After many years as the Legislative Bulletin, we are giving our weekly roundup a new name: the Policy Bulletin. The content you rely on is not changing. Every week, our policy team will continue bringing you key immigration developments across Congress, the executive and judicial branches, and state and local governments. Thank you for your readership.
Federal
GOP Strategists and White House Signal Pivot on Immigration Rhetoric Before 2026 Midterms
With the November 2026 midterms now firmly in view, the White House and House Republican leadership have begun shifting their public messaging on immigration, instructing lawmakers to move away from the phrase “mass deportations” and instead center their communications on the removal of violent criminals. White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair delivered the guidance in a private briefing at the House Republican policy retreat in Doral, Florida on March 10. Speaker Mike Johnson offered an acknowledgment of the political challenge at the retreat, telling reporters that enforcement actions have caused “a slight setback with some Hispanic and Latino voters” and that “we’re in a correction phase.”
The rhetorical shift reflects growing concern within the party about polling that shows significant public unease with the administration’s approach. A January 2026 poll found nearly half of U.S. adults believe Trump’s deportation campaign is too aggressive, including one in five of his own 2024 voters. Additionally, a February poll found that 65 percent of U.S. adults believe Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has gone too far. The White House has denied that any policy change is underway, with a spokesperson stating that “nobody is changing the administration’s immigration enforcement agenda” and pointing to the administration’s claim that approximately 70 percent of deportations to date have involved individuals with criminal records. However, an internal government document found that less than 14 percent of those arrested by ICE in Trump’s first year had violent criminal records, leaving the gap between the administration’s public framing and its own data as a central fault line heading into the fall campaign.
President Trump Threatens Legislative Holdout Over the SAVE America Act
President Trump has threatened to withhold his signature from most legislation until Congress passes the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, an elections overhaul bill that has now passed the House twice but faces long odds in the Senate. The legislation would require Americans to show proof of citizenship in person to register to vote in federal elections, mandate photo identification for in-person and mail voting, and direct states to verify voter rolls against a federal database maintained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Critics argue the requirements would effectively disenfranchise millions of eligible voters who lack ready access to passports or birth certificates, including people who have changed their names and residents of states with high mail-voting participation. President Trump has further pushed to expand the bill beyond its original scope, calling on Republicans to add a near-total ban on mail voting and provisions restricting transgender participation in sports, additions that have created fresh resistance within the House Republican conference.
In the Senate, the bill faces an even steeper climb. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said there are not enough votes to eliminate or modify the filibuster, meaning the bill would need 60 votes to advance. Meanwhile, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) among several Republicans, pushed back directly at the Doral retreat, saying he does not want the federal government prohibiting absentee voting where proper standards are in place. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), facing a competitive primary and seeking President Trump’s endorsement, broke with years of his own stated position by publishing an op-ed calling for filibuster rule changes to pass the bill.
Asylum Bids by Iranian Women’s Soccer Players Prompt U.S. Offer and Australian Action
The Iranian national women’s and men’s soccer team have been the center of attention amidst their recent game in the Asia Cup in Australia where members of the team have gradually been receiving visas for asylum status and recent airstrikes by the United States on Iran. On March 9, the Iranian national women’s soccer team conducted a silent protest of their country’s regime by standing silently during the Iranian national anthem in the Asia Cup game in Australia. President Donald Trump pressured Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to provide the women’s team with asylum, citing the lack of safety amidst political tensions and military activity in the country. On March 10 Australia granted seven members of Iranian women’s team asylum status. The following day on March 11, one of the seven members of those who received visas contacted the Iranian Embassy as to return to Iran. The rest of that initial set of members were relocated. Remaining members of the team, from players to staff, await pending visas.
White House Dismisses United Nations Warning That President Trump’s Immigration Rhetoric May Incite Hate Crimes
On March 11, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued a formal warning that President Trump and other U.S. political leaders are employing “racist hate speech” that has contributed to “serious human rights violations” against migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. The committee, made up of 18 independent experts, expressed alarm over the use of dehumanizing language and the spread of harmful stereotypes, stating that characterizing migrants as criminals or as a burden “could incite racial discrimination and hate crimes,” and separately criticized what it described as Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) “systematic reliance on racial profiling and arbitrary identity checks” targeting individuals of Latino, African, and Asian descent. The report also noted that at least eight individuals have died during ICE operations or while in ICE custody since January, including protesters and detained refugees and asylum seekers.
