Immigration & Demographic Change

The federal trial opened Monday for Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, who is accused of obstructing ICE by helping Eduardo Flores‑Ruiz evade agents during a courthouse encounter — prosecutors say she directed him through a private door, told agents she would “take the heat,” and plan to call roughly two dozen witnesses with opening statements expected to run through at least Thursday. Dugan’s defense says she followed a draft courthouse policy and referred agents to Chief Judge Carl Ashley, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman denied her motion to dismiss, and if convicted she faces up to six years in prison while Flores‑Ruiz has since pleaded no contest to a state charge and been deported.

The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation says it is consulting counsel to terminate a nearly $30 million DHS/ICE contract awarded in October 2025 to its affiliate KPB Services LLC to design immigration detention centers, amid backlash from Native communities. Tribal Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick announced the tribe has fired the economic development leaders who brokered the deal and pledged transparency, while questions remain about why the contract was awarded without competition.

A federal judge, Paula Xinis, found there was no final removal order authorizing Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation and ordered his release from ICE custody at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center while issuing a temporary restraining order preventing ICE from re‑detaining him without a hearing, saying the government had “affirmatively misled the tribunal.” The ruling — which noted officials had proposed deporting him to various African countries despite his willingness to depart to Costa Rica and follows his earlier mistaken deportation to El Salvador and return after Supreme Court involvement — leaves him free under conditions tied to separate Tennessee human‑smuggling charges while the Justice Department plans to appeal.

Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-Ariz.) unveiled 'The American Border Story Memorial Act' at a Friday Capitol-area event, proposing a permanent national memorial in Washington, D.C., to honor U.S. citizens and lawful residents killed by individuals unlawfully present in the U.S. Joined by 'Angel families' and allies including Rep. Andy Biggs and the group The American Border Story, sponsors said the memorial would highlight the human cost of immigration policy while contrasting approaches under recent administrations.

Attorneys general from 20 states led by California and Massachusetts filed suit Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to block the Trump administration’s $100,000 H‑1B visa fee, which took effect Sept. 21 under a presidential proclamation. The states argue the fee is unlawful and harms education, health care and other services, while the administration says it targets program abuse that depresses U.S. wages.

A USDOT audit of state commercial driver’s license (CDL) programs has identified problems in eight states — California, New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Texas, South Dakota, Colorado and Washington — leading California to revoke about 21,000 noncitizen CDLs and prompting threats to withhold nearly $75 million from Pennsylvania and $30.4 million from Minnesota while USDOT also pulled $40 million from California over English‑language enforcement issues. In New York, USDOT investigators found more than half of a 200‑license sample of non‑domiciled CDLs were improperly issued and said the state could not verify immigration status for roughly 32,000 such licenses — a finding the state DMV disputes — and nationwide enforcement has removed about 9,500 drivers for failing English‑proficiency checks even as a court has put USDOT’s stricter noncitizen CDL rule on hold.

A 7th Circuit panel narrowly blocked a district judge’s order to release hundreds of immigrants arrested in the Chicago-area enforcement action dubbed "Operation Midway Blitz," saying in a 2–1 decision that Judge Cummings overstepped even as it faulted the administration for treating all arrestees as subject to mandatory detention. The crackdown has produced more than 4,000 arrests, touches a six‑state consent decree (Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Wisconsin), and immigrant advocates like NIJC pledge to keep working to reunite detainees with their families as related federal rulings elsewhere limit warrantless arrests.

The Department of Homeland Security said Friday it is terminating Family Reunification Parole programs for nationals of Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras, citing fraud, security concerns and a return to case‑by‑case parole. In a separate Federal Register notice, DHS also ended Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopia, stating current conditions no longer meet TPS criteria. DHS quoted administration executive orders and said fraud and national‑security priorities outweigh program benefits.

At a Dec. 11 House Homeland Security Committee hearing, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was sharply pressed by Democrats — including Rep. Bennie Thompson, who urged her to resign — over immigration policy, alleged unlawful deportations (including veterans), withheld grants and asylum vetting, as protesters briefly disrupted testimony and Noem defended DHS as combating transnational crime while calling the D.C. National Guard shooting a “terrorist attack.” Thompson, who during the session called the shooting an “unfortunate accident,” later told CNN he “misspoke,” saying he did not stand by that phrasing and meant to challenge Noem’s assertions about who approved the suspect’s asylum application.

ICE says it arrested Honduran national Kevin Alexis Mendez‑Ortiz on Nov. 25 in Oxon Hill, Maryland, weeks after he allegedly crossed into oncoming traffic on Nov. 9 and fled a head‑on crash that left a passenger with life‑threatening injuries. The agency says Mendez‑Ortiz entered the U.S. illegally near Hidalgo, Texas, in Sept. 2022 and was released on recognizance; Prince George’s County police later cited him for multiple traffic and hit‑and‑run violations.

DHS says its enforcement surge in Los Angeles has resulted in over 10,000 arrests since June despite anti-ICE protests and riots that included assaults on officers and Molotov cocktails. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin cited sanctuary‑policy pushback from California officials but said operations continued, listing arrestees with convictions for homicide, kidnapping, rape, and child sex offenses.

Texas Rangers are investigating an officer-involved shooting involving U.S. Border Patrol near a riverbank in Midway, Starr County, Texas, confirmed around 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The Starr County Sheriff’s Office said agents were involved in a struggle prior to the shooting, deputies are securing the scene, and the public has been asked to avoid the area; injuries or fatalities were not immediately known.

