immigration updates: May 21, 2025

Hi everyone,

This week’s post is enforcement-oriented, as that’s where the focus of the Trump Administration has been.

For those interested in visa availability for June, or the results of the diversity visa lottery, please scroll to the bottom.

Cheers!

If you really must be posting political stuff on social media . . .

“To protect Americans,” the Department of Homeland Security (specifically: USCIS, Customs and Border Protection, and ICE) is now looking at your social media activity for anything that “indicates an alien endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, or other antisemitic activity as a negative factor in any USCIS discretionary analysis when adjudicating immigration benefit requests.”

We’ve seen them interpret ‘antisemitism’ very broadly when going after international students—attempting to revoke student visas and green cards, grabbing them off the street to detain them and move them around the country, etc.––for offenses involving reposting a friend’s articles, sitting at a protest, walking in a protest, and writing opinion pieces in newspapers.

One might assume that they’ll be equally ambitious in denying applications and revoking visas at the border (including airports).

The USCIS release, with links to the executive orders, can be found here.

Venezuela & Afghanistan

The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order preventing the Trump Administration from using highly-expedited procedures under the Alien Enemies Act remove individuals (in this case, Venezuelans) while litigation over this use of the Act continues. The Administration may, of course, continue to use normal procedures to charge, arrest, detain, and initiate proceedings in Immigration Court, and eventually remove individual from Venezuela or anywhere else.

Afghanistan has been removed from the designation of Temporary Protected Status.

Work permits valid through November 20, 2023 or May 20, 2025, will be extended through July 14, 2025.

In other enforcement-related news

The National Guard may be coming to town, and ICE may be waiting for you at church, but birthright citizenship is not going anywhere.

Did you play the diversity lottery?

If you applied, check here for results. More about the program here and here.

Where you are in the line this month

If you are the beneficiary of a ‘preference petition’ for a green card, there is usually a wait, because there are a limited number of visas issued each year for each category and country—and when demand outstrips supply, there is a queue. (The new visas are all allocated at the start of the fiscal year on October 1st.)

There are no limits on the number of visas for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens––spouses, parents, or minor children––so a visa is always available. If this is you, you can ignore this conversation entirely. But for everyone else, the U.S. Department of State publishes a Visa Bulletin that tells you when you can file your application for a green card.

When the category and country are labeled as “current,” that means that a visa is available and the application can be filed. For those who will be applying for their green card at a U.S. embassy, they look at the chart to see whether there is a “C” in the box for their category & country. If not, they look at the date provided, and only if their petition was approved before that date will they be considered as current (and thus able to set up their appointment at the embassy).

However, for those in the U.S. who are eligible to apply for adjustment of status, there are instead two charts that determine when you’re able to file your applications:

1. Final Action Dates (Chart A): This tells you when USCIS or the consulate can actually approve your green card. This is the chart that will normally determine when you can file your application. 2. Dates for Filing (Chart B): When USCIS estimates that there are ‘extra’ visas available to they can submit the application ‘early’ according to the dates on this chart: even if the application can’t be approved yet.

Essentially, you check each month to see whether USCIS has determined that you must use Chart A or Chart B when applying for adjustment.

Per the June 2025 visa bulletin, if a family-based petition was filed for you, you will use the dates for filing chart. If it was an employment-based petition, you’ll use the final action dates chart.

In terms of progress, the line for most employment-based categories moved forward slightly, though most other categories largely stayed the same. July typically sees more movement as the agencies begin cycling through the remaining green card before the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. However, given the very high demand in several categories, it would not be surprising if most of the lines remain the same or actually get longer (“retrogress”).

One of these days we’ll write a proper introduction to using the visa bulletin, which is a great deal more complicated than I’ve explained. Until then, read CLINIC’s explainer here, and USCIS’ discussion of then June filing dates here.

For the lawyers

My colleague Michele Carney and I published an article in the AILA Law Journal on how states are changing their regulations about who can practice law, and how (also why, where, and anything you might want to know). This is Part 1; Part 2 will focus on the extent to which technological developments will significantly accelerate these developments.

For those looking for CLE credits, I have a few new courses on Lawline, including Alternatives to the H-1B Visa in 2025, next Tuesday my CLE Immigration Pathways from Studies to Employment will go live, and on May 30th I’ll present on AI and Ethics in Legal Practice. Looking for more ethics credits? My update to Walking the Line: Professionalism, Ethics, and Limits of Zealous Advocacy is also live. If there are any topics related to immigration or ethics you’d like me to cover, please let me know.

That’s it for the week. Thanks for reading!

MB

______________________

Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.
Sunset Immigration PLLC
219 36th Street, Ste 511
Brooklyn, NY 11232
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