Week of December 10–16, 2025
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.
Gold Card visa opens at $1 million a person
President Trump announced the launch of the "gold card" visa at a White House event, and a website accepting applications went live the same day. The program is priced at $1 million for an individual and $2 million where a company sponsors the applicant.
It is intended to replace the EB-5 investor visa, created by Congress in 1990, which required roughly $1 million invested in a business employing at least ten people. Trump made no mention of job creation requirements or annual caps, both of which apply to EB-5.
He said all money collected would go to the federal government and predicted billions would flow into a Treasury account. He framed the program as a way for employers to retain foreign graduates of U.S. universities, a position that has drawn criticism from parts of his own coalition.
Source: AP News
CBP proposes social media and family screening for visa-free travelers
Customs and Border Protection published a proposal that would require travelers using the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, the route for visitors from visa waiver countries, to hand over far more personal information before approval.
The proposal would collect social media and email account details, phone numbers used over the past five years, email addresses used over the past decade, metadata from submitted photographs, and information about family members including their birthplaces and phone numbers. The current ESTA form asks only for items such as parents' names and a current email address.
CBP said the notice "is not a final rule" but a first step, and cited vetting concerns after the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington. It did not say what the government would look for in applicants' accounts.
Source: AP News
Judge orders end to National Guard deployment in Los Angeles
Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer ruled that the administration must immediately end the National Guard deployment in Los Angeles and return command of the remaining 300 federalized troops to Governor Gavin Newsom.
Newsom sued in June after the administration federalized thousands of California troops during protests over immigration enforcement in the city. Breyer had ruled that deployment illegal on June 12, but the Ninth Circuit reversed him, holding that the statute Trump invoked gave the president wide deference to decide whether a rebellion was under way.
The same pattern played out in Oregon this autumn, where 200 California Guard troops were sent to Portland.
Source: Los Angeles Times
ICE reports more than 400 arrests in Minnesota surge
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has made more than 400 arrests in Minnesota since Operation Metro Surge began this month, an agency spokesperson said. The operation brought in roughly 100 agents from around the country.
NBC News accompanied agents in the Twin Cities, where wind chill fell well below freezing. "The frigid temperatures means that people aren't out and about as much, so it makes it a little tougher," said Marcos Charles, acting executive associate director for ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations.
ICE asked that most agents' identities be concealed, saying protesters had blocked in their vehicles, tailed them and attached AirTags to track them. Reporters watched protesters approach unmarked vehicles and blow whistles at agents.
Source: NBC News
Spouses of US citizens detained at green card interviews
Immigration attorneys reported clients being detained while pursuing green cards through marriage to U.S. citizens, a practice they described as an unprecedented break with decades of policy. Those affected are eligible for permanent residence by statute and in many cases have no criminal history.
Congress created a carve-out allowing immediate relatives of citizens, including spouses, to adjust status inside the country even after a visa overstay. "This is going about doing things the right way," said Julia Gelatt of the Migration Policy Institute, noting the process routinely takes more than a year, during which applicants can fall out of status.
Lawyers said the number affected is hard to quantify, but USCIS data show at least hundreds of thousands of people at some stage of the green card process.
Source: NBC News
Judge blocks ICE from re-detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis blocked the government from taking Kilmar Abrego Garcia back into custody at a scheduled ICE check-in, a day after ordering his release from the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania.
Xinis found the government lacked authority to keep holding him because there is no final order of removal in his case. "His removal cannot be considered reasonably foreseeable, imminent, or consistent with due process," she wrote, adding that since his wrongful removal to El Salvador he had been "re-detained, again without lawful authority."
Speaking after his release, Abrego Garcia said he stood "as a free man" and would keep fighting. The order holds until Xinis can hold a hearing on a restraining order sought by his lawyers.
Source: NBC News
States sue over the $100,000 H-1B visa fee
California and a coalition of other states filed suit over the policy charging employers $100,000 for each new H-1B visa petition, arguing it threatens not only technology firms but public schools and health care providers that rely on the visa to fill vacancies.
The fee was imposed by a September 19 presidential proclamation restricting the entry of certain nonimmigrant workers. The H-1B category is the main route for employers to hire skilled foreign workers in science, technology, engineering, math and other fields.
"When skilled talent from around the world joins our workforce, it drives our state forward," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in announcing the case.
Source: Los Angeles Times
California schools cannot afford the new H-1B fee for teachers
California school districts that use H-1B visas to fill classroom vacancies now face a $100,000 charge for each new petition, a cost most district budgets cannot absorb.
State Department of Education data show districts filed more than 300 visa applications for the 2023-24 school year, double the figure two years earlier. The visas are used mainly for dual-language and special education positions, which have been understaffed for years amid a nationwide teacher shortage.
One physical education teacher in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, who arrived two years ago, may have to leave the country because of the fee. School officials said the workers they recruit abroad are highly skilled and fill roles they have been unable to staff locally.
Source: Los Angeles Times
DHS ends family reunification parole for seven countries
The Department of Homeland Security terminated all categorical family reunification parole programs covering nationals of Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras, along with their immediate family members. The notice was published in the Federal Register on December 15.
The programs allowed U.S. citizens and permanent residents with approved family petitions to bring relatives to the country to wait for an immigrant visa, with work authorization in the meantime. DHS said parole "was never intended to be used in this way" and that it is returning to case-by-case decisions.
People paroled under the programs received termination notices ending their parole and work permits before their original end dates.
Source: USCIS
Temporary Protected Status terminated for Ethiopia
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem determined that the conditions supporting Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopia no longer exist and that extending the designation would be contrary to the national interest. The termination notice was published December 15.
Beneficiaries keep work authorization through a 60-day transition period. The notice automatically extends certain employment authorization documents issued under the designation, those marked A-12 or C-19 with card expiration dates of June 12, 2024 or December 12, 2025, through February 13, 2026.
Employers must reverify affected workers and record the new expiration date. After the transition, holders lose both work permission and protection from removal.
Source: Federal Register
Travel ban expanded to 20 more countries and the Palestinian Authority
The administration expanded travel restrictions to an additional 20 countries and to people traveling on documents issued by the Palestinian Authority, roughly doubling the number of nations covered by the restrictions announced earlier this year.
Five more countries were added to the full ban, joining Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Fifteen others face new partial limits. The proclamation takes effect on January 1.
People who already hold visas, lawful permanent residents, diplomats, athletes and those whose entry is judged to serve the national interest are exempt. Officials had signaled the expansion after the arrest of an Afghan national in the shooting of two National Guard members over Thanksgiving weekend.
Source: AP News