Week of August 5–11, 2026
Reconstructed. This week was compiled in September 2026 from the reporting published at the time, each item linked to its source. Rules and figures reflect that week; several have changed since.
AP finds more than 50 military spouses and parents detained by ICE
An Associated Press investigation found that more than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained by immigration authorities since the start of the current term. At least six were deported and one self-deported. Eight immediate family members of service members remain in federal custody.
The government does not track these detentions, and the AP account is the first tally. Close relatives of service members have generally been shielded from removal under a bipartisan practice going back decades, and the military still advertises immigration benefits for enlistees’ families in its recruiting.
Families report detentions lasting months while they attempt to adjust status through programs available to service members’ relatives. Experts warn the shift affects readiness, and the AP found cases of delayed deployments and troops taking leave to care for children.
Source: AP News
TPS ends for about 350,000 Haitians as judge lifts her stay
U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes lifted her stay on Wednesday, ending Temporary Protected Status for roughly 350,000 Haitian immigrants. She acted after the Supreme Court held in June that the termination decision is not subject to judicial review, and after the court’s mandate reached her chambers this week.
A federal judge in New York has not yet lifted a parallel injunction covering about 6,000 Syrian TPS holders, who lost in the same Supreme Court ruling.
In South Florida, Haitian workers lost employment authorization last week and were required to leave jobs in nursing homes, hotels and airport concessions. Union members at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport had rallied in July seeking an extension of the designation.
Source: Miami Herald
CoreCivic to reopen shuttered Minnesota prison as ICE detention center
CoreCivic announced Tuesday that it has finalized a five-year federal contract to reopen the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minnesota, as an immigration detention center holding up to 1,600 people. The company estimates the ICE contract will bring in $75 million a year.
The city built the prison and CoreCivic bought it in 1997 to hold state prisoners, closing it in 2010 as demand fell. It was once the largest employer in Swift County. The company has been refurbishing the building for months.
CoreCivic expects to begin receiving detainees at the end of this year, with the facility fully staffed by the second quarter of 2027. Proposals to convert Minnesota buildings for detention, including Twin Cities warehouses, have divided state lawmakers.
Source: AP News
Two new executive orders take another run at birthright citizenship
President Trump signed two immigration executive actions on Thursday, five weeks after the Supreme Court struck down his order ending birthright citizenship. The written order released later that day was narrower than the original.
It restricts automatic citizenship for specific categories, including children born to people connected to foreign embassies or organizations, anyone deemed an “alien enemy” of the United States, and children whose parents engaged in fraudulent activity to obtain citizenship.
A second order targets what the president calls birth tourism, tightening restrictions on visitors seeking visas in order to give birth in the country. Trump said he believes the new actions are constitutional. Legal challenges are expected, and it is not clear how the narrower approach will fare in court.
Source: AP News
Backlog of pending immigration applications reaches 7.5 million
The backlog of pending applications for citizenship, green cards and work permits has reached 7.5 million, according to the latest agency figures. Counting asylum, work visa and humanitarian cases, the total exceeds 12.1 million people awaiting decisions.
Officials attribute the slowdown to stricter vetting and to retirements that shrank the USCIS workforce. Critics say the delays leave people who followed the rules in legal limbo and more exposed to arrest.
“It’s like a form of entrapment,” said Sarah Pierce, a former USCIS policy analyst now at Third Way. People with pending applications, including some who entered lawfully, have been arrested while traveling domestically through airports in Philadelphia and Denver.
Source: Axios
$150 million contract for migrant children's lawyers goes to a small Texas firm
The administration awarded a $150 million sole-source contract for legal representation of unaccompanied migrant children to the Houston-based Burke Law Group, a small firm with ties to the administration and little immigration experience.
The award follows the expiration last week of the contract with a network of roughly 100 legal aid organizations that had served about 20,000 children, which lapsed without a replacement.
Michael Lukens, who heads the Amica Center, called the award shocking and said it foreshadows children going through court without meaningful due process. Legal aid groups said the new contract covers only children currently in government-run shelters, and that a separate contract would be needed for children living outside them.
