Immigration News and Updates

Immigrants in Northeast Indiana contributed $3.7 million to the region’s GDP.

Wabash County, IN, Nov 2 2026—A new report, Immigrants in Northeast Indiana, released on September 18th by the American Immigration Council—in partnership with Community Connections: A Wabash County Diversity Coalition underscores the crucial role immigrants play in the region’s labor force, business creation, and consumer spending power.

Although immigrants made up 4.9 percent of the region’s total population, they represented 6.2 percent of its employed labor force and 8.0 percent of its workers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields in 2024.

The new report was awarded to Community Connections: A Wabash County Diversity Coalition as part of the Gateways for Growth Challenge, a competitive opportunity for localities to receive research support and technical assistance from the American Immigration Council and Welcoming America to improve immigrant inclusion in their communities.

The report and strategic welcoming plan for Wabash County will launch on Thursday, November 5th at the N Manchester Public Library from 4-6pm in the Blocher Community room. The event will showcase the new plan with a time for questions, it will also include food and drinks by local New American entrepreneurs, a song performance by students in our local DLI program, and testimonials from both kids in the DLI program as well as newcomers to our community about their experiences here.

“Each of the statistics in this report represents a child, a family, a friend, and a member of our community that helps make Wabash County the vibrant community that it is. Gateways for Growth and the Strategic Welcoming plan helps us to understand our area through data and illustrates how EVERYONE here contributes to our communities. With this plan, it is our responsibility to listen to what makes people feel welcome, to remove barriers to belonging, and to be a bridge between our community members and the resources they need to thrive and put down roots. As we work to grow Wabash County and reverse population decline, we want every person here to feel that they belong and have a place in the future of Wabash County,” said Mackenzie Coulter-Kern, Director of Community Connections: A Wabash County Diversity Coalition.

“Immigrants are an integral part of Northeast Indiana’s communities, contributing their talents, skills, and experiences in ways that strengthen the region every day. As this report demonstrates, immigrants help drive economic growth as entrepreneurs, workers, and community leaders while also enriching the social and cultural fabric. Their contributions are helping build a more vibrant, connected, and prosperous future in Northeast Indiana,” said Micaela McConnell, policy manager of state and local initiatives at the American Immigration Council.

“Communities like Wabash County are showing what welcoming looks like when it’s grounded in data and driven by the people who live there — neighbors and local leaders who want to understand what residents need and build a place where everyone can put down roots. The Gateways for Growth Challenge was designed to support communities ready to do that work, and we’re proud to be part of it,” said Briana Broberg, Director of the Welcoming Network at Welcoming America.

The new research report, Immigrants in Northeast Indiana, finds:

• Immigrants are helping the region meet its labor force demands. In 2024, immigrants were 37.8 percent more likely to be of working age than their U.S.-born counterparts.
• Immigrants support the federal safety net. Immigrants contributed $291.4 million to federal taxes and $161.7 million to state and local taxes in Northeast Indiana in 2024.
• Immigrants are helping the area meet its rising labor needs in key industries. While making up 4.9 percent of the region’s total population in 2024, immigrants represented 10.6 percent of transportation and warehousing workers, 8.2 percent of manufacturing workers, 7.2 percent of hospitality workers, and 6.9 percent of construction workers.
• Immigrants can build deep roots in the region. As of 2024, 83.0 percent of immigrants in Northeast Indiana had resided in the United States for more than five years.

Read the full research brief at the Council’s website.

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About Community Connections: A Wabash County Diversity Coalition

Community Connections: A Wabash County Diversity Coalition helps connect newcomers with resources in Wabash County to help them thrive. Our mission is to inspire a safe and nurturing environment by building relationships, educating, and celebrating the uniqueness of every person. With a commitment to growth, we are broadcasting this as a welcoming community where industry is growing, education is a high priority, and new housing is going up. The invitation is out to come to Wabash County, put down roots here, and enrich the quality of life in the county.

About the American Immigration Council

The American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration and by working toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring. The Council brings together problem solvers and employs four coordinated approaches to advance change—litigation, research, legislative and administrative advocacy, and communications. Follow us on Bluesky@immcouncil.org and on Instagram @immcouncil.

About Welcoming America

Welcoming America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that leads a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by ensuring everyone belongs. Through the Welcoming Network, we work to change systems and culture by providing communities with the roadmap they need to create welcoming policies and share new approaches to inclusion to create an environment where everyone can truly thrive. Learn more at www.welcomingamerica.org.  

The post New Report Shows Immigrants in Northeast Indiana Paid $453.1 Million in Taxes and Held $1.3 Billion in Spending Power in 2024 appeared first on American Immigration Council.

For the Wenatchee Downtown Association, understanding whether people feel they belong downtown meant asking a different question: Who feels like downtown is for them—and who gets to shape what happens there?

Rosa Pulido, Executive Director of the Wenatchee Downtown Association, first encountered the Belonging Barometer when Washington Main Street piloted the survey with a small group of Main Street organizations. Wenatchee was one of four organizations that participated.

“It really helped us just understand where our community is as a whole,” Pulido said.

As a new leader, Pulido wanted to understand how people experienced downtown and whether residents felt they had a meaningful role in shaping its future. She also wanted data to inform changes to the organization’s processes.

