two biological sexes, male and female. Consistent with the Jan. 20, 2025, executive order, Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, USCIS is returning to its historical policy of recognizing two biological sexes. “There are only two sexes — male and female,” said DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin. “President Trump promised the American people a revolution of common sense, and that includes making sure that the policy of the U.S. government agrees with simple biological reality. Proper management of our immigration system is a matter of national security, not a place to promote and coddle an ideology that permanently harms children and robs real women of their dignity, safety, and well-being.” Under this guidance, USCIS considers a person’s sex as that which is generally evidenced on the birth certificate issued at or nearest to the time of birth. If the birth certificate issued at or nearest to the time of birth indicates a sex other than male or female, USCIS will base the determination of sex on secondary evidence. See Volume 1, General Policies and Procedures, Part E, Adjudications, Chapter 6, Evidence, Section B, Primary and Secondary Evidence [1 USCIS-PM E.6(B)]. USCIS will not deny benefits solely because the benefit requestor did not properly indicate his or her sex. However, USCIS does not issue documents with a blank sex field, and does not issue documents with a sex different than the sex as generally evidenced on a birth certificate issued at the time of birth (or issued nearest to the time of birth). Therefore, if a benefit requestor does not indicate his or her sex or indicates a sex different from the sex on his or her birth certificate issued at the time of birth (or issued nearest to the time of birth), there may be delays in adjudication. USCIS may provide notice to benefit requestors if it issues a USCIS document reflecting a sex different than that indicated by the benefit requestor on the request. This guidance, contained in Volumes 1, 11, and 12 of the Policy Manual, is effective immediately and applies to benefit requests pending or filed on or after April 2, 2025. The guidance contained in the Policy Manual is controlling and supersedes any related prior guidance. For more information, see the Policy Alert.

Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification

Edition Date: 01/20/25. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions.

Employers may also use the following previous editions:
• Form I-9 with an 08/01/23 edition date, valid until its expiration date of 05/31/2027; and
• Form I-9 with an 08/01/23 edition date, valid until its expiration date of 07/31/2026.

You can find the expiration date at the top of the page on the form and instructions.

Employers using an electronic version of Form I-9 must update their systems with the version that has the expiration date of 05/31/2027 by 07/31/2026.

Edition dates are listed in mm/dd/yy format.

Expiration dates are listed in mm/dd/yyyy format.

US immigration officials look to expand social media data collection

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — U.S. immigration officials are asking the public and federal agencies to comment on a proposal to collect social media handles from people applying for benefits such as green cards or citizenship, to comply with an executive order from President Donald Trump. The March 5 notice raised alarms from immigration and free speech advocates because it appears to expand the government’s reach in social media surveillance to people already vetted and in the U.S. legally, such as asylum seekers, green card and citizenship applicants -- and not just those applying to enter the country. That said, social media monitoring by immigration officials has been a practice for over a decade, since at least the second Obama administration and ramping up under Trump’s first term. Below are some questions and answers on what the new proposal means and how it might expand social media surveillance. Advertisement What is the proposal? The Department of Homeland Security issued a 60-day notice asking for public commentary on its plan to comply with Trump’s executive order titled “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats.” The plan calls for “uniform vetting standards” and screening people for grounds of inadmissibility to the U.S., as well as identify verification and “national security screening.” It seeks to collect social media handles and the names of platforms, although not passwords. The policy seeks to require people to share their social media handles when applying for U.S. citizenship, green card, asylum and other immigration benefits. The proposal is open to feedback from the public until May 5. What is changing? Advertisement “The basic requirements that are in place right now is that people who are applying for immigrant and non-immigrant visas have to provide their social media handles,” said Rachel Levinson-Waldman, managing director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program at New York University. “Where I could see this impacting is someone who came into the country before visa-related social media handle collection started, so they wouldn’t have provided it before and now they’re being required to. Or maybe they did before, but their social media use has changed.” “This fairly widely expanded policy to collect them for everyone applying for any kind of immigration benefit, including people who have already been vetted quite extensively,” she added. What this points to — along with other signals the administration is sending such as detaining people and revoking student visas for participating in campus protests that the government deems antisemitic and sympathetic to the militant Palestinian group Hamas — Levinson-Waldman added, is the increased use of social media to “make these very high-stakes determinations about people.” In a statement, a spokesperson for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service said the agency seeks to “strengthen fraud detection, prevent identity theft, and support the enforcement of rigorous screening and vetting measures to the fullest extent possible.” Advertisement “These efforts ensure that those seeking immigration benefits to live and work in the United States do not threaten public safety, undermine national security, or promote harmful anti-American ideologies,” the statement continued. USCIS estimates that the proposed policy change will affect about 3.6 million people. How are social media accounts used now? The U.S. government began ramping up the use of social media for immigration vetting in 2014 under then-President Barack Obama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. In late 2015, the Department of Homeland Security began both “manual and automatic screening of the social media accounts of a limited number of individuals applying to travel to the United States, through various non-public pilot programs,” the nonpartisan law and policy institute explains on its website. In May 2017, the U.S. Department of State issued an emergency notice to increase the screening of visa applicants. Brennan, along with other civil and human rights groups, opposed the move, arguing that it is “excessively burdensome and vague, is apt to chill speech, is discriminatory against Muslims, and has no security benefit.” Two years later, the State Department began collecting social media handles from “nearly all foreigners” applying for visas to travel to the U.S. — about 15 million people a year. Advertisement How is AI used? Artificial intelligence tools used to comb through potentially millions of social media accounts have evolved over the past decade, although experts caution that such tools have limits and can make mistakes. Leon Rodriguez, who served as the director of USCIS from 2014 to 2017 and now practices as an immigration attorney, said while AI could be used as a first screening tool, he doesn’t think “we’re anywhere close to where AI will be able to exercise the judgment of a trained fraud detection and national security officer” or that of someone in an intelligence agency. “It’s also possible that I will miss stuff,” he added. “Because AI is still very much driven by specific search criteria and it’s possible that the search criteria won’t hit actionable content.” Advertisement What are the concerns? “Social media is just a stew, so much different information — some of it is reliable, some of it isn’t. Some of it can be clearly attributed to somebody, some of it can’t. And it can be very hard to interpret,” Levinson-Waldman said. “So I think as a baseline matter, just using social media to make high-stakes decisions is quite concerning.” Then there’s the First Amendment. “It’s by and large established that people in the U.S. have First Amendment rights,” she said. This includes people who are not citizens. “And obviously, there are complicated ways that that plays out. There is also fairly broad authority for the government to do something like revoking somebody’s visa, if you’re not a citizen, then there’s steps that the government can take — but by and large, with very narrow exceptions, that cannot be on the grounds of speech that would be protected (by the First Amendment).” For more information, visit us at https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/24496902.

Rubio says at least 300 foreign students’ visas have been revoked

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that at least 300 foreign students have had their visas revoked amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, a far higher number than was previously known. “Maybe more, it might be more than 300 at this point,” Rubio said at a press conference in Guyana when asked to confirm Axios reporting on the topic. “We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” he added, saying he hopes it’s even more than the 300 estimate. “I hope at some point we run out because we have gotten rid of all of them, but we’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up.” Axios was the first to report that 300 foreign students’ visas had been revoked and that administration officials are looking to block some colleges that have too many “pro-Hamas” foreign students from admitting any international individuals. The Hill has reached out to the State Department for comment. Up Next - Trump on pulling Stefanik nomination: 'We don't want to take any chances' Multiple high-profile cases have come out of Columbia University, Tufts and the University of Alabama as the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian foreign students escalates. Sign up for the Morning Report The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Email address By signing up, I agree to the Terms of Use, have reviewed the Privacy Policy, and to receive personalized offers and communications via email, on-site notifications, and targeted advertising using my email address from The Hill, Nexstar Media Inc., and its affiliates On top of student visa holders, the Trump administration has gone after multiple permanent legal residents, such as Mahmoud Khalil, who has a green card. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

U.S. to revoke legal status of more than a half-million migrants, urges them to self deport

The Trump administration will be revoking the legal status of hundreds of thousands of Latin American and Haitian migrants welcomed into the U.S. under a Biden-era sponsorship process, urging them to self-deport or face arrest and removal by deportation agents. The termination of their work permits and deportation protections under an immigration authority known as parole will take effect in late April, 30 days after March 25, according to a notice posted by the federal government. The move will affect immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who flew to the U.S. under a Biden administration program, known as CHNV, that was designed to reduce illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border by giving would-be migrants legal migration avenues. A total of 532,000 migrants entered the U.S. under that policy, which was paused soon after President Trump took office, though it's unclear how many have been able to secure another status that will allow them to stay in the country legally. CBS News first reported in early February that the Trump administration was planning to revoke the legal status of individuals who entered the U.S. under the CHNV process. The Department of Homeland Security said it will seek the arrest and deportation of those subject to the policy change if they fail to depart the U.S. in the next 30 days. Officials are urging migrants to use the newly repurposed CBP Home smartphone app to register for self-deportation. But DHS said it retains the authority to target migrants who arrived under this program before the 30-day period lapses. Officials say those prioritized for arrest will include migrants who have failed to apply for another immigration benefit like asylum or a green card. In a statement, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the migrants allowed into the U.S. under the CHNV process were "loosely vetted," and argued the program undercut American workers. "The termination of the CHNV parole programs, and the termination of parole for those who exploited it, is a return to common-sense policies, a return to public safety, and a return to America First," McLaughlin added. Friday's announcement is the latest effort by the Trump administration to discontinue humanitarian-based immigration programs that allow migrants to enter or stay in the country with the government's permission. The CHNV program in question was hailed by the Biden administration as a successful policy that reduced illegal border crossings by migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and, to a lesser extent, Venezuela. But Republicans denounced it as an effort to circumvent the limits Congress placed on legal immigration, and noted that the program had some recorded instances of fraud. The Biden administration last fall made a decision not to allow CHNV beneficiaries to renew their two-year work permits under the program, saying they could apply for other benefits, like asylum and Temporary Protected Status. That prospect, however, changed dramatically when Mr. Trump took office. His administration has already announced plans to phase out the TPS programs for Haitians and Venezuelans. It also suspended all pending immigration benefit applications filed by those who arrived under CHNV, citing concerns about fraud and vetting. More from CBS News Trump administration cites new deportation grounds in Mahmoud Khalil case Judge rebukes Justice Dept., raises due process questions in deportation case Trump revokes security clearances of Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

