Immigration fraud at Trump Burger and other important developments.

everyone gets investigated

As of August 1, 2025, USCIS has made in-person interviews mandatory for nearly all marriage-based adjustment cases. Lawyers are reporting that, in some instances, USCIS officers have begun requesting information related to I-9s from prior employers. Putting aside the relevance and appropriateness of such a request,* what does an employer do when asked for employee records?

It may depend on whether we’re talking about a USCIS site visit or an ICE investigation. USCIS requests are administrative, in which officers verify the accuracy of information that’s been submitted: job duties, wages, validity of the marriage, etc. On certain employment-based cases, and yes,“certain spousal-based immigrant petitions(B)(2).),” USCIS asserts inspection rights at any address listed on a filing.

ICE, on the other hand, can conduct I-9 audits and raids, with employers subject to civil fines, criminal penalties, and orders to terminate unauthorized employment. ICE agents may also enter private areas with a judicial warrant.

Employers are very nearly damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Over-complying by providing more documents than are absolutely required (producing I-9s before the three-day deadline, or granting ICE access to private areas without a judicial warrant) can expand liability and mistrust from employees. Under-compliance (not timely producing I-9s or not permitting a lawful inspection) could easily result in fines, immigration penalties, or obstruction charges. Then there’s the other bad stuff that might come up: possible wage or tax issues coming to light, loss of confidence from investors or staff, or any number of unanticipated harms.

Standard counsel is to institute a clear response plan, a trained point person, and access to your lawyer. Couples, meanwhile, may consider a plan for toothbrush identification.

no visitors, please

The U.S. Department of State has launched a 12-month pilot program requiring applicants for visitor visas to post bonds of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000: consular officers decide the amount. Nationals from Malawi and Zambia are the first to be subject; more countries may be added with 15 days’ notice. These applicants receive only a single-entry visa valid for 3 months, may enter the U.S. for a maximum of 30 days, and only through limited airports (Boston Logan, JFK, or Washington Dulles). If the visitor leaves the U.S. on time, or never enters at all, the bond is cancelled and refunded. It should not be considered a violation if the visitor timely applies to change or extend status before timely departing.

Even under a functional administration, the Arrival and Departure Information System (ADIS) used to verify departures is notorious for errors, so visitors may need to proactively prove timely document departure through other means: arrival stamps in the country of return, plane ticket stubs, receipts, Uber rides, credit card charges, ATM withdrawals, overweight baggage fee receipts, your pet’s customs quarantine paperwork, a video of the unstable person crashing out on your flight, whatever you have. That’s a lot of money at stake.



Bulletin time



The September 2025 visa bulletin will apply the Dates for Filing chart for family-based cases (which generally filing applications earlier during the waiting period), while for employment-based cases it will apply the stricter Final Action Dates chart (meaning cases can only move forward when a green card is truly available). There isn’t any retrogression for the employment-based cases, but the State Department does anticipate running out of these visas before the fiscal year begins in October.

This Dumb Age

There are now 60,000 people in immigration detention, and the Iowa National Guard is joining the effort.** ICE agents drew guns on a disabled student outside his school. Instead of just trying to win cases, the administration is now suing ALL of the federal judges in Maryland. The Republican administration continues it’s federal takeover of local government. The co-owner of Trump Burger was arrested by ICE for “orchestrating a fake marriage in order to gain permanent residency.”

*Employers, not employees, maintain I-9 information. Further, unlawful employment is not bar to adjusting status based on a petition filed by a U.S. citizen spouse.

**Having lived in the rural upper-midwest, I can attest that these guys do not in fact have anything else to do.

Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.

Sunset Immigration PLLC

219 36th Street, Ste 511

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Book appointment

Hiring gets more confusing, quotas have no meaning, and we only want Argentines. Two weeks of updates!

whom you can hire, whom you can’t, and for whom we have no idea

Terminations of TPS programs are somewhat complicated matters. Termination(s) of the Haitian program(s) are of a different scale. Here’s an “simplified” version:

- November 20, 2017: DHS announces termination of Haiti TPS with an 18-month wind-down (an effective date of July 22, 2019), and some complicated mechanics for work permit extensions.

- October 3, 2018: a federal case (Ramos v. Nielsen) blocks DHS from implementing TPS terminations for Haiti (as well as El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Sudan) while the case proceeds; work permits are extended in compliance with the injunctions.

- August 3, 2021: A new TPS designation is made for Haiti.

- As various lawsuits continue to proceed, work permit validity is repeatedly extended through June, 2024.

- January 26, 2023: The 2021 designation is redesignated and extended through August 03, 2024.

- July 01, 2024: The 2021 designation is extended & redesignated through February 3, 2026, with work permits (with 11 different expiration dates) extended through August 3, 2025. That same day, a new federal case, Haitian Evangelical Clergy Ass’n v. Trump blocks the termination due to it occurring before the program’s most current end date.

- July 15, 2025: final judgment in Haitian Evangelical Clergy Ass’n v. Trump delays termination to February 3, 2026 (the end date of the July 01, 2024 extension), and USCIS aligns is guidance accordingly.

The upshot for employers:

- No new work permits will be issued.

- E-Verify cases must be updated, and previously completed Forms I-9 corrected, by entering Feb. 3, 2026 in Section 2, initialing and dating the correction.

- Work permits with expiration dates from July 22, 2017 to September 2, 2025 remain valid through February 3, 2026.

- Employers must reverify affected employees before they resume work on February 4, 2026.

SAVE has updated its guidance accordingly, and verification may rely on work permits and USCIS notices.

On July 31st, a different lawsuit (National TPS Alliance v. Noem), blocked a different TPS termination (Nepal), extending the effective date to November 18, 2025.

On August 4th, USCIS confirmed that work permits for the TPS designations for Hondurasand Nicaragua are continued through November 18, 2025.

Employers may rehire anyone affected, but must reverify the I-9s, attach a printout of the relevant USCIS webpage, and should run Change of Status Reports (in addition to maintaining a record with all relevant documentation, including website prints with clear URLs).

