Immigration on CrossGov.com

FMCSA's Non-Domiciled CDL Rule Will Push Out About 194,000 Truckers as California's $160 Million Penalty Goes to Court

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s rule on non-domiciled commercial driver’s licences has been in force since 16 March. It ends eligibility for about 194,000 current holders as their licences come up for renewal.

Two appeals cases heard in September will test it. On 11 September the DC Circuit heard California’s challenge to the Transportation Department’s decision to withhold about $160 million of its highway money. On 15 September the same court heard the challenge to the rule itself. Neither has ruled.

The $100,000 H-1B Fee Is Blocked by Two Courts as Legal Immigration Shrinks: Refugee Cap 17,500, Travel Ban on 39 Countries

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

As of early October 2026, employers filing new H-1B visa petitions don’t have to pay the $100,000 fee the President imposed in September 2025. Two federal judges have blocked it.

On 8 June 2026 Judge Leo Sorokin in Massachusetts vacated the fee in a case brought by 20 states, ruling that it is effectively a tax only Congress can levy, and arbitrary. The First Circuit refused to lift his ruling in July. Around 30 September, Judge Haywood Gilliam in California blocked USCIS and the State Department from enforcing it in a separate suit by unions, employers and nonprofits. A Washington district court had upheld the fee in December 2025 in a case brought by the US Chamber of Commerce, which is appealing. The administration has extended the fee to September 2027 and in August proposed making it permanent, at about $103,000.

Supreme Court Clears the Way to End Venezuelan TPS as the Refugee Cap Rises to 17,500, Months After It Upheld Birthright Citizenship

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 5 October the Supreme Court sent back to the Ninth Circuit a ruling that had blocked the end of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, in light of its June decision limiting court review of TPS terminations. DHS counts about 348,000 Venezuelans under the 2023 designation and about 268,000 under the 2021 one. Work permits extended under a May 2025 order expired on 2 October.

Three days earlier, the President’s determination setting the refugee ceiling for fiscal 2027 at 17,500 was published in the Federal Register, up from a record low of 7,500. Most places are reserved for Afrikaners from South Africa, under a February 2025 order.

Border Apprehensions Head for the Lowest Since 1967 as the $46.5 Billion Wall Build Runs at 7 Miles a Week

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Border Patrol made 8,870 apprehensions at the southwest border in August 2026. For fiscal 2026 through August the total was 89,760, putting the year on pace for about 98,000. That would be the lowest since fiscal 1967. In fiscal 2022 and 2023, apprehensions passed 2 million a year.

The Homeland Security Department says it has gone 16 straight months without releasing anyone apprehended by Border Patrol into the US.

The wall

The money for the wall came from the July 2025 tax and spending law, which appropriated $46.5 billion for border barriers, available until September 2029. By August 2026, according to figures reported by TIME, $33.6 billion was under contract.

ICE Is Funded Through 2029 Outside the Normal Budget: Detention Near 69,000 and 2,365 Local 287(g) Agreements

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In September 2026 Immigration and Customs Enforcement made more than 48,000 arrests, according to an official speaking to NBC. Around the start of October it was holding about 69,000 people in detention. In fiscal 2025 the average was 42,500.

ICE can sustain that pace through a budget arrangement few agencies have. Its money no longer depends on the annual appropriations fight that just left most of the government on a stopgap. Two reconciliation laws, passed by simple majorities, fund ICE and the Border Patrol into early 2029.

Immigration Court Backlog Falls Below 3.5 Million as 40% of Judges Turn Over and Asylum Grants Hit a Record Low

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In June 2026, US immigration judges granted asylum in 5.5% of the cases they decided, 771 people. They denied 94.1%. At the end of the Biden administration the grant rate was about 32%. The figures come from TRAC, the Syracuse University project that tracks immigration court data.

The immigration courts, run by the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, have changed more in eighteen months than in the previous decade. The backlog is shrinking, the bench has been largely replaced, and the outcomes have shifted sharply.