Legal
Supreme Court Allows Third-Country Deportations to Resume and Agrees to Review Mandatory Detention Policy
The Supreme Court ruled on September 29 that the Trump administration can resume rapidly deporting migrants to countries other than their own while litigation over the policy’s legality continues, granting the Justice Department’s emergency request to lift a lower court’s block on the practice. The 6-3 order temporarily set aside findings by a Boston-based federal judge and the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals that the policy violated due process by denying migrants a meaningful opportunity to show they could face persecution or torture in the countries they were sent to. The decision came the same week Burundi became the latest of roughly half a dozen African nations to agree to accept U.S. deportees with no prior connection to the country. The Supreme Court agreed to hear full oral arguments on the underlying legal questions in December. Attorneys for affected immigrants said the ruling allows the government to resume sending people to countries “where they may face persecution, torture, imprisonment, or other grave danger,” while noting the order “does not decide that the government’s policy is lawful.”
Separately, the Supreme Court agreed October 1 to review another significant piece of the administration’s immigration agenda: its policy of denying bond hearings to immigrants who crossed the border years ago, detaining them indefinitely while their removal proceedings play out. Nine federal appeals courts that have considered the mandatory detention policy have ruled it unlawful, finding it violates immigration statutes requiring individualized bond determinations. The case is expected to be heard early next year with a ruling by late June.
Advocates Sue Over New Birthright Citizenship Restrictions
Immigrants’ rights groups have filed a new federal class-action lawsuit challenging President Trump’s August 6 executive order that seeks to deny recognition of U.S. citizenship at birth in several specified circumstances. The suit, Nathan v. Trump, was filed September 28. It represents three affected families and seeks to certify a nationwide class, arguing that the order violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause and federal law. The order applies where a parent is designated an “alien enemy,” works for a foreign government or international organization, is accused of entering the country for “birth tourism,” or is involved in a commercial or fraudulent transaction to obtain citizenship.
The new lawsuit follows the Supreme Court’s June decision in Trump v. Barbara, which held that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship to children born on U.S. soil, including children of parents who are temporarily or unlawfully present. Advocates contend the administration is attempting to recreate exclusions the Court rejected, while the White House characterizes the order as an effort to curb fraud and the misuse of citizenship rules. A separate Maryland federal court had already temporarily blocked enforcement of the August order, with the judge describing it as “almost certainly unconstitutional.”
Second Judge Blocks Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
On September 20, a second federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing its $100,000 fee on employers sponsoring new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers. The judge in the Northern District of California ruled that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department had not followed the notice-and-comment rulemaking process required by the Administrative Procedure Act before implementing the fee. The judge granted preliminary relief sought by a coalition of unions, employers, and nonprofit organizations, barring agencies from enforcing policies issued under both the original presidential proclamation and its September extension until they complete the required rulemaking and regulatory-flexibility analyses.
The ruling follows a June nationwide decision by a federal judge in Massachusetts that invalidated the same fee in a separate lawsuit brought by 20 states. The First Circuit later declined to pause that ruling. The White House renewed the $100,000 fee in September after the initial version was set to expire, while the Department of Homeland Security in August began the process of adopting a permanent fee of roughly $103,000, a proposal that is also likely to face litigation once finalized.
Federal
Trump Administration Expands ICE Workforce as Enforcement Tactics Evolve Nationwide
The Trump administration is preparing to add 5,000 employees to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by the end of the year, an expansion that would increase the agency’s work force by roughly 17 percent. Most recruits are expected to be deportation officers, who make arrests, manage cases and carry out removals. The hiring push is supported by new congressional funding and is separate from a prior recruitment effort that raised concerns after some officers were initially hired without complete vetting. At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced what it calls a nationwide “public safety surge” in sanctuary jurisdictions, identifying California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state and Washington, D.C. DHS says the effort will focus on people it describes as criminal noncitizens released from local custody, while also maintaining that anyone unlawfully present in the United States remains subject to arrest and removal.
The staffing expansion accompanies a shift from highly visible, concentrated workplace raids toward more decentralized, routine enforcement across the country. ICE arrests rose to about 43,000 in June, more than 49,000 in July and nearly 51,000 in August, as officers operated at locations including hospitals, airports, schools, rural construction sites and truck stops. Expanded agreements with local police, increased federal resources and broader use of enforcement technology have enabled the agency to conduct arrests with less public visibility than earlier major-city operations. The result is an enforcement strategy designed to broaden ICE’s geographic reach and capacity as the administration presses its mass-deportation agenda nationwide.
IRS Proposes Adding Citizenship Question on Tax Form 1040
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) this month included a new section in a draft version of Form 1040, the primary tax form, that would require filers to answer next year whether they and their spouse are a U.S. Citizen, U.S. national, or otherwise lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. The question, which requires a “Yes” or “No” answer, follows attempts by the Trump administration to establish a data-sharing agreement between the IRS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Trump administration argues that the new question is needed to implement a new rule that blocks certain immigrants who are authorized to work in the U.S., like DACA recipients, from receiving federal tax credits, such as the earned-income tax credit. Tax experts, however, note the IRS already has the information it needs to implement that new rule. Experts also note the new question on Form 1040 would not be relevant to enforcing the new rule.