Venezuela TPS is set to expire September 10th, and given that DHS neither extended nor terminated it within the 60-day deadline beforehand (July 12, 2025), a six-month extension may be triggered. However, USCIS has offered no confirmation, work permit extensions, or any action__ __to extend or terminate TPS by the statutory 60-day deadline (July 12, 2025): so employers continue to wing it for those who have expired work permits. Some employees are threatening legal action if the employers do not auto-extend the permits, while the employers concern themselves with recriminations from ICE forI-9 violations.



gender (and nationality) is not enough



The five protected grounds of asylum do not explicitly include gender, though gender-based claims are frequently included within the ground “particular social group,” often involving domestic violence or other harm from an actor the government is unwilling or unable to control: a line of jurisprudence that has been developing for 30 years.

Matter of K-E-S-G- slows this progress, holding that gender and nationality alone cannot define a “particular social group”: additional factors limiting the size of the group are required. In practice, gender + nationality alone has rarely been enough, on its own, to sustain a claim for asylum; additional factors limiting the size of the group are typically required (e.g., women in X country who have filed police complaints, women in X country who have opposed X practice, etc.). K-E-S-G- now formalizes this practice.

Because this is a decision from the Board of Immigration Appeals, and because the U.S. Supreme Court recently heldthat federal courts have relatively broad discretion to disagree with administrative courts, federal courts in different parts of the country may end up interpreting this decision in a number of ways on appeal. But at the level of the asylum office and the immigration courts, the holding stands.

____

What is a quota, really?

In May, Stephen Miller told anyone who would listen, all over television, in his Stephen Miller-y way of talking, that ICE had a quota of arresting “a minimum” of 3,000 immigrants every day, and would keep raising that number as soon as they could. Reports have stated that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem also pressured ICE leaders hit that number. During Trump’s campaign, he promised, as often as he could, “the largest domestic deportation operation,” promising that he would target 15–20 million people for removal. Shockingly, now that they are being sued, the Trump administration claims that these were merely aspirational: “goals to aim for,” rather than formal requirements.

interviews again

Beginning next month, the Department of State willremove interview waivers for nonimmigrant visas, except for diplomatic visa holders, and renewals of visitor visas and Border Crossing Cards in narrow exceptions.* For those who might qualify, the waivers remain discretionary, and consular officers may require the interview regardless. Expect longer waits––the busier the consulate, the longer the delays––and the requirement of applying in the home country precludes the possibility of shopping around for a different consulate. But it seems we now want more Argentines.**

more of the same

Between encouraging DACA recipients to self-deport, punishing DACA-friendly universities, dusting off more family separation policies, sending the military into our cities, targeting Spanish speakers, driving detainees to hunger strikes, shaming states and cities that aren’t playing along, and just generally acting in the dumbest, most aggro manner possible, it’s been . . . another two weeks in the second Trump administration.

* Visas must be within 12 months of expiration, they must have been at least 18 year old at initial issuance, they must have applied in their country of residence or nationality, have no prior refusals (unless overcome), and have no apparent ineligibility.

**Who doesn’t?

Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.

Sunset Immigration PLLC

219 36th Street, Ste 511

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Book appointment

More fee hikes, the lottery may be on its last legs, and it might finally be possible to feel sorry for Harvard.

still hating on Harvard

The Department of State administers the Exchange Visitor Program (EVP) to foster academic and cultural exchange by means of the J-1 visa. It covers a wide range of occupations and activities: including, but not limited to, students, au pairs, interns, researchers, summer work, professors, camp counselors, and medical trainees. The aim is to enable foreign nationals to gain experience in the U.S., often in positions where they are temporarily needed, that they would bring back to their home countries.*

The DOS is now investigating Harvard’s EVP––purportedly for appropriate oversight, transparency in reporting, and alignment with the program’s purpose––despite not yet having identified any misconduct. We’ve detailed the Trump administration’s numerous attempts to prevent Harvard from enrolling foreign students, as well as Harvard’s litigation in response, which seems to be going well enough that one might speculatethat this investigation essentially mounts to spaghetti-throwing.

humanitarianism gets more expensive

New fees kick in for a number of applications. Asylum applications will have a filing fee for the first time ($100), and will also be subject to an additional annual fee ($100) for as long as they are pending. Asylum-based applications for employment authorization will be increased for initial filing ($550) and for renewal ($275). New fees are also applied to applications for parole ($1,000), TPS ($500), and Special Immigrant Juvenile ($250). A number of other feeswill be applied to those applying for entry into the U.S., as well as for certain court-related filings. Related validity periods for employment authorization are also now limited. Applications postmarked on or after August 21, 2025 that do not include the new fee will be rejected.

lower haphazardness for higher wages

The H-1B visa allows an employer to hire a foreign worker in a “specialty occupation” that typically requires a the equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s or master’s degree (though there is a limited exception for those with certain work experience). There are 65,000 of these visas available each year for those in the bachelor’s category, and another 20,000 for those with a U.S. master’s or higher.** As with nearly every type of visa that is numerically limited, a much larger number of people apply for the visas than there are visas available.

Normally, this creates a backlog that effectively operates as a queue in which applicant’s wait for a visa to become available—whether for months or many years. However, the H-1B replaces the line with an annual lottery. Recently, around 33% of lottery applicants were picked: meaning that there were basically 3x as many applicants as visas available. Because the visas are released at the start of the fiscal year (October), because most employers want the workers to begin their employment as quickly as possible, and because the H-1B petitions cannot be filed more than six months before the intended start date, the cap-subject petitions are generally all filed around April 1st.

Initially, employers were required to file the entire petition during the first five business days of April, after which USCIS ran a random selection (once the number of petitions exceeded the number of visas). Five years ago USCIS began using an electronic pre-registration system in which employers submitted only basic information about the prospective employee, which would be used to register them for a spot in the lottery. Thus, employers did not have to spend the substantial amounts of time and money to submit a petition that was unlikely to be selected.

However, this permitted abuse from businesses (largely high-volume IT staffing firms) that would file multiple registrations for the same employee in order to game the system in their favor, which many did with impunity. Last year, USCIS largely mitigated this by switching to a beneficiary-based system in which each person could be registered by several potential employers, but only once per employer, and that person could only be selected once. Employers were required to attest to a bona fide job offer, and job offers that were not legitimate were to be denied or investigated for fraud.

