Week of July 29 – August 4, 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.
ICE moves to open four detention sites with room for 5,500 people
ICE plans to sign contracts for new detention facilities in its Seattle, Philadelphia, Miami and Denver jurisdictions with a combined capacity of 5,500 detainees, according to a public solicitation document.
The expansion continues the agency’s push to raise arrest and detention numbers. It comes as two fatal shootings by ICE officers within a matter of weeks have brought scrutiny to the agency’s training, vetting and oversight.
The 2025 budget gave the Department of Homeland Security $45 billion specifically for expanding detention capacity through fiscal 2029, and the department has been buying facilities outright as well as contracting for beds. Detention bookings hit a record in June, and people without criminal convictions make up roughly four in five detainees nationwide.
Source: NBC News
Asylum seekers risk dismissal over a $100 fee they were never told about
Asylum applicants are discovering missed deadlines for a new $100 annual fee that they say they were never notified about. One applicant in Florida found a charge already past due and has been unable to pay it despite three calls to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The fee was created by last year’s Republican tax and domestic policy law. The administration codified it this spring and required payment within 30 days of notification, with automatic rejection of the asylum application for those who miss it. Nonpayment also means denial of work permits and greater exposure to removal.
Attorneys and advocacy groups say the rollout has been marked by notices arriving late by postal mail or not at all. Lawsuits challenging the implementation are pending. The administration says the deadline prevents applicants from lingering in the system with unpaid dues.
Source: Politico
Ninth Circuit rejects mandatory detention policy, widening the circuit split
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on Thursday that the government cannot deny a bond hearing to immigrants arrested inside the United States under its expanded reading of the mandatory detention statutes. A Trump appointee joined the majority.
Five appeals courts have now rejected the policy. The 5th Circuit in New Orleans and the 8th Circuit in St. Louis have sided with the government, deepening a split that makes Supreme Court review more likely. The Justice Department asked the justices to take the question last month.
Under previous administrations, most people without criminal records who were arrested in the interior could seek a bond hearing while their cases proceeded. DHS said it strongly disagrees with the panel and is confident in its position.
Source: Al Jazeera
ACLU files more than 50 claims over medical neglect in immigration detention
The ACLU filed more than 50 administrative tort claims across 17 states and Washington, D.C., alleging that immigration officials and their subcontractors neglected detainees’ medical and food needs. Such claims are a required step before a lawsuit against the federal government.
One claim, filed Thursday by the ACLU Foundation of Texas, seeks $10 million for Elton Purvis, a 55-year-old lawful permanent resident from Trinidad and Tobago who was deported last year. Purvis was held for seven months, mostly at the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, and says staff ignored his requests for help during medical emergencies.
His attorney, Caro Rivera Nelson, said Purvis filed more than 100 grievances with ICE without result, and that his case shows people with valid status are also being deported.
Source: The Texas Tribune
Packed immigration court dockets drive record in absentia removal orders
Immigration courts are assigning dozens and often hundreds of cases a day to individual judges. More than 1,300 of these “mega” master hearings were held in June alone, nearly three times the number in June of last year, according to data analyzed by the nonprofit Mobile Pathways.
Courts have also cut the time people get to prepare, from about six months to often little more than a month. Missed hearings, in absentia removal orders and findings that asylum claims were abandoned have risen at the same pace.
“The combination of collapsed lead times and packed hearing blocks is a schedule designed for people not to have their case heard,” said Bartlomiej Skorupa, the group’s chief operating officer, adding that valid claims are being closed before they are decided.
Source: AP News
Visa bond program made permanent, with bonds up to $20,000
The State Department is making permanent a pilot program requiring citizens of 50 countries, mainly in Africa, to post a bond when applying for a U.S. visitor visa, and is raising the maximum bond from $15,000 to $20,000. The $5,000 low-end amount is eliminated.
A draft notice published Friday in the Federal Register said a nearly year-long review provided sufficient data to show the program enforces compliance with visa conditions. The rule was to be formally released Monday, when the program becomes permanent, and more countries may be added.
