Tag: Trump

SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY, KRISTI NOEM ANNOUNCES CRACKDOWN ON VISA OVERSTAYS

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A statement was published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stating that ICE, CBP, and USCIS is going to “Ramp Up Crackdown on Visa Overstays Following Boulder Terrorist Attack.” An email blast wen out around noon today with the above-quoted text as the subject line and the below-quote from Secretary Noem.

“There is NO room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers. Anyone who thinks they can come to America and advocate for antisemitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here. We will find you, deport you, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.” – Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem

DHS Logo

The body of the email does not provide any additional information about how they will be implementing the crackdown or whether this will impact the issuance of non-immigrant visas beyond overstay issues. It does not provide information on what people who overstayed their visa should do. It just warns, “we will find you, deport you, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

The statement blames President Biden failing to enforce the law, though there is no evidence that visa overstays increased while Biden was in office. Visa overstays spiked dramatically during President Trump’s first term in office during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are some facts about visa overstays:

  • The largest number of short-term visitor overstays from non-VWP countries came from Venezuela. About 173,000 Venezuelans overstayed during the year — which is about 94 percent of the visitors. This is because the Biden administration has allowed Venezuelans to enter and receive Temporary Protected Status, a designation that includes a work permit.
  • The next largest number of overstays by short-term visitors are citizens of Mexico, with approximately 124,000 overstays, at a rate of 3.5 percent.
  • For the first time, DHS broke down the overstay rates for the three sub-categories of student/exchange visas. Vocational school students had the highest overstay rate of the three (9.1 percent). Exchange visitors overstayed at a rate of 5.6 percent, and university and other traditional students overstayed at a rate of 4.1 percent.  
  • Just over 9,000 citizens of China overstayed on student or exchange visitor visas, representing more than 16 percent of all student/exchange overstays.  
  • The largest number of overstays in the category that includes temporary workers came from Mexico (131,000) and India (5,800).

CBP Eliminates Protections for Pregnant Women, Infants, and Elderly

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On May 5, 2025, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a memo revoking protections for pregnant women, infants, elderly individuals, and individuals with serious medical conditions. CBP had policies in place for these most vulnerable members of our society to ensure their safety and dignity.

The policies included commonsense provisions for providing these vulnerable persons with water to drink. Along with drinking water CBP rescinded its policies to stock diapers and baby formula (which was usually expired) for the infants/newborns and making arrangements to ensure their mothers can breastfeed them. expediting the release of those in medically dangerous situations who should not be held in custody.

The Department of Homeland Security has long struggled to provide adequate medical care to the immigrants in its custody, which has resulted in hundreds of deaths of young, previously healthy men and women, and even children. A Senate Judiciary Report from 2024 revealed widespread dysfunction In 2018 Mariee Juarez was in ICE custody in Dilley, Texas where she began running a 104 degree fever and developed cough, according to an article in the Guardian who interviewed the mother.

In addition to the cough, the 21-month-old toddler was suffering from congestion, diarrhea and vomiting a week after entering Dilley. But the symptoms were not mentioned by medical staff on discharge forms, according to the lawsuit. She was released from the ICE detention center and spent six weeks in the hospital before she succumb to a collapsed lung from the respiratory infection she developed in the detention center where she received no medical treatment. She was one of the seven children who died shortly after release from immigration custody that year.

The detention centers have been found to be unsanitary and dangerous in reports from organizations that inspected them during Trump’s first term in the White House when he previously suspended similar policies regarding the treatment of pregnant women and children in immigration custody. The Chair of the House Oversight Committee that year, Elijah Cummings, called the treatment of migrant children at the facility “government-sponsored child abuse on a grand scale.” Between October 2016 and August 2018, twenty-eight women in ICE custody “may have experienced a miscarriage just prior to, or while in ICE custody” according to an ICE spokeswoman. In 2018 there was also an eight-year-old Guatemalan boy, Felipe Gómez Alonso, who died on Christmas Eve while in ICE custody, and three weeks earlier, a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl, Jakelin Caal Maquin, died in Border Patrol custody according to the New York Times that reported on it at the time.

The memo that rescinds the existing policies did not implement any new policies to replace them other than “All CBP personnel are expected to treat those in Agency custody in a professional and respectful manner.” There will now be no special considerations for pregnant women, babies, elderly, or migrants who are severely ill. The same day the memo was issued a pregnant woman was found lost in the Arizona desert where she had been trying to find her way for two days according to the reports. She was taken to the hospital where she gave birth to a six pound premature baby “under supervision” of ICE officers according to a spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security.