A soon-to-be-(re)published rule (first published by the first Trump administration in 2021) will essentially end the lottery by instituting a priority system based on tiers based on “prevailing wage” levels set by the Department of Labor, with the registrants offered a wage at the higher levels would receive priority, and an intra-tier lottery would only be used if demand exceeds supply at that level. While this would further mitigate against another concern (in which outsourcing firms pay lower wages and effectively replace U.S. workers in certain positions), smaller employers, universities, and recent graduates (typically offered lower wages) but be highly disadvantaged. These concerns sank the prior attempt to institute the rule; whether they are sufficient this time around under an administration more practiced in regulatory matters remains to be seen.

the headlines

During the Obama and Biden administrations, Republican states regularly sought to undermine the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause by arguing that the federal government does not have the sole power to regulate immigration––the exact opposite of what the Trump administration is currently arguing by suing New York City. Arizona has and Florida have yet to protest.

Certain visas from a whole bunch of countries will now be limited to three months, but birthright citizenship doesn’t appear to be going anywhere for the time being.

ICE wants to crack down on employers––including theDACA recipients they employ, and particularlyin Democratic states––meaning that care for your parents is probably going to getharder to find and more expensive. Alligator Alcatraz is generating a number of frightening reports, in addition to creating a lot of homeless pets. And more judges are getting fired.

_________

*As we’ve mentioned prior posts, ICE, via their Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), monitors student compliance through the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).

** There are exceptions for certain organizations related to research institutions—sometimes referred to as ‘cap-exempt’ organizations.

Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.

Sunset Immigration PLLC

219 36th Street, Ste 511

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Book appointment

I-9 stuff, the IRS and Medicaid join the co-opted, overstating the overstays, and . . . Eswatini.

they get anonymity, we lose confidentiality

While ICE gets to dress like us (on a really bad day), but with masks and no identification, the Trump administration has found ways to permit ICE to unearth formerly confidential information from other agencies.

A ProPublica report dove into the IRS’ new digital system giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) real‑time access to taxpayer data––including home addresses––dramatically curtailing taxpayer confidentiality and exposing individuals without a criminal history to enforcement actions.

Meanwhile, the administration’s agreement between CMS and Homeland Security gives ICE limited access to personal data for all 79 million Medicaid recipients: including immigration status. Emergency Medicaid (covering only lifesaving services) is available to everyone, regardless of immigration status. Twenty states have sued, alleging violation of federal privacy laws, though the transfer of data has already occurred.

____

more headaches for employers . . .

. . . and more work for HR. In conjunction with the mass revocations of work authorization for (soon to be former) TPS holders, E‑Verify employers can now access a “Revoked Document Number” field in the new Status Change Report, a tool for identifying whether a work permit has been revoked. Employers enrolled in E‑Verify are now expected to regularly run the Status Change Report and compare employee documents against the “Revoked Document Number” field. If a match is found, they must reverify the authorization using Form I‑9 Supplement B (without creating a new E‑Verify case). Failure to act could expose employers to liability for knowingly continuing to employ unauthorized workers, though no indication has been given regarding how frequently this should be done. To be on the safe side, employers should create internal protocols, document all actions, and talk to their lawyers when reviewing I‑9s or generally evaluating risk.

The lines get a bit shorter next month

It’s the time of the month we all look forward to the most over here: the Visa Bulletin update! In the Family Final Action Dates, the F2A category (spouses and children under the age of 21 of permanent residents) jumped forward 8 months worldwide (to 9/1/22), with Mexico also advancing 7 months. The F3 (married adult children of U.S. citizens) and F4 categories (siblings of U.S. citizen adults) for the Philippines advanced over 2 months and 7 months, respectively—while Mexico’s F2B (unmarried adult children of permanent residents) moved ahead a full year. The Dates for Filing chart also advanced across categories, especially for F2B Mexico (forward one year) and F4 Worldwide/China (forward over 3 months). In the Employment-Based categories, EB-3 showed the most movement, with Worldwide, Mexico, and the Philippines advancing over 6 weeks (Final Action) and 2 months (Dates for Filing). EB-1 and EB-2 China and EB-3 India basically stayed the same. The EB-4 is still unavailable for everyone.

A brief explainer of how the bulletin works (and what these dates mean) can be found in the May 21st newsletter.

this stuff isn’t popular

An interesting class action lawsuit accuses the Departments of Justice and of Homeland Security of colluding to deport people right from court, alleging a violation of due process. We can anticipate that they’ll also get sued over their new practice of arresting migrants (who have been here less than two years) as they exit courtrooms—even those with pending asylum cases and no criminal history. And due to another new policy, once arrested, they won’t be eligible for bond. Along with removing the migrants from court, the Administration is removing many of the judges as well, with no reason given, despite the backlog of nearly 4 million cases. (As we’ve discussed, the immigration courts essentially all more under the executive branch than the judicial branch, giving the Administration far more leeway to mold the courts to their liking.) Meanwhile, the Administration considered bringing criminal charges against immigration judges that considered switching to virtual hearings in order to mitigate against the chances of migrants skipping on their in-person hearings due to fears of arrest.

And Eswatini, an African nation we understand to be smaller than New Jersey and ruled by a monarchy, will now receive deportees convicted of criminal offenses whose home countries refuse to accept them.

Coincidentally or not, two-thirds of the lawyers charged with defending the Administration have quit.

The public, including some Republicans, is not happy. Polls are showing that the public now rates immigration FAR more favorably than they do the Administration's approach to immigration. Maybe it’s the armed ICE officers raiding churches, arresting doctor’s with pending green card applications outside their kids’ preschool, tear-gassing and arresting U.S. citizen veterans without any basis other than looking Hispanic and being on a farm, limiting multi-lingual services (by making English the official language), or any of the other enforcement actions we’ve been detailing.

And the numbers they’ve been citing to justify the travel ban and restrictions on students turn out to have been substantially overblown.

Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.

