Week of May 6–12, 2026

About six in 10 U.S. adults say the country used to be a great place for immigrants but is not anymore, according to a survey of more than 2,500 adults by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Roughly a third of adults, and more than half of Hispanic adults, said that in the past year they or someone they know had started carrying proof of immigration status or citizenship, been detained or deported, changed travel plans, or significantly altered daily routines such as going to work or school because of immigration status.

The poll was taken while the Supreme Court considers whether the administration may restrict birthright citizenship, after months of expanded enforcement and large-scale deportations.

Source: AP News

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the administration's policy of treating immigrants arrested inside the country as “applicants for admission,” and therefore ineligible for bond, is unlawful.

Under that policy, people picked up in the interior, including many who had lived in the United States for years, could be released only if they showed beyond doubt that they were entitled to admission. The ruling means detainees in Florida, Alabama and Georgia may ask an immigration judge for release on bond, though bond is not guaranteed.

Facilities affected include Krome Detention Center in Miami-Dade County, the Everglades site known as Alligator Alcatraz, Broward Transitional Center and the Federal Detention Center in Miami. Mandatory detention still applies to people with qualifying criminal convictions or who are found to be a flight risk or public safety threat.

Source: Miami Herald

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is negotiating to buy ready-to-operate detention facilities from its largest private vendors after local opposition stalled its plan to convert warehouses into large detention sites.

The Department of Homeland Security wants to own detention space rather than lease it. Its network peaked at more than 70,000 detainees earlier this year.

CoreCivic, which leases about a quarter of ICE's detention beds, is in talks to sell some of its facilities to the agency. Chief executive Patrick Swindle told investors the aim is “a nationwide network that consolidates populations in relatively larger facilities.” GEO Group executives said on their earnings call that they are also discussing sales of detention space to ICE.

Source: Axios

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved a reconciliation bill funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection for fiscal 2026, on an 8-5 vote.

The measure includes $9.5 billion for Customs and Border Protection recruitment and nearly $7.5 billion for ICE recruitment in fiscal 2026, along with about $3.5 billion for other CBP operations through fiscal 2029, including procurement and the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning for mission support.

The bill follows the record 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year, which ended when Congress funded the rest of the department but left ICE and Border Patrol to a separate party-line process.

Source: Federal News Network

Immigration officials quietly created an exemption allowing physicians with pending visa or green card applications to have their cases reviewed, easing a freeze that had stopped adjudications for people from more than three dozen countries designated high risk.

Physicians' groups and immigration attorneys had sought the change for months, citing shortages and the large share of foreign-trained doctors working in underserved areas. Faysal Alghoula, a Libyan pulmonologist who treats about 1,000 patients across parts of Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, had been unable to renew his green card.

Applicants and lawyers say the effect is uncertain. The exemption allows review but does not guarantee approval, and it is unclear whether U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services can process the cases before deadlines pass. Others covered by the freeze remain in limbo.

Source: AP News

Representative Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat, is pushing a new version of the Dignity Act, the immigration bill she wrote with Republican Representative Maria Elvira Salazar of Miami.

Escobar helped draft the Democratic bill introduced at the start of the Biden administration that would have created an eight-year path to citizenship. It failed to win support within her own party and was rejected by Republicans. “It really is going to need to be bipartisan if it's going to stick,” she said of the experience.

The Dignity Act offers work and travel authorization rather than citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the country. The latest version includes a change intended to make it more acceptable to Republicans, and has drawn both GOP support and criticism.

Source: The Texas Tribune

Employers, universities and visa holders should expect further restrictions on skilled immigration over the next two years, according to an analysis of pending regulatory action.

The Department of Labor published a proposed rule in March 2026 that would raise required prevailing wages for H-1B workers and employment-based immigrants by 21 to 33 percent depending on experience level. Its comment period closes in late May, and the department is expected to try to finalize it by the end of the year. Further rules are expected to restrict employers, visa holders and international students seeking to work after graduation.

The administration imposed a $100,000 fee on the entry of new H-1B holders in September 2025. Applicants also face tougher adjudications and difficulty securing visa interviews.

Source: Forbes

A new Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy requires members of Congress to obtain advance approval before speaking with detainees during oversight visits to detention facilities. Lawmakers must identify detainees by name at least two business days ahead and provide a signed consent form from each one.

California Representatives Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs learned of the policy during an unannounced visit to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. Staff handed them a memo dated that day and signed by acting ICE Director Todd Lyons.

Lyons wrote that the visits are disruptive and pull staff from law enforcement duties. Members from California, Illinois and New Jersey have been denied access to facilities in recent weeks.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Marie-Thérèse Ross, the 85-year-old French widow of a U.S. military veteran, described her 16 days in immigration custody after being arrested in Alabama on April 1 over an alleged visa overstay. She has since been released and returned to France.

Five men who identified themselves as immigration officers knocked on her door and windows at 8 a.m. and handcuffed her while she was still in her bathrobe, slippers and pajamas, she said. She was transferred two days later to a facility in Basile, Louisiana, where she was held in a dormitory-style room with 58 other women, most of them mothers.

“Some of them didn't know where their children were,” she said. At night she heard children and babies crying.

Source: AP News

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said the agency has identified more than 10,000 cases of potential fraud tied to Optional Practical Training, the program that lets foreign graduates work in the United States for 12 months, or 24 in some fields, and can lead to an employer-sponsored H-1B visa.

Speaking at a news conference with officials from ICE and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Lyons said investigators conducting site visits found cases where participants were managed by employees based in India, contrary to a program requirement that training and direction occur in the United States. Officials also alleged that shell companies helped graduates remain in the country without a legitimate sponsor.

The administration began a broader crackdown on student visas in 2025, prompting litigation from students whose status was terminated.

Source: Politico