Source: NBC News
ICE tells officers to hold off on arresting Haitians with expired TPS
ICE personnel have been instructed not to take enforcement action for now against Haitians whose Temporary Protected Status has expired, according to a current ICE official and a former agency official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal guidance.
One source said Haitians with final orders of removal may still be arrested during routine operations. It is not clear how long the guidance will last or whether it applies nationwide. DHS said it does not comment on ongoing or future operations.
Geoff Pipoly, lead counsel for the Haitian plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case, said his clients should not be detained at all, noting they registered for TPS by giving the government their names, addresses, family details and biometrics and passing background checks.
Source: Newsweek
TPS terminated for South Sudan and Myanmar after two court rulings
The Department of Homeland Security posted alerts confirming that Temporary Protected Status ended for South Sudan and Myanmar effective August 7, after two federal judges declined to block the terminations.
U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston rejected an advocacy organization’s bid to preserve protections for South Sudanese nationals, and U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly in Chicago followed hours later for Myanmar. Both judges had blocked the same terminations in November.
The June Supreme Court ruling that federal courts lack authority to review TPS terminations cleared the way for the decisions. South Sudan was designated in 2011 during its civil war and Myanmar in 2021 after the military seized power. About 4,200 people from the two countries are affected, according to Reuters.
Source: The Hill
ICE body camera policy limits releases to what serves the agency
ICE says its field officers nationwide will have body-worn cameras by the end of September, after years of delay. The agency’s written policy says it will promptly release footage of shootings and other encounters causing death or serious injury only when doing so is “in the best interests of the agency.”
That language gives the director discretion to release recordings that reflect well on ICE while withholding others. Selective release is common in law enforcement but rarely stated so plainly in policy.
“In some ways, ICE is saying the quiet part out loud,” said Christopher Schneider of Brandon University, a co-author of a book on police body cameras. The rollout follows recent fatal shootings by officers that increased pressure for accountability. Taxpayers are paying tens of millions of dollars for the cameras.
Source: AP News
DHS moves to eliminate the 60-day grace period after job loss
The Department of Homeland Security sent the White House a proposal for regulatory review that would eliminate the 60-day grace period allowing employment-based visa holders to remain in the United States after losing a job. The grace period has been in place since 2017.
It currently applies to workers on H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, TN, E-1, E-2 and E-3 visas, giving them time to find a new sponsoring employer, change status or arrange to leave. Removing it would mean workers fall out of status immediately upon termination.
FWD.us estimates about 730,000 H-1B holders live in the United States along with roughly 550,000 dependent family members. The proposal has not been published for public comment.
Source: Newsweek
More than 60 Democrats open inquiry into detentions of military families
More than 60 congressional Democrats sent a letter Sunday evening to the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense and Veterans Affairs announcing an investigation into whether the Pentagon and DHS are coordinating to deport service members and their relatives.
“These efforts imperil military readiness, weaken service members’ morale, and betray America’s promises to the people who put their lives on the line for our nation,” the letter said. It includes an extensive list of questions for the three agencies.
The inquiry follows an Associated Press investigation that identified more than 50 spouses and parents of active-duty troops detained by immigration authorities. The Pentagon declined to comment. DHS said military service alone does not confer lawful status or exempt anyone from immigration law.
Source: AP News
State Department says it has revoked more than 175,000 visas
The administration announced Monday that it has revoked more than 175,000 visas from foreign nationals, citing violations of visa terms connected to criminal activity and calls for violence against U.S. citizens, among other grounds.
The State Department said most of the revocations followed “law enforcement encounters.” Immigration lawyers said that phrasing suggests visas are being canceled after minor incidents or charges that never reached a court.
The pace represents more than 10,000 revocations a month in 2026, against more than 8,000 for all of 2025. The department has not published a breakdown by country or visa category, and revocation can leave a traveler unable to return even when no conviction follows.
Source: The Hill