Sunset Immigration PLLC

219 36th Street, Ste 511

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Book appointment

More ways to arrest people for following the rules, not many people are getting around the travel ban, and we delegate some asylum responsibilities to Honduras.

the (immigration) cops have taken over the (immigration) courts (and everything else) part 2

A simple way to understand the how the major immigration-related agencies within the Department of Homeland Security separate their duties is to divide them into benefits (USCIS), enforcement (ICE), and regulating entry (CBP). When someone submits an application for an immigration status within the U.S., that goes to USCIS. Of course, there is fair amount of overlap, particularly in regards to information-sharing. After USCIS approves a petition for someone overseas, they are admitted by CBP, and thereafter tracked by ICE for violations such as overstaying. USCIS might also decide to refer a case to ICE. USCIS also has a sub-agency (Fraud Detection and National Security––FDNS) that refers violators to ICE, and ICE has a subagency (Homeland Security Investigation––HSI) that, among other things, protects immigrants from crimes.

Under federal law, USCIS will refer cases to ICE and initiate removal (deportation) proceedings when asylum applications and certain other family- and humanitarian-based cases are denied. They may, but are not required to, take such action in other circumstances. Whether they do so is dependent on the policies in place at any given time, which are largely dictated by the policy preferences of the Administration in office.

USCIS will now issue the charging document for removal proceedings (called a Notice to Appear—NTA) in a much broader group of circumstances, including the expiration of Temporary Protected Status––which is about to affect a very large number of Haitians, Nepalese, Hondurans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, as well as a number of foreign nationals from Afghanistan and Cameroon––and the denial of an application for an immigration benefit where the applicant is otherwise out of status: for example, the denial of a green card application.

The lines really blur, however, in the situations where ICE is actively waiting to arrest individuals at their USCIS: before, during, or after their interviews. The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) reported ICE activity—including arrests—at USCIS Field offices throughout the U.S. The basis of an arrest normally arises from the applicant having committed an immigration violation in the past (typically an outstanding removal/deportation order, visa overstay, or unlawful entry), the arrest and an initiation of removal proceedings being the most effective method of preventing the applicant from “fixing” that violation.

We might assume that this Administration’s goal aligns with the obvious result: to detain and remove the lowest hanging fruit. It is hard to get the criminals, who are trying to hide. It is a lot easier to get the ones who put themselves squarely on the radar by trying to comply with the immigration laws.

We’d previously explained basis for detaining foreign nationals once their case were dismissed. However, both anecdotally and as reported, they are grabbing people at court that have active cases with future hearing dates, without any stated basis. We have now another arm of the government being guided from its independent stated mission to becoming another appendage of ICE.

exceptions should be exceptional

In an email response to a Congressional inquiry and as reported to AILA, the Department of State provided more clarity on the National Interest Exceptions to travel ban 2025.

There is no process for requesting the exception prior to the interview. The request is made verbally––supported by your responses in the DS-160 and any supporting documentation––explaining why your entry into the U.S. would be in it’s national interest and that you are not a threat to national security or public safety. If the officer decides to move the request up the chain, it will then go from the Chief of Mission at the post, and from there to DOS in Washington, D.C. where a Senior Bureau Official would sign off on it. These are expected to be very rare, and not on the basis of weddings, school attendance, employment and related purposes, or other financial/personal hardship.

so now should you take that trip to Puerto Rico?

We’re talked aboutwho should and shouldn’t be particularly nervous about traveling (and about Puerto Rico in particular). But advising clients with clients about travel to specific places at specific times, at times when policies and practices change daily, requires that attorneys regularly communicate with each other—particularly in regards to travel outside of the contiguous 48 states to and from the states of Alaska and Hawaii, as well as the territories (Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands).

As a general matter, CBP operates at ports of entry throughout the U.S., including its territories. However, when traveling between the contiguous 48 states and the territories, one shouldn’t encounter CBP directly. At offices within the airports and other “ports of entry” into the U.S., they scan the flight manifests of arrivals and departures, and otherwise communicating with TSA as needed when someone is flagged as being “inadmissible” to the U.S. As one might expect, they maintain their largest presence at the main entry points into the U.S., including (but not limited to), the states and territories mentioned above. San Juan, as mentioned, has been particularly active of late. Some of our colleagues report that it is essentially just business as usual at these locations, others report instances of more aggressive (and occasionally legal incorrect) enforcement.

Regardless, the final analysis is always the same. If you are in legal status, with no prior removal/deportation order and no reason to believe that you might be subject to immigration penalties for a past violation, then you should feel free to travel with your REAL ID document.

otherwise

The “Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Honduras for Cooperation in the Examination of Protection Requests,” published on July 8th, allows Honduras to process requests for asylum or other forms of protection for certain applicants (not Hondurans, unaccompanied minors, or those who arrived with a valid visa or waiver) after they have made the same request in the U.S.

ICE has been blocked in the L.A. area from continued racial profiling and are required to provide access to lawyers. I have not read the 52-page order, but the selections that have been reported are strongly-worded and quite dismissive of the government’s arguments. This order is geographically limited, so should not be subject to the same scrutiny as the nation-wide injunctions that were disfavored by a recent Supreme Court decision.

Fees are going up again (and no, it hasn’t been that long since the last major increase), the August visa bulletintells us when to file the green card applications next month (EB-3 is about to get backed up), employers now have instructions for opting out of E-verify+, and and as yet another study finds this week, fewer workers means more inflation.

Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.

Sunset Immigration PLLC

219 36th Street, Ste 511

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Book appointment

The war on foreign students continues, more TPS terminations and lawsuits, and DeSantis deputizes the Guard.

duration of status may not endure

The Trump administration is looking to continue some unfinished business from their first term by significantly limiting the amount of time that foreign students and exchange visitors can be present in the U.S. before they must apply to change or extend their status.

The initial attempt at changing the rule, covering all international student (including exchange visitors such as physicians) was published on September 25, 2020; however, it was not finalized by the time the Biden administration came in, and it was withdrawn. The rule would have effectively ended what is referred to as “duration of status” (or D/S)––which permits students and J-1 exchange visitors to remain in the U.S. as long as they maintain status––to four years or, in some circumstances (depending on country of origin), two years.