“I used it first to understand what people felt about downtown, especially being new in the role. I thought it was really important for me to understand how the community felt about it, especially when it comes to volunteer work or making decisions for the future of downtown.”

The survey helped the organization look beyond the people already engaged with the Downtown Association and consider whether its outreach reflected the broader community. Pulido noted that Wenatchee’s population is roughly split between Hispanic/Latino and white residents.

“We wanted to understand first who is our reach and our demographic … and then how do we, knowing what we know about the census and our community as a whole, incorporate everyone’s voices?”

The results arrived as the organization was undertaking a strategic planning process, allowing Pulido to connect what residents were saying about belonging with decisions about how the organization operated. The findings informed everything from programming and events and board-member onboarding to volunteer recruitment and internal organizational processes and how downtown is presented and promoted.

“It really did help with not just programming, but operations and how we do things internally,” Pulido said.

One of the biggest revelations was about how residents understood the organization itself. People appreciated downtown and recognized the changes happening there, but they didn’t always know that the Wenatchee Downtown Association and its volunteers were behind much of that work.

“Clearly, we are making an impact with the work that we’re doing. But I don’t think people understood that it was us or other volunteers.”

That insight prompted the organization to think differently about how it communicated its role and highlighted the contributions of its volunteers. The Barometer also surfaced another practical challenge: Residents perceived downtown as a place where spending money was often necessary to participate. Pulido said the organization heard that “downtowns are expensive, or it’s expensive to spend time downtown.”

In response, the organization began highlighting more free and low-cost ways to experience downtown, from public spaces and artwork to meeting neighbors and learning about local business owners.

“We do a lot more promotion of … the things that you can do for free downtown.” The organization also made physical changes to create more inviting places for people to gather. It revamped an underused plaza, added umbrellas and tables, increased green space and moved a bike rack to make the space more accessible. Pulido said the changes have contributed to more people spending time downtown.

“There’s a lot more people just hanging out downtown,” she said. “And people have commented a lot that they’re very grateful that we have more seating, or we have more flowers.”

The Barometer also helped provide momentum for an accessibility audit examining how people experience downtown, including people who use wheelchairs or are visually impaired.

Wenatchee also used existing community partnerships to reach beyond its usual audience. The Downtown Association worked with regional nonprofits, the Chamber of Commerce, the city, the port authority and a local organization focused on Hispanic outreach. The bilingual survey was shared through email, newsletters, social media, QR-code flyers and community tabling events, where people could receive help accessing the survey.

For Pulido, the value of the Belonging Barometer isn’t just what it revealed the first time around. It’s the opportunity to measure change over time. After using the results to reshape the organization’s strategy and make changes downtown, she wants to ask the same questions again.

“I feel like it’s something you should measure every few years just to see if the work that you’re doing is actually working.”
And ultimately, that’s the question Pulido hopes the next survey can help answer: “Are we actually making a difference in belonging?”

Ready to get started?

Download the free Belonging Barometer Quick Start Guide and survey questions to begin measuring belonging in your community.

The post How Wenatchee Downtown Association Used the Belonging Barometer to Rethink Community appeared first on American Immigration Council.

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 28, 2026 — The American Immigration Council, the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), and researcher Meghan Conley filed a lawsuit today seeking information about what ICE is telling local police and sheriffs about sharing immigration enforcement records with the public. 

The lawsuit, filed in Tennessee, seeks details of ICE’s instructions to state and local law enforcement agencies about whether to release records requested under state laws. The requested records would shed light on what ICE tells state police and other local law enforcement to do when they receive public record requests regarding their collaboration with ICE.  

According to the lawsuit, ICE has told local police and sheriffs they need to check with federal officials before sharing certain records with the public, even when state transparency laws say otherwise. This raises concerns that ICE may be making it harder for journalists, advocates , and the general public to find out how local police and sheriffs are working with federal immigration authorities.

In August, the plaintiffs in this lawsuit filed a FOIA request with ICE seeking records of the instructions ICE gave to state and local law enforcement. ICE did not produce the records sought.  

The lawsuit comes as ICE is working with a growing number of police and sheriff departments across the country to carry out the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, an effort that is increasingly unpopular with Americans and is inflicting enormous harm on families and communities across the country. 

“As ICE works with more local police and sheriffs across the country, more people are going to have questions about what these partnerships mean for their communities. How is taxpayer money being spent? What role are local police officers playing in immigration arrests? How are people being treated in detention? The public deserves answers to these questions, and ICE shouldn’t be making it harder to get them,” said Raul Pinto, deputy legal director for transparency at the American Immigration Council.  

In Tennessee, the push for answers is particularly urgent. ICE has rapidly expanded its partnerships with local law enforcement across the state, with 163 agreements in place as of September 2026. This has led to a four-fold increase in immigration arrests and detentions, the majority involving people with no criminal record.  

“Families across Tennessee are living with the consequences of this horrific immigration crackdown. Longtime U.S. residents are being arrested in their neighborhoods, families are being separated, mothers pulled away from their children, and local police and sheriffs are playing a growing role in making it all happen. Tennesseans deserve to know what their local law enforcement agencies are doing and who is being affected. We can’t hold our government accountable if we can’t even get basic information about what’s happening in our communities,” said Spring Miller, Senior Legal Strategy Director at TIRCC.  