It not clear why this would be necessary and the spokesperson did not explain. Was the Trump administration concerned that the severely dehydrated woman had to give birth in front of officers because the Trump administration was concerned she might attempt to flee the hospital while in active labor?

These new policies, or the lack of policies, seems to indicate that the administration intends to be even more ruthless this second time around. Critics say the change could further endanger individuals already at risk in immigration detention facilities.

We are only six months into this nightmare and I am afraid the suffering has only just begun.

Alien Registration Requirement

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Alien Registration Requirement

On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump issued the Protecting the American People Against Invasion executive order which directed the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that aliens comply with their duty to register with the government under section 262 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. 1302), and ensure that failure to comply is treated as a civil and criminal enforcement priority.

The INA requires that, with limited exceptions, all immigrants 14 years of age or older who were not fingerprinted or registered when applying for a U.S. visa and who remain in the United States for 30 days or longer, must apply for registration and fingerprinting. Similarly, parents and guardians must ensure that their children below the age of 14 are registered. Within 30 days of reaching his or her 14th birthday, the previously registered alien child must apply for re-registration and to be fingerprinted.

Once an immigrant has registered and appeared for fingerprinting (unless waived), DHS will issue evidence of registration, which aliens over the age of 18 must carry and keep in their possession at all times.

Failure to comply will result in criminal and civil penalties, up to and including misdemeanor prosecution and the payment of fines. Registration is not an immigration status, and registration documentation does not establish employment authorization or any other right or benefit under the INA or any other U.S. law.

When does this take effect?

All immigrants in the US are expected to comply by February 25, 2025. However, USCIS has not yet created a form for registration and at the moment the site with the most up-to-date information instructs immigrants to make a USCIS account in anticipation of a registration form.

screenshot from https://www.uscis.gov/alienregistration

Who must apply for registration

  • All immigrants 14 years of age or older who were not registered and fingerprinted (if required) when applying for a visa to enter the United States and who remain in the United States for 30 days or longer. They must apply before the expiration of those 30 days.
  • The parents and legal guardians of immigrants less than 14 years of age who have not been registered and remain in the United States for 30 days or longer, prior to the expiration of those 30 days.
  • Any immigrant, whether previously registered or not, who turns 14 years old in the United States, within 30 days after their 14th birthday.

Who has already registered?

Many immigrants in the US have already registered. Anyone who has been issued one of the documents designated as evidence of registration under 8 CFR 264.1(b) has registered. Also, anyone who submitted one of the forms designated at 8 CFR 264.1(a) and provided fingerprints (unless waived) and was not issued one of the pieces of evidence designated at 8 CFR 264.1(b), complied with the registration requirement of INA 262. Immigrants who have already registered include:

  • Lawful permanent residents;
  • Immigrants paroled into the United States under INA 212(d)(5), even if the period of parole has expired;
  • Immigrants admitted to the United States as nonimmigrants who were issued Form I-94 or I-94W (paper or electronic), even if the period of admission has expired;
  • All aliens present in the United States who were issued immigrant or nonimmigrant visas prior to arrival;
  • Immigrants whom DHS has placed into removal proceedings;
  • Immigrants issued an employment authorization document;
  • Immigrants who have applied for lawful permanent residence using Forms I-485, I-687, I-691, I-698, I-700, even if the applications were denied; and,
  • Immigrants issued Border Crossing Cards.

Who is not registered?

Anyone who has not been issued one of the documents designated as evidence of registration under 8 CFR 264.1(b) and has not submitted one of the forms designated at 8 CFR 264.1(a) and provided fingerprints (unless waived) is not registered. Aliens who have not registered include:

  • This includes:
    • Immigrants who are present in the United States without inspection and admission or inspection and parole;
    • Canadian visitors who entered the United States at land ports of entry and were not issued evidence of registration; and,
    • Immigrants who submitted one or more benefit requests to USCIS not listed in 8 CFR 264.1(a), including applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or Temporary Protected Status, who were not issued evidence of registration.

How to register

DHS will soon announce a form and process for aliens to complete the registration requirement. Beginning February 25, 2025, immigrants in the US who are required to register should create a USCIS online account in preparation for the registration process.

See our How to Create a USCIS Online Account page for more information. Once the registration process is implemented, immigrants will submit their registration through their USCIS online account.

We will provide details on how to register once they becomes available.  

