Week of March 12–18, 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.
DHS creates an online registration form for immigrants without status
The Department of Homeland Security published an interim final rule on March 12 designating a new form, G-325R, that immigrants can use to satisfy the registration and fingerprinting requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The rule was set to take effect on April 11, though DHS said people could register through a myUSCIS account immediately.
Federal law has long required most people over 14 who remain in the United States for 30 days or more to register and be fingerprinted, but DHS said no general form existed for those who entered without inspection. The agency estimated that between 2.2 million and 3.2 million people were unregistered and covered by the rule.
Registration was free at publication, and DHS asked for comment on whether to add a $30 biometric services fee. Failure to comply with the registration and change of address rules is a misdemeanor. Comments were due April 11.
Source: Federal Register
ICE says immigration detention is full at 47,600 people
A senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told reporters on March 12 that immigration detention was filled to capacity at 47,600 people and that the agency was seeking more bed space. ICE is funded to hold an average of 41,500 detainees and was working with lawmakers to secure more detention money.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the agency was expanding its bed count with support from the Defense Department, the US Marshals Service and the Bureau of Prisons. Border czar Tom Homan said in December 2024 that the deportation effort would need at least 100,000 beds.
ICE made about 32,800 arrests between January 20 and March 10, the official said, and 27 percent of those arrested faced no criminal charge or conviction beyond an immigration violation. The Biden administration made 113,400 arrests in all of fiscal year 2024.
Source: Reuters
Administration asks Supreme Court to narrow birthright citizenship orders
The Trump administration filed emergency applications at the Supreme Court on March 13 asking the justices to narrow orders from district judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington that blocked the president's executive order on birthright citizenship. The order was blocked nationwide, and three federal appeals courts had already refused to lift the injunctions.
The executive order would deny citizenship to children born after February 19 whose parents are in the country illegally, and would bar federal agencies from issuing or accepting documents recognizing citizenship for those children. Roughly two dozen states, along with individuals and groups, sued, arguing that it violates the 14th Amendment.
The filings did not ask the court to rule on the order itself. Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris argued that individual judges should not be able to give their rulings nationwide effect, writing that courts issued 15 such orders in February alone.
Source: AP News
Haitians and a clergy group sue over the early end of Haiti's TPS
Nine Haitians, the Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association and SEIU Local 32BJ sued President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security in federal court in the Eastern District of New York over the decision to cut short Temporary Protected Status for more than half a million Haitians by six months.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced in February that Haiti's designation would end on August 3, rescinding a Biden administration extension that ran to February 3, 2026. The 45-page complaint argued that the decision skipped the periodic review the TPS statute requires and was driven by racial animus, citing statements Trump and his allies made about Haitian immigrants.
The plaintiffs asked the court to block the order, pointing to conditions in Haiti, where more than 5,600 people were killed in gang violence last year and gangs control up to 90 percent of the capital.
Source: Miami Herald
Internal memo lists 41 countries for a possible new travel ban
An internal administration memo seen by Reuters proposed travel restrictions on citizens of 41 countries, divided into three groups. Ten countries, among them Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela, would face a full visa suspension.
Five more, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar and South Sudan, would face partial suspensions covering tourist and student visas along with some other immigrant visas. A third group of 26 countries, including Belarus, Pakistan and Turkmenistan, would be considered for a partial suspension if their governments did not address vetting deficiencies within 60 days.
A US official said the list could still change and had not been approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The work followed a January 20 executive order that directed cabinet members to report by March 21 on countries whose screening and vetting information is deficient.
Source: Reuters
Texas detention centers reopen to hold immigrant families
The Trump administration began holding families at the Karnes County Detention Facility southeast of San Antonio, reviving a practice the Biden administration had greatly reduced. Lawyers at RAICES, which represents several of the families, said they came from Colombia, Romania, Iran, Angola, Russia, Armenia, Turkey and Brazil, and that not all were recent arrivals.
Texas holds more immigration detainees than any other state, with 21 facilities housing 12,186 people as of late February. The administration also planned to reopen a center in Dilley that would add space for up to 2,400 people, and records obtained by the ACLU showed ICE had considered expanding a facility in Laredo and opening another in Henderson.