Requests for extensions would no longer be processed by the schools alone, but via USCIS: requiring extra scrutiny fees, processing, and delays so lengthy they could effectively prevent students from registering in time for their upcoming semesters. Moreover, students may be required to present compelling academic reasons for the extensions (including medical issues or other extraordinary circumstances), among other restrictions, such as the ability of students to effectively transition from student status to H-1B status (via “cap-gap” extensions).

Most dramatically, “unlawful presence,” a legal determination that carries significant penalties and restrictions, would be attached to students immediately following the new fixed terms, rather than after official findings of status violations.

Concerns raised at the time were that international students would be less likely to choose the U.S. as a destination due to the uncertainty surrounding their ability to remain in status, J-1 physicians in U.S. graduate medical education (already heavily regulated and monitored via SEVIS and annual reviews) would be particularly affected given their long programs, the J-1 host organizations would be less likely to sponsor students (undermining their goals of international collaboration), schools and students would take on an additional financial burden due to the need for more frequent extensions, and that CBP officers at ports of entry would effectively be doing the job of consular officers.

It’s our understanding that the new proposal largely contains the above provisions from the prior version. The proposal is being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget, after which it will be published in the Federal Register for public comment, and then revised and published as a final rule with an effective date. More here.

In better news, some very good lawyers were able to get SEVIS terminations reversedfor their clients, with other protections to ensure that they wouldn’t suffer future harm due to the DHS errors. Those who had visas revoked by the Department of State will be pursuing a separate lawsuit.

this week in TPS terminations

As we noted a week ago today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would terminate TPS for Haiti, effective August 3rd. However, a U.S. District Judge held that DHS cannot terminate a TPS designation before the expiration of the most recent extension: which, for Haiti, would expire on February 3rd, 2026. The DHS also announced the termination of TPS for Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua, to be effective two months from today. Work permits are automatically extended to that time. A lawsuit was immediately filed claiming that the terminations violate the Administrative Procedures Act and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Litigation will continue on both fronts for quite a while.

The net result: likely more significant economic damage.

____

less process, more horror

The National Guard will take the place of judges at Alligator Alcatraz as part of a process to expedite deportation procedures. If the immigrants’ home countries won’t take them, South Sudan, one of the world’t most isolated and dangers countries by our own acknowledgment, will.

Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.

Sunset Immigration PLLC

219 36th Street, Ste 511

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Book appointment

It’s harder to fight the fines, hundreds of thousands are about to lose their status, the immigration jails are full, and the economy is not happy.

Firstly, the exceptions to Travel Ban 2025 we mentioned last week have been given a little bit of fleshing out by way of a Department of State email response to a Congressional inquiry. As we might expect, these will not be distributed liberally.

“We anticipate that national interest exceptions will be very rare . . . The travel must advance a U.S. national interest . . . There is no application for a national interest exception. That will be considered by the consular officer during the interview.”

less adjudicating, more allegiance

Stephen Miller has been expressing his displeasure with the insufficient zeal with which ICE is arresting and detaining those without criminal records (more below), and the Trump Administration is now subtly prodding the judges to lean in their direction.

While there are no official numbers, it’s likely that most immigration judges are former ICE lawyers. It’s a natural progression. They spend their days in the same courtrooms, keep offices in the same building, work the same cases that the judges process all day long, and they continue on as employees of the federal government—now just making rulings instead of submissions. Most do their jobs quite professionally. Conversely, some come from other areas of law, a small number come from private practice or from the nonprofit sector, and a few have never had anything to do with immigration. But most are former ICE lawyers.

So it’s... something that the Acting Directors of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) system has issued a memorandum to all immigration judges instructing them to stop being so biased in favor of immigrants. In about five months, the Trump Administration has issued, give or take, 33 directives to EOIR, each of which constitutes a slight nudge moving the courts away from being neutral arbiters and administrators of justice and in the direction of serving as an enforcement mechanism—a trend we’ve touched on here, here, and here.

Continuing the trend of eliminating process in favor of punishment, a new rule provides that the civil fines for immigration violations we’ve explained recently (the largest we’ve seen is $1.8 million) will no longer provide any notice, can be sent by regular mail, and foreign nationals have less time to contest the charges. Moreover, they will now be issued by DHS (rather than DOJ). All told: less ability to timely respond and less opportunity to fight.

stuffed jails, stalled economy

On June 27th, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that Temporary Protected Status will be terminated for Haiti, meaning that an estimated 520,000 people (DHS estimates that number to be much lower) will suddenly lose their immigration status, the majority of whom probably don’t have any alternative means of maintaining their status in the U.S. Work permits will remain valid until September 2, 2025. According to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, we can expect this to continue to act as a brake on the economy.

We might assume that a number of them will be joining the 59,000 currently in immigration detention, about half of whom have no criminal record. A Guardian analysis of ICE data estimates that there has been an “807% increase in arrests of people without criminal histories since before Donald Trump’s second inauguration this January.” At this level of overcrowding, health outcomes for both men and women are poor.

USCIS isn’t ghosting you

They just changed their number.

Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.

Sunset Immigration PLLC

219 36th Street, Ste 511

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Book appointment

How following the rules will get you arrested, what to scrub from your social media, and some more enforcement (with a lot of parenthetical explainers).

Apologies for typos; I had to skip the proofreading today.

the (immigration) cops have taken over the (immigration) courts (and everything else)

We’ve discussed the Administration’s goal of arresting 3,000 foreign nationals a day, and the practice of arresting individuals who attend their court appointments and who are (largely) applying for status. It appears there is also an even less formal, though unsurprising, policy of pressuring immigration judges to assist with this practice.

Immigration courts, as courts more generally, are intended to serve as neutral arbiters. They generally apply the relevant laws to the particular facts of a case before them, both procedurally and substantively. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), specifically, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plays the role of prosecutor, submitting charges that a person has violated the immigration laws. The foreign national plays the role of a defendant (in immigration court, they are referred to as the “respondent”). The respondent may or may not hire a lawyer, but they are not entitled to one as they would be in criminal proceedings.

The immigration judge will review the charges, and if the respondent cannot overcome them, the judge will make a finding that the charges have been established. While at times this is a straightforward matter, the immigration laws can also be incredibly complicated, and the DHS is not always able to sustain their burden, meaning that the charges––and the case itself—are dismissed. Assuming that the charges are maintained, though, the foreign national will then have the opportunity to apply for a defense from relief, assuming that they meet the basic eligibility requirements, which are largely based on the U.S. obligations under international treaties to protect those seeking protection from persecution or torture from their home governments.