The addition of a citizenship and lawful status question is raising concerns that the Trump administration is attempting to use the IRS in its deportation policies and pushing out undocumented individuals from the tax system. Undocumented workers pay up to $60 billion a year in federal taxes, in many cases submitting Form 1040 to report their income. In 2025, the IRS shared addresses it had on file for about 47,000 individuals with ICE. Several courts subsequently blocked the data-sharing agreement, primarily because federal tax privacy law closely guards access to that information.
Senate Confirms Keith Sonderling as Labor Secretary
On September 30, the U.S. Senate confirmed Keith Sonderling as secretary of the Department of Labor. Sonderling had been serving as acting secretary since April, following the departure of former Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and President Donald Trump formally nominated him to lead the department in June. Sonderling previously served in several roles at the Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission during the first Trump administration and was confirmed as deputy secretary of labor in 2025. As secretary, Sonderling will lead the department responsible for enforcing federal labor laws, including those governing wages, workplace safety, and employment conditions.
State and Local
Immigration Raids at Meat Plants Rattle Communities and Ranchers
A large Immigration and Customs (ICE) enforcement operation that began in late September across southwest Kansas has disrupted beef processing and cattle shipments throughout the region. The arrests of plant workers and others around Dodge City, Liberal, and Garden City caused alarm and confusion in communities where immigrants make up a large share of the agriculture workforce. Liberal, Kansas’s vice mayor said dozens of people had been detained since the operation began, though ICE has not provided local officials with an exact count. A spokesperson for the United Food and Commercial Workers union said that a wave of employee and cleaning-crew absences forced some plants to temporarily shut down and send cattle back to feedlots, creating animal health and financial problems for producers. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said ICE was not conducting worksite raids in Kansas and was instead targeting people with outstanding deportation orders and criminal histories.
The fallout extended into Texas and Oklahoma, where multiple agricultural associations said in a joint statement that the enforcement activity had a “massive chilling effect on the legal, documented, skilled workers that put beef on the table and keep the cattle supply chain moving.” The groups warned the disruptions could ultimately push beef prices higher for consumers if they continue. The backlash has opened a rift among Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia, who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, told reporters the administration needed to “step back” and consider whether “we’re doing something wrong,” though he later clarified on social media that he still supports the president’s broader immigration strategy. Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall separately criticized ICE for failing to give local police advance notice of checkpoints in southwestern Kansas.
BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED
S. 5638
A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to modernize the wage required for exempt H-1B workers, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) (0 cosponsors)
09/30/2026 Introduced by Sen. Husted
09/30/2026 Read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
S. 5584
A bill to amend section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify the meaning of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) (0 cosponsors)
09/29/2026 Introduced by Sen. Schmitt
09/29/2026 Read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 10715
Domestic Visa Renewal Modernization Act
The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to permit certain nonimmigrant aliens to renew their visas from within the United States.
Sponsored by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Virginia) (5 cosponsors)
10/01/2026 Introduced by Rep. Subramanyam
10/01/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 10711
To require the Secretary of State to submit a report to Congress regarding staffing levels and wait times related to visa applications, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Virginia) (0 cosponsors)
10/01/2026 Introduced by Rep. Subramanyam
10/01/2026 Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
H.R. 10707
Immigrants in Nursing and Allied Health Act
The bill would address barriers immigrants and refugees face to entering the health care workforce.
Sponsored by Rep. Adam Smith (D-Washington) (1 cosponsor)
10/01/2026 Introduced by Rep. Smith
10/01/2026 Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means
H.R. 10698
ICE Shootings Transparency Act
The bill would require the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General to share evidence with appropriate State and local law enforcement agencies related to shootings, injuries, or killings, by officers or employees of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Sponsored by Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-Oregon) (7 cosponsors)
10/01/2026 Introduced by Rep. Salinas
10/01/2026 Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary and Ways and Means
H.R. 10643
H-1B Visa Fraud Crackdown Act
Sponsored by Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) (5 cosponsors)
10/01/2026 Introduced by Rep. Van Duyne
10/01/2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.Res. 1596
Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 9899) to designate Afghanistan under section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to permit nationals of Afghanistan to be eligible for temporary protected status under such section, and for other purposes
Sponsored by Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colorado) (1 cosponsor)
10/01/2026 Introduced by Rep. Crow
10/01/2026 Referred to the House Committee on Rules
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:
Reclassifying ‘Applicants for Admission’: How the Second Trump Administration is Reshaping Mandatory Detention
Explainer: Recent Administration Policies Will Undermine the H-1B Visa Program
Bill Analysis: Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026
Fact Sheet: Temporary Protected Status
*As of publication (10/2/26 at 4:00 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.