Week of June 24–30, 2026

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 25 that the federal government may turn back asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border before they physically enter the country. In Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, the justices held that the practice known as “metering,” formalized in a 2018 Customs and Border Protection memorandum, does not violate the statute allowing noncitizens to apply for asylum when they “arrive in the United States.”

Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said a person “arrives in a destination when he enters within its area, not before.” The decision reverses a 9th Circuit ruling that had sided with the immigrant rights group Al Otro Lado and 13 asylum seekers.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, read her dissent from the bench, warning that more people will die and more will attempt to cross illegally.

Source: SCOTUSblog

Also on June 25, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian nationals. By 6-3 in Mullin v. Doe, the justices paused rulings from federal courts in Washington, D.C., and New York that had blocked the terminations while litigation continued.

The majority held that the TPS statute generally bars courts from reviewing a Homeland Security secretary’s decision to end a country’s designation. It also found the Haitian beneficiaries unlikely to succeed on their claim that then-Secretary Kristi Noem ended Haiti’s designation because its nationals are overwhelmingly Black.

Haiti was designated in 2010 after an earthquake, Syria in 2012 during the crackdown by Bashar al-Assad. Justice Elena Kagan dissented, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson, writing that the beneficiaries had asked only to remain in the country while their case proceeded.

Source: SCOTUSblog

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general announced on June 25 that it is opening two reviews of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s treatment of detainees. One will examine the rise in deaths in ICE custody, the other whether facilities follow use-of-force standards.

The watchdog said the deaths review was prompted because fatalities have increased in every fiscal year since 2022, and it will cover October 1, 2021 through March 31, 2026. ICE has recorded 20 deaths in detention so far in 2026, compared with 33 in all of last year and 11 in 2024. A detainee death this year at Camp East Montana in El Paso was ruled a homicide and is under FBI investigation.

At a House Appropriations Committee hearing the same day, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin rejected the idea of a high death rate. A DHS spokesperson said there had been no spike in deaths.

Source: NBC News

A study released this week by WorkPermits.US, a Washington nonprofit, found that 541,000 workers in Florida have pending asylum applications and contribute an estimated $22 billion a year to the state economy. About 298,000 of them live in the greater Miami area, where they make up 8.4 percent of the local workforce.

The report found asylum seekers concentrated in construction (16.1 percent), transportation, warehousing and utilities (13.8 percent), and leisure and hospitality (11.6 percent). Florida has the largest asylum-seeking workforce of any state, drawn heavily from Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela.

Health care operators said restrictions on work authorization and the effort to end Temporary Protected Status are already affecting staffing. Miami Jewish Health has cut 120 nursing home beds, citing departures among Haitian employees.

Source: Miami Herald

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court on June 26 to uphold the administration’s expansion of mandatory immigration detention, under which people who have lived in the United States for years can be held without a bond hearing while removal proceedings run their course.

Solicitor General John Sauer told the justices there is an untenable divide among the appeals courts and asked them to settle it. Five circuits had ruled at that point, breaking 3-2 against the government, with the question pending in six more.

Federal district judges have issued more than 9,300 rulings against the policy, many describing it as a violation of due process. The case would decide whether long-settled residents fall within the mandatory detention statute, a question that reaches millions of people.

Source: Politico

Texas has begun enforcing Senate Bill 4 in full, nearly three years after Governor Greg Abbott signed it. A Fifth Circuit ruling in late May allowed the law to take effect in its entirety while litigation continues, ending a long cycle of injunctions, appeals and conflicting court orders.

SB 4 lets state and local police arrest people suspected of entering Texas unlawfully, creates a state crime of illegal entry and a state felony of illegal reentry, and authorizes Texas judges to issue removal orders, an authority traditionally reserved to the federal government.

Supporters say the law mirrors federal statutes and addresses border security. Opponents point out that U.S.-Mexico border encounters are at a 50-year low and warn that state-level arrests will drive immigrant workers out of a labor market that depends on them.

