Welcome to the Forum's legislative bulletin. Our policy team rounds up key developments around immigration policy in Washington, D.C., and across the country. The bulletin includes items on the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, as well as some coverage at the state and local levels.
DEVELOPMENTS IN IMMIGRATION POLICY THIS WEEK
Here, we summarize some of the most important recent developments in immigration policy on the federal, legal, state, and local levels.
Federal
Trump Administration Launches Immigration Enforcement Operations in Chicago and Boston
On September 8, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched what the administration has dubbed Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago. ICE is deploying more than 200 agents to the area, using the Naval Station Great Lakes as a staging hub. Mayor Brandon Johnson said that genuine public-safety work “requires support and coordination—yet we’ve experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks.” Chicagoans expressed fear and uncertainty as operations began. A man was shot by an ICE officer on September 12 during a vehicle stop.
On the same day, ICE began a parallel surge dubbed Patriot 2.0 in Massachusetts. The administration sued the city of Boston over it's sanctuary policies before the operation began. Mayor Michelle Wu said no Boston police or other local resources will be “co-opted into federal immigration enforcement and their mass deportation agenda.” The administration has continued to warn localities it considers to be sanctuary jurisdictions nationwide to “expect action.”
Raid at Georgia Auto Plant Sparks Diplomatic and Business Concerns
Nearly 500 workers were detained during an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia on September 4. Many of the workers were from South Korea and had entered on short-term visas or 90-day visa-waiver stamps. Companies often rely on these pathways while waiting for work visas to clear. Internal documents show Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) knew at least one worker arrested was “not violating his visa”. The operation prompted Seoul to dispatch diplomats to Washington, as it rattled Hyundai’s $26 billion U.S. expansion plans and alarmed South Koreans.
South Korea’s president warned that future U.S. investment hinges on smoother visa access. By September 12 a charter flight had returned 316 South Koreans and a dozen other Asian nationals after U.S. officials agreed to discuss a new visa channel that would allow technicians return. Forum CEO Jennie Murray said the raid “shows how dysfunction in our immigration system squeezes companies poised to invest” and urged faster processing and broader employment-visa reforms so businesses “aren’t squeezed” and U.S. workers can share in the growth
Administration Ramps Up Effort to Conduct Voter Citizenship Checks
Internal documents show the administration aims to assemble a national voter roll, cross-matching registration lists against federal immigration files. Additionally, the Justice Department is considering sharing voter roll data with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for use in criminal investigations. Experts argue the campaign addresses a phantom threat. Non-citizens have been barred from voting in federal elections since 1924, and Congress made it a criminal offense in 1996, leaving only a handful of municipalities that lawfully allow non-citizens to vote in local contests. The Trump administration has already encouraged state election officials to use the updated SAVE database managed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). On September 11, USCIS said it had run citizenship checks on 33 million voter records, with states such as Louisiana screening nearly their entire rolls and flagging just 79 possible non-citizens, about 0.003 percent of its list.
Deportations of Russian Asylum Seekers Escalate
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported about 80 Russian nationals on two charter flights since June. ICE flew them from a detention hub in Alexandria, Louisiana, through Cairo and on to Moscow. The Russians were questioned by security agents and at least one military deserter was jailed on arrival. The removals occurred under a policy shift that began when the Biden administration quietly resumed deportations to Russia in March 2023, ending a suspension announced after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Attorneys for Russian dissidents report that recent asylum claims based on draft evasion are now being rejected at both the credible fear interview and appellate stages, with officers ruling that the threat of conscription alone does not meet persecution standards. Advocates say flights have increased under President Trump, leaving asylum seekers little time to appeal.
Legal
Supreme Court Lifts Restrictions on Immigration Raids in California for Now
On September 8, the Supreme Court stayed an injunction barring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from conducting “roving patrols” in seven Southern California counties. In July, a district court issued an injunction prohibiting ICE agents to rely, alone or together, on four factors: apparent race or ethnicity; speaking Spanish or accented English; being at a day-labor or farm site; or working jobs such as landscaping, agriculture or construction. The unsigned majority allowed the tactics to resume as litigation proceeds. Writing in concurrence, Justice Kavanaugh found the four factors “reasonable” in Los Angeles, where “about 10 percent of the population, roughly two million people, are illegally in the United States.”
Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, dissented. She wrote that the government had “all but declared that all Latinos in Los Angeles are fair game to be seized at any time” and called the majority’s rationale “unconscionably irreconcilable with our constitutional commitment to equal protection.” The stay, she warned, “paves the way for unfettered, suspicion-less sweeps that will fall hardest on communities of color.” Advocates report a surge of hotline calls and canceled doctor and school visits as masked agents in unmarked vans resume stops first halted in July. Because the dispute reached the Court on an emergency application, it can still return after full briefing. A renewed injunction hearing is set for September 24 in the district court, and the Ninth Circuit is separately considering the merits.
Federal Judge Blocks Termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti and Venezuela
On September 5, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti and Venezuela. The judge said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s revocations were “arbitrary and capricious” and beyond her statutory authority. The ruling immediately preserves work authorization and protection from deportation for roughly 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians whose status had lapsed or was set to expire September 10. The judge ruled that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had failed to follow the Administrative Procedure Act and ignored evidence that conditions in both countries remain dangerous, noting Haiti’s post-earthquake insecurity and Venezuela’s ongoing political and economic crisis. DHS said it will appeal, but the order compels the agency to restore online reregistration portals and recognize the holders’ legal status while litigation continues. Separate litigation continues regarding TPS for Afghanistan, Cameroon, Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua.