U.S. to revoke legal status of more than a half-million migrants, urges them to self deport

The Trump administration will be revoking the legal status of hundreds of thousands of Latin American and Haitian migrants welcomed into the U.S. under a Biden-era sponsorship process, urging them to self-deport or face arrest and removal by deportation agents. The termination of their work permits and deportation protections under an immigration authority known as parole will take effect in late April, 30 days after March 25, according to a notice posted by the federal government. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

The ‘bad immigrant’ lie — and why it’s so dangerous

Today, in communities across the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are grabbing people, regardless of immigration status. People are afraid to go to work, and to send their children to school. A new and disturbing level of terror is growing around us. And that’s exactly what the Trump administration wants — to foster and help flourish the fear that has kept us increasingly divided. While they tell Americans that they are going after all of the bad and scary immigrants that have held the country hostage, to the shock of none, many of those targeted by ICE in just the first two weeks of February had no criminal convictions or pending charges. Simultaneously, President Trump is selling the idea of a “gold card” visa to wealthy would-be immigrants, while those who have been building and contributing to this country for years are cornered and caged for the “crime” of being poor and working-class people of color. I grew up undocumented and living in fear. My family and I walked on eggshells, constantly afraid that making the slightest slipup could lead to racial profiling, deportation and our family being broken apart. We did everything we could to show this country we were “good” immigrants. We worked hard, and kept our heads down. We didn’t complain when we were exploited and abused in the workplace. We stayed out of trouble, and paid our taxes. I learned English, became an honors student, and went above and beyond in my volunteer work and community service. That didn’t stop my dad from being constantly racially profiled by the police and my then 12-year-old younger brother from being assaulted by the NYPD on his way home from school for being a young Latino man and, therefore, suspicious. Amazing, kind and beautiful friends have been shackled, detained and deported. In spite of doing everything right and making sacrifices for our families and our communities, immigrants have, over and over again, become the punching bags of politicians who have nothing else to offer the American people. Growing up, I felt proud about my parent’s sacrifices and their courage to leave everything behind and seek a better life in the U.S. But over time, I started to feel ashamed of being a poor undocumented immigrant of color. As a young immigrant living in a post-9/11 America, I experienced firsthand being labeled a “threat” and a “suspect” in the place I call home. Everything around me — what I watched on TV and the stories of immigrants I read about — told me my parents and I were “bad” for fleeing poverty and being in this country seeking refuge and a better life. Sadly, my young mind internalized the lie and felt the urgency to show this country that I was worthy of being here. Many immigrants believe this too, and consequently think that nothing could possibly happen to them or their families because they are “good” immigrants. Yet today, we’re seeing a constant flood of stories of so-called “good” immigrants and their families being torn apart by deportation efforts — from model students with green cards whose only crime was using their voice to Trump-supporting Latino voters who genuinely believed in his promises to fight for them. Some on the left have piled onto their pain with vindicated glee, but while I’m frustrated with those who thought that a red hat and hate would give them the extra patriot points, I do understand them. Immigrants are made to believe in “personal responsibility” — a trap from which there is no way out. We’re pushed to buy into the idea that somehow, while our president can pardon his family, friends and cronies without reserve, people like us, who have to flee our homes and come to this country in search of safety and security, must be continuously punished for the “crime” of wanting a better life for our families. This is exactly what the president and his administration are doing. They are blaming immigrants for the costs of eggs, housing, a failing healthcare system and an economy that benefits only the rich. They are scapegoating immigrants to distract us from this administration’s cruelty and fealty to rich men like Elon Musk, who are stealing our resources, our data and our money while the majority of Americans are struggling to make ends meet. “Bad” immigrants being the nation’s scapegoat is not new, but the faces and cultures of who we define as such have. In the 1920s, during the Prohibition Era, German, Italian and Irish immigrants were also labeled as immoral, un-American drunks and blamed for threatening public welfare and deteriorating American values. Ironically, many of those same immigrants have now become “white” in America’s story, and some of their descendants are now saying the same things about people like me, and calling for the mass deportation of immigrants. As we always have, immigrants power key sectors in our economy, from the agricultural to the construction sectors. In 2022, undocumented workers paid an estimated $96.7 billion in taxes. But beyond their economic contributions, immigrants make us better because many of us, documented and undocumented, believe in the aspirational values of this country, and are doing the work to achieve the promise of a nation where true democracy, equality, freedom and justice prevail. Although history sometimes repeats itself, we have the ability to make different choices this time around. Regardless of what this administration has to say, immigrants are not to blame for everything that ails this country. Quite the contrary — we are just as much a part of American communities as anyone else who just wants to do right by their families. But it’s not just American citizens who support Trump who need to hear that. My fellow immigrants need to hear it, too. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

What the Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Experienced

n the night of Saturday, March 15, three planes touched down in El Salvador, carrying 261 men deported from the United States. A few dozen were Salvadoran, but most of the men were Venezuelans the Trump Administration had designated as gang members and deported, with little or no due process. I was there to document their arrival. For more than a year, I have been embedded throughout El Salvador’s society, working on a book chronicling the country’s transformation. From the huts of remote island fishermen to the desk of the President, from elite homicide detective units to elementary school classrooms, I have interviewed government officials and everyday people, collecting stories that would shock Stephen King. I’ve stood in classrooms full of happy students which not long ago were empty, because children here once learned early that schools were places to be raped or recruited. I’ve interviewed killers in prison and sat with them face-to-face. The video player is currently playing an ad. As I stood on the tarmac, an agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's ICE Special Response Team told me that some of the Venezuelans had weakly attempted to take over their plane upon landing. It wasn’t unusual for detainees to try to make a last stand, the agent said, guarding the doorway to the plane at the top of the gangway stairs. “They began to try to organize to overthrow the plane by screaming for everyone to stand up and fight. But not everyone was on board,” the agent said, cautioning me to be careful because some of the Venezuelans would fight once they were offloaded. Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador Philip Holsinger Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador PHILIP HOLSINGER Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador Philip Holsinger Even if not fighting, almost all the detainees came to the door of the plane with angry, defiant faces. It was their faces that grabbed me, because within a few hours those faces would completely transform. The Venezuelans emerging from their plane were not in prison clothes, but in designer jeans and branded tracksuits. Their faces were the faces of guys who in no way expected what they first saw—an ocean of soldiers and police, an entire army assembled to apprehend them. Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador Philip Holsinger Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador Philip Holsinger One of the alleged organizers of the attempted overthrow fought the U.S. agents on the plane, cursing the Americans, the Salvadorans, President Nayib Bukele himself. El Salvador’s Minister of Defense, René Merino, who had been standing on the tarmac at the bottom of the gangway, rushed aboard, dragged the guy to the gangway himself, and flung him into the waiting hands of black-masked guards. Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador Philip Holsinger The transfer from the plane to the buses that would carry them to prison was rapid, yet it might as well have been the crossing of an ancient continent. I felt the detainees’ fear as they marched through a gauntlet of black-clad guards, guns raised like the spears of some terrible tribe. I walked the line of buses waiting to depart, photographing faces. A guard noticed one of the detainees turned toward the window and wrenched his head back down into his chest. Around 2 a.m., the convoy of 22 buses, flanked by armored vehicles and police, moved out of the airport. Soldiers and police lined the 25-mile route to the prison, with thick patrols at every bridge and intersection. For the few Salvadorans, it was a familiar landscape. But for a Venezuelan plucked from America, it must have appeared dystopian—police and soldiers for miles and miles in woodland darkness. The Terrorism Confinement Center, a notorious maximum-security prison known as CECOT, sits in an old farm field at the foot of an ancient volcano, brightly lit against the night sky. I’ve spent considerable time there and know the place intimately. As we entered the intake yard, the head of prisons was giving orders to an assembly of hundreds of guards. He told them the Venezuelans had tried to overthrow their plane, so the guards must be extremely vigilant. He told them plainly: Show them they are not in control. Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador Philip Holsinger The intake began with slaps. One young man sobbed when a guard pushed him to the floor. He said, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a barber.” I believed him. But maybe it’s only because he didn’t look like what I had expected—he wasn’t a tattooed monster. The men were pulled from the buses so fast the guards couldn’t keep pace. Chained at their ankles and wrists, they stumbled and fell, some guards falling to the ground with them. With each fall came a kick, a slap, a shove. The guards grabbed necks and pushed bodies into the sides of the buses as they forced the detainees forward. There was no blood, but the violence had rhythm, like a theater of fear. Inside the intake room, a sea of trustees descended on the men with electric shavers, stripping heads of hair with haste. The guy who claimed to be a barber began to whimper, folding his hands in prayer as his hair fell. He was slapped. The man asked for his mother, then buried his face in his chained hands and cried as he was slapped again. Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador Philip Holsinger After being shaved, the detainees were stripped naked. More of them began to whimper; the hard faces I saw on the plane had evaporated. It was like looking at men who passed through a time machine. In two hours, they aged 10 years. Their nice clothes were not gathered or catalogued but simply thrust into black garbage bags to be thrown out with their hair. They entered their cold cells, 80 men per cell, with steel planks for bunks, no mats, no sheets, no pillow. No television. No books. No talking. No phone calls and no visitors. For these Venezuelans, it was not just a prison they had arrived at. It was exile to another world, a place so cold and far from home they may as well have been sent into space, nameless and forgotten. Holding my camera, it was as if I watched them become ghosts. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