Source: American Immigration Council

H-1B visa holders who lose their jobs are running into new obstacles when they try to remain in the United States. A laid-off worker gets a discretionary 60-day grace period to find a new sponsoring employer, and many file Form I-539 to change to B-2 visitor status as a bridge while they search.

Immigration attorneys say USCIS adjudicators are increasingly issuing Requests for Evidence and Notices of Intent to Deny on those applications, implying that looking for work is not permitted on B-2 status. Lawyers argue that misreads the regulation, which bars performing labor, not job hunting.

A worker who leaves the country after a layoff forfeits the grace period, and any new petition an employer then files could become subject to the $100,000 H-1B fee, which remains in litigation.

Source: Forbes

Some H-1B workers in Texas say the state Department of Public Safety is refusing to renew their driver’s licenses because the visa stamps in their passports have expired, even though they remain lawfully present in the United States.

Immigration attorneys say the denials confuse a visa stamp, which is a travel document used once to seek admission at a port of entry, with immigration status, which is governed by the Form I-94 and any USCIS extension approval. Workers holding a valid Form I-797 approval notice and an unexpired I-94 are authorized to stay.

Attorneys told Newsweek the pattern may reflect informal guidance or uneven staff training across DPS offices. Governor Greg Abbott has separately ordered state agencies and public universities to pause new H-1B petitions through May 31, 2027.

Source: Newsweek

California’s new state budget, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, includes $55 million for the Department of Motor Vehicles to share driver’s license and identification records with a national verification network run by the nonprofit American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

More than one million immigrants in California hold driver’s licenses. The system records the last five digits of a Social Security number and enters the placeholder 99999 for applicants without one, which advocates say could expose undocumented drivers to federal immigration enforcement.

Lawmakers had refused to approve the sharing until safeguards were added. A companion measure directs the attorney general to sue the network operator or participating states that break the terms, requires annual public reporting, and orders a DMV monitoring plan by July 2027. State officials say the sharing is needed for REAL ID compliance.

Source: CalMatters

The Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on June 30 against the administration’s expanded use of mandatory immigration detention, becoming the fourth appeals court to do so. A unanimous three-judge panel found the government’s reading of decades-old detention statutes inaccurate.

Judge Richard Federico, joined by Judges Robert Bacharach and David Ebel, wrote that thousands of noncitizens in the circuit are likely subject to mandatory detention under the government’s new reading, and that only the Supreme Court can settle the issue.

The decision follows similar rulings from the 11th, 2nd and 6th Circuits. The 5th and 8th Circuits have sided with the government. It landed four days after the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to take up the question.

Source: Politico

The Supreme Court on June 30 struck down President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority in Trump v. Barbara that such children satisfy both elements of the Citizenship Clause and are citizens at birth.

The order, signed on January 20, 2025, never took effect. Federal judges across the country blocked it, and every lower court to reach the merits ruled against it.

Justice Samuel Alito dissented, calling the decision a serious mistake and arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment confers citizenship only on children who at birth owe allegiance solely to the United States. The ruling resolves the status of children born to unauthorized and temporary residents.

Source: SCOTUSblog

The Catholic Diocese of Brownsville said it is gathering information about the arrest of Sister Leticia “Letty” Ugboaja, a 56-year-old nun from Nigeria, whom ICE officers detained on Sunday as she walked to church in McAllen, Texas.

Ugboaja was released later the same day from the El Valle Detention Facility after South Texas members of Congress intervened. Bishop Daniel E. Flores called the circumstances wildly disturbing and said many questions remain about her arrest and detention.

Sister Norma Pimentel, who had been searching for documents showing Ugboaja was in the country legally, said concerns about the status of international nuns serving in the Rio Grande Valley had not arisen before. She said she will now ask the sisters to carry copies of their documents at all times.

Source: The Texas Tribune