German soldier examines the documents of an Italian citizen in German occupied Italy
German soldier examines the documents of an Italian citizen in German occupied Italy

Why is this rule being enforced now

This is what is so troubling for many, it seems the new administration wants to enforce this rule by having local police working with ICE to apprehend immigrants who are in the US unlawfully by requiring them to identify and produce proof of their registration when asked. It is difficult to imagine what this will look like in the United States in 2025 but historically any time a country began requiring similar identity documents it was the start of horrendous human rights violations.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the USCIS website, they have a page with the latest information regarding the alien registration requirement.

Ukrainian National Died in ICE Custody February 20th

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 A 44-year-old citizen of Ukraine in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was pronounced dead by doctors at HCA Kendall Hospital in Miami, Florida, on February 20, 2025, according to a press release from the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”). A hospital physician reported the preliminary cause of death as bleeding from the brain.

The man entered the United States on August 24, 2024, in Miami as a Ukrainian Humanitarian Parolee with authorization to stay in the U.S. through August 23, 2026. He was in the US in lawful immigration status at the time these events took place.

ICE encountered him January 26, 2025, at the Broward County Jail in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, following his arrest for battery and they lodged an immigration detainer, which is a notice asking the local law enforcement agency to hold an individual in jail so they can come take them into federal custody later. Broward County Jail released the man into the custody of ICE on February 2, 2025, and he was transported to the Krome Service and Processing Center. Miami Dade Fire Rescue transported the man to the HCA Kendall Hospital due to vomiting and seizure activity on February 18, 2025. Hospital medical staff found him in an unresponsive state and conducted a CT scan of the brain which revealed bleeding. He died two days later.

they were trapped in a punitive system indefinitely, with no accountability for the officials running it.

No further explanation is provided as to how the Ukrainian national developed a brain bleed during the 16 days he spent in ICE custody. There is no mention of him being injured while in State custody or at any point prior to his being brought to the hospital on February 18th.

2024 saw a troubling rise in deaths of people in ICE custody with it more than doubling from the year prior according to ICE data. NBC News wrote a story covering this early in January of 2024, noting that there were more deaths in ICE custody in the first quarter of that fiscal year than during the height of the COVID pandemic.

ICE Custody Deaths

This is certainly something people should be paying attention to now that Trump has started his mass deportations and opened Guantanamo Bay as a black-ops terrorist torture facility where the most dangerous enemies of the state are disappeared an immigration detention facility. The nonprofit International Refugee Assistance Project said in a report last year that people are held in “prison-like” conditions. It said they were “trapped in a punitive system” indefinitely, with no accountability for the officials running it.

During Trump’s first term deaths in ICE custody soured with 24 immigrants having died in ICE custody by 2019. At least four other immigrants died within days of being released from ICE custody. Those numbers do not include all the immigrants who died in the custody of other federal agencies enforcing immigration laws like those by the border. That year five immigrant children died while in the custody of another federal agency.

A 54-year-old immigrant from Mexico died after being locked in a solitary confinement cell for days. A 21-year-old man from India hanged himself in an Arizona jail cell. A 25-year-old asylum seeker died in a hospital days after being brought there after taking ill.

For the first time ever, immigrants are being shipped to Guantanamo from the United States and denied access to lawyers. This unprecedented move is shocking and should worry everyone who thinks of the United States as a country guided by the rule of law.”

That year an ICE supervisor warned that the ICE Health Service Corps, was “severely dysfunctional” and that “preventable harm and death to detainees has occurred,” according to an internal memo reported on by Young Turks.

It seems unlikely things will be better under the mess created by Trump this time around. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department are racing to set up tents at Guantanamo Bay, to house thousands of migrants, but those involved say that it is chaos. CNN reported a quote from someone with knowledge of the efforts, “Nobody really knows what’s going on, between DOD, ICE, and CBP. We’ve got everybody pointing fingers, saying, ‘They’re in charge,’ ‘They’re paying for this,’ ‘They’re providing security.’ No one actually knows.”

They added, “No one’s really too concerned or worried about it now, because it’s gang members from Venezuela going to Guantanamo, and the average American is probably fine with that. But once we start blurring that line, it just gets dangerous.” 

ICE officials consistently claim that deaths in their custody are “exceedingly rare” but you can see the deaths for yourself on their website. The website, of course, only lists the deaths ICE reports and is only updated when they get around to it. The death of the Ukrainian man on February 20, 2025, still hasn’t been added to the list of deaths in ICE custody for 2025, which currently only shows four other deaths. What we do know for sure is that there were at least three deaths in ICE custody so far since Trump started his second term.