The bond applies to B1 and B2 business and tourist visa applicants and is refunded if the visa is denied or if the traveler complies with its terms. The government estimates that arresting and deporting a visa overstay costs about $18,000 per person.
Source: AP News
Legal aid contract for unaccompanied migrant children expires
Friday was the last day of the federal contract that pays for legal services for children who enter the United States without a parent or guardian. The contract funds a network of nearly 100 legal groups serving roughly 20,000 children.
Under the expiring agreement, those groups can enter government-funded shelters to brief children on their rights and can represent them in immigration court. Providers say it is unclear whether they will be able to visit clients in shelters after the contract lapses.
The administration did not say why it is letting the contract expire. Children who came alone have been a focus of removal efforts over the past year, and advocates warn that losing counsel sharply raises the odds of a deportation order.
Source: AP News
Poll finds 39 percent approve of the president's handling of immigration
An AP-NORC survey found that 39 percent of U.S. adults approve of President Trump’s handling of immigration, down from 49 percent at the start of his second term. About half say he has gone too far in deporting immigrants living in the country illegally, a figure that has held steady for more than a year.
Roughly eight in ten Republicans still approve of his approach, down slightly from about nine in ten early in the term but stable since last summer. Republicans rate him higher on immigration than on the economy or Iran.
The poll was taken after three people were killed in encounters with ICE in less than a week in July. At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration officers since the crackdown began.
Source: AP News
Administration weighs $100,000 fee for graduates on Optional Practical Training
The administration is considering a $100,000 fee for Optional Practical Training, the program that lets international students work in the United States for a period after graduation. The measure would function as a deterrent to graduates seeking U.S. jobs.
Educators, economists and employers oppose the idea, arguing that graduates on OPT supply skills that are hard to recruit domestically and that research does not show them displacing American workers.
The legality is also in question. A federal judge struck down the parallel $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions, concluding it operated as a tax and therefore required congressional authorization, and the First Circuit declined last month to revive it. No formal proposal for an OPT fee has been published.
Source: Forbes
Judge strikes down New York ban on masks for federal immigration agents
U.S. District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino struck down a New York law barring federal officers from wearing masks, ruling Monday that the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause does not permit the state to regulate federal law enforcement. “New York cannot impose its own uniform requirements on federal agents simply because it disagrees with how the Federal Government is exercising its authority,” she wrote.
D’Agostino, an Obama appointee, upheld a separate New York law barring state and local police from entering 287(g) agreements with the Department of Homeland Security, finding the state may regulate its own agencies.
A federal judge blocked a similar mask ban in California, and the 9th Circuit blocked that state’s requirement that federal officers display badge numbers. The administration has also challenged laws in Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia and Philadelphia.
Source: Politico
Deportation numbers flat under Mullin despite pledge to increase them
ICE removals have stayed roughly flat this year despite Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s pledge to raise them, according to internal figures described to Politico. Deportations have reached close to 2,000 a day at points in recent weeks but generally match the pace under his predecessor, Kristi Noem.
The number of people in ICE custody has held steady at about 68,000, indicating that removals are not outpacing arrests. Arrests and bookings have averaged about 1,500 a day recently, against a peak of about 1,900 under Noem.
Mullin, who took over in March, said in June the department was on track to exceed 2025 totals. The figures remain far below the 3,000 daily detentions targeted by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
Source: Politico
Judge holds DHS in civil contempt over immigration agents' phone records
U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong held the government in civil contempt for failing to forensically image personal phones used by agents present at 15 identified immigration operations in Southern California, and ordered it to pay $500 a day until it complies with a January 16 order.
“The clear and convincing evidence shows that Defendants have acted intentionally and not in good faith,” Frimpong wrote, finding that noncompliance was not caused by inability to comply. The government must file a notice of payment every seven days and submitted its first, for $3,500, on Tuesday.
The Justice Department said it expects to prevail and pointed to the Supreme Court’s stay of an earlier Frimpong order barring stops based on race, ethnicity, language, location or occupation.
Source: Los Angeles Times