 READ THE COMPLAINT HERE

The post New Lawsuit Seeks Information About ICE’s Efforts to Restrict Public Access to Records  appeared first on American Immigration Council.

Oct 23 Friday, Washington DC — In response to today’s U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruling in Sosnava Rodriguez v. Ortega, a case concerning noncitizens’ constitutional right to challenge their detention when they are held without access to a bond hearing, the American Immigration Council and the National Immigration Project issued the following statements: 

“Today’s ruling is an affront to the U.S. Constitution. The principle at stake here is simple: if the government wants to detain someone, it has to explain why depriving them of their liberty is necessary. And anyone who is detained has the right to ask a judge for review of that detention. Instead, this ruling allows the government to lock people up when detention plainly serves no purpose, and without any way to challenge it,” said Rebecca Cassler, senior litigation attorney at the American Immigration Council, who argued the case before the Fifth Circuit. “The right to due process is a fundamental constitutional protection, and it is meant to protect every person in this country.  Because of today’s decision, that right is hollow for immigrants in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. But the logic of the Fifth Circuit’s decision threatens everyone in this country: when courts degrade the meaning of liberty for some, we all suffer the consequences. We will continue fighting to ensure that no one, not even this administration, is above the Constitution.” 

“Due process only means something if courts are willing to uphold it, and today the Fifth Circuit refused to. The consequences of this ruling will be felt by families and communities across Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, as well as the countless individuals the government intentionally transfers to immigration jails in these states to strip them of their rights,” said Ellie Norton, Supervising Attorney at the National Immigration Project. “This case is about three fathers who have lived in the United States for years, contributing to their communities and supporting their U.S. citizen children. They were torn from their families and locked up without ever being given the chance to go before an immigration judge to seek release. Their circumstances are far from unique. At a time when conditions in immigration detention are increasingly dangerous, this ruling opens the door to more people being locked up for no reason, with devastating consequences for them, their loved ones, and their community.” 

The post In Major Setback for Due Process, Fifth Circuit Ruling Denies Immigrants the Opportunity to Challenge Their Detention  appeared first on American Immigration Council.

The increasingly violent reality of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda came into sharp focus again last week when plainclothes ICE officers opened fire on a car in New York City within seconds of surrounding the vehicle, wounding 28-year-old Oscar Belgal while his terrified 5-year-old son sat in the back seat. This alarming use of force, echoing across the country as communities grapple with a sharp rise in immigration enforcement violence, provides context for a major legal battle unfolding in Minnesota.

Just days before the New York shooting, the family of Renée Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis earlier this year, filed two significant federal lawsuits against the U.S. government and top administration officials.

Good’s family and lawyers seek to use two distinct legal paths to force accountability through the U.S. federal courts, even though doctrines such as qualified and sovereign immunity usually protect federal law enforcement officers and the administration’s top political leaders from facing civil rights lawsuits. The twin lawsuits target both the officer that killed Good and the systemic policies that the lawsuit claims made her death inevitable and near-guaranteed impunity for the officer’s deadly use of force.

Minneapolis deadly encounter

On January 7, 2026, during a tense confrontation between protesters and federal immigration officers deployed to Minneapolis as a part of the administration’s “Operation Metro Surge,” ICE officer Jonathan Ross fired three shots into Good’s car as she attempted to drive away. One bullet struck her in the head, killing her.

While the Trump administration initially claimed that Good was a “domestic terrorist” trying to run over the officer, the lawsuit argues that video footage clearly shows Good steering her vehicle away and talking to the officers using deescalating language. Good was a U.S. citizen and had no criminal history. After Good’s death, the administration neither indicted nor fired Ross and he is still in the agency as an active ICE officer.

A double attack on impunity

To overcome the significant legal doctrines that protect ICE officers and the federal government from liability, the lawsuits — filed by Good’s partner and her brother — rely on a two-part approach primarily via two legal statutes.

Federal Tort Claims Act

The first claim uses the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) and names the United Sates as the sole defendant. It accuses the government of battery, assault, false imprisonment, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress that directly caused Good’s wrongful death. By using the FTCA, Good’s family and attorneys seek to hold the Trump administration liable for torts committed by federal immigration officers acting within the scope of their federal employment.

Typically, sovereign immunity protects the U.S. government from lawsuits; but Congress’ enactment of the FTCA provides an exception giving victims injured by government actions a mechanism for filing a lawsuit to seek damages. In the Good lawsuit, the FTCA legal claim focuses primarily on the mechanics of the shooting itself and the immediate liability of the government.

Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871

Parallel to the FTCA claim is the second and more politically explosive lawsuit, which uses a provision of the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. Congress designed the law to protect citizens from organized and systemic civil rights violations. At that time, local and state authorities routinely refused to prosecute Ku Klux Klan members for violence they inflicted upon newly freed Black Americans. Congress responded by enacting this law to explicitly enforce the newly ratified Fourteenth Amendment and ensure protection of civil and voting rights.