'Chilling and Unprecedented': Trump Memo Threatens Law Firms That Cross His Administration

Legal advocacy groups have issued a sharp rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump's directive aimed at holding "accountable" law firms and lawyers that, according to him, "engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States." "Accountability is especially important when misconduct by lawyers and law firms threatens our national security, homeland security, public safety, or election integrity," Trump wrote in a memorandum to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, which was issued late Friday. Trump directed Bondi to "seek sanctions against attorneys and law firms" who engage in objectionable litigation, and scrutinize litigation against the government stretching back over the past eight years. The new directive is a widening of Trump's campaign against lawyers and law firms he does not like. Reuters reported Saturday that the Trump administration has been hit with over 100 legal challenges, taking aim at various White House actions. Multiple legal groups denounced the move, saying they would not be intimidated. Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, wrote on Sunday that for over 30 years her organization "has stood strong against attacks on reproductive freedom. We have litigated scores of cases in federal courts, including against the U.S. government, regardless of the political party in power." "We will not back down in the face of the president's intimidation campaign—not while his administration refuses to defend women who are denied emergency abortion care; not while it condones violence at abortion clinics; and not while doctors are under threat of criminal prosecution for providing essential care. Not now and not ever," she continued. Cecillia Wang, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), echoed this sentiment in a statement released on Saturday. "This action by the president of the United States is a chilling and unprecedented attack on the foundations of liberty and democracy. Good lawyers, regardless of ideology or party, will remain undeterred in the honorable pursuit of our profession. We will continue to stand up for the people and the rule of law," Wang wrote. Trump specifically called out lawyers working in the immigration space. "The immigration system... is likewise replete with examples of unscrupulous behavior by attorneys and law firms. For instance, the immigration bar, and powerful Big Law pro bono practices, frequently coach clients to conceal their past or lie about their circumstances when asserting their asylum claims," he wrote. Kelli Stump, the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and the group's executive director Ben Johnson, pushed back on Trump's claims. "The broad assertion that immigration attorneys are acting improperly in their efforts to represent individuals against an increasingly complex and restrictive immigration system is both unfounded and dangerous," they wrote in a statement on Saturday. The memo also name drops Marc Elias, a prominent attorney who has worked for multiple major Democratic political campaigns. Skye Perrymen, the CEO and president of the legal group Democracy Forward—where Elias serves as board chair—said in a statement on Saturday that "the ongoing threats to the legal profession and the rule of law by the president are intended to intimidate and inspire fear, but instead they should inspire action." "The president's increasing targeting of lawyers, the legal profession, and judges is in response to a number of instances where communities across the nation have had to go to federal court to protect their rights from this administration's overreach and where judges nominated by both Republican and Democratic presidents and confirmed by the U.S. Senate have found that the Trump-Vance administration's actions warrant scrutiny and, in many cases, are unlawful," added Perrymen. Democracy Forward, the ACLU, and AILA have all brought cases challenging Trump administration actions. The order comes at the end of a rocky week for the field of law. On Thursday, one of the country's top law firms, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, brokered a deal with the White House in order to spare the firm from an executive order that suspended security clearances for lawyers and staff. As part of the deal, according to a post from Trump on social media, the firm "will dedicate the equivalent of $40 million in pro bono legal services over the course of President Trump's term to support the administration's initiatives, including: assisting our nation's veterans, fairness in the justice system, the president's Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, and other mutually agreed projects." For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Judge rips DOJ's 'woefully insufficient' response to questions about Alien Enemies Act case

A federal judge on Thursday blasted the Justice Department’s latest response to his demand for more information about deportation flights that were carried out under a wartime law known as the Alien Enemies Act, calling it “woefully insufficient.” U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote in a three-page ruling that the government “again evaded its obligations” to provide information that he had been demanding for days about the timing of the Saturday flights. President Donald Trump had invoked the rarely used law to deport people the administration claimed were members of a Venezuelan gang deemed a “foreign terrorist organization.” At an emergency hearing on Saturday, the judge had directed that any deportation flights being carried out under the AEA authority immediately return to the U.S. Two flights landed in Honduras and El Salvador within hours of the judge’s order. New Court Ringmaster To Oversee Trump Grand Juries In Washington James Boasberg, incoming chief judge of the US District Court, in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, March 13, 2023. Boasberg, who starts a seven-year term as chief judge on March 17, will oversee the court's secret grand jury proceedings, including pending and future legal fights related to Special Counsel Jack Smiths probes of Trump, among other duties.Valerie Plesch / Bloomberg / Getty Images file The DOJ response was submitted under seal, but Boasberg said the department told him he could disclose the contents. It comprised “a six-paragraph declaration from the Acting Field Office Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Harlingen, Texas, Field Office” that did not include any new information about the flights, the judge wrote. ADVERTISING The Justice Department later released its filing. As to another of the judge’s questions, whether the government would try to assert a “state secrets” privilege in order to get out of answering questions, the ICE official said, “I understand that Cabinet Secretaries are currently actively considering whether to invoke the state secrets privilege over the other facts requested by the Court’s order.” Recommended From the Politics Desk Trump's legal fights and Elon Musk's business overlap: From the Politics Desk Lethal Injection Judge rejects California DA's request to change mass shooter's death sentence to life without parole The judge called the response “woefully insufficient. To begin, the Government cannot proffer a regional ICE official to attest to Cabinet-level discussions of the state-secrets privilege.” He said he wanted a sworn declaration by a “person with direct involvement in the Cabinet-level discussions regarding invocation of the state-secrets privilege” by Friday morning, and to be notified of any decision on the issue by Tuesday. He also directed the Justice Department to submit a filing explaining how it “did not violate the Court’s Temporary Restraining Orders by failing to return class members removed from the United States on the two earliest planes that departed on March 15, 2025.” Trump’s new clashes with federal judges 02:59 Trump, who called for Boasberg to be impeached earlier in the week, trashed him in a post on his social media platform after the ruling, accusing him of "doing everything in his power to usurp the Power of the Presidency" and calling his rulings "ridiculous." In a statement before the judge’s ruling, a DOJ spokesperson said, “The Department of Justice continues to believe that the court’s superfluous questioning of sensitive national security information is inappropriate judicial overreach.” Follow live politics coverage here Boasberg had issued an order Wednesday demanding DOJ answer his questions and warned of the possibility of “consequences” if it did not. U.S. deports alleged members of the Tren de Aragua to be imprisoned in El Salvador A man the administration accuses of being a Venezuelan gang member is escorted from a plane in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, after being deported by the U.S. on Sunday.Secretaria de Prensa de la Presi via Reuters A Justice Department lawyer refused to answer any questions about the flights at a tense hearing Monday and maintained the government had complied with the judge’s more limited written order shortly after the Saturday hearing. The judge summarized the DOJ’s position as, “we don’t care, we’ll do what we want,” and ordered it to respond to his questions by noon on Tuesday. The Justice Department responded to some of his questions in the Tuesday filing, but refused to answer detailed questions about the flights, calling his request “inappropriate.” The lawyers contended the types of details Boasberg sought would “disclose sensitive information bearing on national security and foreign relations.” “If, however, the Court nevertheless orders the Government to provide additional details, the Court should do so through an in camera and ex parte declaration, in order to protect sensitive information bearing on foreign relations,” they wrote Tuesday. The judge then said they could file such a response under seal and directly to him by Wednesday at noon. But the Justice Department still refused to comply, and argued the judge should pause the case until an appeals court rules on the administration’s motion for an emergency stay. “The distraction of the specific facts surrounding the movements of an airplane has derailed this case long enough and should end until the Circuit Court has had a chance to weigh in,” the Justice Department filing said, while also pushing for a delay so that it could present the argument that disclosing the information would reveal “state secrets.” The judge then extended his deadline to Thursday at noon, directing the government to either answer his questions or “invoke the state-secrets doctrine and explain the basis for such invocation.” Boasberg also took issue with the government’s contention he was trying to “beat a dead horse solely for the sake of prying from the Government legally immaterial facts.” He said he wants the information “to determine if the Government deliberately flouted its Orders issued on March 15, 2025, and, if so, what the consequences should be.” The government’s appeal is proceeding in the meantime, with oral arguments scheduled for Monday afternoon. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Could Visa and Green Card Holders Be Deported? What the Law Says