Because immigration courts are basically administrative bodies within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), they do not have the same level of independence as the federal courts that you are more familiar with (often referred to as “Article III courts, as their independence from Congress and the President is established under Article III of the U.S. Constitution). The DOJ, on the other hand, is an agency that largely falls under the President’s authority, and the judges are appointed and overseen by the Attorney General.

On May 30, 2025, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which you can think of as the immigration court system, issued internal guidance instructing that, when the DHS moves (requests) to dismiss a case (merely by saying the words “we move to dismiss”) the judge must immediately issue a decision on the motion. The guidance also included measure for speeding through fear-based claims, essentially providing less opportunity for the respondents (who, again, are usually without lawyers) to establish their eligibility. Individual reports are that the judges are evidencing additional clear, behind-the-scenes pressure to give in and grant the motions whenever they are made. As we’ve discussed previously, this leaves the respondents without any protection from arrest, and those who have been here for less than two years can then be placed into “expedited removal,” which affords them dramatically less opportunity to establish their claims.

The practice of showing up and arresting people while they attempt to comply with the law has been extended to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Quick agency explainer: in 2002, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was terminated and its functions were spread across various new agencies. Most of these fall under the DHS, which itself if subdivided into USCIS (who reviews applications for benefits—meaning immigration status), ICE (who handles the enforcement of the immigration laws), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—the people at the airports and other “ports of entry” regulating entry into the U.S. These are all distanced from the Department of State (DOS), which staffs the embassies and processes visas. (More on them below.)

Many people who are out of status might still be able to “fix” their status by applying for certain benefits, depending on their situation. Some of these people might even have removal (deportation) orders. If someone would be eligible for a green card but-for a prior removal order, they typically have to have the order first reopened by an immigration judge by moving the court to reopen the case. The DHS can oppose these motions. What happens in the end is typically that the foreign national begins a case with USCIS and, once it reaches a particular stage (say, that USCIS has approved a marriage-based petition by deciding that the marriage is valid), then the immigration judge will decide whether to reopen the case to review the green card application in court or to reopen and then terminate (basically, to dismiss) the case so that the the foreign national can complete the application process with USCIS.

What we’ve been seeing in some, but not all, parts of the country have been ICE officers appearing at the foreign national’s USCIS interviews and arresting them on the spot, before the applications can even be reviewed. Imagine there was a law requiring you to carry a drivers license with you 24/7, and if you are found guilty of not possessing one you could be arrested and sent to a Bad Place possibly forever (for purposes of this thought experiment, let’s just say Staten Island). So you go to the DMV to fix the problem by applying for a license. You’re doing the right thing, the thing that the law requires you to do. You to to the window, get the piece of paper with a number, stare at the TV waiting to see which booth you’re supposed to go to, play around with your phone, and when your number is called you go to the appropriate window. You say “hi, I’m here to apply for my license,” but before they can accept your application an officer steps out from behind the booth and arrests you for not having the license *that you are there to get. *And you’re eating red sauce for the rest of your life.

To what do we have “rule of law” when we start losing the ability to comply with the law?

if you haven’t already scrubbed your social media

Last week we provided an update on the how the sort-of student visa ban is playing out. Someone was able to get their hands on the DOS cable from June 18th implementing the policy for “expanding screening and vetting for FMJ applicants.” What we know is that: all vetting will be done by the interviewing officer; all applicants will get a notice following the interview that their applicant is being refused for lack of information [we call this a section 221(g) notice]; the officer will take as much time as needed to review the applicant’s entire online presence—not just social media; consular posts can create their own social media account to help them investigate; applicants who set their accounts to “private” will be directed to switch them to “public” (and will be seen as being evasive); they’re looking specifically for hostility to U.S. citizens & culture, support for foreign terrorists, and anti-Semitic harassment; there are no quotas; and that consular posts should consider how much capacity they have to conduct these and should scale back the frequency of interviews accordingly.

However, some cases will be prioritized for less vetting—J-1 physicians and also international students seeking to study a university where international students constitute 15% or less of total student population. For everyone else, expect more denials citing section 214(b)—technically for those who they think will try to overstay, but really that’s just their kitchen sink clause for denying anything that they don’t want to approve. Which will be a lot of applications going forward. Given that foreign student enrollment increased last year, we can expect a sharp downturn this year, and thus much more pain for universities (and thus potential students who will be partially making up this shortfall with their tuition).

And while we don’t have much to update regarding the targeting of Chinese students implied by the May 28th announcement that we touched ona few weeks ago, there have been reports of unusual vetting at interviews, including more highly detailed information regarding the applicants’ professional background, their activities in the U.S., their source of funding, and related.

that trip to Puerto Rico . . .

There are increasing reports of ICE operations in Puerto Rico, both anecdotally, via traditional reporting, their own press releases, and Bad Bunny’s instagram. 36 more countries may be added to the travel ban if they don’t clean up their act in the next two months (though that would probably make surviving judicial scrutiny a tad more difficult). The updated procedures for nonimmigrant (temporary) visa revocations are now in the Foreign Affairs Manual, And CBP’s new app, CBP link, is to be distinguished from CBP Home, which his the app all the kids are downloading now for the new trend “self-deportation.”

Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.

Sunset Immigration PLLC

219 36th Street, Ste 511

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Book appointment

Who should think twice about traveling, what students are doing with their SEVIS terminations, why some people are getting fined a LOT of money, and a bit more.

Students and travel

Earlier this year, the Department of State (DOS) issued a Federal Register notice asserting that all federal efforts to control the movement of people, goods, services, and data across U.S. borders constitute a “foreign affairs function” exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). This would extend the DOS’ longstanding APA exemption to other federal agencies without needing to cite to clear statutory authority. If accepted, this could limit rulemaking and restrict judicial review of agency delays, including the ability to sue over delays. 

While this pronouncement went out a few months ago, it emphasizes a point that some lawyers have been making: don’t travel unless necessary. This isn’t necessarily the stance I adopt in every circumstance; every instances is different, and quite often people are unnecessarily worried due to anecdotal and incomplete evidence.