The Good lawsuit brings claims under two provisions of the statute, 42 U.S.C. Section1985(3) and 1986, to allege a broad Trump administration conspiracy to violate civil rights, naming not only Officer Ross, but also senior administration officials including Stephen Miller, Tom Homan, and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

The Section 1985(3) claim alleges that these officials conspired with private actors, including far-right online provocateurs whose allegations against the Somali community in Minnesota led directly to the administration’s Operation Metro Surge, as well as private corporations whose technology was used to target neighborhoods for enforcement and track observers and protestors. The Section 1986 claim arises from the officials’ failure to prevent the wrongs of the alleged conspiracy.

At the core of the Ku Klux Klan Act claim, Good’s lawyers argue that her death was not an isolated operational error, but the “predictable result” of an unconstitutional campaign driven by racial animus targeting Hispanic and Somali communities. The family alleges that Trump administration officials deliberately structured federal immigration crackdowns to encourage aggressive, hostile confrontations, while signaling to rank-and-file officers that they would never face legal consequences for using excessive force.

Bringing claims under Sections 1985 and 1986 avoids the strict legal limitations of “Bivens actions” which in the past allowed individuals to sue federal enforcement officers for Fourth Amendment violations but which the Supreme Court has heavily curtailed in recent decades.

Systemic reckoning or indefinite impunity?

By linking executive policy to field-level operations, the lawsuit seeks to provide an alternative route to challenge immunity for high-ranking political appointees. If the federal court moves the case forward, it could establish a major precedent for holding top level administration officials accountable for the actions of ICE field officers. If the court does not allow the lawsuit to proceed, then the only way to ensure individual officials’ accountability for unlawful immigration enforcement violence will be for Congress to make overdue changes to outdated immigration laws which for decades have permitted immigration agent officers and agencies to operate with significant impunity.  Congress could pass a law that would create a clear cause of action so that victims of constitutional violations committed by federal law enforcement officers can sue in federal court. When local police officers violate the Constitution, they can be sued in federal court; but when federal law enforcement agents commit the same violations there is no parallel recourse.

While the Good family seeks unspecified compensatory damages, their primary focus is public accountability. At an emotional Minneapolis press conference, Renee Good’s partner Becca Good stated: “The whole world had to watch as our entire universe was destroyed. We were all robbed.”

Following so closely on the heels of the recent New York City ICE shooting, the Renee Good lawsuits will test whether the federal judiciary is willing to hold federal officers accountable or continue to allow them to operate with near impunity on American soil.

The post Renée Good’s Family Files Lawsuits Challenging Federal Immunity as ICE Shootings Continue appeared first on American Immigration Council.

USCIS Policies Upend Decades of Practice, Penalizing Eligible Immigrants for Seeking Permanent Residence from Within the United States

Boston — Immigrant families, workers, educators, unions, and immigrant rights organizations filed a lawsuit today, challenging two Trump-Vance administration policies that make it significantly harder or impossible for eligible immigrants already living in the United States to obtain lawful permanent residence — commonly known as a green card — without leaving the country.

The lawsuit challenges new policies from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that fundamentally alter the longstanding process known as “adjustment of status,” which Congress created to allow eligible immigrants already in the United States to apply for permanent residence without having to leave their families, jobs, and communities to pursue a green card abroad.

The challenged policies are:

• Adjustment of Status Policy, issued in May 2026: USCIS directs immigration officers to treat an applicant’s decision to seek permanent residence from within the United States, rather than leave the country for consular processing, as a negative factor in deciding their application. It also requires applicants to demonstrate “unusual or even outstanding” considerations to overcome that negative factor.

• Evidence, Requests for Evidence, and Notices of Intent to Deny Policy, issued in August 2026: Allows USCIS officers to deny applications without giving applicants an opportunity to provide additional evidence — including people who filed their green card applications before the new policies existed.

The policies change the rules for people who have followed the legal process to seek permanent residence and put them at risk of losing their ability to live and work in the United States, being separated from their families, and having their careers and education disrupted.

The organizational plaintiffs serve immigrants across the country who are pursuing permanent residence, including educators and researchers, health care workers, service workers, and people whose spouses and other close relatives are seeking green cards. The individual plaintiffs include people who have built careers, raised children, pursued their education, and established lives in the United States, but whose ability to remain with their families and communities is now threatened by the challenged policies. They are the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and its Harvard University Chapter (Harvard AAUP) and Boston University Chapter (BU AAUP); Service Employees International Union (SEIU); SEIU Local 509; 32BJ SEIU; Americans for Immigrant Justice (AI Justice); and individual green card applicants Areli Esmeralda Rojas Correa, Miriam Esther Moreno Coto, Maria Francisca Guardado, Ikechi Obinna Nwaozuzu, Derly Sierra Palacios, and Julieth Melissa Camargo Figueroa.

Plaintiffs are asking the court to block and ultimately set aside the policies and require USCIS to adjudicate affected green card applications consistent with controlling precedent. They are represented by Democracy Forward, the American Immigration Council, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and Colombo & Hurd.

“By weaponizing the green card process and threatening immigrant professors, researchers, and students with sudden deportation or forced family separation, this administration is sabotaging scientific innovation and turning our universities into hostile environments for the global talent that drives our country forward. Trump’s assault on immigrants is not only cruel and inhumane,  it weakens the global competitiveness of our higher education institutions,” said Todd Wolfson, President of the American Association of University Professors. 

