Immigration updates: September 2, 2025

Exhuming McCarthy.

be kind to your neighbors

In mid-August, USCIS rolled out a trio of policy updates that together mark a significant shift toward heightened scrutiny of naturalization and other immigration benefits.

On the 15th, USCIS directed officers to apply a “rigorous, holistic” approach to good moral character (GMC) determinations that accounts not only for the absence of misconduct but also for affirmative positive attributes such as community involvement, caregiving, steady employment, and tax compliance. At the same time, adjudicators are told to weigh lawful but “inconsistent” conduct (like repeated traffic infractions or aggressive solicitation) as potential negatives. This standard gives officers broader discretion to probe beyond traditional statutory bars.

On the 19th, the Policy Manual was updated to instruct officers to deny benefits (for any immigration application) where there is evidence of anti-American or antisemitic activity (without any helpful guidance for interpretation). These factors are now “overwhelmingly negative” in any discretionary analysis. USCIS also expanded social media vetting across a wider set of benefit types, with online activity now fair game for review.

The 22nd brought us a revival of the neighborhood investigations of neighbors, employers, co-workers, or business associates to corroborate eligibility, character, and attachment to the Constitution. Applicants are encouraged to submit testimonial letters proactively; failure to do so may trigger an investigation. Difficult to see how this could be abused.

we did vote for chaos

The past two weeks have brought a cascade of conflicting policy changes, court orders, and agency communications on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua.

On August 20, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Trump administration’s request to stay a lower court order issued on August 1. That district court order had continued TPS for about 60,000 nationals of Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua until a merits hearing scheduled for November 18, 2025. The stay allowed the administration’s termination of TPS for these countries to take effect immediately.

On August 25, USCIS updated its Temporary Protected Status webpage and removed Nepal from the list of designated countries. The agency also archived the prior Nepal TPS page and added an alert: “Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem terminated Temporary Protected Status for Nepal. On August 20, 2025, the Ninth Circuit court stayed the lower court order postponing the termination, allowing the termination to take effect. Accordingly, TPS benefits are no longer in effect as of August 20, 2025.” The archived chart for Nepal confirmed that TPS was deemed to have ended on August 20 and that EAD auto-extensions for Nepali nationals ceased to be valid as of that date.

A day later, the USCIS-operated E-Verify system posted its own notice stating that DHS was “complying with the District Court-issued stay” and that EADs for employees with TPS from all three countries remain valid through November 18, 2025. The notice pointed users to USCIS country pages for expiration dates.

Thus: USCIS’s TPS site says Nepal’s TPS and EADs ended August 20, while E-Verify told employers to keep accepting them until November 18. Employers enrolled in E-Verify may want to run a Status Change Report to see whether the system is flagging TPS-related EADs.

This confusion landed just as CNN published a report on August 27 in which DHS officials admitted it is “reckless” to rely on their own system that they require for employment verification. Reminder: in this realm, employers are strictly liable for the government’s own mistakes.

below the bar

Having already pressured the immigration judges to remove potential judicial protections to immigrants in court proceedings (and attempting to prevent them from speaking about their work), the Trump administration is now trying to replace the ones they don’t like with the ones that can’t get a job anywhere else in order to push through the court’s millions of cases in the manner most favorable to ICE.

What started this spring as an effort to encourage early retirement or deferred resignation had developed into a policy of firings that included no stated basis: but that was alleged to correlate along lines of gender discrimination, decisions unfavorable to the Administration, and giving a courthouse tour to a high-ranking Democratic Senator.

Normally, the removal of over 100 judges would normally dramatically increase, rather than decrease, the backlog of 3.5 - 4 million currently in the in court. The Administration has an equally brilliant plan to replace them, however, by way of spending $3.3 billion to replace them with “any lawyer.” The Department of Justice issued a new rule on August 28, 2025 stating that experience in one of the most complicated areas of law “is not always a strong predictor of success,” dropping the requirement of 10+ years of experience in immigration law (or other related judicial experience) to zero. It has also reported, though not confirmed, that 600 military lawyers (or “jagoffs” as Secretary of Defense Hesgeth has called them) will be redirected to the immigration courts.

more government, more costs, less future productivity

Back in July, we noted the administration’s plan to revive its 2020 proposal to end “duration of status” (D/S) for students and exchange visitors. (See also Yale’s summaryhere.) At the time, the details looked nearly identical to the prior rule: fixed stays of two or four years, USCIS handling extensions instead of schools, and unlawful presence starting immediately after expiration.

Now, with the August 28, 2025 proposed rule, the picture is clearer — and more restrictive. DHS would:

* Cap most students at four years, some at two years depending on country of origin.

* Limit English-language students to 24 months and public high school students to 12 months.

* Shorten the grace period after completion to 30 days (down from 60).

* Bar graduate students from changing programs mid-course, and undergraduates from changing majors or transferring in their first year without DHS approval.

* Require extensions through USCIS filings with fees, biometrics, and “compelling” reasons.

* Trigger unlawful presence the day after I-94 expiration.

As we noted previously, shifting thousands of extension requests to USCIS would presumably create delays that may leave students unable to register for new terms, at a time when SEVIS already provides detailed oversight. The proposal would add nearly$100 million in compliance costs in its first year and could make the U.S. a less attractive destination at a moment when new data already show a steep drop in international student arrivals — including nearly 50% fewer from India. Comments on the proposal are due by September 28, 2025.

more dumb stuff

Alligator Alcatraz makes way for Deportation Depot; we’re now using natural emergencies to round of immigrants; and while “scathing 39-page ruling” and “calamitous” would normally be bad omens for one’s career, unless that career involves representing the Trump administration.

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Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.

Sunset Immigration

219 36th Street, Ste 511

Brooklyn, NY 11232

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