U.S. immigration policy changes fast. A court ruling or a policy shift at USCIS can affect your visa, your green card, or your family's case.This page is updated every week on Monday by the team at Hacking Immigration Law, LLC. We track what is actually happening in immigration law, enforcement, and the courts, and explain what it means for people going through the process right now.If something in these updates raises a question about your situation, contact us for a consultation.
The State Department temporarily paused or rescheduled immigrant visa appointments at U.S. embassies and consulates around the world — though this does not mean all U.S. visa appointments have stopped. The department says the pause is tied to a global training initiative for consular officers on implementing the administration's public-charge policy, which weighs whether an applicant could become dependent on public assistance. Applicants with August interviews are reportedly being pushed into later months, and family-based immigrant applicants may be hit hardest. Officials told reporters the disruption is expected to be temporary. The pause comes after a separate court ruling struck down a policy that had halted immigrant-visa issuance for applicants from 75 countries.
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The administration is preparing to revoke business and tourist visas for as many as 200,000 people who have applied for, or are currently pursuing, asylum in the United States. The visas at issue were issued between 2016 and 2026, and the State Department is working with DHS to identify who would be affected. If carried out at this scale, it would reportedly be the largest single mass visa revocation in U.S. history. Revocation would not by itself trigger immediate deportation for someone with a pending asylum case, and the plan is not yet final; it could still face legal challenges.
What this could mean for you: If you hold a B-1/B-2 visa and also have a pending asylum application, this is worth monitoring closely, but a revocation alone would not mean automatic removal. Consult an immigration attorney about how a potential revocation could affect your specific case.
Newly released data shows ICE made 49,571 arrests in July 2026, the highest monthly total of the administration's second term — up about 15% from June and roughly 70% from February. More than half of those arrested in July had no criminal conviction and no pending criminal charge, and fewer than one in four had been convicted of a crime. About half of the arrests were non-custodial, meaning people were picked up in the community rather than transferred from jail or police custody, reflecting a growing role for state and local police partnerships with ICE. Texas and Florida together accounted for nearly 20,000 of the arrests. The underlying data came from the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkelpppey and UCLA.
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New federal guidance tightens oversight of Curricular Practical Training (CPT), the program that lets qualifying F-1 international students take internships connected to their coursework. An Aug. 24 memo says officials have identified CPT authorizations that appear inconsistent with the requirement that the training be an integral part of an established curriculum, and schools that don't comply risk their certification to enroll international students. UCLA and UC Berkeley have already paused certain CPT authorizations while they review the guidance. DHS says the underlying regulations haven't changed, but enforcement will be stricter going forward.
AP reporting this week ties several developments together into a broader pattern: enforcement and restrictions are increasingly aimed at people who entered the country through legal channels, not just unauthorized immigration. That includes the planned B-1/B-2 revocations tied to asylum seekers and the tighter application of the public-charge standard now affecting immigrant visa processing, particularly for family-based applicants. The Migration Policy Institute told AP the moves reflect a broader effort to reduce legal as well as unauthorized immigration.
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