Week of November 26 – December 2, 2025

The Department of Homeland Security announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, effective February 3, 2026. More than half a million Haitians live in the United States under the designation, first granted after the 2010 earthquake and repeatedly extended through later political and humanitarian crises.

In its Federal Register notice, DHS acknowledged that "certain conditions in Haiti remain concerning" but said Secretary Kristi Noem had determined there are no extraordinary and temporary conditions preventing Haitians from returning safely. The notice added that even if such conditions existed, ending the designation would still be required because keeping Haitians in the country is contrary to the national interest.

Absent a court order, those affected will lose work authorization and protection from removal, and face return to a country where gangs control the roads in and out of Port-au-Prince.

Source: Miami Herald

Homeland Security said it would begin reviewing all asylum cases approved during the Biden administration, a day after two National Guard members were shot near the White House by a suspect who had entered the country seeking asylum from Afghanistan.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the department had stopped processing immigration requests involving Afghan nationals "indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols." She said the administration was also reviewing every asylum grant made under the previous administration, which she said "failed to vet these applicants on a massive scale."

The announcement gave no timetable and no explanation of what would happen to people whose grants are reopened.

Source: USA Today

USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said he had directed "a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern," writing that "the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration's reckless resettlement policies."

Asked which countries qualify, the agency pointed to a June presidential proclamation naming 19 countries it described as deficient in screening and vetting. The list includes Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran and Venezuela.

The order followed the shooting of two National Guard members near the White House. Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died of her wounds; Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remained hospitalized. Prosecutors say the suspect, an Afghan national who had assisted American forces, was resettled under Operation Allies Welcome.

Source: NBC News

In a long social media post, President Trump said he wants to "permanently pause migration" from poorer nations and pledged to expel millions of immigrants by revoking their legal status, calling for "REVERSE MIGRATION." He blamed immigrants for crime, housing shortages and what he described as social dysfunction.

The post followed the shooting of two National Guard members deployed in Washington under his orders. A 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the war and came to the United States through the resettlement program for Afghan allies faces charges.

Administration officials have since pledged to re-examine millions of legal immigrants, extending a campaign that has run for ten months.

Source: AP News

At least 225 federal judges have ruled in more than 700 cases that the administration's expansion of mandatory detention is a likely violation of law and of due process, and have ordered release or bond hearings for more than 500 people in deportation proceedings.

The policy treats immigrants who entered without authorization, including people who have lived in the country for years, as though they were "seeking admission," a category normally reserved for new arrivals and one that bars them from asking an immigration judge for release.

Most challenges have come from individual detainees, but judges in Massachusetts and Colorado have certified class actions, and a California judge approved a nationwide class that could force the government to hold bond hearings. Appeals courts have only begun to weigh in.

Source: Politico

After a medical emergency in custody in July, Milagro Solis-Portillo was taken to Glendale Memorial Hospital, where ICE contractors sat in the lobby around the clock for two weeks, according to her attorney Ming Tanigawa-Lau. She was later transferred to Anaheim Global Medical Center against her doctor's orders.

At the second hospital, her attorney said, agents remained in her room day and night, overhearing conversations with providers, and pressed her to say she was well enough to leave, telling her she could not speak to family or counsel until she did.

That case and others led the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to approve new protections on November 18 for detained patients at county-operated health facilities.

Source: Los Angeles Times

The administration halted all asylum decisions and stopped issuing visas to people traveling on Afghan passports, extending the response to the National Guard shooting in Washington into the legal immigration system.

USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said on X that asylum decisions would be paused "until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible." The pause applies to pending cases regardless of nationality or how long an applicant has waited.

The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is a 29-year-old Afghan national who had been living in Bellingham, Washington, and worked with the CIA during the war. He applied for asylum under the Biden administration and was granted it this year. He faces charges including first-degree murder.

Source: AP News

Asked whether he would denaturalize certain Americans, President Trump told reporters he would "absolutely" do so if he had the power. "I'm not sure that I do, but if I do - I would denaturalize," he said, referring to people he described as criminals naturalized under the previous administration.

Revoking citizenship requires the Justice Department to file a case in federal court, and USCIS says the government carries a high burden of proof. The department directed its Civil Division in June to prioritize denaturalization for naturalized citizens charged with war crimes, gang activity and serious human rights abuses.

Of the 46.2 million immigrants in the country in 2022, about 24.5 million were naturalized citizens. Denaturalization cases averaged roughly 11 a year from 1990 to 2017.

Source: Axios

A policy memo posted on the USCIS website paused decisions on immigration applications, including green cards and naturalization, for nationals of the 19 countries covered by the June travel proclamation. Director Joseph Edlow decides when the pause is lifted.

The June order barred entry by citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, and restricted entry from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. It did not touch people from those countries already in the United States.

The new memo does. Applicants already living here, whenever they arrived, now face additional scrutiny and an indefinite wait.

Source: PBS NewsHour

Near the end of a long Cabinet meeting, President Trump told reporters of Somali immigrants: "They contribute nothing. I don't want them in our country." He added, "Their country is no good for a reason." He drew no distinction between citizens and noncitizens.

Somalis have settled in Minnesota and other states, often as refugees, since the 1990s. Minnesota has the largest Somali community in the country. Trump had said days earlier that they should be sent back where they came from and alleged the state was a hub of money laundering, after a conservative activist published unsourced claims that stolen state funds reached al-Shabab.

The comments came days after the administration halted all asylum decisions.

Source: AP News

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said at a Cabinet meeting that 29 Republican-led states have handed over data on food stamp recipients while 21 states, including California, New York and Minnesota, have refused. She said the department would begin withholding federal funds from the states that decline until they comply.

About 42 million people receive benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia sued this year to block the data demand, arguing it was part of an effort to gather personal data for unauthorized purposes and citing IRS and health agency agreements to share information with ICE.

A federal judge in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction in October barring the department from withholding SNAP funds over the data request.

Source: NBC News

The Justice Department filed its response to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lawsuit challenging the $100,000 fee imposed on new H-1B visa holders entering the country. The government argues the president has broad discretion to suspend the entry of foreign nationals he finds detrimental to the national interest, and that such decisions are largely shielded from judicial review.

DOJ also contends the plaintiffs have no cause of action under the Administrative Procedure Act, since the president is not subject to suit under it, and that no notice-and-comment rulemaking was required because agencies merely implemented the proclamation.

The complaint argues that Congress, not the president, sets the terms and fees of the H-1B category. USCIS guidance says the fee does not apply to change-of-status cases, such as a student moving from F-1 to H-1B without leaving the country.

Source: Forbes