Week of April 2–8, 2025

Justice Department lawyers told a federal court that Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, had already been moved out of Massachusetts by the time a judge there ordered that she not be removed. Ozturk was taken by immigration officers on a street in Somerville on March 25, put on a plane the next day and held at an ICE detention center in Basile, Louisiana. The government said no detention space was available in New England.

Judge Denise Casper had ruled on March 28 that Ozturk could not be removed from the country until further order. The government argued that Casper lacked jurisdiction because such a petition must be filed where the detainee is confined, and asked that the case be dismissed or transferred to Louisiana.

The Department of Homeland Security said her visa was revoked over activities it described as supporting Hamas, without providing evidence.

Source: Los Angeles Times

College officials around the country reported that international students had their entry visas revoked and, in many cases, their legal residency status terminated without notice, including students at Arizona State, Cornell, North Carolina State, the University of Oregon, the University of Texas and the University of Colorado. School officials said the government was deleting student records directly rather than working through colleges, as had been the practice.

Students stripped of their visas received orders from the Department of Homeland Security to leave the country immediately, a break from past practice that generally allowed them to remain and finish their studies. Some were targeted over pro-Palestinian activism, others over misdemeanors or traffic infractions, and some were given no reason at all.

At the University of Texas at Austin, staff found that a graduate from India had status terminated on April 3 and one from Lebanon on March 28, both after criminal records checks. Two Saudi students left the country after North Carolina State told them their status had ended.

Source: AP News

A federal judge temporarily barred Florida police and prosecutors from enforcing a state law that makes it a crime for immigrants who entered the United States illegally to come into Florida. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams suspended enforcement for 14 days and set a hearing for April 18, writing that the law likely violates the Constitution because control of entry, admission and removal of noncitizens is an exclusively federal power.

The law was enacted in February after a special session called to support federal deportation plans. It applies to people at least 18 years old who knowingly enter Florida after avoiding inspection by immigration officers, and carries a mandatory nine-month sentence on conviction.

Williams noted that officers had already begun making arrests under the statute. The suit was brought by two immigrants living in Florida along with the Florida Immigrant Coalition and the Farmworker Association of Florida.

Source: Miami Herald

Ukrainians living legally in the United States received an email in error from the Department of Homeland Security telling them their parole status had been revoked and that they must self-deport, according to a Trump administration official. It was not immediately clear how many people received the notice, which caused widespread confusion and prompted calls to lawmakers from constituents.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the temporary parole granted to 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion had not been terminated. The department did not say whether a decision had been made or when the notices were meant to go out.

The administration had already ordered an end to parole for about 530,000 Venezuelans, Cubans and Haitians. Admissions under the Uniting for Ukraine program were paused in January, barring people already in the country from renewing their two-year protections and work permits.

Source: Politico

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published a notice explaining how certain Hong Kong residents covered by Deferred Enforced Departure may obtain work permits and travel authorization. The deferral, ordered by a presidential memorandum on January 15, 2025, covers Hong Kong residents who have been present in the United States since that date and runs through February 5, 2027.

The notice tells covered individuals how to file Form I-765 for an Employment Authorization Document valid through February 5, 2027. It also automatically extends existing DED-based work permits carrying category code A11 that expired on February 5, 2023, or February 5, 2025, through the same date, and sets out how to request advance travel authorization on Form I-131.

Deferred Enforced Departure is not an immigration status and requires no application to remain protected, but people covered by it are not subject to removal during the designated period.

Source: Federal Register

The Supreme Court allowed the administration to resume using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans it accuses of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang. In a 5-4 decision, the court vacated an order by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg that had blocked removals under the 18th century wartime law.

The majority held that legal challenges must be brought in Texas, where the men are held, rather than in Washington. It also stated that people subject to removal orders under the act are entitled to notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal before being deported.

