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.
On August 13, 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals decided Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, holding that leaving the country on advance parole can count as a "departure" — meaning someone who built up a year or more of unlawful presence before traveling can be hit with the 10-year bar. That overrules a fourteen-year-old rule that had protected advance parole travelers from the unlawful presence bars. The Board said it will apply the new holding going forward only, so trips completed before August 13, 2026 are not affected. The people most exposed are DACA recipients and TPS holders who entered without inspection years before receiving their status.
What this means for you: If you have an advance parole document, or you are thinking about applying for one, do not book a ticket before an attorney reviews your immigration history. This does not mean advance parole is off the table for everyone — it means the consequences now depend on your individual history in a way they did not before.
The Guardian reported that immigration judges nationwide have been instructed to deny people the time needed for their visas or green cards to come through, putting them at immediate risk of removal. The tool at issue is the continuance, the extension a judge grants to pause a case while someone finds a lawyer or waits on a pending application. One training slide suggested that attorneys who take on more cases than they can handle may warrant referral to EOIR disciplinary counsel. The Justice Department responded that reducing the court backlog is among its highest priorities and that judges are hearing cases fairly and expeditiously.
What this means for you: An approved petition or a pending application no longer buys you the breathing room it used to. If you are in removal proceedings with anything pending at USCIS, talk to your attorney now about what happens if your next continuance is denied.
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The September 9 deadline for the administration to decide whether roughly 200,000 Salvadorans keep their protection from deportation came and went without any public announcement, raising hopes for another six-month extension while also causing confusion. Under the statute, TPS is automatically extended for six months when the government takes no action. El Salvador's designation dates to the 2001 earthquakes, and President Biden extended it for 18 months just before leaving office.
What this means for you: Silence from DHS is not the same as termination. If you hold Salvadoran TPS, keep copies of your registration and work permit documents, watch for a Federal Register notice, and do not let anyone tell you your status ended on September 9.
DHS has proposed a new $103,265 fee on cap-subject H-1B petitions, charged on top of existing filing fees. That is separate from the earlier $100,000 payment, and if both applied to the same petition, an employer could face more than $200,000 per worker. A federal judge blocked the original fee in June as unlawful, and the Justice Department has appealed. The new fee is not in effect; the public comment period runs through September 24, 2026, and DHS would still need to issue a final rule.
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A proposed rule would remove the discretionary 60-day grace period for E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, and TN workers and their dependents when employment ends. Covered workers would generally be treated as out of status the day after their qualifying employment ends unless they have another lawful basis to stay. The rule was set for Federal Register publication on September 11 with a 60-day comment period, and the current grace period stays in place while that plays out.
A proposed rule would exclude undocumented immigrants and people without permanent legal status from the data used to apportion congressional seats after the 2030 census, and also contemplates adding a citizenship question. New York's attorney general said her office is exploring its legal options, noting that the same effort was stopped in 2020.
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