ttorneys have told Newsweek that many immigrants in the United States with legal status, including temporary visas and green cards, are increasingly anxious that their documentation could be revoked. The arrests of Palestinian protester Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident now fighting deportation, along with a handful of others with visas and green cards, have brought attention to questions over the securities offered by holding legal status in the U.S. "I feel like anxiety is higher. I think what people have realized over the last weeks and days is that immigration status in the United States can be challenged, it can be revoked, and there can be serious consequences," David Leopold, an immigration attorney at UB Greensfelder in Ohio, told Newsweek. The Trump administration has made it clear that it is getting tough on immigration enforcement, both when it comes to those who crossed the southwest border illegally and those who violate immigration laws. In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has sought to impose various policy changes while also relying on immigration law clauses that have existed for decades but were perhaps underutilized. US visa revocation U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (inset) has said he will seek the revocation of visas for those found to show support for terrorist organizations or with viewpoints which do not match U.S. foreign policy. Getty Images Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday that "every day now we are approving visa revocations," following multiple reports of visas being canceled for students accused of promoting pro-Hamas messaging in college campus protests. One such case involving Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil has seen U.S. authorities look to withdraw his permanent resident status. A German citizen whose green card extension application was underway was still detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and interrogated, according to his mother. "It's definitely an uncertain time, and we are, for sure, seeing a marked increase in clients seeing a heightened level of anxiety," Eliss Taub, a partner at immigration law firm Siskind Susser, told Newsweek. "All of my clients are here in the United States with authorization. I'm even hearing from clients who have green cards who are nervous about traveling outside the states." Taub said she is telling clients not to travel outside the U.S. unless necessary, regardless of where they are from. Who Decides Who Can Keep Their Visa? USCIS leaflet An information booklet for new immigrants seen in 2020. Getty Images Recent stories about visa revocations have involved Border Patrol, ICE and other Department of Homeland Security agents, and the State Department. This is because different agencies are involved at different stages of the immigration process. "For example, USCIS, the immigration service, might approve an H-1B petition for somebody to come to the United States to work in a specific position for a specific employer, and that person might be sitting in some other country when that petition gets approved," Taub explained. "In order for them to come here, they have to go and visit a U.S. embassy or consulate in their home country to apply for a visa, and so that's the State Department that operates all of the U.S. consular posts. So, the State Department is going to decide: 'Is this person eligible for a visa?' "In this context, the word visa is important. It's like a ticket of admission into the United States. It says, 'I am allowed to come to the border and ask you to admit me, in this status, because I meet all the requirements.'" The State Department carries out background checks before approval, but when a visitor or immigrant arrives at the border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) takes over, and its agents assess whether any issues have been flagged. Taub said this could even apply to those entering the U.S. on a tourist visa. A person initially stating that they were staying in the U.S. for a two-week visit to Walt Disney World before telling a border agent they may stay longer and travel around could cause suspicion and lead to problems later. What Protections Do Green Card Holders Have? The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) says that a green card holder has the right to live permanently in the U.S. provided they do not commit any actions that "would make you removable under immigration law." This includes breaking laws and not filing taxes. A green card holder is protected by all U.S. laws, including those at the state and local levels, and they can apply for jobs more freely than those who may be in the U.S. on work-based visas. Travel is also far easier with a green card than with other temporary visas, but holders must make sure they do not leave for more than six months at a time. "There's a reason why somebody would want a green card versus to be here on a temporary visa because it is lawful permanent residence, it gives you the ability to live and work permanently in the United States. But that said, it is not citizenship," Taub said. Green card holders must renew their cards every 10 years and can apply for citizenship after three years if they are married to a U.S. citizen or five if not. Can Visa and Green Card Holders Be Deported? US Deportation U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents guide illegal immigrants onboard a removal flight at Fort Bliss, Texas, on January 23, 2025. Dept. of Defense photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Nicholas J. De La Pena If visa or green card holders are found to be violating immigration rules or U.S. law, they can face deportation or removal. A person arriving at the border who is denied entry by CBP would likely simply be sent home rather than placed in detention if they were coming on a temporary nonimmigrant visa. The federal government can decide to put an immigrant who is within the U.S. into removal proceedings, which would involve a court hearing. Part of this would be the revocation of their specified visa. "There are many grounds of deportability, including criminal convictions, prostitution, domestic violence," Stephen Yale-Loehr, a retired immigration professor at Cornell University, told Newsweek. "One of the more obscure grounds that has existed for many years allows the secretary of State to put someone into deportation proceedings if the Secretary determines that that person's presence has serious adverse foreign policy consequences." "That provision has not been used very often," Yale-Loehr continued. "I can only recall one time, or two times, in the last 30 years, but now we have seen at least two instances where this administration has invoked that ground of deportability, both to revoke those students' visas and to place them in deportation proceedings." The students in question were Khalil, who is a graduate, and a doctoral student also at Columbia who was accused of "advocating for violence and terrorism" in protests on campus last year. "Coming to the United States on a visa is a privilege, not a right," Rubio said on March 12. "The Trump Administration is determined to deny or revoke your visa if you're here to support terrorists." Read more ICE detains 18 people showing up for scheduled immigration appointments Donald Trump has an unlikely legal path to a third term: What experts say What Elon Musk has said about China—Billionaire's business ties to US rival What About Due Process? The rise of visa revocations has not just been connected to those accused of showing support for Palestine or the Venezuelans deported for alleged ties to Tren de Aragua over the weekend. The reports have also included a French researcher who had messages on his phone expressing a negative opinion about Trump's cuts to science funding, along with German and British tourists who ended up in ICE custody. Mahmoud Khalil protest Pro-Palestinian activists participate in a "Fight for our Rights" rally and in support of Mahmoud Khalil in Times Square on March 15, 2025. LEONARDO MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images Yale-Loehr said anyone in the United States, even those without legal immigration status, has constitutional rights, such as the right to free speech and the right to due process—i.e., to have their case heard in court. The former professor added that the president of the United States has discretionary powers regarding immigration, however, because the issue touches on foreign relations. "This administration seems more willing to use these old deportation grounds that have been around since the Red Scare of 1950s as a way to go after people who do speak out," he said. "We'll have to see whether the courts strike down these efforts as violating the students' constitutional rights or whether they say that, despite the Constitution, the president does have the right to deport these people." For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Navy warship is sent to the southern border to carry out Trump's immigration plans

A U.S. Navy destroyer, designed to intercept ballistic missiles, has been deployed to the southern border as part of President Trump's push to seal the border and crack down on immigration, defense officials said. The USS Gravely set sail on Saturday from Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in Virginia. The warship previously served in the Middle East, where it was responsible for shooting down missiles fired by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. Now, it will help assist U.S. Northern Command in its mission to "protect the United States' territorial integrity, sovereignty, and security," Gen. Gregory Guillot, who oversees U.S. Northern Command, said in a statement. The command is the Defense Department's operation lead in using military forces to tighten border security. Sponsor Message An American flag (L) and Mexican flag (R) fly along the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas in January 2025. National As Trump shrinks other parts of government, immigration task forces grow The dispatch of the Gravely is the latest move under Trump's executive order from January declaring a national emergency at the United States' southern border. It's in addition to the thousands of active-duty troops ordered to the U.S.-Mexico border. As of last Tuesday, about 9,600 service members had been deployed or were scheduled to deploy there, according to U.S. Northern Command. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has also been developing plans to build immigration detention facilities on U.S. military bases around the country. Defense officials did not clarify where exactly the Gravely will travel to, except to say it will operate in both domestic and international waters. An immigrant prepares to board a military removal flight last month at Fort Bliss, near El Paso, Texas. National DHS memo lays out plans to detain migrants at Fort Bliss and other U.S. bases More generally, U.S. Northern Command's area of responsibility includes "the continental United States, Alaska, Canada, Mexico and the surrounding water out to approximately 500 nautical miles," the military headquarters' website reads. It also includes the Straits of Florida, parts of the Bahamas, the Caribbean region, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump renamed the Gulf of America in one of his first executive actions. The ship will carry members of a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment. Defense officials said the Navy destroyer will be part of law enforcement missions including "maritime related terrorism, weapons proliferation, transnational crime, piracy, environmental destruction, and illegal seaborne immigration." Sponsor Message At 509 feet long and capable of holding over 300 crew members, the Gravely is considered larger than any Coast Guard vessels. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Trump administration deports hundreds of immigrants even as a judge orders their removals be stopped