State and Local
Judge Halts Deportation of DACA Recipient as Senators Press Administration for Answers
On September 9, an immigration judge terminated the removal proceedings against Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago, a 28-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient arrested by Border Patrol at El Paso International Airport on August 3. However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to hold her for the 30-day appeal window. Arizona prosecutors have clarified that the drug charges the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cited to label her a threat were dropped for lack of evidence in 2021, contradicting the agency’s claim of a criminal record. Several days earlier, Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego joined 39 other Senate Democrats in a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem decrying the detention of DACA recipients. The senators said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin’s claim that DACA offers no protection “directly contradicts” DHS policy, which states recipients “are not considered to be unlawfully present” while deferred action is in effect. The letter warned that recent enforcement actions “disrupt families, harm communities, and inflict unnecessary social, emotional, and economic costs.”
BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED
It’s challenging to keep up with the deluge of proposed legislation in the 119th Congress. So, every week, we round up federal legislative proposals that have recently been introduced and that are relevant to immigration policy.
Protecting Communities from Sanctuary Policies Act
The bill would restrict certain federal grants to states that (1) issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants or (2) fail to share information about criminal non-citizens with federal authorities.
Sponsored by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) (0 cosponsors)
09/11/2025 Introduced by Sen. Blackburn
09/11/2025 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act
The bill would recapture 15,000 unused immigrant visas for physicians and 25,000 for nurses to help address nationwide workforce shortages. This is the companion bill to H.R.5283.
Sponsored by Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Illinois) (9 cosponsors)
09/10/2025 Introduced by Sen. Durbin
09/10/2025 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Home Together Act
The bill would bar the Department of Housing and Urban Development from sharing tenant or applicant records for immigration-enforcement purposes.
Sponsored by Rep. Juan Vargas (D-California) (30 cosponsors)
09/11/2025 Introduced by Rep. Vargas
09/11/2025 Referred to the House Committees on Financial Services and Oversight & Government Reform
To withhold certain transportation program funds from States that grant drivers licenses to illegal immigrants or fail to share information about criminal aliens with the Federal Government.
Sponsored by Rep. Mary E. Miller (R-Illinois) (15 cosponsors)
09/11/2025 Introduced by Rep. Miller
09/11/2025 Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
To establish the Unaccompanied Alien Child Anti-Trafficking Program, and for other purposes.
Sponsored by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) (2 cosponsors)
09/11/2025 Introduced by Rep. Mace
09/11/2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
Limiting ICE’s Nationwide Encroachment (LINE) Act
The bill would prohibit the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from disclosing Medicaid records for immigration-enforcement uses.
Sponsored by Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-California) (17 cosponsors)
09/11/2025 Introduced by Rep. Kamlager-Dove
09/11/2025 Referred to the House Committees on Financial Services and Oversight & Government Reform
Domestic Jobs Protection Act
The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to revise the statutory definition of “unauthorized alien” and limit the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) ability to grant work permits through programs such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and parole.
Sponsored by Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) (5 cosponsors)
09/09/2025 Introduced by Rep. Gill
09/09/2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR
The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will be in session from Monday, September 15, through Friday, September 19.
UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2025 at 2:00 PM ET (Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety)
Location: 226 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
Witnesses: To be announced
GOVERNMENT REPORTS
Reports by bodies such as the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Research Service, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General provide invaluable information on immigration policy and practice. Here, we give brief summaries of new immigration-related reports, with links to the resources themselves in case you want to learn more.
This report revises CBO's population projections to reflect reduced net immigration estimates, finding that administrative actions taken since January 20, 2025 are the largest factor decreasing projected immigration numbers. CBO now projects net immigration will be 1.4 million people smaller in 2025 and 870,000 people smaller in 2026 than previously estimated, with the reconciliation bill passed in 2025 also contributing to lower immigration projections that result in slower overall population growth through 2055.
SPOTLIGHT ON FORUM RESOURCES
The Forum is constantly publishing new policy-focused resources that engage with some of the most topical issues around immigration today. Here are a few that are particularly relevant this week:
Our bill summary explains the Enduring Welcome Act (EWA) of 2025, which would establish and preserve the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) for five years, and mandate data collection and reporting on the program to congressional committees.
Our bill summary details the Afghan Adjustment Act (AAA) (H.R. 4895) and the Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act (S.2679), the bipartisan bills that would provide a clear pathway to permanent residency for Afghans who assisted the U.S. mission and support ongoing evacuation efforts for those who remain at risk overseas.
The resource provides an overview of the current policy landscape surrounding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), including the Fifth Circuit decision, what is likely to come next, and some demographic and state data on DACA recipients.
*As of publication (9/12/25 at 3:30PM EST)
This Bulletin is not intended to be comprehensive. Please contact Nicci Mattey, Senior Policy & Advocacy Associate at the Forum, with questions, comments, and suggestions for additional items to be included. Nicci can be reached at [email protected]. Thank you.
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