U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Rule Changes

45-day partial shutdown ongoing (record longest in US history) except TSA pay via EO starting March 30; Senate bill pending House, both chambers in recess until mid-April

The U.S. Senate passed a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill by voice vote at 2:20 a.m. on March 27, 2026, ending a partial shutdown that began February 14 for most agencies but excluding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations and most U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The bill, providing back pay to 272,000 affected employees including Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, awaits House approval. On March 28, President Trump signed an executive order directing DHS to pay 61,000 TSA officers using available funds, addressing massive airport delays from over 500 quits and high callouts during spring break. TSA officers began receiving paychecks on March 30 as the shutdown reached 45 days, the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.

Updated Mar 30

Rule Changes

Defendant in four parallel TPS litigations; appealing adverse rulings; filing emergency applications with Supreme Court to allow terminations to proceed

Venezuela first received Temporary Protected Status in 2021, shielding hundreds of thousands of its nationals from deportation. In January 2025, newly appointed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem moved to terminate that protection within days of taking office—an action that two federal courts have now ruled exceeded her statutory authority. On February 3, 2026, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. issued a parallel ruling blocking Noem's termination of Haitian TPS using nearly identical legal reasoning, finding 'substantial' likelihood the decision was motivated by 'hostility to nonwhite immigrants.' The pattern has since expanded: in December 2025, another federal judge blocked terminations for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua on similar grounds, and in November 2025, a New York judge halted the Syria termination. Yet despite these rulings, the Supreme Court has repeatedly stayed lower court orders, allowing terminations to proceed while litigation continues.

Updated Feb 26

Force in Play

700-agent MN drawdown implemented; school districts lawsuit filed against agency; 50+ advocacy groups calling for Noem impeachment; majority polling supports Noem removal

States continue challenging federal immigration enforcement on multiple fronts as the legal battle expands beyond state governments to schools and civil rights organizations. U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez denied Minnesota's request for a temporary restraining order against Operation Metro Surge on February 2, 2026, citing insufficient proof of constitutional violations despite acknowledging evidence of racial profiling and excessive force. On February 4, a coalition of Minnesota school districts and educators filed a separate federal lawsuit seeking to block ICE enforcement within 1,000 feet of schools, citing traumatized students, lockdowns, and a 22% spike in daily absences following the January 7 killing of Renee Good. The crisis has escalated with two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens—Renee Good on January 7 and Alex Pretti on January 24—prompting the DOJ Civil Rights Division to open a formal investigation into Pretti's death on January 30, now led by the FBI.

Updated Feb 11

Rule Changes

Funded through February 13 via CR; next lapse possible without reform deal

A brief three-day partial government shutdown ended February 3 when the House passed the Senate's split funding package 217-214 and President Trump signed it into law, providing full-year appropriations for five agencies through September while extending Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding via a two-week continuing resolution through February 13. The shutdown stemmed from Senate Democrats blocking a $1.2 trillion spending package on January 29 after two fatal shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis within three weeks, prompting President Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to negotiate the funding split.

Updated Feb 5

Force in Play

Operation Catahoula Crunch ended prematurely after achieving only 11% of arrest target

In late 2025, President Donald Trump's second-term immigration agenda brought its mass-deportation push to New Orleans through Operation Catahoula Crunch (also known as 'Swamp Sweep'), a Border Patrol–led sweep targeting 5,000 arrests across southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi. Launched on December 3, 2025, the operation deployed roughly 250 federal agents into the New Orleans metro area, conducting raids at big-box stores, workplaces, and residential neighborhoods while conducting round-the-clock online surveillance of activists, protests, and community organizing. However, the operation fell dramatically short of its stated goals: by early January 2026, federal authorities had arrested only 560 people—just 11% of the target—before abruptly withdrawing agents to redeploy them to Minneapolis. Early arrest data reviewed by the Associated Press showed that fewer than 10% of initial detainees had criminal backgrounds, contradicting the federal narrative of a violent-offender crackdown.

Updated Feb 4

Force in Play

Defendant in multiple lawsuits; leading Operation Metro Surge

The Department of Homeland Security deployed 3,000 federal agents to Minneapolis in what it calls the largest immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history. Two months in, two U.S. citizens are dead—Renee Good, 37, shot January 7, and Alexander Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse shot January 24—both killed after DHS claims of self-defense that witness videos contradict. Within 72 hours of Pretti's death, President Trump removed Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino and dispatched Border Czar Tom Homan to take direct control. Homan arrived January 27, met with Governor Walz and Mayor Frey, and announced January 29 that federal withdrawal depends on state cooperation—specifically access to undocumented immigrants in jails and prisons. Bovino departed Minnesota January 28. On January 30, activists executed a 'National Shutdown'—a nationwide day of no work, no school, no shopping—protesting the operation, with hundreds of Minnesota businesses closing and student walkouts across all 50 states. That same day, Attorney General Keith Ellison publicly denied Homan's claims that they had reached any agreement on jail access, calling Homan's statements misleading. Hours later, the Justice Department announced a federal civil rights investigation into Pretti's death, though Trump undercut the gesture by calling Pretti an 'agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist' in a 1:26 a.m. social media post after video emerged of an earlier confrontation with agents.