The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members, officials said Sunday. Flights were in the air at the time of the ruling. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order Saturday temporarily blocking the deportations, but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air — one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a statement Sunday, responded to speculation about whether the administration was flouting court orders: “The administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory.” The acronym refers to the Tren de Aragua gang, which Trump targeted in his unusual proclamation that was released Saturday In a court filing Sunday, the Department of Justice, which has appealed Boasberg’s decision, said it would not use the Trump proclamation he blocked for further deportations if his decision is not overturned. Trump sidestepped a question over whether his administration violated a court order while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening. Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks along the southern border with Mexico, on Aug. 22, 2024, in Sierra Vista, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks along the southern border with Mexico, on Aug. 22, 2024, in Sierra Vista, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) RELATED COVERAGE The Statue of Liberty is seen from the Staten Island Ferry, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, file) From France comes a call for Trump’s America to return Lady Liberty. Here’s why it won’t happen Spirits with and without the star mark in Bilka in Randers, Denmark, making it easier for customers to buy European goods, Monday, March 17, 2025. (Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) ‘Danish Viking blood is boiling.’ Danes boycott US goods with fervor as others in Europe do so too South Africa's ambassador to the U.S. Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File) Trump administration says South African ambassador has to leave the US by Friday Advertisement “I don’t know. You have to speak to the lawyers about that,” he said, although he defended the deportations. “I can tell you this. These were bad people.” Asked about invoking presidential powers used in times of war, Trump said, “This is a time of war,” describing the influx of criminal migrants as “an invasion.” Trump’s allies were gleeful over the results. “Oopsie…Too late,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who agreed to house about 300 immigrants for a year at a cost of $6 million in his country’s prisons, wrote on the social media site X above an article about Boasberg’s ruling. That post was recirculated by White House communications director Steven Cheung. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who negotiated an earlier deal with Bukele to house immigrants, posted on the site: “We sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars.” Steve Vladeck, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, said that Boasberg’s verbal directive to turn around the planes was not technically part of his final order but that the Trump administration clearly violated the “spirit” of it. “This just incentivizes future courts to be hyper specific in their orders and not give the government any wiggle room,” Vladeck said. The immigrants were deported after Trump’s declaration of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which has been used only three times in U.S. history. Advertisement In this photo provided by El Salvador's presidential press office, a prison guard transfers deportees from the U.S., alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP) In this photo provided by El Salvador’s presidential press office, a prison guard transfers deportees from the U.S., alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP) Advertisement The law, invoked during the War of 1812 and World Wars I and II, requires a president to declare the United States is at war, giving him extraordinary powers to detain or remove foreigners who otherwise would have protections under immigration or criminal laws. It was last used to justify the detention of Japanese-American civilians during World War II. Venezuela’s government in a statement Sunday rejected the use of Trump’s declaration of the law, characterizing it as evocative of “the darkest episodes in human history, from slavery to the horror of the Nazi concentration camps.” Tren de Aragua originated in an infamously lawless prison in the central state of Aragua and accompanied an exodus of millions of Venezuelans, the overwhelming majority of whom were seeking better living conditions after their nation’s economy came undone during the past decade. Trump seized on the gang during his campaign to paint misleading pictures of communities that he contended were “taken over” by what were actually a handful of lawbreakers. The Trump administration has not identified the immigrants deported, provided any evidence they are in fact members of Tren de Aragua or that they committed any crimes in the United States. It also sent two top members of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang to El Salvador who had been arrested in the United States. Advertisement Video released by El Salvador’s government Sunday showed men exiting airplanes onto an airport tarmac lined by officers in riot gear. The men, who had their hands and ankles shackled, struggled to walk as officers pushed their heads down to have them bend down at the waist. The video also showed the men being transported to prison in a large convoy of buses guarded by police and military vehicles and at least one helicopter. The men were shown kneeling on the ground as their heads were shaved before they changed into the prison’s all-white uniform — knee-length shorts, T-shirt, socks and rubber clogs — and placed in cells. The immigrants were taken to the notorious CECOT facility, the centerpiece of Bukele’s push to pacify his once violence-wracked country through tough police measures and limits on basic rights The Trump administration said the president actually signed the proclamation contending Tren de Aragua was invading the United States on Friday night but didn’t announce it until Saturday afternoon. Immigration lawyers said that, late Friday, they noticed Venezuelans who otherwise couldn’t be deported under immigration law being moved to Texas for deportation flights. They began to file lawsuits to halt the transfers. “Basically any Venezuelan citizen in the US may be removed on pretext of belonging to Tren de Aragua, with no chance at defense,” Adam Isacson of the Washington Office for Latin America, a human rights group, warned on X. The litigation that led to the hold on deportations was filed on behalf of five Venezuelans held in Texas who lawyers said were concerned they’d be falsely accused of being members of the gang. Once the act is invoked, they warned, Trump could simply declare anyone a Tren de Aragua member and remove them from the country. Boasberg barred those Venezuelans’ deportations Saturday morning when the suit was filed, but only broadened it to all people in federal custody who could be targeted by the act after his afternoon hearing. He noted that the law has never before been used outside of a congressionally declared war and that plaintiffs may successfully argue Trump exceeded his legal authority in invoking it. The bar on deportations stands for up to 14 days and the immigrants will remain in federal custody during that time. Boasberg has scheduled a hearing Friday to hear additional arguments in the case. He said he had to act because the immigrants whose deportations may actually violate the U.S. Constitution deserved a chance to have their pleas heard in court. “Once they’re out of the country,” Boasberg said, “there’s little I could do.” _____ For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Experts say Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder, can't be deported without due process

The detaining of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student and Palestinian activist who possessed a green card, has raised questions about the deportation risks faced by lawful permanent residents amid the Trump administration's escalating crackdown on immigration. President Donald Trump's administration, which has alleged that Khalil was a supporter of Hamas, has said it has the authority to deport Khalil under the Immigration and Nationality Act. "Secretary [Marco] Rubio reserves the right to revoke the visa of Mahmoud Khalil under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Secretary of State has the right to revoke a green card or a visa for individuals who are adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States of America," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press conference this week. MORE: Activist Mahmoud Khalil asked Columbia University for legal support day before ICE arrest, his wife says Khalil, whose detention has sparked protests this week, is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant. He has not been charged with a crime, and some supporters have accused the government of abducting him. Under the Immigration Nationality Act, which experts say is rarely invoked, the government can charge a green card holder as being deportable without being convicted of a crime if there are reasonable grounds to believe they engaged in certain criminal or terrorist activities. But experts and immigration attorneys ABC News spoke with said the statute does not give the secretary of state the power to deport green card holders like Khalil without going through a procedure. "The way the statute is constructed, it doesn't mean that Secretary Rubio can just say, 'Oh, I determined this, and therefore we're just going to deport you out of the country,'" said Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "You would still need to go through a process." Spencer Platt/Getty Images Protestors rally in support of Mahmoud Khalil outside of the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse, during a hearing regarding Khalil's arrest, in New York City, Mar. 12, 2025. Spencer Platt/Getty Images After the federal government invokes the statute, individuals like Khalil are entitled to argue their case before an immigration judge. Khalil is set to appear before an immigration judge later this month in Louisiana. "There are some due process and protective procedures that the person is entitled to," Chen said, "including being given a notice of the charges, and an opportunity to confront that evidence and to bring his or her own evidence in response." Chen told ABC News that typically it can take months or even years for immigration cases to "go from start to finish" -- but because of Khalil's "unique circumstances," a judge can prioritize a case and expedite the process. Experts told ABC News there are a number of reasons why an individual could lose their green card, including marriage fraud, immigration fraud, violent crimes and other offenses. Andrew Nietor, an immigration attorney, told ABC News said that while there are cases where the government invokes the Immigration and Nationality Act for certain green card holders with criminal convictions, he said he has never seen a case like Khalil's. "I've never seen this ground of deportation invoked," Nietor said. "It's almost always a green card holder who is almost always in deportation proceedings because of some type of criminal conviction." For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Trump's new travel ban could prohibit entry to the US from this 'red list' of countries

The Trump administration is finishing a travel ban that would prohibit citizens from a list of blacklisted countries from entering the U.S., officials told The New York Times and Reuters. The ban would fall under an executive order, signed by the president on Jan. 20, titled “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other,” which is meant to address “national security and public safety threats.” The order claims it will protect U.S. citizens from “aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.” Here is what you need to know about the pending travel ban. What countries would be on Trump's new travel ban? Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard have a deadline of 60 days from the order to identify such countries and enact the ban. According to Reuters, the following "red list" countries are considered to be on the travel ban list: Sudan Venezuela Somalia Syria Yemen Iran Libya Cuba North Korea Pakistan and Afghanistan are expected to be added to the list. Which countries did the Trump administration previously ban? During Trump’s first term, his administration created a series of bans against citizens from Muslim-majority countries. Get the Think Texas newsletter in your inbox. Your weekly fix of Texas history, nostalgia, myths and more. Delivery: Varies Your Email According to NAFSA.org, Trump's first administration had travel bans 3.0 and 4.0. Travel ban 3.0 barred certain Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia citizens. Travel ban 4.0 contained restrictions on immigrants but not on nonimmigrants. Travel ban 4.0 did not impact acquisition of nonimmigrant visas like F-1 student, J-1 exchange visitor, H-1B worker, etc., or admission to the U.S. in those categories. Here is a list of the 3.0 and 4.0 bans: Travel ban 3.0 countries Iran Libya North Korea Syria Venezuela Yemen Somalia Travel ban 4.0 countries Eritrea Kyrgyzstan Nigeria Myanmar Sudan Sudan What happened to the original ban? Former President Joe Biden reneged Trump's initial executive order in 2021. How would the ban affect American travelers? Experts have indicated that Americans might encounter a heightened risk of harassment while traveling to countries targeted by the Trump administration.American Society of Travel Advisors CEO Zane Kerby told Travel Weekly that "blanket 'entire country' travel bans constrain legitimate business and discourage friendly foreign visitors" and "risks retaliation from targeted countries and their allies." For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Immigration officials defend authority to hold migrants at Guantanamo Bay