“Immigrant faculty and students are essential to the success and vitality of U.S. higher education and research. By making it even more difficult for international scholars to work and live here, these cruel and counterproductive new policies reflect both the Trump administration’s larger anti-immigrant crusade and its unconstitutional war on universities. But the U.S. cannot be a global leader in education while cutting off the globe, and we will always stand up for members of our academic community when they are illegally threatened by this lawless administration,” said Kirsten Weld, co-president of the Harvard University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

“BU AAUP condemns the Trump administration’s new green card policies, which impose onerous and opaque rules on our international faculty and students. The revised regulations jettison precedent and due process and threaten the ability and freedom of faculty and students to research, teach, and learn. They harm valued members of our community and interfere with Boston University’s stated mission as an international research institution. More, in targeting noncitizen scholars and imposing external rules that seek to limit who can research and teach at American universities, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services strikes at academic freedom—the core principle of higher education,” said Mary Battenfeld, co-president of the Boston University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

“SEIU’s 2 million members include physicians, long-term care workers, janitors, security officers, airport workers, and others.  Many SEIU members are foreign-born U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and immigrants authorized to work in the United States. We oppose any policy that makes it harder for working people to do their jobs and provide for their families,” said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Rocío Sáenz. “If implemented, this directive will impact people who are following the rules and navigating an immigration system and process already full of red tape.   Our government should make it easier, not harder, to keep families together and workers in their jobs so they can continue contributing to their communities and our economy.”

This directive disrupts legal immigration and pathways to permanent residency, threatening our members’ ability to earn a living, and further straining our healthcare system if these workers are forced to leave the United States, said David Foley, President of SEIU Local 509 “It is clear that the focus of this administration has never been on keeping our communities safe, but rather on expelling as many immigrants as possible from our communities by any means necessary. The people affected are our union siblings, our family members, and our friends. They deserve dignity and the opportunity to remain with their families while they navigate their path toward permanent residency.”

“The Trump administration’s animosity towards immigrants is so deep that they are now punishing those who have been working their way to becoming permanent legal residents by following the same rules followed by countless immigrants for generations. As a union with a majority immigrant membership, we object to the harm this could do to families and communities everywhere, and we deplore the administration’s determination to close the doors on immigrants in every way they can as a thoroughly un-American act of naked cruelty,” said Manny Pastreich, President, 32BJ SEIU

“Congress created a process that allows eligible people who are already living in the United States to pursue permanent residence without uprooting their lives and leaving the country. The executive branch cannot rewrite that system and then treat people’s lawful actions as a reason to deny them said permanent residency,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “These policies are changing the rules on families, workers, students, and others who have followed the legal process and built their lives here, putting them at risk of separation from their loved ones and communities. We are proud to represent our clients in challenging these unlawful policies and protecting the process Congress established.”

“For decades, people who met the requirements to apply for a green card from inside the United States were able to do so without having that choice count against them. But under these new, radical policies, the Trump administration is trying to reverse decades of practice and punish people for using a legal pathway that Congress created,” said Leslie Dellon, a senior attorney for business immigration at the American Immigration Council. “This is a major shift with very real consequences: spouses and parents separated from their families, workers forced to leave their jobs, students and researchers yanked away from their work, and people potentially stranded abroad for months or even years waiting for a consular appointment. At a time when our immigration system is already buried in years-long backlogs, the Trump administration is creating even more uncertainty and disruption for people who are simply trying to follow the rules.” 

“Our immigration system should embody the values that define America: fairness, transparency, due process, and adherence to the rule of law. AILA is litigating this case on behalf of our more than 18,000 members and the individuals, families, and businesses they represent because no administration should be permitted to rewrite the rules unilaterally or place itself above the law. The Constitution established checks and balances for a reason. We urge the courts to continue serving as a safeguard against executive overreach, and we call on Congress to exercise its oversight authority to protect the integrity of our immigration system and ensure it serves the national interest while remaining true to our shared values,” said Jeff Joseph, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. 

“These policies do more than disrupt individual green card cases. They create uncertainty for the highly skilled professionals who drive American research, health care, education, and innovation. If the United States wants to remain competitive in attracting and retaining global talent, it cannot make lawful permanent residence more arbitrary and less predictable for people who are already building lives here,” said Sarah Wilson, Partner & Federal Immigration Litigation Practice Leader.

The consequences are already significant. According to the complaint, the challenged policies threaten families with prolonged separation, workers with the loss of employment and work authorization, students and educators with disruptions to their studies and careers, and employers and communities with the loss of people who have built their lives in the United States.

The case is American Association of University Professors et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al. 

Read the filing here.

The post New Lawsuit Challenges Trump-Vance Administration Policies Threatening Green Card Applicants with Family Separation appeared first on American Immigration Council.

Case will determine whether longtime U.S. residents can be detained without a meaningful opportunity to ask a judge for release 

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, Sept. 24 2026 — On Thursday, September 24, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard arguments in a major case over whether the Constitution permits the federal government to detain immigrants without ever providing them a bond hearing where they can challenge whether their detention is necessary. 

