Week of March 4–10, 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.
Federal immigration officers shot 14 people over six months
Federal immigration officers shot 14 people between September 2025 and February 2026 as the Department of Homeland Security expanded deportation operations in American cities, according to an NBC News tally.
Two of those shot were killed in Minneapolis: Renee Good, 37, and Alex Pretti, 37, both U.S. citizens. In many of the incidents, including Good's, officers fired into moving vehicles, a tactic police departments have spent decades trying to restrict.
Jim Bueermann, a former police chief in Redlands, California, who runs the Future Policing Institute, said the shootings were not one-offs and were developing into a pattern in how officers deal with people. Policing experts said the rapid deployment of federal personnel into neighborhoods, where officers were repeatedly filmed clashing with residents and protesters, raised the risk of such incidents.
Source: NBC News
DHS reviewing the future of its largest detention center at Fort Bliss
The Department of Homeland Security said it is re-evaluating the future of Camp East Montana, the country's largest immigrant detention center, seven months after it opened at Fort Bliss outside El Paso.
An ICE spokesperson said the contract was inherited from the Defense Department and that the agency is reviewing the facility and the contract, with no decision yet on extension, termination or a new award.
The tented site has had a fatal construction accident, three detainee deaths in under six weeks, one of them ruled a homicide, and outbreaks of tuberculosis and measles. It held nearly 3,000 people as of mid-February, of whom 82 percent had no criminal history according to ICE data. The agency confirmed 14 measles cases there the previous day.
Source: NBC News
Trump fires Homeland Security Secretary Noem, names Mullin to replace her
President Trump removed Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security and said Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma would replace her. Noem is the first Cabinet secretary to leave in his second term.
Trump said Noem will become special envoy for a new Western Hemisphere security initiative. The announcement followed two days in which she was questioned by lawmakers over her leadership of the department, which is operating without funding.
Noem had been the public face of the deportation campaign, appearing in advertisements urging people to self-deport and holding press events promoting removal numbers. Mullin, a defender of the president's immigration agenda, requires Senate confirmation to hold the post permanently. Departmental spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin left last month.
Source: NPR
New $560 filing fee puts work permits out of reach for asylum seekers
Asylum seekers who have waited out the required period for a work permit now face a $560 filing fee for an initial employment authorization document, introduced by last July's budget reconciliation law.
For decades the fee was waived for asylum applicants. Under the new law it cannot be waived. Applicants interviewed by Documented said they cannot work legally without the permit and cannot afford the fee, leaving them dependent on shelters and without access to other benefits.
One Venezuelan applicant living in a Manhattan shelter said she had been counting down the days until she could apply, and now feels trapped. The fee comes on top of a separate proposal to extend the waiting period for asylum work permits from 180 days to a year.
Source: Documented
Federal judges say bond hearings they ordered for detainees are a sham
Federal judges who ordered bond hearings for detained immigrants increasingly find that the hearings, conducted by immigration judges employed by the Justice Department, are flawed or predetermined toward findings of dangerousness or flight risk.
Some judges have ordered the hearings redone. Others have lost confidence in the process and ordered detainees released outright. In Rhode Island, U.S. District Judge John McConnell released a man denied bond even though the government offered no evidence against him; the immigration judge relied on an uncorroborated police report about speeding that the detainee himself had supplied.
In Missouri, U.S. District Judge Douglas Harpool found an immigration judge had labeled a detainee a flight risk without adequate evidence.
Source: Politico
Deaf 6-year-old deported to Colombia without his hearing devices, lawyer says
Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, 28, of Hayward, California, and her two young children were detained and deported to Colombia after she appeared for an asylum appointment in San Francisco, her attorney said. Her 6-year-old son is deaf and was removed without the medical devices he depends on.
Nikolas De Bremaeker of Centro Legal de la Raza said he could not locate the family for two days after the Tuesday appointment, and that federal officers repeatedly gave him incorrect information about where they were held, including on the night before the deportation.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond organized the news conference at which the case was described. The mother had sought asylum on grounds of domestic violence.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Appeals court refuses to let administration end TPS for Haitians
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied the administration's request to lift a district court order blocking the termination of temporary protected status for roughly 350,000 Haitians, in a 2-1 ruling issued Friday.
The court said the government's failure to show irreparable harm alone justified denying emergency relief that would upend the status quo while the appeal proceeds.
Haiti's designation dates from the 2010 earthquake and has been extended repeatedly; the country is now beset by gang violence that has displaced hundreds of thousands. TPS allows holders to live and work in the United States but provides no path to citizenship. The administration has also terminated protections for Venezuelans, Hondurans, Nicaraguans, Nepalis and Ukrainians.
Source: AP News
NBC poll finds 54 percent disapprove of the administration on immigration
An NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters conducted February 27 to March 3 found 54 percent disapprove of the president's handling of immigration and 44 percent approve. On border security the split runs the other way, with 53 percent approving and 44 percent disapproving.
Sixty percent of voters said immigration helps the United States more than it hurts, against 32 percent who said it does more damage. Shortly before the 2024 election the same question split 50 to 43.
More than half of voters reported negative views of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while 38 percent viewed the agency positively. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.
Source: NBC News
Administration asks Supreme Court to bar judicial review of TPS decisions
The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court for a broad ruling allowing it to end temporary protected status for nationals of multiple countries, including Haiti and Syria, without judicial interference.
In a letter to the court, the department argued that the executive branch may end TPS as it sees fit and that courts cannot second-guess those decisions. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said lower court judges had shown persistent disregard for the Supreme Court's prior orders.
Lower courts have ruled otherwise. A district judge in Washington found that hostility toward nonwhite immigrants likely played a role in the decision to end protections for Haitians, and an appeals court upheld that ruling. The Supreme Court has previously allowed the termination of protections for Venezuelans to proceed during litigation.
Source: AP News
San Diego County sues ICE over blocked detention center inspection
San Diego County filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the administration illegally blocked a public health inspection of the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a privately run facility near the border operated under contract by CoreCivic.
The complaint asks the court to order the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and CoreCivic to admit county health officials for a full inspection. According to the filing, ICE cleared the county's inspectors to enter and then reversed that decision when the team arrived.
The suit follows a February visit in which Sen. Alex Padilla and two county supervisors were turned away from the same facility despite prior clearance, and reports about conditions inside.
Source: CalMatters
California bill would restore Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented adults
Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, a Los Angeles Democrat, introduced Senate Bill 1422, which would reinstate Medi-Cal eligibility for all income-qualifying California residents aged 19 and over regardless of immigration status.
Gov. Gavin Newsom scaled back that coverage in last year's budget, citing state deficits. Durazo was one of only two Democratic legislators to vote against the reduction.
The bill would not restore the dental benefits cut in the same budget, nor would it remove the $30 monthly premium that takes effect for this group in July 2027. Coverage for children without legal status was not cut. Durazo said the state is no healthier than the person least able to get care, and that a two-tier system borrows trouble.
Source: CalMatters
House bill would undo the $100,000 H-1B fee and wage rules
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a New Jersey Democrat, introduced the Welcoming International Success Act, which would reverse the restrictions the administration placed on the H-1B visa program.
Last year's presidential proclamation added a one-time $100,000 charge for employers sponsoring H-1B workers and imposed tougher wage requirements on companies hiring foreign professionals. Supporters of those measures argue they discourage reliance on foreign labor and protect opportunities for American workers.
Critics say there are not enough qualified American workers for many highly specialized roles and that restricting access to international talent will set back key industries. The bill faces long odds in a Republican-controlled House.
Source: Newsweek