However, there are three groups in particular that might want to think through there strategies for traveling in and out of the U.S.: those subject to the new travel ban; those who would need to renew their visa at the embassy; and students who experienced prior SEVIS revocations.

We discussed travel ban 2025 last week. If you fall into one of the two bans on visa issuance, you can still apply for a visa, you just won’t get it. There is no clarification yet on what would constitute an exception in the national interest (other than their example of helping to prosecute criminal offenses). During the first Trump Administration’s travel ban, one could request an exemption at the time of the interview, and they were not impossible to receive. In the current context, however, DOS may not be feeling generous. 

However, recall that this is a ban on visa issuance: not on having a particular status. If you would otherwise be subject to the ban but already have a valid visa, you may enter. If you are already in the U.S. and in valid status, you may still apply to change or extend that status via an application to USCIS.

We also discussed the sort-of student visa ban last week. While the Administration is still targeting Harvard specifically, the global pause remains in place for issuing student visas while DOS sorts out its social media vetting procedures. 

Generally, I would expect more scrutiny for those seeking to apply for visitor visas as well. There is support for the idea that these policies will be extended to additional visa classifications going forward. And even for those with valid student visas and valid SEVIS records, one might still expect potentially lengthy questioning and device searches at customs, where one is not entitled to access to counsel or other protections that one might expect after entering the U.S. (Ports of entry are not considered to be parts of the interior U.S. When you approach customs with a visa, you are applying for permission to enter—and you are not at that moment entitled to the same protections as those who have already received permission to enter.) Therefore, it is helpful to know the policies and attitudes of the CBP operations at various airports; there can be quite a discrepancy between them.

Regarding those students whose SEVIS records were erroneously terminated by ICE, best practice is probably to avoid then seeking to fix the problem through the embassy, but instead to work with your school to reinstate the record through USCIS. Note that it should still be possible to transfer an I-20 in order to apply for a reinstated record. In the meantime, continue to comply with the terms of your F-1, but avoid working during the period of termination.

Also note that it is possible to apply to change status to-and-from visitor status, and these applications can be filed online. Moreover, applications to change to student visa status may be supplemented by premium processing--which may be necessary to comply with the academic calendar.

And expect airlines to be much tougher on travelers from such countries seeking to board. Customs and Border Protection’s Carrier Liaison Program stated that carriers (the airlines) can be fined for each affected person that they bring into the U.S.

Visa bulletin:

The July 2025 visa bulletin is out. We gave very short explainer on the bulletin in the May 21 newsletter. Applicants in all family-sponsored preference categories must use the Dates for Filing chart, while applicants in all employment-based preference categories must use the Final Action Dates chart. You can also find updates for the diversity visa program.

In other DOS-related news, you must submit your DS-160 at least two business days before your appointment for a nonimmigrant visa, you must now pay the visa fee again if it has been over 365 days or if you otherwise failed to update the barcode, and you will be turned away if the DS-160 number on the confirmation page is not an exact match of the number on the appointment notice. So double-check the confirmation number (you can updated it here), ensure that the DS-160 was submitted (here) at least two business days earlier, and contact the embassy if the barcode does not update.

status updates

The USCIS Policy Manual section for TN visas was updated in regards to requirements for filing, eligibility, certain occupations, and dependents.

Those who were paroled in visa the CHNV program (for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans) have begun receiving emailed termination notices from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) noting that their parole is terminated and their parole-based employment authorization is revoked, effective immediately.

Fines

A bill signed during an earlier enforcement era (1996) permits the government (currently, this would fall under ICE) to impose penalties of up to $500 a day to foreign nationals who have failed to depart subsequent to their final order of removal––Immigration and Nationality Act § 274D. The amount of the fine has increased each year to track inflation. The last update to this section of the federal regulations––at 8 CFR §280.53(b)(4)––occurred on May 18th, 2025, at which time the daily penalty increased to $998 per day.

After a fine is imposed, ICE must provide sufficient notification, including 30 days for the foreign national to submit a dispute. Once the fine has been issued, it can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).

Notices of Intention to Fine (NOIF) were issued under the first Trump Administration at the end of 2018, at that time issuing penalties of up to $799 for each day (and over $291,000 for each year in the U.S. following the removal order); these were reversed by the same Administration the following year.

We are now hearing reports of fines being issued in the amount of $1.8 million. It may be that the government is actually combining two fees: one for failing to depart after a “normal” removal order, and one for failing to depart after an order of voluntary departure—which itself becomes a final order if the foreign national fails to depart within the allotted timeframe. Some speculate that, given the fact that these fines cannot be satisfied, the real motivation is to entice these individuals to appear at a time and place at which they might be detained and physically removed from the U.S.

This notion is reinforced by last week’s pronouncement that those who “self-deport” through the CBP Home App will receive forgiveness of any civil fines or penalties: in addition to the cost-free travel and $1,000 stipend that DHS has promised to those who “self-deport.”

Quickly:

There’s a great deal of pressure being brought to immigration judges to quickly get rid of cases, enabling ICE to immediately arrest individuals appearing in immigration court: a practice we’ve been discussing in the last few newsletters, and which merits a fuller discussion in a future newsletter.

ICE has been ordered to increase audits of employers’ I‑9 compliance. According to the Washington Post, since the new year, audits have increased 10x,  leading to raids in industries like meat processing, construction, hospitality, retail, and technology. These are a function of the Administration’s quota, discussed last week, of arresting 3,000 immigrants a day, largely while they are at work or attending court hearings: particularly within New York, Chicago, or L.A. The Wall Street Journal reports that the labor market might already be shrinking, and in the fact of Republican pushback, and the Administration has promised to ease up on farmers and hotel workers. But it may be the health workforce that is really at risk, where there is already a sortable of 80,000 workers, in an industry where 30% of personal care workers and 40% of health aides are foreign-born. Nursing homes are struggling to remain staffed.

That’s it for the week. Thanks for reading, and let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to cover.

Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.