The consolidated case involves three longtime Texas residents, all fathers of U.S.-citizen children and none with criminal histories. Each was arrested following a routine traffic stop and detained by immigration authorities without an opportunity to appear before a judge and demonstrate that he posed no danger to the community or flight risk — the only valid reasons to keep someone in detention during their immigration proceedings. 

The American Immigration Council, the National Immigration Project, Garza & Narvaez PLLC, and the Law Offices of Stephen A. Lagana represent the three men. 

In court today, attorneys argued that under the Constitution, the government cannot lock someone up in immigration detention without giving them a real chance to go before a judge and challenge their imprisonment.  

“This case is about a basic constitutional right: if the government wants to lock someone up, it should have to explain why. The Trump administration is arguing that it can hold people in immigration detention without ever proving that doing so is necessary. This turns a fundamental constitutional protection on its head and gives the government extraordinary power over people’s freedom,” said Rebecca Cassler of the American Immigration Council, who argued the case today before the full Fifth Circuit court. 

Federal district courts previously ruled that detaining the three men without bond hearings violated their constitutional right to due process. A three-judge Fifth Circuit panel later agreed, ruling that the Constitution protects people who have entered and built lives in this country regardless of their immigration status. The full Fifth Circuit subsequently vacated that decision and agreed to rehear the case. 

“Today the government made the unprecedented argument that it can jail immigrants without ever having to explain why,” said Ellie Norton, Supervising Attorney, of the National Immigration Project. “That flies in the face of years of Supreme Court case law and the Constitution. Our clients are three fathers, community members, and churchgoers who have each lived in this country for over a decade. All they ask is for the opportunity to challenge whether they actually need to be behind bars and separated from their families while their immigration cases are pending. That is a cornerstone of our justice system and we hope that the Court will uphold it.”  

The case is part of a nationwide fight over whether the government can lock up immigrants – including those who’ve lived in the U.S. for years or even decades – without giving them a chance to ask a judge for release. Hundreds of courts across the country, in thousands of cases, have repeatedly rejected the administration’s position, concluding that it violates either federal immigration law or the Constitution’s guarantee of due process when a person is thrown into prison.

The Fifth Circuit’s decision could affect thousands of people held in immigration detention across Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, states where a large share of the nation’s detained immigrants are held. Six other federal circuit courts have held that locking up longtime U.S. residents in immigration detention without giving them a chance to ask a judge for release would violate the Constitution. If the Fifth Circuit agrees with the government, this will be the first federal circuit court to find this detention without process constitutional.

More about the lawsuit here. 

MEDIA CONTACTS 

Elyssa Pachico, epachico@immcouncil.org  

Lilly Gonzalez, media@nipnlg.org

The post Fifth Circuit Hears Major Case Over Right to Challenge Immigration Detention appeared first on American Immigration Council.

For more than 30 years, Maybelle Center has worked alongside adults experiencing financial hardship, mental health challenges, and social isolation in downtown Portland, Oregon. Today, the organization describes itself as a community health organization because it believes health begins with belonging. Through neighborhood programs, affordable housing, and assisted living, Maybelle Center helps people build lasting relationships and become known, valued, and connected.

When Maybelle Center shifted its mission from fighting social isolation to intentionally building belonging, staff encountered a familiar challenge: How do you measure belonging?

“We wanted to measure belonging,” recalls Shane Skinner, Lead Member Inclusion Coordinator. “But how can you measure something so subjective?” The answer was the Belonging Barometer.

As Maybelle Center developed its organizational theory of change, staff found themselves researching belonging from dozens of different sources. They wanted confidence that their programs were grounded in evidence. When they discovered the Belonging Barometer, they immediately recognized the framework gave them a research-backed definition of belonging that was both comprehensive and practical. 

The Barometer took belonging from being an abstract concept and broke it into measurable components that staff could understand, discuss, and intentionally strengthen through their work.

One of Maybelle Center’s biggest takeaways is that implementing the Belonging Barometer doesn’t have to be complicated. Serving approximately 200-250 active members, the organization launched its first survey using simple tools already available to them.

They:

• Introduced the survey through their monthly newsletter.
• Mailed paper surveys with prepaid return envelopes.
• Asked volunteers to enter responses into an Excel spreadsheet.
• Partnered with a board member who had data expertise to analyze the results.

It just took a commitment to learning from the people they serve.

While the annual Belonging Barometer survey provides valuable data, Maybelle Center quickly realized the framework could also shape programming. Rather than trying to improve every dimension of belonging at once, the team selected three priority building blocks from the Barometer’s local belonging framework to guide every activity they offer.

Those 3 guiding priorities are:

• Helping people feel welcomed and included.
• Helping people feel valued for who they are and what they contribute.
• Creating spaces where people feel comfortable expressing different opinions.

Before each event, staff intentionally ask: How will this activity strengthen belonging? Sometimes the answer is an icebreaker, changing how conversations are facilitated, or creating more opportunities for participants to contribute.

After each program, the team evaluates whether those belonging goals were achieved and uses what they learn to improve future activities. Each year, Maybelle Center plans to administer the full Belonging Barometer survey to understand how members’ experiences change over time. The findings will help staff identify which dimensions of belonging are growing and where more attention is needed. Rather than relying on assumptions, they’ll use data to guide future decisions. As Skinner puts it: “Belonging becomes the compass.”

