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Immigration Debrief: February 2026

NIJC flyer with text "Act Now! Tell Congress to Stop ICE and Border Patrol's cruelty and invest in our communities instead"

On Tuesday, February 10th, the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights hosted a virtual Immigration Briefing with our community partners to cover the most recent updates in immigration.

As always, none of the below should be considered legal advice! The federal policy and legal landscape around immigration is changing rapidly, so any of the information below may soon be out of date. If you’re concerned that any of these updates may impact you, we recommend getting an immigration screening from an attorney. Visit illinoisimmigrationinfo.org/legal to get connected with legal support.

In 2025, the Trump-Vance administration delivered on their promise to create a mass industrial deportation contract. They enlisted local, state, and federal agencies to participate in immigration enforcement––taking them away from their essential duties––and spent billions of dollars on enforcement tactics that created more violence in our communities.

At the same time, they stripped immigration protections from specific populations: removing temporary legal status for many populations, and making legal status much harder to come by for so many others. They eroded due process by expanding expedited removal to speed up deportation, and violated the Constitutional rights by engaging in egregious racial profiling. 

When American citizens spoke up against this violence and dehumanization, they were treated brutally––and even killed, in the case of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. What happened in Chicago last year, and what is happening right now in Minnesota represents the largest occupation of federal agents in history, committing unthinkable violence and cruelty in our communities, all while being backed by enormous amounts of taxpayer dollars.

  • Federal agents are not prioritizing the “worst of the worst.”  Immigrants with no criminal record represent the largest percentage of people in detention by far. Due to changes in arrest tactics––specifically, going after asylum seekers and refugees adjusting their status and using racial profiling––there has been a staggering 2,450% increase in the number of people with no criminal record being held in ICE detention. It is clear that the administration is more motivated by racial profiling and meeting detention quotas than in going after criminals who represent a threat to public safety.
  • Tension between federal and local law enforcement: Aggressive and violent tactics have increased conflict between federal and local law enforcement.
  • Targeting protestors and labeling them as domestic terrorists: Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot by ICE and the Trump Administration labeled them as domestic terrorists. This sets a dangerous precedent against all Americans exercising the rights protected under the 1st Amendment of the constitution. There is a greater, more visible shift from politicians as the escalation of national political conflict grows, there are mass protests. and the People are highlighting the impact of this aggressive and militarized immigration enforcement actions. 

In 2026, we anticipate seeing more of the same, as some of the small cumulative changes the administration has made over time start to have a larger impact. Here are some trends to look out for: 

  • Expanded use of the military for immigration law enforcement: The government is creating national defense areas near the US mexico border, so if someone crosses into this area they will face criminal changes beyond undocumented entry.
  • ICE Technology: ICE has used the billions of dollars they received in federal funding to equip themselves with facial recognition software, iris scanners, and tracking technology for mobile devices, with little to no oversight for how it is used or its impact on privacy rights.
  • Legal immigration changes: The administration has made many changes to the legal immigration process to make it harder to access: heightened social media vetting, mandatory in-person interviews where applicants are subject to arrest, shorter visa and work permit validity periods, and more. These changes have had a major impact on workers, students, and families, and we anticipate seeing more of that impact this year.
  • Lack of transparency: Major policy changes have been communicated via social media, and the administration is refusing to release information, e.g. reports with statistics

Immigration Enforcement Updates

Unwarranted Arrests

Last month, a whistleblower released an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memo advising agents that they can enter homes without a judicial warrant. This order is a blatant violation of the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Federal agents must have a valid judicial warrant, signed by a judge, in order to enter homes without permission.

ICE typically has administrative warrants, which are essentially orders from ICE itself to arrest someone. These are different from a judicial warrant, and do not give agents the power to enter someone’s home without permission—which is why ICE agents typically rely on someone opening the door, or catching people in public places. As always, if ICE shows up at your home, you do not have to open the door unless they have a signed judicial warrant.