Advocates said the privately run facilities have long drawn complaints over medical neglect, poor conditions and weak oversight.
Source: The Texas Tribune
Second Columbia protester arrested as another student leaves the country
Federal agents arrested Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank who took part in protests at Columbia University last spring, for overstaying a student visa. The Department of Homeland Security said her visa was terminated in January 2022 for lack of attendance and that officers from the Newark field office made the arrest.
The arrest followed the departure on March 11 of Ranjani Srinivasan, a Columbia doctoral student from India whose visa the State Department had revoked a week earlier. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said a visa is a privilege that should be revoked from anyone who advocates violence or terrorism.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department was working with DHS on an investigation into whether Columbia harbored people in the country illegally. Agents had searched two university residences the previous night without making arrests.
Source: NBC News
Judge blocks Alien Enemies Act removals and orders deportation flights back
US District Judge James Boasberg ordered the administration on March 15 to halt the removal of Venezuelan nationals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and to return planes already in the air. The suit, filed by Democracy Forward and the ACLU on behalf of five Venezuelan men, was provisionally certified as a class action, extending the block to everyone in custody covered by the proclamation.
Trump signed the proclamation on Friday and the White House released it Saturday afternoon, declaring that the gang Tren de Aragua was carrying out an invasion. Two planes believed to be carrying deportees left Harlingen, Texas, during a break in the hearing, one bound for San Salvador and the other for Comayagua, Honduras.
The restraining order was set to expire in 14 days. The administration appealed to the DC Circuit.
Source: Politico
About 250 people deported to El Salvador after judge's order
The administration deported about 250 people to El Salvador over the weekend, saying they were members of Tren de Aragua. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said they would be held at the country's Terrorism Confinement Center. Two alleged leaders of MS-13 and 21 other members of that gang were also sent, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Bukele.
Justice Department lawyers wrote in a Sunday filing that some people covered by the proclamation had already left US territory by the time Judge Boasberg issued his order at 7:26 p.m. Saturday. The filing was signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
With the men in Salvadoran custody, it was not clear what jurisdiction US courts still had over them, or whether any could be returned.
Source: NPR
Brown Medicine doctor sent back to Lebanon despite a court order
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor at Brown Medicine who held an H-1B visa, was returned to Lebanon after flying back from a family visit, according to a court petition filed by a cousin. The petition said Customs and Border Protection held her at Boston Logan International Airport for 36 hours before removing her, without explaining the reason or confirming the flight.
The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts had ordered on Friday that she not be removed from the state without 48 hours of notice and an explanation, so the court could consider the case. An attorney confirmed she was back in Lebanon.
CBP said arriving noncitizens bear the burden of establishing admissibility, and that its officers follow strict screening and vetting protocols.
Source: NBC News
Lawyers say 48 people arrested in New Mexico raids cannot be located
The ACLU of New Mexico filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties seeking an investigation into the whereabouts of 48 people arrested during a week of immigration raids in Santa Fe, Roswell and Albuquerque that ended on March 8.
Rebecca Sheff, a senior staff attorney at the group, said advocates had learned none of the names, locations or conditions of detention, and that no families had come forward searching for relatives, which she called an anomaly. ICE runs an online detainee locator, but names or other identifying details are needed to use it.
ICE said on March 12 that it had arrested 48 people in New Mexico, that 21 had final removal orders, and that others faced charges or convictions ranging from homicide to burglary.
Source: NBC News
Chief Justice Roberts rejects Trump's call to impeach a judge
Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement on March 18 rejecting calls to impeach federal judges, hours after President Trump demanded the removal of US District Judge James Boasberg, who had blocked deportation flights carried out under the Alien Enemies Act.
"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Roberts said. "The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."
Trump had called Boasberg an unelected "troublemaker and agitator" on Truth Social and said he should be impeached. In a Fox News interview later that day, Trump noted that Roberts had not named him in the statement, and said the judge had overstepped his authority by interfering with deportation plans.
Source: AP News