immigration
44 briefs
Fund ICE for Three Years. Also Build the Ballroom.
Senate Republicans returned from recess to pass a $72 billion immigration enforcement package. Trump wants $1 billion in the same bill for White House ballroom security. Vulnerable Republicans have to vote on both.
The DOJ Just Sued New Mexico for Passing a Law Its Legislature Voted On.
The Justice Department is asking a federal court to block New Mexico's Immigrant Safety Act before it takes effect, arguing the state cannot prohibit local governments from cooperating with ICE. The state's governor signed the bill in February. The federal government wants a judge to override her.
Trump's Policy of Jailing Immigrants Without Bond Hearings Is Heading to the Supreme Court
Federal appeals circuits are splitting over whether a 30-year-old immigration law authorizes mass detention without hearings. The Supreme Court will likely have to decide whether millions of people can be held indefinitely on the government's schedule alone.
SCOTUS Will Strike Down Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order. The Real Question Is What It Lets Happen First.
Polymarket gives 87% odds the Court kills the executive order. But SCOTUS already ruled states can enforce it partially. A ruling that arrives in June matters less than what happens between now and June.
Congress Is Funding a Deportation Machine That Can't Be Turned Off
DHS got its funding back. ICE and CBP didn't. Now Republicans are routing $140 billion in immigration enforcement through mandatory accounts designed to survive future Congresses and future presidents.
Connecticut Signed a Law Against ICE. The House Judiciary Committee Subpoenaed Arlington. States Are Drawing Lines.
The federal-state immigration standoff is past the rhetoric stage. Connecticut now has a law. Arlington has a subpoena. The legal question underneath all of it has not been answered.
Trump Has Defied 31 Court Orders. The Courts Have Not Stopped Him.
An AP review found an extraordinary pattern of non-compliance with lower court rulings. The more interesting question is why the enforcement mechanism has not worked.
Who Gets to Stay Is Now a Question of Presidential Mood
The Supreme Court is deciding whether the executive branch can revoke Temporary Protected Status for 700,000 people whenever it wants, with no judicial review.
SCOTUS Signals It Will Let Trump Deport a Million People Without Court Review
The conservative majority appears ready to strip federal courts of jurisdiction over TPS cancellations, turning humanitarian protection into a purely executive decision with no check.
House GOP Ends the DHS Shutdown by Cutting ICE Funding. Both Sides Claim Victory.
After 75 days, House Republicans reopened TSA and the Coast Guard -- but passed zero dollars for immigration enforcement to get it done.
Supreme Court Signals It Will End Deportation Protections for 1.3 Million Migrants
A conservative majority appeared ready Wednesday to let Trump strip TPS from Haitians and Syrians -- and potentially from all 17 countries whose nationals hold the status.
The Supreme Court Is Being Asked to Let Trump Deport 700,000 People
The case is officially about legal procedure. It is actually about whether a president can revoke immigration status that Congress created, based on stated reasons the lower courts found unpersuasive.
The Allegiance Test
Trump attended Supreme Court oral arguments on birthright citizenship, becoming the first sitting president to do so. The justices, including his own appointees, told him he was wrong.
Birthright Citizenship: SCOTUS Will Almost Certainly Rule Against Trump, But the Ruling Will Do More Than That
64% of Americans oppose ending birthright citizenship and the Court signaled strong skepticism in April oral argument. But a ruling that voids Trump's executive order will also settle what powers lower courts have to issue nationwide injunctions. That second question reshapes everything else Trump is trying to do.
Courts Dismantle Trump's Immigration Architecture, One Proclamation at a Time
The DC Circuit just killed Trump's 'invasion' hook for blocking asylum. This week SCOTUS hears TPS cases covering 350,000 Haitians. The legal architecture of mass deportation is being stress-tested at every level simultaneously.
Day 72: The DHS Shutdown Has Already Won by Continuing
The Senate passed $70 billion for ICE and Border Patrol on a 50-48 vote. The House refuses to take it up until after a 'skinny' bill. Markets give 88% odds the shutdown lasts past April. Trump endorsed renaming ICE to NICE.
The Supreme Court Looks Poised to Rule Against Trump. His Own Party Is Already Moving Past It.
With 64% of Americans opposing birthright citizenship repeal and the conservative-majority court appearing skeptical, Senate Republicans are advancing legislation that would accomplish the same result differently.
The Justice Department Dismantles DACA From the Inside
By ruling that DACA status alone cannot block deportation, the administration's own immigration courts have accomplished what congressional repeal never could.
The Justice Department Just Ruled That Being a Dreamer Is Not a Reason to Stay
A Board of Immigration Appeals decision strips DACA status of its practical protection without touching the program itself. The administration is dismantling the policy from the inside.
Texas Can Now Arrest People for Crossing the Border. The Fifth Circuit Didn't Say That's Legal.
A 10-7 vote lifted the injunction against Texas SB4 on standing grounds. The constitutionality question was left entirely open. Texas is now enforcing a law that courts have not ruled constitutional.
Appeals Court Kills Trump's Asylum Ban. The Supreme Court Is Next.
A 2-1 ruling says the president cannot rewrite immigration law by proclamation. Trump's path to SCOTUS is now the point.