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. immigration and military authorities disclosed Monday that immigrants from 27 countries were being held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba, while revealing new details of conditions of confinement and defending the government’s authority to transfer and hold immigrants at the military base. Court filings on behalf of the Homeland Security and Defense departments indicated that 40 immigrants with final deportation orders were being held at Guantanamo Bay as of Friday — with 23 labelled “high risk” and held individually in cells. The remainder were held in another area of special housing for migrants, in groups of up to six. Civil rights attorneys sued the Trump administration this month to prevent it from transferring 10 migrants detained in the U.S. to Guantanamo Bay and filed statements from men held there who said they were mistreated in conditions that of one of them called “a living hell.” Advertisement Responding to the lawsuit, Justice Department attorneys argued Monday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has broad authority to hold immigrants with final removal orders at Guantanamo Bay “for only so long as their removal remains significantly likely to occur in the reasonably foreseeable future.” Related Stories ACLU sues for access to migrants flown to Guantanamo this month ACLU sues for access to migrants flown to Guantanamo this month Nearly 200 Venezuelan migrants are flown home from Guantanamo Bay, with a layover in Honduras Nearly 200 Venezuelan migrants are flown home from Guantanamo Bay, with a layover in Honduras All you need to know about Guantánamo Bay All you need to know about Guantánamo Bay U.S. immigration and military authorities “do not need to show that (Naval Station Guantanamo Bay) is essential to that plan, logistically uncomplicated, or that it is the least expensive option,” the Trump administration argued in the court filings. Administration attorneys also said, “the government does not dispute that the mass removal efforts are intended in part to deter illegal migration.” New written testimonials from ICE and military leaders say that Guantanamo Bay detainees are being “treated with dignity and and respect,” describing access to legal counsel, regular meals, laundry service and medical care as ”not inconsistent with other ICE detention facilities.” Advertisement At the same time, the government testimonials also acknowledge the naval base is not accommodating requests for in-person visits by legal counsel, while some detainees refused to eat and some have been placed in hand and leg restraints after threatening to harm themselves. Strip searches are conducted upon arrival for “high-risk” detainees, with “pat downs” searches when immigrants leave certain holding areas. Personal phone calls of up to five minutes each day are being allowed, with conversations monitored by ICE, authorities said. Trump has said he will send the worst criminal migrants to Guantanamo Bay, but civil rights attorneys say many detainees transferred to there don’t have a serious criminal record or any criminal record. Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney in the case for immigrants aiming to block transfers to Guantanamo, said the ACLU does not have a full list of immigrants detained at the base or their countries of origin. He declined to comment further ahead of a court hearing in the case. The 10 men involved in the lawsuit came to the U.S. in 2023 or 2024, seven from from Venezuela, and the others from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Advertisement Trump in January said he wanted to expand immigrant detention facilities at Guantanamo to hold as many as 30,000 people, and his administration on Feb. 4 began flying immigrants there. Initially nearly 200 Venezuelans immigrants were transferred to Guantanamo — and later flown to their home country. No Venezuelans were detained at Guantanamo, as of Friday. While the U.S. naval base in Cuba is best known for the suspects brought in after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, it has a small, separate facility used for decades to hold migrants. Tent facilities with the capacity to hold 520 immigrants have been installed but are not yet in use. Migrants also are being held in a medium-security facility modeled after U.S. prisons. The migrant detention center operates separately from the military’s detention center and courtrooms for foreigners detained under President George W. Bush during what that administration called its “war on terror.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Immigration agents arrest Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University protests

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist Saturday who played a prominent role in Columbia University’s protests against Israel, a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s pledge to detain and deport student activists. Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia until this past December, was inside his university-owned apartment Saturday night when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press. Greer said she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa. Informed by the attorney that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that instead, according to the lawyer. Advertisement A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed Khalil’s arrest in a statement Sunday, describing it as being “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.” 0:00 / 48 AP AUDIO: ICE arrests Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University protests, his lawyer says AP correspondent Julie Walker reports ICE arrests a Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University protests. Related Stories Leader of student protests at Columbia facing deportation Leader of student protests at Columbia facing deportation Arrest of Palestinian activist stirs questions about protections for students and green card holders Arrest of Palestinian activist stirs questions about protections for students and green card holders Columbia investigates students critical of Israel Columbia investigates students critical of Israel Khalil’s arrest is the first publicly known deportation effort under Trump’s promised crackdown on students who joined protests against the war in Gaza that swept college campuses last spring. The administration has claimed participants forfeited their rights to remain in the country by supporting Hamas. McLaughlin signaled the arrest was directly connected to Khalil’s role in the protests, alleging he “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” As ICE agents arrived at Khalil’s Manhattan residence Saturday night, they also threatened to arrest Khalil’s wife, an American citizen who is eight months pregnant, Greer said. Khalil’s attorney said they were initially informed that he was being held at an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. But when his wife tried to visit Sunday, she learned he was not there. Greer said she still did not know Khalil’s whereabouts as of Sunday night. Advertisement “We have not been able to get any more details about why he is being detained,” Greer told the AP. “This is a clear escalation. The administration is following through on its threats.” A Columbia University spokesperson said law enforcement agents must produce a warrant before entering university property, but declined to say if the school had received one ahead of Khalil’s arrest. The spokesperson declined to comment on Khalil’s detention. In a message shared on X Sunday evening, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration “will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.” ▶ Follow live updates on President Donald Trump and his new administration. The Department of Homeland Security can initiate deportation proceedings against green card holders for a broad range of alleged criminal activity, including supporting a terror group. But the detention of a legal permanent resident who has not been charged with a crime marked an extraordinary move with an uncertain legal foundation, according to immigration experts. Advertisement “This has the appearance of a retaliatory action against someone who expressed an opinion the Trump administration didn’t like,” said Camille Mackler, founder of Immigrant ARC, a coalition of legal service providers in New York. Khalil, who received his master’s degree from Columbia’s school of international affairs last semester, served as a negotiator for students as they bargained with university officials over an end to the tent encampment erected on campus last spring. The role made him one of the most visible activists in support of the movement, prompting calls from pro-Israel activists in recent weeks for the Trump administration to begin deportation proceedings against him. Khalil was also among those under investigation by a new Columbia University office that has brought disciplinary charges against dozens of students for their pro-Palestinian activism, according to records shared with the AP. The investigations come as the Trump administration has followed through on its threat to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to Columbia because of what the government describes as the Ivy League school’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus. Advertisement The university’s allegations against Khalil focused on his involvement in the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group. He faced sanctions for potentially helping to organize an “unauthorized marching event” in which participants glorified Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and playing a “substantial role” in the circulation of social media posts criticizing Zionism, among other acts of alleged discrimination. “I have around 13 allegations against me, most of them are social media posts that I had nothing to do with,” Khalil told the AP last week. “They just want to show Congress and right-wing politicians that they’re doing something, regardless of the stakes for students,” he added. “It’s mainly an office to chill pro-Palestine speech.” JAKE OFFENHARTZ JAKE OFFENHARTZ Offenhartz is a general assignment reporter in the New York City bureau of The For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

USCIS Forms Update Notice

Good afternoon, We recently updated the following USCIS form(s): Form N-400, Application for Naturalization 03/04/2025 11:37 AM EST Edition Date: 03/04/25. Starting 4/4/25 we will only accept the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the prior edition(s). Form I-131, Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records 03/04/2025 11:37 AM EST Edition Date: 03/04/25. Starting 4/4/25 we will only accept the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the prior edition(s). Form I-485 Supplement J, Confirmation of Valid Job Offer or Request for Job Portability Under INA Section 204(j) 03/03/2025 11:45 AM EST Edition Date: 03/03/25. Starting 4/3/25 we will only accept the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the prior edition(s). Form I-485 Supplement A, Supplement A to Form I-485, Adjustment of Status Under Section 245(i) 03/03/2025 11:44 AM EST Edition Date: 03/03/25. Starting 4/3/25 we will only accept the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the prior edition(s). Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status 03/03/2025 11:37 AM EST Edition Date: 03/03/25. Starting 4/3/25 we will only accept the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the prior edition(s). Form I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status 03/03/2025 11:37 AM EST Edition Date: 03/03/25. Starting 5/5/25 we will only accept the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the prior edition(s). Form G-325A, Biographic Information (for Deferred Action) 03/03/2025 11:35 AM EST Edition Date: 03/03/25. Starting 4/3/25 we will only accept the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the prior edition(s). Form I-356, Request for Cancellation of Public Charge Bond 02/24/2025 12:09 PM EST Edition Date: 02/24/25. Starting 3/24/25 we will only accept the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the prior edition(s). Form I-914, Application for T Nonimmigrant Status 02/24/2025 11:36 AM EST Edition Date: 02/24/25. Starting 3/24/25 we will only accept the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the prior edition(s). Form I-941, Application for Entrepreneur Parole 02/24/2025 11:36 AM EST Edition Date: 02/24/25. Starting 3/24/25 we will only accept the 01/20/25 edition. Until then, you can also use the prior edition(s).

Trump Wants to Use the IRS to Track Down Immigrants. They May Stop Paying Taxes.

