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Immigration attorney Ilya Fishkin breaks down six key shifts in US enforcement: ICE detaining fewer people without criminal history, courthouse arrests quietly dropped, birthright citizenship ruling, and why AI can't replace a lawyer in asylum cases.

Immigration attorney Ilya Fishkin breaks down two urgent risks under new Trump administration policy: the 10-year bar triggered by a green card denial and stalled EB-5 investor cases as mandamus lawsuits face new obstacles.

Immigration attorney Ilya Fishkin breaks down four critical decisions that can make or break a US immigration case: voluntary departure, passport renewal during asylum proceedings, daily fines for ignored removal orders, and deportation to third countries.

New BIA precedent raises the bar for asylum seekers citing military refusal — now you must prove you'd be forced to commit war crimes. Plus: should you fear applying for US citizenship right now? Attorney Ilya Fishkin breaks it down.

ICE arrested a 55-year-old man from the Philippines in Las Vegas on August 2, 2026, after Las Vegas police charged him with domestic battery, attempted arson, and drug possession. He had been living in the US without legal status since late 2000, when he overstayed his visa by more than two decades. The case shows how a visa overstay combined with a criminal record can end in detention and removal proceedings.

A 61-year-old Cuban national lived in Kendall, Florida with a green card for years. Then investigators found out how he got it. On August 7, 2026, ICE deported Fernando Armando Valdes Perez after determining he had hidden his work as a Cuban intelligence spy when he applied for lawful permanent resident status — a case that shows green card fraud can catch up with someone decades later.

What if your green card is already approved — but a judge deports you before it arrives? That is now a real risk. Hundreds of US immigration judges attended a mandatory training session telling them to stop granting extra time in court, even when immigrants are waiting for approved visas or green cards.

You got a friendly message from a stranger online — and months later, your life savings were gone. Pig butchering scams have become one of the fastest-growing financial frauds in the US, and immigrants are deliberately targeted. The FBI and New York Attorney General Letitia James' office are now urging communities to learn the warning signs before it's too late.

H.L. sold her Flushing apartment and handed $130,000 in cash to strangers on street corners — all because a man named "Mike" spent eight months convincing her she was investing in cryptocurrency. She is one of thousands of Chinese immigrants in the US targeted by "pig butchering" scams, and her story shows how these frauds have moved off screens and into immigrant neighborhoods. The FBI recorded more than $7.2 billion in losses from these schemes in 2025 alone.

A federal appeals court refused to let the government keep running its expanded immigration-verification system while it appeals a ruling that shut the system down. The D.C. Circuit denied DHS's emergency stay request on September 4, 2026 — meaning the modified SAVE system, which linked Social Security records to immigration checks and could flag U.S.-born citizens, remains blocked. The full appeal is now on a fast track.

Wilberforce Okene spent years in US immigration court arguing that deporting him would devastate his sick wife and their household. The Fifth Circuit denied his petition in September 2026 — and used his case to raise the bar for everyone fighting deportation in the region. If you are in removal proceedings, this ruling changes how your hardship claim will be judged on appeal.

A Venezuelan woman had her asylum grant vacated in September 2026 after the Board of Immigration Appeals ruled that Nicolás Maduro's removal from power is a legally significant change in country conditions. The ruling sets a binding precedent: immigration judges must now weigh Maduro's fall — and the US-backed Interim Government — when deciding whether a Venezuelan applicant still faces a real personal risk. For thousands of Venezuelans with pending asylum cases, the stakes just shifted.

Angel Trigueros Quizar arrived at immigration court five minutes late because of a flat tire. That was enough for a judge to order him deported — without ever hearing his asylum case. In September 2026, a federal appeals court said the system got it wrong.

If your baby was born in the US and you are not a citizen or permanent resident, you may be wondering whether your child is still protected after Trump signed a new executive order in August 2026. The answer, for now, is yes. On September 3, 2026, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman blocked that order, writing that the Supreme Court had already decided this question — and the president must follow it.

A man became a U.S. citizen using a fake birth certificate — then accidentally exposed himself by filing a real one. Federal prosecutors in Missouri charged a Colorado aunt and her nephew with immigration fraud after USCIS spotted the contradiction. The nephew now faces possible denaturalization and up to 10 years in prison.

Roughly 1,900 unaccompanied children — some of them babies — have been sitting in US government shelters for an average of six months, even when family members in the United States are ready to take them in. Now, more than 50 legal organizations have launched a coordinated legal campaign to get them out. The tool they are using could force the government to justify each detention in federal court — or release the child.

Your nephew has been sitting in a federal shelter for six months. He has a sponsor — a vetted family member ready to take him in — but the government won't let him go. That is the reality for roughly 1,900 unaccompanied children in federal immigration custody right now, and a coalition of more than 50 legal organizations has launched an emergency legal campaign to get them out.

Your attorney just finished arguing for your life in a federal courtroom — and then the judge told the jury to forget everything they heard. On September 3, 2026, the Fourth Circuit ruled that is exactly the kind of error that can undo a conviction. The court vacated the murder conviction of one MS-13 defendant while affirming the convictions of his two co-defendants, drawing a clear line on when a judge goes too far.

You volunteered to watch an immigration court hearing — and the judge's clerk told you the hearing was online, with no link for the public. A federal court in Washington, D.C., ruled in September 2026 that this kind of lockout may break federal law. The decision does not force the government to change anything yet, but it keeps a major lawsuit alive — and puts immigration courts on notice.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel Diji found out he had a deportation order only when he showed up for his green card interview in 2025 — two years after an immigration judge had already ordered him removed. He never knew about the hearing. Under a rule that stood for 25 years, that might have saved him. Today, the BIA erased that rule.