The White House rejected the findings, with spokesperson Olivia Wales saying in an emailed statement that the United Nations’ “extreme bias continues to show why no one pays them any mind,” and pointing to a reported 125-year low in the U.S. homicide rate as evidence that the administration’s approach is making the country safer. The committee’s condemnation is notable as a rare direct criticism of a sitting U.S. president by a United Nations body.
Legal
Appeals Court Upholds Haiti TPS as Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to End Protections for 350,000 Haitians
A federal appeals court upheld Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for approximately 350,000 Haitian immigrants on March 7, affirming a lower court ruling that blocked the Trump administration’s effort to end the designation effective February 3. The 2-1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit left in place a district court finding that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary’s termination of Haiti’s TPS designation was likely motivated by racial animus, citing then-Secretary Noem’s own public characterizations of Haitian immigrants. Haiti was first granted TPS in 2010 following a catastrophic earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people, and the designation has been extended repeatedly as the country has faced persistent gang violence, widespread displacement, and severe economic instability.
The Trump administration responded by asking the Supreme Court on March 12 to grant emergency relief and allow it to end the protections while litigation continues. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that lower courts are “attempting to block major executive-branch policy initiatives” and that the racial animus theory embraced by the district court threatened to invalidate “virtually every immigration policy of the current administration.” The Supreme Court has already allowed the administration to roll back TPS for Venezuelan migrants, and a parallel request involving Syrian immigrants remains pending before the Court, making the Haiti case part of a broader legal battle that will likely determine the administration’s authority to unilaterally end TPS designations across more than a dozen countries.
Businesses Challenge $100,000 H-1B Fee in Court as Lawmakers Propose Reversing Trump Visa Restrictions
On March 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard an appeal challenging the $100,000 fee imposed on H-1B visa applications by President Trump in September 2025. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Association of American Universities argued that the $100,000 fee is a tax that only Congress has the authority to impose. In another case, the Supreme Court recently struck down the president’s tariff authority and affirmed that taxing power is vested in Congress alone. A Justice Department attorney stated the fee was intended to restrict entry rather than a revenue-raising tax, though judges pressed on how to characterize the payment if employers pay it.
Separately, Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) introduced the Welcoming International Success Act (WISA Act), which would eliminate the $100,000 fee and reverse wage changes introduced under the proclamation. In February, a bipartisan group of 100 members of Congress urged the administration to exempt the health care sector from the fee, citing nursing shortages driven by an aging workforce and pandemic-related burnout. Conversely, several Republican-led states have restricted H-1B hiring; Texas froze new H-1B petitions at state agencies through May 2027, and Florida approved a one-year ban on H-1B hiring at public universities.
Judge Preserves Immigration Appeals Process as Administration Seeks to Curtail Board Review
On March 9, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking a Trump administration rule that would have dramatically curtailed the immigration appeals process, vacating the rule’s core provisions just hours before they were set to take effect. The rule, issued by the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) without notice-and-comment rulemaking, would have cut the window to file a notice of appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) from 30 days to 10, treated any argument not raised in that initial notice as waived, and required summary dismissal of an appeal unless the full BIA voted within 10 days to accept the case. The court found the administration likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by bypassing required rulemaking procedures and raised what it described as “serious due-process concerns,” writing that under the proposed rule an appellant “will almost certainly lose his case before the BIA before it even begins.” At the end of fiscal year 2025, 202,946 appeals were pending before the BIA, compared to 37,285 a decade ago.
The ruling adds to a growing body of judicial pushback against the administration’s efforts to streamline and accelerate the immigration adjudication system. In a parallel high-profile case, pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil filed a 50-page appeal to the BIA on March 3, arguing that an immigration judge in Louisiana made “evident factual and legal mistakes” in ordering his deportation to Syria or Algeria on grounds that he had failed to disclose information on his green card application, charges his attorneys have characterized as retaliatory and pretextual. Khalil, a lawful permanent resident with no criminal record and a U.S. citizen spouse and child, was first arrested by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents in March 2025. His case has become a focal point in broader debates about the administration’s use of immigration enforcement against students and political dissidents.
State and Local
Local and State Governments Escalate Legal and Legislative Resistance to ICE Detention Expansion
The Trump administration’s effort to build out a national network of immigration detention facilities is facing a sustained and increasingly bipartisan wave of resistance from local and state governments, with 12 proposed warehouse conversions canceled so far and at least seven more still in contention. In Maryland, a federal court granted a temporary restraining order this week pausing construction on a proposed 1,500-bed facility near Hagerstown after Attorney General Anthony Brown filed an emergency motion arguing that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had awarded a $113 million renovation contract to begin March 6 without conducting the environmental review required by federal law. The suit noted that the 825,000-square-foot warehouse sits near a stream that feeds into the Potomac River and is served by infrastructure “wholly insufficient” to support a detention center of its size. Elsewhere, the Seattle City Council passed a yearlong moratorium on new detention facilities, Mableton, Georgia approved a similar temporary ban, and Bexar County in Texas passed a formal resolution of opposition ahead of potential legal challenges, joining a growing roster of local governments taking preemptive action.
