Federal
Immigration Takes Center Stage at State of the Union as Both Parties Use Guest Lists to Underscore Divide
Immigration dominated the lead-up to and delivery of President Trump’s State of the Union address on February 24, with both parties using their guest lists as a deliberate messaging tool to illustrate their sharply different visions of the issue. The White House hosted a vigil for families of crime victims it attributed to undocumented immigrants in the days before the address. President Trump devoted significant time in his speech to the administration’s enforcement record, framing mass deportations and border crackdowns as central achievements of his second term.
Democrats countered by inviting guests whose stories highlighted the human costs of the administration’s enforcement policies, including immigrants caught up in raids, family members separated from U.S. citizen relatives, and community members affected by the DHS shutdown. The dueling guest lists made the chamber itself a visual representation of the debate, with each side using their invited attendees to press a competing narrative before a national audience. In the Democratic response, former Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger criticized the administration’s immigration tactics while arguing that Democrats must also focus on kitchen-table affordability concerns, signaling that the party is working to hold both lines simultaneously as it prepares for the midterm cycle.
Congressional Testimony Reveals ICE Training Deficiencies as Agency Rapidly Expands Officer Ranks
At a February 23 forum hosted by congressional Democrats, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) training instructor testified that the agency has systematically dismantled its officer training program while racing to hire thousands of new agents, and has lied to Congress about the extent of those cuts. Ryan Schwank, an attorney who resigned from ICE on February 13 after serving as an instructor at the ICE Academy in Georgia, told senators and representatives that current recruits receive nearly 250 fewer hours of training than previous cohorts, that more than a dozen practical exams have been eliminated, and that courses on use of force, legal searches and seizures, and the limits of officer authority have been condensed or cut entirely. Whistleblower documents compiled in a 90-page Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations memo appear to contradict acting ICE Director Todd Lyons’ testimony earlier this month that training hours had not been reduced, showing that the number of required practical exams to graduate has dropped from 25 to 9 since July 2021.
Schwank also testified that on his first day as a training instructor, he was secretly shown an internal ICE memo authorizing agents to forcefully enter homes without a judicial warrant and ordered to teach its contents to cadets, warned that refusal would cost him his job, and told that the attorney who held the position before him had been forced out for refusing to comply. “ICE made the program shorter, and they removed so DHS denied all allegations, maintaining that no training requirements have been removed and that officers receive comprehensive constitutional instruction, even as ICE presses ahead with plans to graduate more than 4,000 new enforcement officers before the end of fiscal year 2026.
White House Considers Requiring Banks to Collect Citizenship Information
The Trump administration is considering a possible executive order or other action that would require banks to collect citizenship information from their customers, as a potential expansion of existing know your customer (KYC) rules, which currently require banks to collect a customer’s name, date of birth, and home address to help prevent money laundering and other financial crimes. The potential action could require banks to collect new categories of documentation, such as passports, from new customers, and, if retroactive, to solicit documentation from current account holders as well. REAL IDs, which do not prove citizenship, would not satisfy the requirement. Regarding this possible action, White House spokesman Kush Desai said, “Any reporting about potential policymaking that has not been officially announced by the White House is baseless speculation.”
Banks have lobbied against the potential action, questioning both its legal basis and logistical feasibility. Industry representatives have warned that verifying every customer’s citizenship status would be unworkable and would force banks nationwide to solicit documentation that is not always readily available from hundreds of millions of customers. Roughly half of Americans do not hold passports, and it remains unclear what alternative documentation would be accepted. Legal experts have raised concerns that the requirement could prevent many non-citizen legal residents from accessing banks, pushing them toward less-regulated financial services. It is also not yet clear whether the order would require banks to simply collect more information or go further by refusing to do business with individuals who do not provide the added documentation.
Legal
Judge Strikes Down Trump Administration Policy Allowing Rapid Deportations to Third Countries
A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled on February 25 that a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy allowing immigration authorities to rapidly deport migrants to “third countries” — nations other than those named in their original removal orders — is unlawful and violates both federal immigration law and due process. The policy, first issued in March 2025 and reaffirmed in July 2025, allowed officers to carry out such deportations without first providing migrants written notice or a meaningful opportunity to contest their removal, so long as the government had received general assurances from the receiving country that deportees would not face persecution or torture. The judge paused his ruling for 15 days to give the administration time to appeal.
