Courts blocked a major student rule, appeals courts ruled on border phone searches and third-country deportations, and a broader Public chargeA ground of inadmissibility for applicants an officer finds likely at any time to become a public charge. For Form I-485 filings on or after September 18, 2026, USCIS guidance lets officers weigh a wider range of means-tested public benefits, not only cash assistance.See it in the glossary standard took effect in a week of heavy U.S. immigration news. Here is what happened between September 12 and September 20, 2026.
Court rulings
The biggest ruling came September 14, when a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked the rule ending Duration of status (D/S)The period of stay for F, J and I nonimmigrants, who are admitted for as long as they maintain their program or activity rather than until a fixed date. It appears as D/S on Form I-94.See it in the glossary one day before it was due to take effect. The existing framework stays in place nationwide while the lawsuit continues, and USCIS is not accepting the new I-765 and I-539 editions. The same day, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and other local governments sued to block the new public charge rule.
On September 18, the First Circuit largely upheld a ruling that DHS’s third-country deportation policy is unlawful without effective notice and a meaningful chance to raise fears of persecution or torture. It reversed a separate country-sequencing requirement. A day earlier, the Second Circuit held that border agents can search cellphones at the border without a warrant, probable cause or reasonable suspicion. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)The administrative body within the Department of Justice that hears appeals from immigration judges and certain USCIS decisions.See it in the glossary also overturned a precedent from 2000, holding that certain aggravated felony convictions can make a noncitizen inadmissible as ineligible to citizenship. The new rule applies prospectively.
Two other rulings limited earlier agency actions. A California federal court enjoined the USCIS hold memos covering applicants from 39 countries and the Palestinian Authority and certified a class. Another California judge set aside the end of automatic EAD (Employment Authorization Document)A card issued by USCIS on Form I-765 that allows certain noncitizens to work legally while another application is pending or a status permits it.See it in the glossary extensions for seven H-4 spouses, but declined to issue a Nationwide injunctionA court order that blocks enforcement of a rule or policy for everyone, not only the parties to the case. In Trump v. CASA, decided June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court held that the Judiciary Act of 1789 does not authorize federal courts to issue injunctions broader than needed to give the parties complete relief, while leaving other paths to wider relief open.See it in the glossary.
Policy and rulemaking
USCIS’s public charge guidance took effect September 18 and applies to green card applications filed from that date on, widening the public benefits officers can weigh. President Trump extended the $100,000 Cap-subject and cap-exempt (H-1B)The H-1B category has an annual limit of 65,000 new visas or statuses per fiscal year, plus 20,000 more for people with a U.S. master's degree or higher. Petitions counted toward that limit are cap-subject. Petitions from higher education institutions, their related or affiliated nonprofits, and nonprofit or governmental research organizations are cap-exempt.See it in the glossary entry payment through September 21, 2027. The proclamation took effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on September 21, 2026, and a companion order adds scrutiny of sponsoring employers’ layoffs.
DHS’s mandatory e-filing rule lets USCIS require online filing for eligible forms with 60 days notice. No form is online-only yet, and comments are open through October 13. The State Department will expand social media screening to TN, TD and I visa applicants starting October 1.
Four items moved through White House review. HUD’s final housing rule on eligible-status verification reached OIRA on September 17. The Department of Labor’s PERM overhaul proposal arrived September 14. A DHS proposal on OPT fees cleared review with the amount still undisclosed. OIRA also approved USCIS’s revised Gold Card form, though that approval does not by itself establish that new filings are open. The first three are not in effect.
Salvadoran Temporary Protected Status (TPS)A designation that lets nationals of certain countries facing conflict or disaster stay and work in the United States temporarily.See it in the glossary remains legally valid with no DHS decision yet, although some employers have cut jobs anyway. A DHS inspector general report on Alligator Alcatraz, released September 14, found 28 square feet per detainee and 79 people held in small metal enclosures.
Visas, green cards and processing data
USCIS ended the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 with 12.1 million pending cases, the highest in a decade of tracked data, while completing 1.5 million cases, the eighth straight quarterly decline. Immigration court records show the asylum denial rate reaching 94 percent by June 2026, up from roughly 58 percent in fiscal year 2016.
The Department of Labor’s latest update shows PERM analyst review averaging 336 days in August, with analysts working on November 2025 filings. The State Department’s September update showed wide scheduling gaps for Immigrant visaA visa issued at a consulate to a person intending to live permanently in the United States. On admission the holder becomes a permanent resident.See it in the glossary interviews by embassy. USCIS also reached the H-2B cap for the first half of fiscal year 2027, with September 4 as the final receipt date for new cap-subject petitions starting before April 1, 2027.
Enforcement actions
A federal grand jury indicted a Houston attorney on mail fraud and false statement charges after investigators identified more than 100 potential victims. In Georgia, five people were charged in an H-2A visa fraud and smuggling case. Prosecutors also charged a Peruvian national with lying about his marriage on a green card application and a Nevada man with naturalization fraud. Those charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent.
A federal court revoked the citizenship of an India-born New York man over a concealed rape and kidnapping. The Justice Department also said it completed the first removal through the Alien Terrorist Removal Court.
What to watch next week
The $100,000 H-1B payment proclamation took effect September 21. The Diversity Visa program’s September 30 deadline is days away for FY-2026 selectees, and the October 2026 Visa Bulletin, the first of fiscal year 2027, is due from the State Department. Expanded social media screening for TN, TD and I visa applicants starts October 1, and comments on the e-filing rule are due October 13. TR Immigration will keep tracking each of them.