The government shutdown that recently ended was the longest in U.S. history. During that time, the Department of Labor (DOL) website, FLAG, which is used to file Labor Condition Applications for nonimmigrant petitions, as well as Labor Certification Applications for PERM cases, was unavailable. Many employers were unable to comply with DOL filing requirements and […]
Palmer Polaski Blog
The Trump administration drastically changed its interpretation of immigration law as it relates to the eligibility for bond for certain noncitizens in immigration detention. Under its interpretation, anyone who entered the U.S. without inspection is no longer eligible for bond, even if they are eligible for relief, do not have any criminal history, resided in […]
Asylum Cooperative Agreements On October 31, 2025, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued Matter of C-I-G-M- & L-V-S-G-, a ruling that fundamentally changes how asylum cases are handled. The decision directs Immigration Judges to first determine whether the Safe Third Country bar applies under an Asylum Cooperative Agreement (ACA) before considering the substance of […]
On December 2, 2025, the Trump administration placed an indefinite hold on all asylum applications filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) regardless of the nationality of the applicant and paused applications for permanent residence (green card) and other immigration benefits filed by individuals from original 19 “Travel Ban” countries. This pause on all […]
On December 16, 2025, President Trump significantly expanded the U.S. travel ban, adding many new countries and tightening restrictions. Effective January 1, 2026, the expanded ban built on the June 2025 order — which had applied to 19 countries — and now imposes full or partial entry restrictions on nationals from more than 40 countries. […]
Effective October 30, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security announced an interim final rule ending its practice of automatically extending employment authorization documents (EADs). According to DHS, the change stems from the Department’s prioritization of the “proper screening and vetting of aliens before extending the validity of their employment authorizations.” Prior to this rule, DHS […]
On December 23, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a final rule that would significantly change how the agency selects registrations for H-1B cap-subject petitions. The final rule is effective February 27, 2026, and will replace the current purely random lottery system with a weighted selection process that gives higher odds to beneficiaries […]
The H-1B visa program is the largest employment immigration option in the United States with an estimated 730,000 current foreign nationals working under the program. Every year, hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals register for the H-1B lottery hoping to receive one of the 85,000 congressionally allocated visas. On September 19, 2025, President Trump issued […]
On October 6, 2025, USCIS officers were granted enforcement powers, including the authority to carry firearms, execute warrants, make arrests, and investigate civil and criminal violations of immigration law. This marks a departure from USCIS’s longstanding role as a nonenforcement adjudicatory agency. Since this change in policy, more individuals with unexecuted removal orders are arrested […]
On Dec. 30, 2025, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to end Temporary Protected Status benefits that had been granted for hundreds of South Sudanese nationals living in the United States. The ruling is a temporary victory for immigrant advocates and a setback for the Trump administration’s broader effort to curtail the humanitarian […]