The Longest Shutdown in History Is Being Ended by the Process That Caused It
Senate Republicans are using budget reconciliation to fund ICE without Democratic votes. Democrats used the shutdown to demand accountability for federal killings. Neither side is wrong, and neither can win.
No One in Washington Wants to Own the Haiti Decision
The Supreme Court hears arguments April 29 on whether the Trump administration can deport Haitians back to a country in active gang war. Congress just voted to stop it. Both institutions are trying to hand the problem to the other.
The Court Said Trump's Asylum Ban Is Illegal. The White House Will Try Again.
A federal appeals court struck down the administration's summary deportation rules today. This is the third time a court has blocked a Trump immigration order at this stage. The administration keeps filing.
SCOTUS vs. the 14th Amendment
Oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara revealed a court unlikely to rewrite a 128-year-old precedent, but the hearing exposed what the administration is actually asking for.
The Supreme Court Is About to Rule on Birthright Citizenship. The Outcome May Turn on a Single Word from 1868.
Whether millions of US-born children of undocumented immigrants remain citizens may depend on how SCOTUS defines 'domicile' in the 14th Amendment. The court already signaled doubt about Trump's position. The market puts his odds at 8%.
Harvard's Grad Workers Are Striking for Wages. They're Also Striking Against ICE.
4,000 graduate workers walked off the job at one of the world's wealthiest universities. The demands mix pay parity with immigration protections in a way Harvard cannot easily split. That's the point.
The Supreme Court Is About to Rule That the 14th Amendment Means What It Says
Oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara exposed the government's 'domicile' theory as untenable. Multiple conservative justices are already signaling they will not accept it. A decision is expected in late June.
The Republican Party Is Having Its Immigration Fight In Public. One Side Wants Votes. The Other Wants Deportations.
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar's Dignity Act would give pre-2021 undocumented immigrants legal status but no citizenship. A new PAC is spending to end her career. Manufacturers are endorsing her. The House majority is at stake.
SCOTUS Heard the Birthright Citizenship Case. The Justices Are Not Buying It.
Across the ideological spectrum, Supreme Court justices pressed Trump's solicitor general on why the 14th Amendment means something different now. He had no good answer.
The DOJ Is 0 for 5 on Voter Data. It Has 25 Cases Left.
Courts keep rejecting the administration's demand for voter rolls. That does not explain why 17 Republican-led states handed over the data anyway.
Ten Republicans Voted Against Trump on Immigration. It Will Not Matter.
The House passed a bill protecting Haitian immigrants. The Senate will kill it. Trump will veto anything that survives. The vote was not for policy; it was for the record.
Trump Is About to Make Banks the Immigration Police.
An executive order requiring banks to collect citizenship data from all customers would turn the financial system into a deportation tool. Bessent says it's reasonable. Immigrant advocates say it creates an underclass with no safe place to keep money.
SCOTUS Is About to Rule on Birthright Citizenship. The Market Says 94% Chance They Strike It Down.
The Supreme Court heard final arguments on Trump's executive order redefining citizenship. The constitutional question is live. The outcome almost certainly isn't.
Day 58: Republicans Are Using the Nuclear Option to Fund Immigration Enforcement
The DHS shutdown hit two months. The Senate passed a partial reopening that excludes ICE and CBP. Now Republicans are using budget reconciliation to fund immigration agencies for three years, bypassing the filibuster.
Who Is an American
SCOTUS heard two hours of argument on birthright citizenship. Conservative justices were skeptical of Trump. A ruling isn't the end of the story.
The Judge Who Ruled Wrong
The Trump administration fired the immigration judges who dismissed deportation cases against Ozturk and Mahdawi. The message is not subtle: rule against us and lose your job.
The Citizen Collapse
2025 began with a surge in naturalization applications as immigrants sought security before Trump took office. It ended with the fewest approvals in years. The pipeline is now poisoned in both directions.
Funding Half a Border Agency
Congress reopened DHS after 40 days but left ICE and Border Patrol unfunded. Now Republicans want reconciliation to finish the job without Democrats. The shutdown is over in name only.
Shutdown Theater
DHS ordered furloughed workers back to their desks during a shutdown, which is either a constitutional violation or proof that 'shutdown' no longer means what it used to.
The DHS Shutdown Ended. The Fight It Was About Did Not.
After 40 days, the Senate reopened most of the Department of Homeland Security but deliberately left ICE and Border Patrol funding unresolved. The compromise is not a settlement. It is a timeout.
SCOTUS Is About to Strike Down the Birthright Citizenship Order. That Is Not the Hard Part.
The justices are almost certain to rule against Trump. The question they are really debating is how far the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause reaches, and the answer will outlast this case.
Congress Ended the DHS Shutdown by Defunding the Part Trump Actually Wanted
The Senate reopened DHS after 52 days by funding TSA, FEMA, and Coast Guard while leaving ICE Enforcement and Border Patrol without appropriations. The administration called it a win. It wasn't.
SCOTUS Will Almost Certainly Strike Down the Birthright Order. The Reasoning May Be Worse Than the Order.
Polymarket gives Trump's birthright citizenship executive order a 4.9% chance of surviving. But Justice Sotomayor raised the question nobody wants answered: if the logic works for future babies, does it work for people already born?