Week of October 29 – November 4, 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.
Vance calls for cutting legal immigration levels sharply
Vice President JD Vance argued for a substantial reduction in legal immigration at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi, saying "we have to get the overall numbers way, way down." Pressed by a student for a figure, he said the right level is far below current admissions but did not name one.
He criticized the Biden administration for admitting too many people and said the social fabric of the country was at stake. "You've got to allow your own society to cohere a little bit, to build a sense of common identity, for all the newcomers... to assimilate into American culture," he said. "Until you do that, you've got to be careful about any additional immigration."
The remarks extend the administration's focus from unlawful entry to the legal immigration system itself, which is set by statutory caps Congress controls.
Source: AP News
DHS ends automatic extensions of expiring work permits
An interim final rule ends the practice of automatically extending Employment Authorization Documents for people who file a timely renewal application in certain categories. The extension had run for up to 540 days while USCIS processed the case, allowing holders to keep working.
The rule took effect on October 30, 2025 and applies to renewal applications filed on or after that date. DHS says the change lets the agency complete vetting and screening before granting a new period of work authorization, citing Executive Orders 14159 and 14161.
Cards already automatically extended before October 30, or extended by law or a separate Federal Register notice, are not affected. Anyone whose card expires while a renewal is pending will now lose the right to work until the new document is issued. Comments are due by December 1.
Source: Federal Register
Refugee admissions capped at 7,500, with priority for white South Africans
The administration set the refugee admissions ceiling for the 2026 budget year at 7,500, down from the 125,000 ceiling set under President Biden. A notice published in the Federal Register said the admissions are justified by humanitarian concerns or the national interest but gave no reason for the figure.
The notice identified white South Africans, known as Afrikaners, as the group to be admitted, along with unspecified "other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands." No other groups were named.
The budget year began on October 1. The AP reports that the reduction effectively suspends the country's traditional role as a haven for people fleeing war and persecution, and that it had previously reported the administration was weighing a figure of about 7,500 drawn mainly from South Africa.
Source: AP News
Noem refuses Illinois request to pause enforcement over Halloween
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rejected Governor JB Pritzker's request to suspend immigration enforcement in the Chicago area until after Halloween. Pritzker had cited children's safety and an incident the previous Saturday in which Customs and Border Protection agents used tear gas in a neighborhood where children were preparing for a Halloween parade.
"We're absolutely not willing to put on pause any work that we will do to keep communities safe," Noem said at a news conference in Gary, Indiana. She called the request shameful and said the work matters most when children are out on the streets for holiday events.
Noem invoked the same concern for children's safety that Pritzker had used in making the request.
Source: NBC News
Eleven senators demand answers on ICE restraint use during removal flights
Eleven Democratic senators wrote to senior immigration officials saying that near-total secrecy around deportation flights and the use of full-body restraints raises serious human rights concerns. They asked ICE for a full accounting of its air operations.
Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who led the letter, called on ICE to stop using the WRAP restraint until it explains its policies for the device and answers questions about how it is applied to detainees. "I think it's very problematic," he told the AP. "They want to keep the public in the dark."
He was joined by Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Alex Padilla, Tammy Duckworth and six others. The letter cites an Associated Press investigation published earlier in the month. The device is the subject of several federal lawsuits alleging its misuse amounts to punishment.
Source: NBC News
Initial refugee resettlement grants moved from State Department to HHS
A presidential determination transfers administration of the initial refugee resettlement grants and contracts to the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health and Human Services. Those grants fund the public and nonprofit agencies that provide arrival services to refugees.
The determination, issued under section 412(b)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, states that centralizing domestic resettlement in one agency removes duplication and improves coordination with state and local governments. It describes the move as a return to the structure set out in the Refugee Act of 1980, which named the Office of Refugee Resettlement as the lead federal body for domestic resettlement.
The State Department and HHS are directed to coordinate an orderly transfer of responsibilities, personnel and resources. It follows the decision the previous day to cap refugee admissions at 7,500.
Source: Federal Register
Trump says immigration raids have not gone far enough
In an interview with CBS News broadcast on Sunday, President Trump said he is committed to continuing immigration raids and that "I think they haven't gone far enough." He said his deportation program has been held back by liberal judges appointed by Presidents Biden and Obama.
Asked whether he is comfortable with agents using violent tactics, Trump said, "Yeah, because you have to get the people out," adding that many of those arrested are murderers or people expelled from their own countries as criminals.
Internal ICE data obtained by NBC News in June showed that across the last three months of the Biden administration and the first five months of the current one, ICE had detained 6 percent of the people it knew to have homicide convictions and 11 percent of those with sexual assault convictions.
Source: NBC News
Texas accounts for a quarter of ICE arrests nationwide, data shows
ICE made 138,068 arrests nationwide between the inauguration and July 29, and 24 percent of them were in Texas, according to enforcement data obtained through a public records request by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by The Texas Tribune.
Average daily arrests in Texas more than doubled, from 85 under President Biden to 176 in the first six months of the current term. The increase was concentrated in the ICE regions covering Houston and Dallas.
Texas has the second-largest undocumented population in the country, more than 1.6 million of an estimated 13.7 million nationally. The Tribune reports that the local criminal justice system is now the main route into ICE custody in the state, including cases where charges are later dismissed.
Source: The Texas Tribune
USCIS proposes universal biometrics collection and expanded DNA testing
DHS published a proposed rule that would require biometrics from any person of any age who files or is associated with an immigration benefit request, unless specifically exempted. Current rules limit collection to particular forms and age ranges.
The proposal would also expand the authority to collect biometrics when a noncitizen is arrested, define the term biometrics in regulation, codify rules on reusing previously collected data, and codify and expand DNA collection, use and storage.
Other provisions create an extraordinary circumstances standard excusing a missed biometrics appointment and change how self-petitioners under the Violence Against Women Act and applicants for T nonimmigrant status demonstrate good moral character. Comments are due by January 2, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
Judge blocks transportation funding conditions tied to immigration cooperation
Chief US District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island ruled that the administration cannot withhold billions in transportation funding from states that decline to cooperate with immigration enforcement. He wrote that the Transportation Department and Secretary Sean Duffy blatantly overstepped their authority by linking money for roads, bridges and highways to immigration demands.
"The Constitution demands the Court set aside this lawless behavior," McConnell wrote.
Twenty states led by California sued in May after Duffy set out the cooperation expectations in an April letter. McConnell had issued a preliminary injunction on June 19, the day before a grant application deadline. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said courts have repeatedly rejected the administration's position.
Source: Politico