Week of March 18–24, 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.
Visa bond program expands to 12 more countries, including Nicaragua
The State Department added 12 countries to its visa bond pilot program, bringing the total to 50. Nationals of those countries must post a bond of between $5,000 and $15,000 before being issued a B1/B2 visa for business or tourism.
The additions include Grenada, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles and Tunisia. The requirement takes effect April 2. Sixty percent of the countries on the expanded list are in Africa; Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Dominica and Venezuela were added in January.
The department says it selects countries with high rates of visa overstays. The pilot began last fall and runs through August 2026.
Source: Miami Herald
DHS reports 363 pregnant or postpartum immigrants deported in 13 months
The Department of Homeland Security disclosed that 363 pregnant, postpartum or nursing immigrants were deported between January 1, 2025, and February 16, 2026, in answers to questions submitted by Sen. Patty Murray of Washington.
Over the same period, 498 pregnant, postpartum or nursing people were booked out of ICE detention, meaning they were held and later left a facility, and 16 miscarriages were recorded. As of February 16, 121 people in active detention were pregnant, postpartum or nursing, nine of them in the third trimester.
Federal policy says people in those categories should be detained only in limited circumstances. The figures are the most detailed the department has released on the subject.
Source: The 19th News
Families describe abrupt deportations of children with no time to prepare
ICE has deported thousands of children under 18 during the current administration, according to data compiled by the Deportation Data Project, and families say the manner of removal leaves them unable to arrange housing, medical care or schooling.
Yerson and Kelly Vargas and their 6-year-old daughter were held for two months at the Dilley detention center in Texas. They said officers came with chains and handcuffs and threatened to force them onto a plane to Colombia, the country they had left three years earlier.
After an 18-hour bus ride and a transcontinental flight, they arrived in November with one bag. They were never allowed to collect belongings from their New York apartment, losing their car, clothes and the child's toys.
Source: The Marshall Project
White House offers body cameras and sensitive-location limits to end DHS shutdown
In a letter to Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Katie Britt, the White House set out the changes to immigration enforcement it is prepared to accept as the Department of Homeland Security entered the second month of a funding lapse.
The administration said it would codify operational guidelines including wider use of body cameras by DHS law enforcement officers, limits on enforcement at sensitive locations such as schools and hospitals, greater congressional oversight of detention facilities, and a requirement that officers display visible identification.
The letter also said most of the Democrats' existing demands are untenable, arguing they would make it impossible to protect citizens from dangerous criminals and would expose officers and their families to threats.
Source: KCRA
Immigration judge denies asylum for family of boy detained in Minneapolis
An immigration judge denied the asylum claim of the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old photographed in a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack when he was detained with his father in January, a family lawyer said.
The boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, who is from Ecuador, were taken into custody in a Minneapolis suburb on January 20 and held for ten days at a Texas detention center before a judge ordered their release.
Lawyer Danielle Molliver said the family is appealing Judge John Burns's decision and called it misguided. An appeal can take years, though she expects the government to seek a faster process and hopes for at least a couple of months. Liam has returned to school.
Source: AP News
Government lawyer concedes labor shortage while defending farmworker wage cut
At a hearing in federal court in Fresno, a government attorney said there are not enough Americans to take farm jobs while defending a rule that would lower the minimum wage paid to H-2A agricultural guest workers.
The United Farm Workers sued in the Eastern District of California, arguing the rule would depress pay across agriculture, including for citizens. Federal law requires that H-2A wages not undercut domestic pay.
The H-2A program lets employers hire temporary workers from abroad, mostly from Mexico, for jobs domestic workers do not fill. Growers say labor costs have become unsustainable. Farmworkers rallied outside the courthouse the day before the hearing.
Source: CalMatters
Senate Democrats plan forced vote to restore automatic work permit renewals
Senate Democrats are preparing to use the Congressional Review Act to force a floor vote on reinstating automatic extensions of employment authorization documents, which the administration ended by rule last year.
Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada is collecting the 30 signatures needed to compel the vote and has about 29 session days left before the review act's 60-day window closes. A resolution would pass on a simple majority, though the president would be expected to veto it.
Ending automatic renewal has left workers whose applications are pending without valid permits. Democrats are framing the measure as an economic issue and want Republicans on the record.
Source: Axios
Children's entertainer joins campaign to close the Dilley family detention center
The children's entertainer known as Ms. Rachel spoke by video call with children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas and said she wants to help close the facility.
Nine-year-old Deiver Henao Jimenez, held with his parents since early March, told her he did not want to be there, that he missed his friends and that the food made his stomach hurt. He had won his school spelling bee and placed third at regionals, qualifying for New Mexico's state competition in May.
Children at Dilley have described limited schooling, lights that stay on and moldy food. It is the only ICE facility that holds children together with their parents.
Source: NBC News
Supreme Court weighs reviving border 'metering' of asylum seekers
The Supreme Court heard argument on whether the administration may revive metering, the practice of limiting how many people may apply for asylum each day at ports of entry on the southern border.
Some conservative justices appeared receptive to the Justice Department's request to overturn a lower court ruling against the practice. The government argues metering is a critical tool used by administrations of both parties and should remain available.
Advocates say the policy left people waiting in makeshift camps in Mexico during the president's first term. The practice is not in use now, since the asylum system has been broadly suspended. Justices questioned whether it would leave people who crossed unlawfully able to apply while those waiting at a port of entry could not.
Source: AP News
Texas will require proof of lawful status for professional licenses
The Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation unanimously adopted a rule requiring applicants for state professional licenses, from electricians to dog breeders, to prove they are in the country lawfully. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation plans to implement it on May 1.
Commissioners approved the change after hearing from a series of speakers who opposed it, arguing it would harm the state economy, burden immigrants working legitimately, push people to work without licenses and weaken state oversight of regulated trades.
The department said it has long been reviewing license eligibility verification and is proceeding with lawful presence checks alongside a modernization of its licensing system.
Source: The Texas Tribune
Sheriff left seven reported rapes at Otay Mesa detention center uninvestigated
San Diego County sheriff's officials did not investigate at least seven reported sexual assaults at the Otay Mesa immigration detention center in 2025, records obtained by CalMatters show.
Under a 2020 memorandum of understanding between the sheriff's department and CoreCivic, the private contractor that runs the facility, the warden decides whether a rape allegation is investigated. The records also list four attempted sexual assaults.
A sheriff's spokesperson said the agency was not investigating the cases. Otay Mesa holds just under 1,500 immigration detainees, most of them awaiting hearings and not convicted of any crime. A county supervisor wants the agreement reopened.
Source: CalMatters
Abbott brief faults Paxton's suit against Harris County immigrant legal fund
Gov. Greg Abbott filed a brief with the Texas Supreme Court criticizing Attorney General Ken Paxton, a fellow Republican, over the handling of his lawsuit against Harris County's fund providing legal aid to immigrants facing deportation.
Abbott's lawyers noted that the county has run the program for five years but that Paxton sued only late last year, and after losing in district court asked the all-Republican 15th Court of Appeals to rule within 15 days.
The brief said the governor would not speculate on why the attorney general wanted a decision before a particular date. Paxton set the deadline ahead of the March 3 primary, in which he finished a close second and entered a runoff against Sen. John Cornyn.
Source: The Texas Tribune