Preparing Your Family: The Caregiver Form for Your State, the Documents Folder, and the Numbers to Memorize
A plan settles who collects the children, pays the rent and calls the lawyer in the 48 hours after an arrest. The forms differ by state and some take weeks. What New York, California, Texas, Florida and Illinois provide, what goes in the folder, and what to tell the school.
Read the explainer →Explainers
Browse by topic →Stopped or Arrested by ICE: What to Say, What Never to Sign, and What Happens in the First 72 Hours
The right to remain silent belongs to everyone in the country and must be said out loud. There is no appointed lawyer. Three forms served in the first hours can end a case before it begins. A precise account of the encounter, the paperwork, and the two-year rule that now applies nationwide.
ICE at the Door: The Warrant That Lets Them In, the One That Does Not, and What to Say Through It
Agents may knock, speak and arrest without a judge. They may not enter a home without a judicial warrant or your consent, and ICE's own handbook says so. How to tell the two warrants apart through a closed door, what consent looks like, and what changed in 2025 and 2026.
Where TPS Stands in August 2026: Four Countries Left, One Million Protections Ended, and the Alternatives That Remain
Seventeen countries held Temporary Protected Status designations when the administration took office. As of this month, four do, and one of those ends on September 9. A country-by-country close of the ledger, the Supreme Court decision that settled the litigation, and what a person losing TPS can still file.
Asylum Referral Without an Interview: The July 28 Rule, Who It Reaches, and Why the Written Application Is Now the Whole Case
Since July 28, 2026, an asylum officer may send an affirmative application straight to immigration court on the paper record alone. DHS estimates 130,000 referrals a year, most of them on the one-year deadline. What the rule strikes from the regulations, who is exposed, and how to file as if no one will ever ask you a question.
The $100,000 H-1B Payment No Longer Applies: How the Courts Got There, and What DHS Plans Next
Ten months after the proclamation, a federal court vacated the guidance implementing the $100,000 H-1B payment and the First Circuit refused to stay that ruling. As of July 24, 2026, the payment applies to no one. DHS says it disagrees, will comply, and intends to collect if the ruling is reversed. Where employers stand for the next cap season.
Renewing or Replacing a Green Card in 2026: The 36-Month Extension, the 90-Day Window, and the Re-Reviews
The forms are the same ones this site described in 2021. What has changed is the length of the receipt-notice extension, the fees, and an agency that now re-examines green cards it has already granted. A current guide for ten-year cards, two-year cards and everything that can go wrong with either.
The D.C. Circuit Sides With Fast-Track Deportation: What the June 23 Ruling Changes, and What It Has Not Changed Yet
A divided appeals court has vacated the order that blocked nationwide expedited removal for ten months. The policy is not yet back in force, because the court's mandate has not issued. When it does, anyone inside the country who cannot prove two years of presence is exposed. The evidence to prepare, and the words to say.
The Ruling That Ended the Hold: What the June 5 Decision Requires of USCIS, and What Two Million Applicants Should Expect
A federal judge in Rhode Island vacated the three memos that froze asylum decisions nationwide and every benefit for nationals of 39 countries. USCIS says it disagrees and is complying while it appeals. What the order does, what it does not, and why the backlog it leaves behind is the next problem.
This Week in Immigration
All 243 weeks →Find your court, your judge, your office
- Which court covers whereEvery state mapped to its ICE field office and the immigration court that hears its cases, with the detained dockets and the facilities they serve.
- Immigration judges915 judges at 72 courts: how often each denies asylum, against the court and the country, with the official biography.
- Dealing with ICEThe knock, the stop, the search for a detained person, the way out, and the family plan. With ICE's own releases, week by week.
- AttorneysLicensed immigration attorneys practicing in New York.
- Asylum officesStaffing, backlog and scheduling order at the New York and Newark asylum offices.
Procedure and documents
Adjustment of Status as "Administrative Grace": The May 2026 Memo That Points Applicants Abroad
A USCIS memo dated May 21, 2026 tells officers to weigh the availability of consular processing against anyone applying for a green card from inside the United States, and to demand "unusual or even outstanding equities" from applicants with any adverse factor. Who is exposed, what it does not say, and why leaving to apply abroad can be worse than waiting.
Detention Without Bond: The Yajure Hurtado Rule, the Circuit Split, and What a Family Can Do
Since September 2025 the government's position has been that anyone who entered without inspection is ineligible for a bond hearing, however long they have lived here. Federal appeals courts are split down the middle on whether that is the law. Whether a detained person can ask a judge for release now depends on the state they are held in.
Advance Parole, Refugee Travel Documents and Reentry Permits in 2026: Which One, What It Costs, and Why Approval Is Not Admission
Every travel document for a non-citizen is requested on the same form and none of them guarantees you will be let back in. An update of this site's 2021 guide, with the 2026 fees, the processing times, and the travel ban that now decides who should not leave at all.
Family Petitions in 2026: Who Can Sponsor Whom, What It Costs, and How Long It Takes
The categories have not changed since this site first laid them out in 2021. The fees, the waiting lines and the scrutiny have. A current account of family-based immigration, from the citizen petitioning for a spouse to the asylee petitioning for a child.
Immigration Court in 2026: Checking Your Hearing, Missing One, and What Changed in the Courthouse
The immigration courts are carrying more than three million cases with a quarter fewer judges than a year ago, and since May 2025 the courthouse itself has become a place of arrest. How to check a hearing, what an in absentia order does, and how to undo one.
The One-Year Asylum Deadline in 2026: The Exceptions Still Recognized, and the Fees That Complicate Them
An asylum application must be filed within a year of your last arrival. The exceptions have not changed since this site first explained them in 2021. What has changed is everything around them: a filing fee, an annual fee, and an agency far readier to refer a late case to court.
Alien Registration and Form G-325R: Who Must Register, Who Already Has, and What It Costs You
A 1940 duty to register with the government, dormant for decades, has been enforced since April 11, 2025. Most people with any immigration paperwork are already registered without knowing it. The ones who are not face a decision with real consequences either way.
The Return of Neighborhood Investigations: What USCIS Is Now Asking Your Neighbors
A practice the immigration service abandoned around 1991 is back. Under an August 2025 memo, USCIS may investigate a naturalization applicant's residence and workplace for the five years before filing, and by January 2026 officers were visiting homes unannounced. What the law requires, and how to make the visit unnecessary.