The Trump administration has launched a "Gold Card" program that offers permanent‑residency approvals—issued as EB‑1 or EB‑2 green cards—in exchange for a $1 million donation to the U.S. government (a corporate option is $2 million per worker) plus a nonrefundable $15,000 DHS vetting fee, with an application page live at trumpcard.gov. The administration positions the plan as a faster replacement for the EB‑5 investor visa with no job‑creation or business‑investment requirement and, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, includes corporate transferability and a path to U.S. citizenship after five years; critics say it resembles a pay‑to‑play scheme.

Oscar Solarzano, an undocumented Honduran DHS says had been removed from the U.S. twice, was arrested after a stabbing on a Charlotte light rail car; federal prosecutors have charged him with illegal reentry and an act of violence on a mass transportation system, and authorities say he allegedly broke into a rail car while armed before the altercation. President Trump posted on Truth Social blaming Democrats for the incident, Mayor Vi Lyles noted the city’s public‑safety investments and that immigration enforcement is outside city jurisdiction, transit officials said the attack stemmed from an altercation between two individuals, a magistrate ordered Solarzano to remain jailed, federal officials including FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson commented on the case, and CBS cited an internal DHS memo saying fewer than one‑third of Border Patrol arrests in Charlotte’s recent crackdown were classified as criminals.

Oscar Gerardo Solorzano-Garcia, a Honduran national twice deported and accused of allegedly breaking into a Charlotte light-rail car and stabbing a passenger, faces state charges including attempted first-degree murder and federal counts of illegal reentry and committing an act of violence on a mass transportation system. Mecklenburg County did not set bond and plans to transfer him to ICE custody, while the victim, Kenyon Dobie, remains seriously injured with a chest tube draining his lungs and a GoFundMe that has raised nearly $18,000.

Government and FOIA-derived operational data show ICE custody at roughly 65,135 people as of Nov. 16 (with DHS reporting November averages near 66,000), and nearly half—about 48% (30,986)—had no U.S. criminal charges or convictions while 26% had convictions and 26% had pending charges. The records and local booking data document a sharp surge in ICE-initiated arrests of non‑criminals (CBS notes a 2,143% rise among ICE arrestees from Jan. 26 to Nov. 16 and FOIA data show daily arrests climbing), driven in part by broader arrest targets and multiagency operations, even as DHS disputes some FOIA-derived arrest-rate estimates.

House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R‑Texas) will introduce the SHIELD Act on Friday to bar state and local authorities from arresting federal immigration officers and to cut off federal funding to jurisdictions that obstruct or prosecute them. Arrington told Fox News the bill responds to recent city and state moves to impede DHS operations, pledging to ‘stand up for the rule of law’ and impose full funding penalties for any such obstruction.

The Interior Department has designated roughly 760 acres in San Diego and Imperial counties — running from the western boundary of the Otay Mountain Wilderness to about one mile west of the California–Arizona line — as a border-defense zone to be placed under U.S. Navy control for three years, citing a 1907 Theodore Roosevelt reservation and saying the move will strengthen security and curb environmental damage from heavy illegal crossings. The action, which Interior Secretary Doug Burgum framed as closing security gaps and advancing border priorities, is part of a broader series of militarized zones created since April and follows a January national‑emergency order authorizing military detention of immigrants, prompting civil‑liberties warnings that it could effectively turn the military into border police and raise constitutional concerns.

ICE says Rep. Adelita Grijalva joined a "rioting crowd" and attempted to impede a Dec. 5 Tucson ICE operation that resulted in 46 arrests in a multi‑year probe into labor exploitation, tax and immigration violations and drew "over 100 agitators" who assaulted officers and slashed tires. Grijalva says she was pushed aside and pepper‑sprayed after identifying herself while seeking information, but DHS officials say she was only near someone who was sprayed; two HSI Special Response Team operators were injured and the episode prompted calls for a congressional investigation.

DHS told Fox News that more than 2.5 million illegal immigrants have left the U.S. over the past year, including about 605,000 deportations and roughly 1.9 million self-departures since Jan. 20. Officials credited a new CBP 'Home' app and incentive program offering a complimentary flight and $1,000 exit bonus, and said the first 'Project Homecoming' flight carried 64 people who accepted the offer, while noting a recently launched 'Worst of the Worst' dashboard highlighting arrests of criminal offenders.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Wednesday it signed a deal to acquire six Boeing 737 aircraft for immigration removal flights, a move officials say will streamline logistics and save an estimated $279 million. The contract, reported as signed with Virginia-based Daedalus Aviation, is funded by the July omnibus 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' which set aside $170 billion for border and immigration efforts.

Canada announced a $1.2 billion, 12-year initiative to recruit over 1,000 leading researchers in critical fields, alongside an expedited permanent residency pathway for doctors with at least one year of Canadian experience. The move comes as the U.S. now charges a $100,000 fee for new H-1B applicants abroad, a policy critics say could worsen staffing gaps in sectors like health care and academia.

Immigration lawyers say ICE arrests of Afghan nationals have increased since the D.C. National Guard attack, and the White House on Dec. 1 said it is "actively reexamining" all Afghan nationals who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration. Reporting cites a Sacramento case of an Afghan father arrested upon check‑in with ICE despite consistent compliance, notes at least one arrest referenced prior domestic‑violence charges (AP could not independently verify all detainees’ immigration status), and advocacy group #AfghanEvac says the D.C. shooting suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, had been granted asylum earlier this year.