Updated Jan 31

Force in Play

Seven-day notice policy upheld on procedural grounds, facing impeachment proceedings against Secretary

Three Minnesota congresswomen walked into a Minneapolis ICE detention center on January 10, were allowed entry, then were ordered out minutes later. They'd come to inspect conditions after an ICE agent shot 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Good in the head three days earlier during what the Trump administration called the largest immigration enforcement operation ever. DHS cited a seven-day notice rule that a federal judge had already blocked as illegal—a policy DHS Secretary Kristi Noem secretly signed the day after Good's killing. When Democrats sought emergency court intervention, Judge Jia Cobb refused to block the policy on January 20, ruling on procedural grounds while explicitly declining to find the policy lawful.

Updated Jan 30

Rule Changes

Named defendant in AAUP v. Rubio; Secretary Noem accused of conspiracy to violate First Amendment

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 gave the Secretary of State power to deport noncitizens whose presence threatens U.S. foreign policy. For seven decades, that authority gathered dust. Then, on March 8, 2025, ICE agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil—a Columbia graduate student and green card holder—from his university apartment, invoking the Cold War-era statute to target him for his role negotiating on behalf of pro-Palestinian protesters.

Updated Jan 30

Rule Changes

Coordinating immigration enforcement; proposed new public charge rule

The U.S. has barred immigrants based on economic status since 1882. On January 21, 2026, the State Department suspended immigrant visa processing for 75 countries—more than a third of the world's nations—citing concerns that applicants might someday use public benefits. The pause affects green card applicants from Afghanistan to Uruguay, including spouses and children of U.S. citizens, with no announced end date. The suspension came one month after the administration paused the Diversity Visa lottery entirely following a campus shooting, leaving over 125,000 DV-2026 winners in limbo.

Updated Jan 23

Rule Changes

Joint author and enforcer of the asylum security bar rule

A Trump-era rule takes effect December 31, 2025, allowing immigration officials to deny asylum to anyone deemed a security threat because of communicable diseases during public health emergencies. Originally published in December 2020 and scheduled to go live three weeks later, the rule was delayed five times by Biden's DHS but never killed. Now it becomes law under Trump's second term, despite no active pandemic.

Updated Dec 31, 2025

Rule Changes

Implementing expanded travel restrictions and enforcement quotas

Trump signed his first travel ban seven days into his presidency, blocking entry from seven Muslim-majority countries and igniting protests at airports nationwide. Courts blocked it within a week. Eight years later, after Supreme Court victories, a Biden reversal, and a return to power, Trump's December 2025 expansion restricts entry from 39 countries—affecting one in eight people worldwide and eliminating exemptions that previously protected immediate family members of U.S. citizens.

Updated Dec 28, 2025

Rule Changes

Defending mandatory detention policy in court

In July 2025, the Trump administration declared that anyone who crossed the border illegally—even decades ago—is subject to indefinite detention without a bond hearing. The policy affects millions and has kept thousands locked up for months or years while their deportation cases grind through the courts. On December 19 and 26, 2025, federal judges in Massachusetts and California certified classes and ruled the policy unlawful, potentially freeing tens of thousands of detained immigrants to seek release.

Updated Dec 27, 2025

Force in Play

Political and messaging headquarters for the maritime campaign

The U.S. Coast Guard is now chasing a third Venezuela-linked tanker in international waters near Venezuela—under a judicial seizure order. Two other tankers have already been stopped in the past 11 days, including one dramatic helicopter boarding that the administration amplified on social media.

Updated Dec 21, 2025

Rule Changes

Issued the Federal Register notice terminating FRP and setting parole end-dates

DHS just turned a promised “legal pathway” into a ticking clock. A Federal Register notice published December 15, 2025 terminates every Family Reunification Parole program tied to seven countries—and tells people already here that their parole will end on January 14, 2026.

Updated Dec 15, 2025

Rule Changes

Primary implementing agency; central defendant in all major suits

The Trump administration didn’t just tighten H‑1B visas. It put a $100,000 toll booth on “new” petitions—and dared employers to pay up. Now twenty states are trying to blow up that toll booth in federal court, calling it an illegal end-run around Congress.

Updated Dec 13, 2025

Rule Changes

Defendant in Castañon Nava, appealing court limits on its officers

Federal agents flooded the Chicago area under “Operation Midway Blitz,” arresting thousands in a sweeping immigration crackdown. A little-known consent decree from an earlier ICE raid suddenly roared back to life, and a Chicago judge ordered hundreds of detainees released — until a divided appeals court slammed on the brakes.

Updated Dec 12, 2025

Force in Play

Partnering with military inside National Defense Areas

Donald Trump has quietly turned long stretches of the southern border into de facto military bases. Under a new system of National Defense Areas, soldiers can stop migrants, hold them, and help prosecutors charge them as trespassers on military land.

Updated Dec 11, 2025

Force in Play

Oversees ICE and designs overarching deportation and detention policy

An ICE officer emailed a Colombian couple in Texas a choice no parent should face: board a deportation flight or risk a 10‑year prison sentence and losing their six‑year‑old to federal custody. They abandoned their trafficking victim visa case and were on a plane to Bogotá within weeks.

Updated Dec 11, 2025

Rule Changes

Running both mass deportation campaigns and security vetting for Gold Card applicants.

Donald Trump is now literally selling a fast track to America. His new Trump Gold Card program lets wealthy foreigners buy expedited U.S. residency for a $1 million “gift” to the government, on top of a $15,000 processing fee, with a corporate option costing $2 million per sponsored worker.

Updated Dec 11, 2025