Week of June 3–9, 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.
Judge orders Otay Mesa detention center to admit county health inspectors
A federal judge ordered the Otay Mesa Detention Center to let San Diego County health inspectors into the 1,400-bed facility, siding with local officials against the federal government.
Judge James Simmons Jr. of the Southern District of California wrote that the inspection “shall be completed as soon as practicable and no later than June 17, 2026,” and directed the operator, CoreCivic, to produce a list of policies and procedures the county had requested.
San Diego County sued the Department of Homeland Security in March after two supervisors and a health inspector were denied full access. It is the first California county to use inspection authority granted by a 2024 state law. Eight privately run detention centers in the state hold about 5,300 people, up from roughly 3,100 in April 2025.
Source: CalMatters
Administration seeks to eliminate funding for the immigration detention ombudsman
The administration has asked Congress to cut all funding and staff for the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman in its latest budget request, which would close one of the few avenues detainees have to seek help.
Congress created the office during the first Trump term as an independent unit within the Department of Homeland Security. Its inspectors could arrive unannounced at facilities such as Delaney Hall in Newark, where detainees are conducting a hunger and labor strike, to check medical care, food, language access and safety standards.
The office has already been reduced sharply. “It is impossible for the agency with a skeletal staff to conduct investigations,” said Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, who described it as toothless.
Source: NJ Spotlight News
Scammers use AI to impersonate immigration lawyers and stage fake hearings
Immigration attorneys are having to take down cloned websites and social media accounts as scammers use artificial intelligence to impersonate them and sell fraudulent legal services.
Angel Leal Jr., who practices in Doral, Florida, said his name, image and voice were cloned. The fraud included contracts bearing his firm's logo, forged signatures, near-identical websites and fabricated immigration hearings at which victims were told they had been granted residency or citizenship.
The Federal Trade Commission recorded more than one million identity theft reports last year, with losses above $3.5 billion. Demand far exceeds the supply of legitimate counsel: the immigration courts had 3,318,099 pending cases at the end of February, and as of March only 32.8 percent of immigrants had a lawyer when a deportation order was issued.
Source: NBC News
Chip Roy bill would end the H-1B route to a green card and scrap OPT
Representative Chip Roy of Texas introduced the American White-Collar Worker Jobs Act, which would prevent the H-1B visa from serving as a route to permanent residence and abolish Optional Practical Training, the program that lets international students work in the United States after graduation.
Roy said the measure would prioritize jobs for American workers, particularly in science and technology fields, and described the current system as a lottery-based pipeline that should be replaced with one based on merit.
The bill faces long odds. Republicans hold 217 House seats to Democrats' 212, with one independent and five vacancies, leaving little margin, and the measure is unlikely to attract moderate Republican or Democratic support.
Source: Newsweek
Judge voids USCIS freeze on applications from nationals of 39 countries
U.S. District Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island struck down the policies adopted after last year's shooting of two National Guard members, which had categorically barred immigrants from 39 African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries from receiving final decisions on asylum, work permit, green card and citizenship applications.
The policy “threw the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo,” he wrote, finding that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services claimed authority it does not possess, gave no reasoned explanations, and used national security as a pretext. He held the actions contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious.
The ruling affects more than a million people, including Cubans, Haitians and Venezuelans.
Source: AP News
Second death in two months at a Louisiana ICE detention center
Mamuka Artmeladze, a 43-year-old man from Georgia, was found unresponsive on June 4 at Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, and pronounced dead at a hospital less than an hour later, ICE said. The cause of death is pending an autopsy.
He is the 19th person to die in ICE custody since January 1 and the second at Winn since April 11, when Alejandro Cabrera Clemente, 49, was found unresponsive during a security check. A recent inspection of the facility found unsanitary conditions, problems with medical care and use of excessive force.
Artmeladze had been held for nearly four months and, like most of the more than 1,500 men at Winn, had no criminal record.
Source: AP News
Judge strikes down the $100,000 H-1B fee as an unauthorized tax
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston struck down the $100,000 fee imposed on new H-1B petitions, ruling that it is a tax Congress never authorized rather than the entry penalty the administration argued it was.
The suit was brought by 20 Democratic state attorneys general. Before the September proclamation, employers typically paid about $2,000 to $5,000 in fees for an H-1B petition. The program issues 65,000 visas a year plus 20,000 for workers with advanced degrees, valid for three to six years.
Court filings show the fee sharply reduced demand: as of February 15, only 85 payments of $100,000 had been received. Trump said federal judges “are giving us a very, very hard time.”
Source: NBC News
House sends $70 billion immigration enforcement bill to the president
The House passed a bill providing nearly $70 billion for immigration enforcement by 214-212, sending it to the president, who was expected to sign it the following day.
The measure funds Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol for three years. According to the White House, it provides $38 billion for ICE, $26 billion for the Border Patrol and $5 billion for unforeseen costs. It frontloads what would normally be annual appropriations, keeping money flowing without interruption as the administration pursues a target of about one million deportations a year.
Republicans passed it on party lines over Democratic objections, after a shutdown earlier this year over funding for the two agencies. Speaker Mike Johnson needed near-perfect attendance to hold his majority together.
Source: AP News
State Department creates a $750 fee for expedited tourist visa interviews
The State Department issued a temporary final rule creating a $750 fee for an expedited interview appointment for B1/B2 business and tourism visas. It takes effect July 1 and runs through December 31, 2026, with comments due July 9.
Applicants who pay will be able to secure an interview within ten business days, subject to appointment availability. The charge is an optional premium on top of the standard nonimmigrant visa application fee and will be offered only at selected overseas posts, listed on the department's website.
The service is limited to B1/B2 applicants. Wait times for visa interviews at many consulates have grown substantially over the past year.
Source: Federal Register