The Trump administration quickly pushed back, with DHS saying it was “confident” it would prevail again after the Supreme Court had previously issued two emergency stays against the same judge earlier in the case. The ruling has a lengthy procedural backdrop, including a May 2025 incident in which the judge found the administration had violated a preliminary injunction by attempting to deport a group of men to war-torn South Sudan with less than 24 hours’ notice. The men were subsequently held in a converted shipping container at a U.S. naval base in Djibouti before the Supreme Court ultimately cleared the way for their removal.
Justice Department Sues New Jersey Over Executive Order Restricting ICE Access to State Property
On February 23, the Department of Justice filed a 21-page lawsuit in federal court in Trenton against New Jersey and Governor Mikie Sherrill, seeking to block her Executive Order No. 12, signed February 11, which bars ICE from making civil immigration arrests in nonpublic areas of state-owned property without a judicial warrant and prohibits federal agents from using state facilities as staging grounds for immigration raids. The DOJ complaint argues the order violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause in three ways: federal immigration law preempts it, it unlawfully regulates the federal government, and it unlawfully discriminates against federal officers by singling them out without placing similar limits on other law enforcement. Notably, the 21-page filing misspells Governor Sherrill’s last name five of the eight times she is mentioned.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of four prior DOJ actions against Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, and Hoboken over sanctuary city policies, and reflects a broader pattern of Attorney General Pam Bondi targeting Democratic-led states and localities that limit cooperation with ICE. Governor Sherrill responded by saying the federal government should focus on training ICE agents to meet the same standards as any New Jersey law enforcement officer rather than suing states committed to public safety, and New Jersey Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport dismissed the challenge as “pointless,” vowing to defend the order in court. The executive order’s practical reach extends to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, which sits on land leased from the state’s Sports and Exposition Authority and is set to host FIFA World Cup matches this summer.
Federal Judges Rebuke ICE for Repeatedly Defying Court Orders to Release Detainees
Federal judges across the country have grown increasingly frustrated with ICE’s pattern of ignoring, delaying, and circumventing court orders to release immigrants from detention. ICE’s noncompliance has taken multiple forms: rapidly transferring detainees across state lines to frustrate habeas petitions, holding individuals for days or weeks after judges have ordered their release, and in some cases submitting false documents to the court. In Maine, a top ICE official admitted under oath that documents he had sworn to have authored and attested were true were in fact not written by him and were false, prompting a judge to order an additional hearing, and four federal judges in Maine-related cases have separately ordered detainees’ immediate release after finding ICE had either filed false information or defied court orders outright.
Even when ICE does comply with release orders, judges have found it often does so in bad faith, dropping detainees in distant states far from family and counsel, sometimes without phones, identification, or adequate clothing in freezing temperatures. Courts have responded by issuing increasingly specific conditions in their orders, requiring ICE to release detainees in the correct jurisdiction, with their documents and belongings, and without GPS monitors or other conditions that effectively re-impose restrictions on people the courts have ruled should never have been detained at all. The consequences of releasing vulnerable individuals without adequate care were thrown into sharp relief by the February 19 death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a 56-year-old nearly blind Rohingya refugee who was dropped off by Border Patrol agents at a Buffalo coffee shop after it was determined he could not be deported. His body was found five days later. Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan called his death “preventable” and demanded accountability.
State and Local
Minnesota Communities Report Ongoing ICE Enforcement After Operation Metro Surge Winds Down
Despite federal officials’ announcements that Operation Metro Surge has ended and most agents have departed, on-the-ground observers across the Twin Cities metro and greater Minnesota report that ICE activity has continued with little apparent change. Legal observers and community monitoring networks have continued to spot masked agents in tactical gear, out-of-state vehicles, and active arrests in suburban parking lots through at least February 24, with sightings reported in Coon Rapids, Fridley, south Minneapolis, and elsewhere. Data tracking enforcement activity during and after the surge has documented individual cases illustrating the breadth of operations, including the detention of a 16-year-old Ecuadorian asylum seeker who was misclassified as an unaccompanied minor and temporarily lost in federal custody.
Community leaders and advocates are urging continued vigilance, rejecting the federal framing that the surge is over. Duluth City Councilor David Clanaugh told colleagues at a February 23 council meeting that constituents have “enough evidence about how our federal government’s currently working to not trust these things.” Mutual-aid networks continue to operate at surge levels, many immigrant residents remain afraid to leave home for work or groceries, and some cities are calling on Governor Tim Walz to enact a statewide eviction moratorium as residents struggle to keep up with rent.
BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED
S. 3909
A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to provide that the prohibition on the possession of firearms and ammunition by certain aliens shall apply with respect to the use of firearms and ammunition by government entities
Sponsored by Sen. Ted Budd (R-North Carolina) (4 cosponsors)
02/25/2026 Introduced by Sen. Budd
02/25/2026 Read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
S. 3917
A bill to prohibit the issuance of commercial driver’s licenses to individuals who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States or holders of certain work visas, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Sen. Jim Banks (R-Indiana) (5 cosponsors)
02/25/2026 Introduced by Sen. Banks
02/25/2026 Read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
S. 3920
A bill to strengthen homeland security by expanding Urban Areas Security Initiative grant eligibility criteria to promote cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to advance election security protections
Sponsored by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) (0 cosponsors)
02/25/2026 Introduced by Sen. Scott
02/25/2026 Read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
S. 3921
A bill to establish eligibility requirements for the use of Federal funds for Special Event Assessment Rating support in sanctuary jurisdictions and to reallocate such funds to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for immigration enforcement efforts
Sponsored by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) (0 cosponsors)
02/25/2026 Introduced by Sen. Scott
02/25/2026 Read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
S. 3932
A bill to require the Office of Detention Oversight to conduct audits of detention facilities and to restrict the detention of aliens at such facilities until after any deficiencies revealed in such audits have been properly remediated
Sponsored by Sen. Andy Kim (D-New Jersey) (0 cosponsors)
02/26/2026 Introduced by Sen. Kim
02/26/2026 Read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
S. 3933
A bill to prohibit funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act from being used to recruit or hire new immigration enforcement agents or officers at ICE or CBP
Sponsored by Sen. Andy Kim (D-New Jersey) (0 cosponsors)
02/26/2026 Introduced by Sen. Kim
02/26/2026 Read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
H.R. 7612
To amend chapter 93 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit obstruction of immigration laws by official interference
Sponsored by Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) (0 cosponsors)
02/20/2026 Introduced by Rep. Gooden
02/20/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 7621
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain activities of immigration officers in connection with elections, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Rep. John Larson (D-Connecticut) (11 cosponsors)
02/20/2026 Introduced by Rep. Larson
02/20/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 7640
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to improve public safety through the enforcement of Federal immigration law in the interior of the United States, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-California) (0 cosponsors)
02/23/2026 Introduced by Rep. McClintock
02/23/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 7664
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for the performance of certain Department of Homeland Security counsel functions by State officers and employees, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Rep. Derek Schmidt (R-Kansas) (0 cosponsors)
02/24/2026 Introduced by Rep. Schmidt
02/24/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 7680
To amend the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to require that certain nonprofits comply with E-Verify
Sponsored by Rep. Mark Alford (R-Missouri) (0 cosponsors)
02/25/2026 Introduced by Rep. Alford
02/25/2026 Referred to the Committees on the Judiciary and Education and Workforce
H.R. 7682
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to base the numerical limitations for H-2B nonimmigrants on economic need, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Michigan) (2 cosponsors)
02/25/2026 Introduced by Rep. Bergman
02/25/2026 Referred to the Committees on the Judiciary and Education and Workforce
H.R. 7703
To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide that the prohibition on the possession of firearms and ammunition by certain aliens shall apply with respect to the use of firearms and ammunition by government entities
Sponsored by Rep. Mary Miller (R-Illinois) (19 cosponsors)
02/25/2026 Introduced by Rep. Miller
02/25/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 7708
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to return identification documents to individuals upon their release from custody, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) (0 cosponsors)
02/25/2026 Introduced by Rep. Pingree
02/25/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 7743
To provide for a limitation on the obligation of funds for certain immigration enforcement purposes until a report on the use of databases by immigration officers is submitted
Sponsored by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) (0 cosponsors)
02/26/2026 Introduced by Rep. Pingree
02/26/2026 Referred to the Committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security
LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR
The U.S. Senate is scheduled to be in session Monday, March 2 through Friday, March 6. The House of Representatives is scheduled to be in session Monday, March 2 through Thursday, March 5.
UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS
Oversight Hearings to Examine the Department of Homeland Security
Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 9:00 AM ET (Senate Judiciary Committee)
Location: 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
Witnesses: The Honorable Kristi Noem (Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security)
SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES
The Forum is constantly publishing new policy-focused resources that engage with some of the most topical issues around immigration today. Here are a few that are particularly relevant this week:
Reshaping Refuge: The New Era of United States Refugee Admissions
USCIS Internal Memo on Review of Admitted Refugees
*As of publication (2/27/26 at 12:00 PM EST)
This Bulletin is not intended to be comprehensive. Please contact Nicci Mattey, Senior Policy & Advocacy Associate at the Forum, with questions, comments, and suggestions for additional items to be included. Nicci can be reached at nmattey@forumtogether.org. Thank you.