Maybelle Center’s experience shows that you don’t need perfect data, a large staff, or a significant budget to begin measuring belonging. You can start with one survey and choose just a few dimensions of belonging to focus on.

Most importantly, you can begin using the Belonging Barometer to understand and strengthen your community. As Skinner says, the Belonging Barometer gives community leaders something many have been searching for: a tangible way to measure belonging.

Ready to get started?

Download the free Belonging Barometer Quick Start Guide and survey questions to begin measuring belonging in your community.

The post How Maybelle Center Made the Belonging Barometer Part of Everyday Practice appeared first on American Immigration Council.

Mecklenburg County, NC, September 18, 2026 – A new report, Immigrants in Mecklenburg County released today by the American Immigration Council—in partnership with the City of Charlotte, the Charlotte International Cabinet, and International House—underscores the crucial role immigrants play in the region’s labor force, business creation, and consumer spending power.

 Although immigrants made up 17.0 percent of the county’s total population, they represented 20.2 percent of its working age population, 20.1 percent of its employed labor force, and 26.7 percent of its workers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields in 2024. Immigrants in Mecklenburg County were 52.9 percent more likely to be an entrepreneur than their U.S.-born counterparts and immigrant entrepreneurs generated over $659.8 million in business income.   

The new report was awarded as a part of the Gateways for Growth Challenge, a competitive opportunity for localities to receive research support and/or technical assistance from the American Immigration Council and Welcoming America to improve immigrant inclusion in their communities.  

The report will launch during International House’s The Journey: Share Your Voice; A Community Exhibition and a Celebration of Student Art and Collaborative Research event on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at Queen City Art in Charlotte. The event will showcase artwork by children of immigrants created through a Foundation for Child Development-funded project with UNC Charlotte’s Center for Migration and Diaspora Studies and Urban Institute, International House, Queens University of Charlotte, and other community partners. The artwork is the first phase of a broader effort to elevate the voices and perspectives of children of immigrants and bring their experiences into conversations about Charlotte’s future. 

“Behind every number in this report is a person, a family, and a story that is part of Charlotte. Gateways for Growth matters because it helps us understand our community not only through data, but through the lived experiences of the people who call this city home. For local government, that understanding carries a responsibility: to listen, to remove barriers, to strengthen connections to opportunity and services, and to make sure people feel seen in the decisions that shape their lives,” said Saira Estrada, Language Access & Immigrant Integration Coordinator for the City of Charlotte. “As Charlotte continues to grow, we want every resident to know they belong in that growth and have a place in the future we are building together.” 

“The report tells a story through data. Immigrants contribute to the high quality of life we enjoy in Mecklenburg County, facilitating economic growth, infusing talent and innovation, and revitalizing neighborhoods. Strengthening our efforts to help immigrants thrive is ultimately an investment in Charlotte,” said Susan Bird, Executive Director of International House.   

“The report Immigrants in Mecklenburg County underscores how essential immigrants are to our community’s economic and cultural vitality. It is equally important to recognize the experiences and contributions of their children. Children of immigrants make up one in four children in Mecklenburg County, yet their voices are often missing from conversations about our community’s future. Today’s Share Your Voices event begins to bring those voices forward, offering a glimpse into how they see their families, communities, and futures,” said Stephanie Potochnick, director of UNC Charlotte’s Center for Migration and Diaspora Studies. 

“Immigrants are helping power Mecklenburg County’s economy and strengthen its neighborhoods. As captured in this report, their contributions as entrepreneurs, workers, and innovators, combined with the cultural richness they bring to the county, make them an indispensable part of the county’s present and future prosperity,” said Juan Avilez, policy associate of state and local initiatives at the American Immigration Council.  

“Much of what makes a community welcoming happens where no one is watching — in planning meetings, data reviews, and quiet conversations between people trying to get it right. Charlotte’s participation in Gateways for Growth is all of that, mostly invisible to residents, but it shapes whether people can access opportunity, whether their voices are included, and whether they truly feel at home here,” said Sorayda Díaz León, Senior Manager of Welcoming Network at Welcoming America. 

The new research report, Immigrants in Mecklenburg County, finds:

• Immigrants are fueling the growth in Mecklenburg County. Between 2019 and 2024, the total population of the county increased by 7.1 percent. During that same time, the immigrant population increased by 20.2 percent. As a result, 42.7 percent of the total population growth was attributable to immigrants.  
• Immigrants are helping the county meet its labor force demands. In 2024, immigrants were 24.0 percent more likely to be of working age than their U.S.-born counterparts. 
• Immigrants support the federal safety net. Immigrants contributed $1.8 billion in federal taxes and $803.7 million in state and local taxes in Mecklenburg County in 2024.  
• Immigrants are helping Mecklenburg County meet its rising labor needs in key industries. While making up 17.0 percent of the county’s total population in 2024, immigrants represented 20.5 percent of transportation and warehousing workers, 49.8 percent of construction workers, and 19.2 percent of hospitality workers. 
• Immigrants are building deep roots in Mecklenburg County. As of 2024, 72.6 percent of immigrants in the county had resided in the United States for more than five years. 

Read the full research brief at the Council’s website.