A 45-year-old man with no criminal record was taken into ICE custody with a clean bill of health and died six months later. A 29-year-old young man who spent a year and a half in ICE custody died of a heart attack after suddenly taking ill.

ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt was quoted saying, “For the first time ever, immigrants are being shipped to Guantanamo from the United States and denied access to lawyers. This unprecedented move is shocking and should worry everyone who thinks of the United States as a country guided by the rule of law.”

TRUMP CANCELS TPS DESIGNATION FOR VENEZUELA

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On January 28, 2025, Secretary of Homeland Security vacated the January 17, 2025, notice that extended the Temporary Protected Status designation for Venezuela.

President Biden used Temporary Protected Status to provide temporary protection from deportation to approximately a million immigrants from 17 countries that had natural disasters or military conflicts that made it dangerous for people to be deported there. President Trump said he wanted to deport “criminals” but now he is targeting the most vulnerable immigrants in the country, who are here with lawful status.

The Trump administration has revoked immigration protection for more than 600,000 Venezuelans in the United States. President Biden had extended their Temporary Protected Status an additional 18 months but only weeks later, President Trump rescinded that protection.

While the extension has been rescinded, the Homeland Security Secretary now has to make a decision by February as to whether Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) for Venezuelans should be renewed. If the Secretary chooses not to extend TPS for Venezuelans then 300,000 will lose their protected status this April and another 300,000 will lose it in September.

This announcement has people wondering if the Trump administration will next go after the TPS extensions for El Salvador, Ukraine, or the Sudan.

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services [CIS No. 2803-25] Vacatur of 2025 Temporary Protected Status Decision for Venezuela

AGENCY: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

ACTION: Notice of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) vacatur.

SUMMARY: Through this notice, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announces that the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) has decided to vacate the January 10, 2025 decision of former Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas regarding TPS for Venezuela. Former Secretary Mayorkas (1) extended the 2023 designation of Venezuela for TPS for 18 months, (2) allowed a consolidation of filing processes such that all eligible Venezuela TPS beneficiaries (whether under the 2021 or 2023 designations) may obtain TPS through the same extension date of October 2, 2026, and (3) extended certain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs ). All of this also had the effect of extending the 2021 designation. This notice vacates Mayorkas’ notice immediately.

DATES: The vacatur is effective immediately.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Samantha Deshommes, Chief, Regulatory Coordination Division, Office of Policy and Strategy, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, 800-375-5283.

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/notices/Venezuela-Vacatur-FR-SIGNED.pdf

Full Notice

A federal judge blocks Trump’s ‘blatantly unconstitutional’ executive order redefining birthright citizenship

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A federal judge said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship was “blatantly unconstitutional” and issued a temporary restraining order to block it. The Judge granted the request by the Washington Attorney General and three other states for an emergency order halting implementation of the policy for the next 14 days while there are more briefings in the legal challenge.

“I have been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case whether the question presented was as clear.”

The Judge rhetorically asked, “Where were the lawyers” when this executive order was signed. He further states that “it boggles my mind” that a member of the bar would claim this executive order was constitutional. He asked the Attorney General whether he thought the executive order was constitutional and when he answered in the affirmative the Judge said, he did not understand how any member of the bar could believe that, as reported by CNN. He added, “It just boggles my mind.”

The Trump administration is arguing that that clause “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” allows the president to exclude the children of undocumented immigrants and even children whose parents are lawfully present but lack permanent legal status. The argument doesn’t make sense since people who are in the United States without status are still subject to the jurisdiction thereof. They can be requested and charged with crimes. The only people that would fall into this category would be diplomats who enjoy diplomatic immunity while in the United States, which is why children of diplomats that are born in the United States do not get citizenship unless they relinquish their diplomatic immunity.

This was one of five lawsuits filed already by 22 states only three days into Trump’s second term as president. Trump made a statement from the Whitehouse that they would be challenging today’s decision blocking his executive order.

Read the Judge’s full decision. Read more about this case from CNN or the AP.

Several Bishops from the Catholic church have spoken out against Trump’s executive order. Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the USCCB stated:

Some provisions contained in the Executive Orders, such as those focused on the treatment of immigrants and refugees, foreign aid, expansion of the death penalty, and the environment, are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences. No matter who occupies the White House or holds the majority on Capitol Hill, the Church’s teachings remain unchanged.

Later in the letter, he added that “our prayer is one of hope that, as a Nation blessed with many gifts, our actions demonstrate a genuine care for our most vulnerable sisters and brothers, including the unborn, the poor, the elderly and infirm, and migrants and refugees.” According to a Raw Story article.

Angry Donald Trump Comic