IMMIGRANTS IN THE COUNTRY ILLEGALLY paid nearly $100 billion in taxes in 2022, according to a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic policy. But that source of government revenue may soon taper off as the Trump administration pushes the Internal Revenue Service to help it accelerate its program of mass deportations. The Washington Post reported Friday that the IRS rejected a request from Homeland Security to reveal the addresses of 700,000 people the agency suspects of being undocumented, an action that could violate taxpayer privacy laws. But the Post went on to report the new acting IRS commissioner Melanie Krause is (surprise) more amenable to complying with the request to turn over the taxpayer data of immigrants. The result, experts say, is not just that tax data will be morphed into a cudgel for the immigration fights. People are also now becoming too scared to file their taxes. One immigration lawyer told me they suspect the number of people forgoing those filings will only rise as the Washington Post report hits Spanish-language media. Tax professionals and immigration advocates in areas with large immigrant populations who spoke to The Bulwark said they are already feeling the effects. And it’s not just tax filings—it’s the shriveling of small businesses with ties to the community. In Nevada, which has the third-highest rate among states of mixed-status families—where at least one family member is undocumented—an employee at Toro Taxes in Las Vegas, where their clientele is 95 percent Latino, said overall business has dropped a stunning 25 percent from last year. “Business is slow,” the employee who declined to give her name said, adding that even longtime customers have disappeared or said they won’t be filing taxes this year: “They’re saying they’re too scared.” In Corona, Queens—where in 2016 I found that one in five residents was undocumented—Dejesus Tax Services has seen the same chill among its customer base, 80 percent of whom are Latino, as tax season heats up. The owner said an estimated 60 percent of Dejesus clients known to the company to be here illegally are not showing up to file taxes so far. “Turnout has been very low,” Ramon DeJesus told The Bulwark. “At the beginning there was nobody, but now there is a trickle.” “I have people that come here with a W2 for $120,000 with no papers, usually in construction, and this year a lot of them have been afraid to come in,” he said. “Even the streets around my office have been quiet.” This dynamic has left immigrants in a desperate bind: fearful that they could be tracked down and deported if they file their taxes, but also mindful that they could get in trouble for not paying their taxes. “I’m still going to file my taxes because anything tiny, even a parking ticket, could be detrimental to my possible citizenship in the future,” one temporary protected status holder told The Bulwark, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Even if I was scared, I would still file because not filing would be worse than them not having my information.” THAT UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS PAY TAXES is not a widely known fact. But under the law, if you have reportable income, you have to pay, no matter your immigration status. And if you’re not here legally but hope to be able to change your status in the future, not paying taxes can create problems for residency or citizenship applications later on, while staying current on your tax obligations can be used to demonstrate civic responsibility to an immigration judge. These payments are a huge benefit for U.S. citizens. Of those undocumented taxpayer funds, nearly $60 billion went to the federal government, the Institute on Taxation and Economic policy study found. Another $37 billion went to local and state governments. Undocumented people paid roughly $8,889 per person in 2022. “In other words, for every 1 million undocumented immigrants who reside in the country, public services receive $8.9 billion in additional tax revenue,” the report stated. Those taxes help prop up the nation’s Social Security system, which undocumented immigrants can’t even access when they turn 65. As Trump has gone about accelerating deportations, pro-immigrant advocates have warned that the follow-on effects will include the fraying of the social safety net as these payments disappear. Americans for Tax Fairness, an advocacy organization that promotes progressive tax reform, is one of the groups shouting out those warnings. It is holding a Spanish-language briefing next week with labor leaders and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Illinois) on how, contrary to Trump’s rhetoric, undocumented immigrants are “not a drain on federal resources at all.” Don’t miss another Huddled Masses: Sign up to get it delivered for free twice a week. Type your email... Join “These are workers that are positively contributing to our communities—they’re our neighbors and coworkers who are contributing not just through their labor in critical industries like agriculture and construction, but they’re paying their taxes and don’t get benefits back,” Pablo Willis, the group’s communications director, told The Bulwark. “Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s entire business empire is based on federal subsidies, and Tesla didn’t pay taxes last year.” It’s All About the Data IMMIGRANTS WITHOUT SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS receive individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITIN) to facilitate their tax payments, which is why the IRS has records of their last known addresses and information about their families, employers, and earnings. The Trump administration is after that data because they want to use it to search out people who may be in the country illegally. The pressure being brought to bear on the agency for the data is part of a larger effort to try to collect as much useful information as possible to help recalibrate the machinery of the government to accelerate deportations. “The real danger is when they’re trying to access other databases,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Cal.) told The Bulwark. “A good example, tax information: Extremely sensitive, only certain people are supposed to have access to it, any unauthorized disclosure of that information, $5,000 fine or five years in jail. . . . I think what they’re actually after is the ITINs so they can go after undocumented immigrants; that’s why it’s so dangerous for them to have access to that information.” The prospect that the IRS may comply with the Trump White House’s request has alarmed Democrats. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) argued that doing so would violate privacy laws and lay the groundwork for future abuses. “They give their address and it’s supposed to all be confidential,” she said. “It’s not just the undocumented that should be worried.” Share The Bulwark FOR MANY, THE VERY IDEA THAT THE TRUMP administration would repurpose the logistics of paying taxes as a means to ramp up deportations demonstrates how little their deportation program is actually about tackling criminality. “What criminal pays their taxes?” asked Mariana Castro, a DACA recipient. She said that despite the swirling uncertainty of their legal fate, DACA recipients have to continue paying their taxes—and they do so with the full knowledge the government has their information. “This is something when DACA first came out, undocumented people worried about signing up because the thought was, ‘What happens if we give them our information?’” she added. “Now, in Trump’s view, I’m a criminal when I have a cleaner criminal record than the president.” In 2022, the Trump Organization was convicted of tax fraud and fined $1.6 million. Lawyers who spoke to The Bulwark said there are reasons someone might not file taxes during a certain year—they could leave the country or die, for example. They don’t believe the goal of the administration’s tax information push is for the IRS to go after immigrants using audits, but for the administration to use the information the agency gives them to track down immigrants. Matt Cameron, a Boston-based immigration lawyer, said whether immigrants use an ITIN or fake Social Security number, the money ultimately goes into the Social Security pot where it benefits everyone—just not undocumented people. “It goes into Social Security to pay Trump-supporters’ retirement,” he said. Share One Last Thing CNN is out with a new report on how Trump’s immigration crackdown is setting up “potential labor shortages, weaker economic growth and higher inflation.” With signs of legal immigration slowing and the expectation that it will decline throughout Trump’s second term, our newly hostile environment could result in worker shortages in crucial industries. To give one example of the seriousness of the situation: Our aging nation is in dire need of health care workers for the elderly. Older Americans will not be well served by an absence at their bedsides when they need help. So there’s that. Happy Wednesday!

US Immigration Service Wants To Review Applicants’ Social Media Accounts

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)—which handles visa approvals, citizenship applications and asylum requests—outlined the social media monitoring policy proposal on the Federal Register Wednesday. The proposal notes that the USCIS conducted a review of the information it collects for applications and the agency “identified the need to collect social media identifiers…from applicants.” The agency said this information would help them to carry out “identity verification, national security and public safety screening, and vetting, and related inspections.” The USCIS argues that collecting this data is necessary to comply with a day one executive order issued by Trump, “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats.” The proposal has been opened for public comments for the next 60 days. Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here. symbol 00:00 03:12 Read More What Do We Know About The Executive Order Cited By The Uscis? The executive order, which Trump signed on his first day in office, notes that it intends to protect U.S. citizens from “aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.” The USCIS argues that the social media data collection is necessary to fulfill section 2 of the order, titled “Enhanced Vetting and Screening Across Agencies.” The section calls for ensuring that “all aliens seeking admission to the United States, or who are already in the United States, are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” and establish a “uniform baseline for screening and vetting standards and procedures.” In its proposal notice, the USCIS says social media information is necessary for “establishing enhanced screening and vetting standards” and “help validate an applicant's identity.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Privately run immigration detention center to reopen

A private prison company has signed an agreement to reopen an immigrant detention facility in Texas that previously held families with children for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the business said Wednesday. Nashville-based CoreCivic announced the contract with ICE and the city of Dilley regarding the 2,400-bed South Texas Family Residential Center, located about 85 miles (135 kilometers) north of Laredo and the Mexico border. The center was used during the administration of President Barack Obama and Donald Trump’s first presidency. But President Joe Biden phased out family detention in 2021, and CoreCivic said the facility was idled in 2024. “We do acknowledge that we anticipate housing families” at Dilley, CoreCivic spokesman Ryan Gustin told The Associated Press. CoreCivic said in a statement that the facility “was purpose-built for ICE in 2014 to provide an appropriate setting for a family population.” The new contract runs through at least March 2030. ICE officials did not immediately respond to messages seeking information about who will be held at Dilley and how soon. The agency — which mostly detains immigrants at privately operated detention facilities, its own processing centers and local prisons and jails — entered this year with zero facilities geared toward families, who last year accounted for about one-third of arrivals on the southern border. The Trump administration has expanded the detention of migrants to military bases including Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba, via flights out of Army installations at El Paso, Texas, as it promises to ramp up mass deportations. Private detention contractors with longstanding ties to ICE, including CoreCivic and GEO Group, say they offer less expensive options than the military for an array of immigrant detention services and transportation including international flights. During Trump’s first administration, he authorized the use of military bases to detain immigrant children, including Army installations at Fort Bliss, Texas, and Goodfellow Air Force Base. In 2014, Obama temporarily relied on military bases to detain immigrant children while ramping up privately operated family detention centers to hold many of the tens of thousands of Central American families crossing the border illegally. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Fact-checking Trump's speech to Congress