The three liberal justices dissented, writing that the government's conduct in the litigation posed an extraordinary threat to the rule of law. Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined parts of the dissent. The administration had previously flown about 250 people to El Salvador despite Boasberg's order.

Source: Axios

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said it will end a half-century of agreements with the federal government to serve refugees and unaccompanied migrant children, citing the administration's abrupt halt to funding. Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the conference president, called the decision heartbreaking and said the group cannot sustain the work on its own at current levels.

The conference will not renew its existing agreements, and the programs will wind down by the end of the federal fiscal year in September. A spokesperson said 93 staff members had already received layoff notices this year and that more are likely to be affected.

The bishops sued the administration in February over the funding halt and say they are owed $24 million for work already performed. A judge ruled he could not order payment, and the conference has appealed. It is one of 10 national agencies that contracted with the government to resettle refugees.

Source: AP News

Hours before a midnight deadline, Chief Justice John Roberts issued an administrative order indefinitely lifting the requirement that the government return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man deported to El Salvador in March. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered his return by 11:59 p.m., a deadline the administration called impossible to meet.

An immigration judge ruled in 2019 that Abrego Garcia could not be sent to El Salvador because he would likely face persecution there. The government has acknowledged that the deportation violated that ruling but argues courts cannot order his return now that he is in Salvadoran custody. Solicitor General John Sauer called Xinis' order unprecedented and indefensible.

The stay came after a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit unanimously refused to pause Xinis' order. Roberts' order did not address the underlying legal questions.

Source: Politico

The Department of Homeland Security began terminating parole for people who entered the United States through the CBP One app, revoking legal status for roughly 985,000 people who used it to book appointments at ports of entry. Those admitted were generally permitted to apply for asylum and given temporary work authorization.

The department started sending email notices telling affected people to leave using the renamed CBP Home app. DHS said the previous administration had abused parole authority and that Secretary Kristi Noem has full authority to revoke it.

People admitted under Uniting for Ukraine and Afghans who arrived through Operation Allies Welcome are not covered. Separately, more than 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans paroled with financial sponsors are set to lose status on April 24. Efforts to end Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans and Haitians remain blocked in litigation.

Source: The Hill

Melanie Krause, acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service since February, is stepping down over an agreement to share immigrants' tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to two people familiar with the decision. The document was signed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

The agreement allows ICE to submit the names and addresses of immigrants in the country illegally to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records. Treasury said it rests on longstanding authorities granted by Congress. Acting ICE director Todd Lyons said the arrangement is strictly for major criminal cases.

Tax law specialists and privacy groups said the deal threatens protections against wrongful disclosure of taxpayer information and could discourage immigrants from filing returns. Krause is the second IRS leader to depart this year amid disputes over taxpayer data sharing.

Source: AP News

Data obtained from U.S. Customs and Border Protection showed that Border Patrol had no prior knowledge of criminal or immigration history for 77 of the 78 people arrested during a January operation in Kern County, hundreds of miles from the border. The agency's own spreadsheet recorded for all but one arrest that history was not known before the encounter.

El Centro sector chief Gregory Bovino sent 65 agents north on January 7 for what he called Operation Return to Sender and said his agents worked from a predetermined list of targets, many with criminal records. The records contradict that account. The one person with a file had been ordered deported a year earlier.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the agency on behalf of the United Farm Workers, arguing agents detained people who appeared Latino without reasonable suspicion and pressured them into signing self-deportation paperwork.

Source: CalMatters

The Secretary of Homeland Security issued a determination waiving federal environmental and historic preservation laws to speed construction of barriers and roads along three segments of the border in California. The waiver took effect on April 8 and covers the Border Patrol's San Diego Sector.

The notice invokes section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which lets the secretary set aside any legal requirement judged necessary for expeditious construction. Among the statutes waived are the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.

The determination cites more than 324,000 apprehensions in the San Diego Sector in fiscal year 2024 as evidence of high illegal entry, and points to a January executive order directing the department to build physical barriers along the southern border.

Source: Federal Register