Sunset Immigration PLLC

219 36th Street, Ste 511

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Book appointment

travel ban 2025

This Administration’s version of the “travel ban” took effect yesterday (Monday). Essentially, it is a ban on visa issuance (not travel, visa applications, or visa interviews) on foreign nationals from particular countries, and there are two types.

1. The full one:  no types of visas will be issued. This applies if your government is either dysfunctional or hostile and uncooperative (not including the present version of the United States). This is defined to include countries who are not effectively screening and vetting of their passport applicants, or who otherwise refuse to share information about their citizens, or who otherwise their citizens back once we try to deport them. Members of this club include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
2. The partial one: no student, visitor, or exchange visitor visas will be issued, wither others somewhat restricted. This applies if too many other citizens of your country have overstayed, including citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. This does not entail that these countries all top the list of “overstays” (else there would be several European countries on this list) but it has been determined that the number of overstays is a significant factor in their decision.
3. And after the recent terrorist attack by an Egyptian national, that country might find itself on the list pending further investigation.

The caveats:

Having learned their lessons from the last time around, there are a number of limitations to the ban, making it more likely to survive legal challenges.

If you are from one of these countries, you may nevertheless not be covered by the ban, which only applies if you were: 1) outside the U.S. on June 9th; and 2) without a valid visa. If you had a visa on Monday, that will not be revoked, but future embassy appointments may be canceled. If you were outside the U.S. the embassies can also make case-by-case exceptions if your entry would advance a critical U.S. national interest: though likely that would involve something like participating in the prosecution of another immigrant.

Moreover, this ban does not apply to are: green card holders and their immediate relatives; athletes and coaches in major sporting event (basically the World Cup and Olympics); adoptees; refugees, asylees, and those with protection under the the Convention against Torture; Afghanis with Special Immigrant Visas; or those with diplomatic visas.

And note to dual-nationals: if one of your nationalities is not listed, then you are not prevented from entering via that passport.

Lastly, this policy will be reviewed after 90 days and every 180 days thereafter. Expect this review to be superficial, and expect a LOT of chaos surrounding the World Cup and Olympics.

the sort-of student visa ban

On the same day (June 4th), the Administration rolled out the highly-principled and judicious proclamation “Enhancing National Security by Addressing Risks at Harvard University." May 28th’s newsletter  touched on the Administration’s initial attempt to prevent Harvard from enrolling foreign students, and the resulting temporary restraining order (preventing the policy from being enforced) issued by the U.S. District Judge overseeing the case.

As anticipated, the proclamation suspends the entry of those with student visas seeking to begin attending Harvard, and allows the Secretary of State (currently, Marco Rubio) to revoke the visa of current Harvard students, in his discretion. As with the travel ban above, there is a “national interest” exception, and the policy will be reviewed in 90 days (so long enough to prevent students for the fall semester from arriving on time). And, as titled, this only applies to Harvard students.

Harvard filed an amended complaint the next day, and about four hours after that the TRO was extended through the next hearing on June 16th.

Meanwhile the global temporary global pause in scheduling interviews for student and exchange visitors (discussed last week) continues to proceed, pending further implementation of the Department of State’s policy for social media vetting. Those in the U.S. can still change status, and if you’re Canadian, you’re still exempt from a visa and can enter with an I-20, DS-2019, proof of SEVIS payment, funding and ties back home, and valid passport.

Everyone else can still submit DS-160 requests for an interview; consular posts will just not schedule any new appointments until the vetting procedure is in place.

Regarding Rubio’s May 28th announcement that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will revoke visas for Chinese students "with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields” (the equally measured and well-reasoned “New Visa Policies Put America First, Not China”), little remains known. For now, we assume this applies only to mainland China, but its application to Hong Kong has not been ruled out.

TPS terminations

Each week brings us to the end of more TPS programs. Cameroon’s will end on August 4th, 2025, and  Nepal’s will end on Aug 5, 2025. Work permits are automatically extended until these dates. If you are an employer, you must note both the expiration of the current work permits (June 25, 2025 for Nepal and June 7, 2025 for Cameroon) and their automatic extensions (to August 4th or 5th). More information for employers can be found here.

I-601A and registration

Section 262 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as described in 8 U.S.C. § 1302, requires noncitizens to register their presence in the U.S. with the federal government. Failure to comply may result in criminal and civil penalties, including misdemeanor prosecution, fines, and incarceration.

On January 20, 2025, the President issued an executive order (EO 14159, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion”) which, among other things, called for a new procedure requiring undocumented immigrants to register with USCIS (identified as the “Alien Registration Requirement”). We posted background documents (here and here) last month. Those with approved green card applications, DACA, TPS, or U-visa classifications will be considered registered. (Last month we provided more detail here and here.)

Once registered AND fingerprinted, DHS will issue evidence of registration, which noncitizens over the age of 18 must carry and keep in their personal possession at all times.

On February 25th, USCIS released Form G-325R for those not already considered registered, including applicants who were fingerprinted through processes not explicitly listed under the new rule.

Nevertheless, it appears some individuals with approved Forms I-601A (Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver) have been receiving notices indicating they’ve met the registration requirement. Our guess is that certain officers at the agency are conflating the fingerprinting requirement with registration. Applicants with approved I-601As should not assume they are registered unless they receive such notice.

quotas up, crime-fighting down

As mentioned last week, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has been firing top ICE officials for allegedly failing to meet a quota of 3,000 migrant arrests per day, and that the FBI and National Guard have been deployed to join in this cause. It seems now that Miller is now threatening to fire the ICE local Field Office Directors with the lowest numbers and that 26,000 troops and federal personnel (FBI, ATF, DEA, IRS, and probably more) are being pulled away from from their regular jobs of keeping American safe in order to be dedicated to ICE’s “Operation At Large.” They’re getting somewhat closer to that goal of 3,000 by ramping up arrests at immigration and housing courts, workplaces, and homes, while also considering the conversion of military facilities into detention centers. One more time, for the record: the vast majority of these arrests have nothing to do with criminality.

And for the lawyers: my AI & Ethics CLE is been getting some positive reviews. If you have a chance to view it, LMK what you think and what related topics would be useful.

That’s it for the week. Thanks for reading, and let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to cover.

Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.

Sunset Immigration PLLC

219 36th Street, Ste 511

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Book appointment