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About the American Immigration Council 

The American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration and by working toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring. The Council brings together problem solvers and employs four coordinated approaches to advance change—litigation, research, legislative and administrative advocacy, and communications. Follow us on Bluesky @immcouncil.org and on Instagram @immcouncil. 

About Welcoming America 

Welcoming America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that leads a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by ensuring everyone belongs. Through the Welcoming Network, we work to change systems and culture by providing communities with the roadmap they need to create welcoming policies and share new approaches to inclusion to create an environment where everyone can truly thrive. Learn more at www.welcomingamerica.org.  

About City of Charlotte 

The Charlotte International Cabinet creates awareness of Charlotte as an international city by promoting exchange between Charlotte and its Sister Cities, welcoming all citizens, residents and visitors, regardless of ethnicity or language skills, supporting global education programs, encouraging further growth of the international business sector and enhancing Charlotte’s non-profit international sector.  

About International House 

Established in 1981, International House is a nonprofit dedicated to helping immigrants and international culture thrive in our community. International House helps immigrants through legal assistance, English classes and other services, and provides opportunities for cross-cultural connections that foster understanding and build community. Learn more at https://www.ihclt.org/about. 

The post New Report Shows Immigrants in Mecklenburg County Paid $2.6 Billion in Taxes and Held $7 Billion in Spending Power in 2024 appeared first on American Immigration Council.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) own Office of Inspector General (OIG), an office that seeks to provide independent oversight and accountability within the department, issued a damning report last week about the conditions of confinement at Florida’s soft-sided immigration detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

The report described the troubling conditions OIG found during its unannounced inspection of the facility in January 2026 and made recommendations to ameliorate the issues OIG observed. Even though Alligator Alcatraz closed in June 2026, some of the issues noted in the OIG report are common among detention facilities that hold people in immigration custody.

OIG’s report provided gruesome details about the conditions that people detained at this facility experienced. Detained individuals were allowed to shower only three times a week, and the showers were infested with bugs. People complained of a lack of clean drinking water in part because the facility gave them only one plastic drinking cup and nowhere to properly clean or store them. OIG also reported that the overcrowding at the facility was problematic, noting that it provided less than half of the living space required by federal detention standards.

In perhaps one of the most shocking findings, the OIG inspection found that facility staff held individuals in literal cages for up to two hours.

The cages were approximately 18 square feet, roughly the size of a phone booth, and were equipped with locking systems. In its response, the facility claimed the cages were “calming” areas, but OIG found that in at least one instance, staff used the cages as punishment. The OIG stated that it had never seen this type of restraint.

The report also noted that people in this detention center had insufficient access to legal resources. Phones for legal calls did not work, and the facility did not have a law library. The OIG report concluded that these conditions could have impeded access to counsel for individuals detained at the facility.

ICE tried to evade oversight and accountability over these conditions by passing the buck. In its response to the OIG report, ICE claimed that the state of Florida, not ICE, ran Alligator Alcatraz under the authority of a 287(g) Memorandum of Understanding. The gray area as to which entity was actually in charge of the facility may have allowed these conditions to propagate, as facility staff told OIG they did not know which standards applied. However, ICE was heavily involved in the facility’s administration. ICE officers were constantly present at the detention center and individuals detained received ICE’s Detainee Handbook.

Unfortunately, some of the conditions described in the OIG report are common in detention facilities across the country. In September 2022, for example, OIG reported that the Torrance County Detention Facility in New Mexico also failed to meet health and safety standards and limited access to counsel for those detained at the facility. In July 2023, OIG found that the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia also compromised the health and safety of people at the detention facility.

The Trump administration, with the cooperation of willing state officials like those in Florida, is expanding the use of immigration detention at alarming rates. As of July, the number of people in immigration detention was more than 65,000, and the Trump administration’s goal was to reach 108,000 detention beds by the beginning of 2026.

The rapid and continuous expansion of immigration detention suggests a full-steam-ahead approach without any regards for the rights of those detained. When this facility opened, President Trump said he would like to see more like it in more states, praising the compound by saying, “It might be as good as the real Alcatraz.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dismissed the concerns raised in the report. The governor’s communications director said about the cages, “We’d make [them] even smaller if we could.” It is deeply concerning that, despite its closure, Alligator Alcatraz could continue to be a model for states to get deeper into the business of detaining immigrants, while evading responsibility for civil rights violations.

Further, the OIG report highlights the continued need for robust oversight mechanisms, which the Trump administration has worked to dismantle or sideline. A November 2025 report indicates that the president removed 17 Inspectors General, left Inspector General offices without leadership and defunded some of these offices, minimizing their capacity to conduct investigations. The administration also decimated DHS’ Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, which investigated civil rights violations and issues at detention facilities, respectively. Transparency on these issues cannot be left to the states, as Florida law enforcement agencies have actively blocked access to records under state law.

Under the Trump administration, immigration detention will continue to expand. Congress has authorized unprecedented funding to DHS, none of which is going to improve conditions at these facilities. As problems with conditions at detention facilities increase, the remaining oversight agencies and Congress must — at the very least — ensure that the lives of people ICE chooses to detain are not in danger.

The post DHS Oversight Agency Issues Scathing Report of Conditions at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ appeared first on American Immigration Council.