Federal
Trump Administration Slashes Refugees’ Window to Contest Status Termination From 30 Days to 10
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an interim final rule on October 14 reducing the time refugees have to respond when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) initiates the termination of their refugee status. The rule took effect immediately, shortening the response period from 30 days to 10 calendar days while retaining the opportunity to submit written evidence, request an interview, or both before USCIS makes a final decision. The rule applies to individuals who remain in refugee status and have not adjusted to lawful permanent residence. DHS says the shorter period will allow it to act more quickly on eligibility concerns, citing alleged deficiencies in screening during the Biden administration, a characterization refugee resettlement organizations dispute.
The change comes amid the administration’s broader review of refugees admitted during the Biden administration and a hold on affected pending green card applications. DHS identified approximately 186,000 refugees admitted during fiscal years 2015 through 2025 who had not become permanent residents as the maximum population potentially subject to the measure, not an estimate of how many will receive termination notices or lose their status. Advocates warn that the shortened deadline could deny refugees a meaningful opportunity to obtain counsel, gather records, translate documents and contest the government’s determination. Termination ends employment authorization associated with refugee status and can lead to removal proceedings, although it is not itself a deportation order. There is no administrative appeal of USCIS’s termination decision, but individuals may seek available protections in immigration court. DHS is accepting public comments through November 13 while the shorter response period remains in effect.
DHS Finalizes Rule Ending Automatic Extensions for Immigrant Work Permits
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) finalized a rule October 14 eliminating automatic extensions of up to 540 days for certain immigrants whose work permit renewal applications remain pending. The rule makes permanent, without changes, an interim policy that took effect October 30, 2025, rather than imposing a new restriction on renewal applications. Affected categories include asylum applicants, applicants for lawful permanent residence, and certain H-4 spouses of H-1B workers. Unless they have another basis for employment authorization, affected applicants must stop working when their Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) expire and cannot resume until U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approves their renewals. The rule preserves qualifying automatic extensions associated with applications filed before October 30, 2025. DHS says the change allows more frequent vetting of applicants.
The automatic extension was intended to prevent workers from losing employment because of government processing delays. As of June 30, more than 432,000 work permit renewal applications had been pending at USCIS for at least six months, including more than 91,000 pending for over 18 months, even though applicants generally cannot file renewals more than 180 days before their permits expire. The policy leaves affected workers and employers facing potential employment interruptions despite timely renewal filings. The final rule also comes amid broader administration efforts to restrict employment pathways for H-1B families, including a separate proposal that could eliminate work authorization eligibility for certain H-4 spouses. That proposal remains under review and is distinct from the rule ending automatic extensions.
DHS Rebuffs Watchdog Call for ICE to Use Auto-Activated Body Cameras
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rejected a Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendation that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) adopt safeguards, including automatic activation technology, to ensure officers record enforcement encounters when required. An October 14 report found that ICE does not use technology that activates cameras when officers draw weapons or stand near colleagues whose cameras are recording, unlike U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which already uses automatic activation. ICE policy requires officers to record arrests, searches, brief detentions and other activities, but personnel at six of the 10 locations GAO reviewed across both agencies expressed uncertainty about when recording was required. DHS argued that automatic activation could inadvertently record sensitive interactions with informants or victims, or bystanders engaged in protected First Amendment activities. GAO countered that DHS had not proposed alternative safeguards to prevent critical encounters from going unrecorded.
The findings come amid bipartisan scrutiny of missing body-camera footage following ICE shootings, including fatal incidents in Houston and Biddeford, Maine, in July. GAO found broader weaknesses in both agencies’ camera programs, including outdated deployment plans and uncertainty about operating newer equipment. DHS accepted the report’s six other recommendations and said ICE had acquired enough cameras to equip all officers and agents nationwide, with training ongoing. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, called ICE’s rejection of automatic activation unacceptable and said he planned to introduce legislation requiring it.
Legal
Federal Judge Orders Trump Administration to Reinstate 2027 Diversity Visa Lottery
On October 14, a federal judge in California ordered the State Department to reinstate the fiscal year 2027 Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery after the administration failed to open registration on schedule. The judge granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by immigration law firm Red Eagle Law, finding that the firm was likely to succeed on its claim that the department’s inaction amounted to “arbitrary and capricious government action.” The administration argued that opening registration after the normal timetable had passed would conflict with federal regulations. The judge rejected that argument, finding that enforcing the timetable under those circumstances would prevent the lottery from taking place altogether. The order requires the department to announce a registration period, accept eligible entries and resume the selection and application process for the 2027 program.
Created by Congress in 1990, the Diversity Visa program makes up to 55,000 immigrant visas available annually to people from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the United States. Selection in the lottery does not guarantee a green card, as applicants must still satisfy eligibility, documentation and other immigration requirements. The administration suspended the program in December 2025 and subsequently introduced a passport requirement for applicants. The injunction requires registration to remain open for at least 30 days and directs the department to process selected applicants under its usual procedures until available visas are issued or the fiscal year ends on September 30, 2027.