President Donald Trump delivered his first speech to Congress of his second term Tuesday night, celebrating the big spending cuts, crackdown on migration and economic vision from the opening weeks of his administration. In his remarks, Trump bent the facts on issues including Social Security, immigration, fentanyl and the Russia-Ukraine war. Here's what Trump got right — and wrong — during his 100-minute address. Economic issues Fact check: Are millions of people older than 100 — including some older than 160 — collecting Social Security? Trump said: “We’re also identifying shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program for our seniors.” This is false. Trump alleged in his speech that millions of senior citizens over age 100 — including some he maintained were older than 160 — were collecting Social Security checks, according to Social Security Administration data. Trump specifically said that SSA records indicated that 4.7 million people 100 to 109 were getting checks, that 3.6 million 110 to 119 were, that 3.47 million 120 to 129 were, that 3.9 million 130 to 139 were, that 3.5 million 140 to 149 were, that 1.3 million 150 to 159 were — and that even 130,000 people older than 160 years old were still getting checks. He also alleged that several hundred people older than 220 were still getting checks, according to SSA data — and that “one person is listed at 360 of age.” The alleged fraud that Trump — and DOGE chief Elon Musk — have pointed to doesn’t exist. Rather, the numbers they refer to are products of a known problem with the government’s data. There are millions of people over age 100 in the Social Security Administration’s database, but the vast majority aren’t receiving benefits. Inspectors general at the agency have repeatedly identified the issue, but the Social Security Administration has argued that updating old records is costly and unnecessary. An SSA IG report from 2023 showed 18.9 million people listed as 100 years or older — but not dead — were in the database. But “almost none” currently receive SSA payments. The SSA’s inspector general also found in a report released in July that from 2015 to 2022, only 0.84% of benefits payments were improper. That 0.84% of improper benefits payments totaled $71.8 billion over eight years. The report also says most of the improper payments were overpayments — not payments to dead people or people who didn’t qualify. In addition, according to the agency’s online records, just 89,106 people — not tens of millions — over age 99 received retirement benefits in December, out of the more than 70 million people who receive benefits every year. Fact check: Under whose watch did egg prices spike? Trump said: "Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control — and we are working hard to get it back down." This needs context. It’s true that egg prices spiked during Biden’s presidency as inflation rose steadily. The average price of one dozen Grade A eggs peaked during the Biden administration in January 2023 at $4.32, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. It eventually retreated, falling to less than half that by late 2023, before it rose again last year. According to that government data, however, the average price of one dozen Grade A eggs peaked this January at $4.95, a month in office that Trump shared with Biden — a product of the growing transmission of bird flu among chickens. That is nearly double the price they were in January 2024 ($2.52). Fact check: Trump says car plants are "opening up all over the place" Trump said: “We’re going to have growth in the auto industry like nobody’s ever seen. Plants are opening up all over the place. Deals are being made, never seen. That’s a combination of the election win and tariffs. It’s a beautiful word, isn’t it, that, along with our other policies, will allow our auto industry to absolutely boom. It’s going to boom. Spoke to the majors today, all three, the top people, and they’re so excited. In fact, already, numerous car companies have announced that they will be building massive automobile plants in America, with Honda just announcing a new plant in Indiana, one of the largest anywhere in the world.” This is mostly false. No automaker has announced a new plant since Trump took office and began instituting new tariffs. Reuters reported that Honda planned to produce 210,000 Civics in Indiana instead of Mexico, but the company hasn’t made a public announcement. What’s more, it’s unclear whether Honda would expand its operations in Indiana, open a new plant or simply move production of the new Civic to the plant and reduce production of other vehicles there, too. Honda’s Indiana plant produces as many as 250,000 vehicles annually. In addition, Trump’s move to impose a 25% tariff on all imports coming into the United States from Canada and Mexico could add thousands of dollars to the cost of each new vehicle. Immigration Fact check: Trump claims illegal immigration "destroyed" Aurora, Colo., and Springfield, Ohio Trump said: "Joe Biden didn’t just open our borders. He flew illegal aliens over them to overwhelm our schools, hospitals and communities throughout the country. Entire towns like Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, buckled under the weight of the migrant occupation and corruption like nobody has ever seen before. Beautiful towns destroyed." This is false. Springfield and Aurora have long been some of Trump’s favorite targets when it comes to examples of American cities he likes to nod to as being overrun by migrants, though he often misrepresents the situations there. He didn’t mention any specific allegations about the two cities in his speech — but his reference to them is a clear reference to previous false allegations about them. For example, Trump repeated a baseless claim about Haitian immigrants in Springfield eating dogs and other pets during a debate last year. The story provide false, however. The culprit was a non-migrant woman in a nearby town. Meanwhile, Trump also painted a sinister picture of Aurora during the campaign. At a rally there in October, he alleged the city had been overtaken by a Venezuelan prison gang — Tren de Aragua — after a social media clip went viral claiming the gang had taken over an apartment complex in Aurora. Police at the time said there was no evidence the gang had taken over the complex, and Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, called Trump’s descriptions “not accurate.” Fact check: Is Canada, along with Mexico, to blame for the fentanyl crisis? Trump said of Canada and Mexico: “They’ve allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before, killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens and many very young, beautiful people, destroying families. Nobody has ever seen anything like it.” This is partly false. While fentanyl comes across the border from Mexico in significant numbers, Canada is hardly to blame for the crisis. In the 2024 fiscal year, fentanyl seizures at the northern border were just 43 pounds, according to Customs and Border Protection data. Meanwhile, more than 21,000 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the southern border during the same period. Fact check: Trump says many migrants who entered the country the past four years were criminals Trump said: “Over the past four years, 21 million people poured into the United States. Many of them were murderers, human traffickers, gang members and other criminals from the streets of dangerous cities all throughout the world because of Joe Biden’s insane and very dangerous open border policies. They are now strongly embedded in our country, but we are getting them out and getting them out fast.” This is misleading. According to Customs and Border Protection data, the Biden administration had more than an estimated 14 million migrant encounters at and between ports of entry at U.S. borders. More than 118,000 migrants with criminal backgrounds were apprehended at U.S. borders during that time — a small part of the more than over 14 million migrant encounters. There have been instances of migrants found to have criminal records from their home countries after they’ve entered the United States, but there is no evidence to support that it is widespread, and immigration officials have long cited challenges with getting criminal records from certain migrants’ home countries before they cross the border. The Trump administration has frequently cited the presence of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in the United States and the high-profile killing of the Georgia nursing student Laken Riley last year by a Venezuelan national who entered the country illegally in 2022 as indicative of widespread migrant crime. Fact check: Is Trump responsible for "the lowest numbers of illegal border crossers ever"? Trump said: “Since taking office, my administration has launched the most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history — and we quickly achieved the lowest numbers of illegal border crossers ever recorded.” This appears to be true, but questions about the specifics remain. Recommended Donald Trump 'We are just getting started': Trump touts his agenda to reshape America It is unclear whether Trump is speaking about border crossings, encounters and/or apprehensions. According to Customs and Border Protection data from 2000 to 2019 that compares apprehensions across the various sectors by month, the month with the fewest crossings on record was April 2017, at 11,677. CPB says, “From Jan. 21 through Jan. 31, 2025, the number of U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions along the southwest border dropped 85% from the same period in 2024.” Trump claimed last month on Truth Social: “There were only 8,326 apprehensions of Illegals by Border Patrol at the U.S. — Mexico Border.” Health Fact check: Trump says more children are being diagnosed with autism Trump said: “As an example, not long ago, and you can’t even believe these numbers, 1 in 10,000 children had autism. One in 10,000, and now it’s 1 in 36. There’s something wrong. One in 36, think of that, so we’re going to find out what it is.” This needs context. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this ratio is correct. But the statistic is often used to justify opposition to vaccination. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pointed to vaccines to explain the substantial rise in autism diagnoses in recent decades, which have ballooned from an estimated 1 in 150 children in 2000 to 1 in 36 today. But the science is clear that vaccines don’t cause autism. Rather, research suggests that much of the increase is due to increasing awareness and screening for the condition, changing definitions of autism to include milder conditions on the spectrum that weren’t recognized in previous years and advances in diagnostic technology. Finding the causes of autism is complicated, because it’s not a single disorder, scientists and experts have told NBC News. In addition, those scientists and experts have said they believe that people develop autistic traits because of a combination of genetic vulnerability and environmental exposures. International Fact check: Trump claims U.S. is spending much more on Ukraine than Europe Trump said: “Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine by far. Think of that. They’ve spent more buying Russian oil and gas than they have defending. And we’ve spent perhaps $350 billion, and they’ve spent $100 billion. And we have an ocean separating us, and they don’t. And Biden has authorized more money in this fight than Europe has spent.” This is mostly false. From Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to last December, the United States had allocated $114.2 billion in aid to Ukraine, according to the Kiel Institute, which is tracking aid to Ukraine. That’s not more than Europe spent: Those nations allocated more than $132.3 billion, with plans to allocate more. Trump is correct in pointing out that Europe has spent more on oil and gas than it spent on military assistance last year, according to estimates from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Oil and gas taxes account for a huge share of Russia’s revenues each year. Polling Fact check: Is the share of Americans who think the country is on "right" track at a record high? Trump said: “For the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is headed in the right direction than the wrong direction.” This is false. Trump appears to be cherry-picking a single poll result and ignoring a few strong numbers from early in Biden’s term. While he doesn’t cite his source, it seems likely he’s pointing to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll showing that 47% say America’s on the “right track.” Rasmussen is a right-wing poll that regularly partners with conservative authors and outlets to sponsor its polling. And it’s controversial — the polling aggregation site FiveThirtyEight removed the poll from its averages last year over concerns about its partisanship and its methodology. It’s true that many polls have shown a bump in the classic “right track, wrong track” question since Trump took office. For example, NPR/Marist/PBS’ newest poll found 45% saying the country is moving in the right direction, up from 35% in December and from even lower during earlier parts of the Biden administration. But those highs have been hit before — 47% said America was moving in the right direction in a July 2021 poll from NPR/Marist/PBS (49% thought it was moving in the wrong direction). And just months earlier, a Politico/Morning Consult poll found 51% of registered voters saying the country was going in the right direction.