Week of February 18–24, 2026

State officials are testing legal strategies to hold federal immigration officers accountable, after the administration argued that federal agents have absolute immunity from state prosecution. The claim drew wide criticism following the deaths of two people in Minneapolis.

Harrison Stark of the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School told Axios that suits against federal officials were long possible through tort claims for constitutional violations, and that a 1971 Supreme Court decision expanded that route. The court has narrowed it sharply in recent years, saying Congress should create new remedies instead. Congress has not done so.

Legal precedent generally favors the federal government. The Constitution's supremacy clause limits states from adopting policies that conflict with federal law.

Source: Axios

Haitians in Florida with temporary protected status can continue renewing their driver licenses, the Miami-Dade County Tax Collector's Office said, citing updated guidance from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

People with TPS or a pending application who present an expired employment authorization document remain eligible for a license through March 15. After that date, or if a court rules in the government's pending appeal, applicants must supply other proof of lawful presence.

The guidance follows Judge Ana Reyes's order halting the termination of Haiti's TPS designation, which covers more than 300,000 people. Reyes declined to lift that order and directed the administration to update its systems so Haitians can keep driving. Advocates urged holders to check state rules to avoid traffic stops that could lead to detention.

Source: Miami Herald

A Department of Homeland Security memo filed in Minnesota federal court says refugees applying for green cards must return to federal custody one year after admission so their applications can be reviewed, and that DHS may hold them for the duration of that inspection.

The order could reach tens of thousands of refugees who are lawfully present but do not yet have permanent residency, including much of the nearly 200,000 admitted during the Biden administration. Resettlement groups said it would sow confusion and fear and is likely to draw legal challenges.

The memo landed hours before U.S. District Judge John Tunheim heard arguments on extending an order shielding refugees in Minnesota from arrest. The administration had already suspended green card approvals for refugees who arrived in those years.

Source: AP News

U.S. District Judge Sunshine Sykes in Riverside, California, found the administration had violated her December ruling that it was unlawfully denying detained immigrants any chance of release. She ordered the Department of Homeland Security to notify detainees that they may be eligible for bond and to give them phone access to reach an attorney within an hour.

Sykes also set aside a September immigration court decision the administration had cited to justify continuing mandatory detention. Citing the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, she wrote that the threats posed by the executive branch cannot be viewed in isolation.

More than 20,000 habeas corpus cases have been filed since the inauguration, according to court records analyzed by the AP. DHS said the Supreme Court has repeatedly overruled lower courts on mandatory detention.

Source: AP News

The Department of Housing and Urban Development released a proposed rule to end prorated federal housing assistance for families that include both eligible and ineligible members.

Current rules let mixed-status families receive assistance reduced in proportion to the number of eligible members. The proposal would limit that reduced assistance to a 30-day window meant only to cover pending status verification. HUD estimates about 24,000 people currently receive support under the existing rules, and Secretary Scott Turner said the change could redirect $218 million in federal spending.

The department proposed a similar rule during the president's first term. It drew opposition from housing and immigration advocates who warned of evictions and family separation, and the Biden administration withdrew it.

Source: Politico

The Justice Department filed a denaturalization case in federal court in South Florida against Philippe Bien-Aime, who was mayor of North Miami from 2019 until he resigned in 2022. Bien-Aime, originally from Haiti, was naturalized in 2006.

The civil complaint alleges he first entered the United States in 1997 using a photo-switched passport under another name, was ordered removed to Haiti by an immigration judge in 2000, and withdrew his appeal while representing that he had returned to Haiti. The government says fingerprint records show the person naturalized as Bien-Aime is the same man previously ordered removed.

His attorney said they are reviewing the complaint and will respond through legal channels. The case comes as the administration expands denaturalization efforts.

Source: NBC News

Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported that the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban man held at Camp East Montana on the Fort Bliss Army base, resulted from staff's spontaneous use of force to prevent him from harming himself. The agency had previously said he died of medical distress.

The local medical examiner had already ruled the death a homicide, which experts said was the first such ruling for an ICE detainee death linked to staff in at least 15 years. The autopsy found he became unresponsive while being physically restrained and died of asphyxia caused by pressure on his neck and chest.

ICE's report said Lunas Campos had a complex medical and mental health history, including prior suicide attempts, and received regular medical evaluations while detained.

Source: The Texas Tribune

Federal immigration officials blocked Sen. Alex Padilla and San Diego County Supervisors Terra Lawson-Remer and Paloma Aguirre from inspecting the Otay Mesa Detention Center, despite clearance granted days earlier.

Padilla made an unannounced visit under a federal law allowing members of Congress to conduct oversight at detention facilities with or without notice. The Department of Homeland Security had imposed a seven-day notice requirement, which a federal judge temporarily suspended in December. The supervisors had cleared their visit under California laws permitting local officials to review health and safety conditions at privately run detention facilities.

Padilla called the refusal disappointing but not surprising and asked what the agency had to hide. The visit followed reports of conditions inside the facility.

Source: CalMatters

A woman identified by her first name, Farah, told the Associated Press she is hiding in Morocco after being deported to a third country despite holding a protection order from a U.S. immigration judge. The AP saw the order, and lawyers verified parts of her account.

She said she fled after being beaten by her own family and her partner's family, who learned of their relationship, and that her family later tried to kill her. She reached the U.S. border after traveling through six countries from Brazil and requested asylum in early 2025.

Farah was detained for nearly a year in Arizona and Louisiana, describing thin blankets and inadequate medical care. Her asylum claim was denied, but an immigration judge granted her protection from return in August.

Source: AP News

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said on CBS's Face the Nation that the administration's effort to revoke temporary protected status for Haitians is wrong, as litigation over the termination continues.

DeWine said there is a consensus in the country in favor of deporting violent offenders, but not beyond that. He said he does not think there is agreement on removing people who are working and supporting their families, including Haitians in his state.

Springfield, Ohio, has a large Haitian population and was the subject of false claims by the president and vice president during the 2024 campaign. DeWine said employers there describe the workers as filling jobs the community needs.

Source: The Hill

The Department of Homeland Security published a proposed rule that would tighten the rules for work permits based on a pending asylum application.

Under the proposal, the waiting period before an asylum applicant may apply for employment authorization would rise from 180 days to 365 days. The department would also pause accepting employment authorization applications from asylum seekers whenever average processing time for affirmative asylum cases exceeds 180 days, change the processing time requirements for those applications, and add new eligibility conditions.

Comments are due by April 24, 2026, and must be submitted through regulations.gov under DHS Docket No. 2025-0370. The rule is a proposal, so current requirements remain in effect until a final rule is issued.

Source: Federal Register

The Justice Department sued New Jersey in federal court in Trenton over Gov. Mikie Sherrill's February 11 executive order, which bars federal immigration agents from making arrests in nonpublic areas of state property such as correctional facilities and courthouses, and from using state property as a staging or processing area.

The complaint says the order poses an intolerable obstacle to immigration enforcement and discriminates against the federal government, and accuses Sherrill of harboring criminal offenders.

Sherrill responded that the federal government should focus on training its ICE agents rather than attacking states. Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport called the suit a pointless legal challenge and said the state would fight it.

Source: NBC News