The pattern of successful opposition has often depended on early, bipartisan coordination between local and federal officials. In Merrimack, New Hampshire, Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte met with DHS and announced on February 24 that a planned facility would not move forward after a swift coalition of local, state, and federal officials mobilized against it. In Mississippi, Republican Senator Roger Wicker’s letter to DHS citing threats to economic development and infrastructure was sufficient to shelve plans for a Byhalia facility.
Where bipartisan pressure has been absent, plans have moved further along. A proposed facility in Orlando, Florida has faced quieter resistance, with Orange County commissioners formalizing their opposition while Republican officials at the state level have remained either silent or supportive. In Kansas, one town voted to allow a detention center in a shuttered prison after a yearlong local debate. In all, the federal government has spent $894 million purchasing 10 warehouses nationwide for conversion, with DHS maintaining the facilities will create jobs, generate tax revenue, and meet standard detention requirements.
Tennessee Statehouse Advances Measures on School Immigration Reporting
On March 11, the Tennessee House Education Committee advanced a revised version of House Bill 793 that would require public schools to verify and report students’ immigration status to state government. The revised legislation removes provisions from the original bill that would have allowed schools to deny enrollment to undocumented students or charge their families tuition. Legislators removed those provisions after concluding they would cost Tennessee more than $1 billion in federal education funding and directly conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1982 ruling in Plyler v. Doe, which held that denying children public education on the basis of immigration status violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause. The amended House version now differs from both the Senate companion bill and a similar measure that narrowly failed last year, with the debate over those broader restrictions likely to continue as the session progresses.
A separate bill that would require parents of undocumented students to pay public school tuition remains active, as does Governor Bill Lee’s (R-TN) universal school voucher proposal, which explicitly excludes families without legal immigration status. The measures advance amid growing concern about the broader climate for immigrant communities in the state, including the March 5 arrest of Estefany Rodriguez, a Colombian journalist covering immigration enforcement in Nashville for a Spanish-language outlet, who was detained by federal agents and transferred to a facility in Alabama. A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for March 17
BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED
S.Res. 638
A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the law enforcement agents and other personnel of the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, who have been temporarily engaging in civil immigration enforcement operations, should be returned to their primary missions during periods of active hostility with Iran
Sponsored by Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) (0 cosponsors)
03/11/2026 Introduced by Sen. Gallego
03/11/2026 Referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
S. 4087
A bill to exempt public school employees from non-processing related fees for H-1B visas imposed by Presidential Proclamation 10973
The bill would exempt public school employers from the $100,000 H-1B visa fee imposed by President Trump’s September 2025 Presidential Proclamation, addressing staffing shortages particularly in rural school districts.
Sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) (0 cosponsors)
03/12/2026 Introduced by Sen. Murkowski
03/12/2026 Read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 7870
To require immigration enforcement reforms, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey) (0 cosponsors)
03/09/2026 Introduced by Rep. Gottheimer
03/09/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 7925
To amend the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to limit the eligibility of aliens to receive benefits under the temporary assistance for needy families program, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Rep. W. Gregory Steube (R-Florida) (1 cosponsor)
03/12/2026 Introduced by Rep. Steube
03/12/2026 Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means
LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR
The U.S. Senate is scheduled to be in session Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 20. The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to be in session Monday, March 16 through Thursday, March 19.
UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS
Nomination of the Honorable Markwayne Mullin to be Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 9:30 AM ET (Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)
Location: 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
Witnesses: The Honorable Markwayne Mullin (Nominee, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security)
Immigration Policy by Court Order: The Adverse Effects of Plyler v. Doe
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 10:00 AM ET (House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government)
Location: 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.
Witnesses: Franklin Camargo (Political Commentator, PragerU), Prof. Josh Blackman (Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston), Gina D’Andrea (General Counsel, America First Policy Institute)
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:
Reclassifying ‘Applicants for Admission’: How the Second Trump Administration is Reshaping Mandatory Detention
Explainer: Asylum Work Authorization Rulemaking
Reshaping Refuge: The New Era of United States Refugee Admissions
*As of publication (3/13/26 at 2:00 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.