Family of Renee Good Files Suit as ICE Shootings Continue Nationwide
The family of Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis, filed two federal lawsuits October 1 seeking damages and accountability for her death. Good’s partner, Becca Good, and brother, Brent Ganger, allege that officer Jonathan Ross used excessive force when he shot her in her vehicle during a January 7 immigration operation. One lawsuit seeks damages for wrongful death under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The other invokes the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, alleging that Ross and senior administration officials participated in a coordinated campaign to violate the civil rights of Somali and Hispanic communities and intimidate people observing enforcement operations. Federal officials initially said Ross acted in self-defense, while the family argues that video shows Good steering away from him. The White House called the lawsuits “baseless” and said it would vigorously defend them.
The lawsuits come amid continued immigration-enforcement shootings and heightened federal focus on Minnesota’s Somali community. A review updated October 12 identified at least 30 shootings by federal immigration officers during the second Trump administration, leaving nine people dead and 13 injured. Separately, federal agents searched the Washington, D.C., home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), seized her phone and issued subpoenas to relatives as part of an investigation into potential immigration-related crimes involving her family’s history.
Judge Orders Return of Egyptian Man Wrongly Deported to Equatorial Guinea
A federal judge in Arizona ordered the Trump administration on October 6 to facilitate the release and return of Ahmed Soliman, an Egyptian man deported to Equatorial Guinea despite having no ties to the country. The judge, a Trump appointee, found that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) violated Soliman’s Fifth Amendment due process rights when it removed him to the Central African nation. Soliman, who is gay, had previously received protection from deportation to Egypt because he would likely face torture there. The judge cited accounts that Soliman had been held under armed guard, threatened at gunpoint, beaten and held incommunicado in Equatorial Guinea. On October 9, the administration said it had begun working with his attorneys to locate him and facilitate his return. DHS said it would comply with lawful court orders but maintained that Soliman would not ultimately remain in the United States.
The ruling comes as the administration continues expanding third-country deportations, sending people to countries other than their own, sometimes despite protections against removal to their home countries. Observers documented 536 people deported to African countries where they held neither citizenship nor habitual residence between January 2025 and August 2026. Separately, the United States sent 22 non-Jamaican adults to Jamaica on October 13 under a June agreement establishing the island as a temporary transit point before onward transfers. Jamaican officials said they expect to receive approximately 25 people every two weeks and would not accept individuals with criminal histories under the arrangement. The transfers are proceeding while the Supreme Court allows third-country deportations to continue pending further review, with arguments scheduled for December.
State and Local
ICE Launches “Operation Safe California”
A recent surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) presence in Central California, a predominantly agricultural region, has raised concerns among residents and advocates amid reports of what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is calling “Operation Safe California.” San Joaquin Valley residents described a sudden increase in enforcement activity, and advocates said at least 100 people had been detained over three days in October. ICE, however, declined to confirm a change in activity, citing officer safety and operational security. The reported surge follows record-high arrests nationwide.
Across California, reports of people being pulled over, stopped or detained have heightened fears in immigrant communities. In small agricultural towns, residents described fewer people leaving their homes, with some calling their communities “ghost towns.” In response, California lawmakers sent letters demanding transparency about the operation’s purpose and scope. “Federal immigration laws must be enforced, but how that happens matters. We need answers about what’s taking place, who is being targeted and whether people’s rights are being protected,” they wrote. DHS maintains that enforcement is focused on people with active warrants and known criminal histories, but local attorneys and advocates say the activity they are seeing extends beyond those groups.
BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED
H.R. 10826
Justice for Citizens Wrongfully Detained by ICE Act
The bill would establish a private right of action for citizens of the United States who are arrested or detained by immigration officers or law enforcement officers enforcing the immigration laws without a warrant or probable cause.
Sponsored by Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-New Mexico) (1 cosponsor)
10/15/2026 Introduced by Rep. Leger Fernandez
10/15/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.Res. 1627
Reaffirming the commitment of the House of Representatives to preserve and expand pathways to citizenship
Sponsored by Rep. Delia C. Ramirez (D-Illinois) (19 cosponsors)
10/15/2026 Introduced by Rep. Ramirez
10/15/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 10800
HEART Act
The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish a process for designating a safe third country and review of safe third country determinations.
Sponsored by Rep. George Latimer (D-New York) (0 cosponsors)
10/13/2026 Introduced by Rep. Latimer
10/13/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 10799
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to modernize the wage required for exempt H-1B workers, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wisconsin) (0 cosponsors)
10/13/2026 Introduced by Rep. Grothman
10/13/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR
The U.S. Senate and House will be in recess until November 9.
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:
Explainer: New Rule Shortens Refugees’ Time to Contest Termination of Their Status
Current Status of DACA: Explainer
Reclassifying ‘Applicants for Admission’: How the Second Trump Administration is Reshaping Mandatory Detention
Explainer: Recent Administration Policies Will Undermine the H-1B Visa Program
Fact Sheet: Temporary Protected Status
*As of publication (10/16/26 at 3:30 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.