DHS funding through September 2029

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill has been a point of contention in Congress this month. $170 billion in funds were appropriated to the DHS last year through September 2029, but there has been pushback from Democratic leaders in Congress about releasing additional funds for DHS, following the killing of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. They made clear that they will not release additional funding for DHS without significant reforms, including implementing mask and identification requirements, the protection of sensitive locations like schools and hospitals, and the clear requirement (which is already a requirement under the Constitution) that agents do not enter private property without a judicial warrant. 

The Senate passed a bill in January that included a two-week stopgap that funded DHS at 2025 levels through February 13th, but unless they strike a deal before then, the government may face a partial shutdown affecting federal agencies under DHS umbrella, including ICE, CBP, FEMA, the TSA, the Coast Guard, and others.

Immigration Policy Updates

The Trump-Vance administration continues to make it more difficult for people to apply for any immigration benefits by closing off legal pathways to both enter the country and gain status. These actions have had the effect of closing off the United States to half the world, and separating families in the process. 

Travel Ban

This year, the Trump-Vance administration has expanded the travel ban to impact 39 countries: 

  • Full-Ban (travel fully suspended): Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and those with documentation issued by the Palestinan Authority
  • Partial Ban (entry suspended for immigrant, B-1, B-2, F, M, and J visa holders): Angola, Antigua & Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe

There are some exceptions to the travel ban, including Legal Permanent Residents, immediate relatives (which is a narrow term, and requires DNA evidence), adoptions, dual nationals traveling on the non-banned country travel documents, diplomats or foreign government personnel, and others. It also only applies to those outside of the US, not already in the US.

The administration is using security as a justification for this ban, arguing that there is inadequate vetting of people from these countries, and that they therefore represent a security risk. However, there is no evidence of either inadequate vetting or an increased security risk for these countries. This ban has already led to family separation, and attorneys are arguing that it violates the Administrative Procedure ACT (e.g. Chikumba v. Department of State).

The USCIS has also been directed to pause adjudication on all immigration benefits for anyone from countries listed on the travel ban—which means that anyone who is from one of these countries that has applied for any other type of immigration benefit is now on an indefinite hold. Nationals of countries including Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela, will now face a reexamination of any benefits they were approved for during the Biden administration, and refugees who arrived during the Biden administration have also been ordered to go through the interview process again. These extreme measures have resulted in people at the brink of receiving their citizenship having their naturalization ceremonies cancelled, immigrants married to U.S. citizens having their green card applications put on hold, and those with pending applications being put on indefinite hold.

This also puts all of these people—who have gone through the proper legal steps to enter the country and gain immigration status, only to be put on hold—at risk of detainment and deportation.

Pause on Immigrant Visas

In addition to the travel ban, the Trump-Vance administration has paused issuing immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries: 

  • Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

This pause is based on speculation that people from these countries are more likely to become a public charge—in other words, to rely on welfare and other public benefits services. The administration provided no evidence to back up this claim.

The pause only applies to immigrant visas (not tourist or temporary work visas), and there is an exception for dual nationals. Immigration attorneys strongly encourage that anyone applying for immigration benefits be screened by a licensed immigration attorney before filing a petition for benefits.

The National Immigration Law Center has filed suit challenging this suspension as both discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Board of Immigration Appeal Interim Final Rule

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) issued an interim final rule for the Board of Immigration (BIA) that severely curtails the right to appeal immigration decisions by making these appeals discretionary instead of mandatory. That means millions of people in the immigration system will now not be able to effectively fight deportation orders. 

  • It requires that BIA members vote one whether to consider an appeal within 15 days of the appeal being filed;
  • It shortens the timeline for filing an appeal from 30 days to 10 days (with the exception of some specific asylum appeals); 
  • It requires that both parties file briefs within 20 days in the event that the case is not dismissed, which removes the opportunity for applicants to review and respond to the government’s arguments;
  • It also eliminates the requirement Immigration Judges have to review and approve transcripts of their oral decisions (which will likely leave significant errors uncorrected).
  • Lastly, it also changed some language in the regulation by replacing the word “noncitizen” with “alien”.

The rule is still open to public comment, so we encourage everyone who opposes this erosion of the right to due process to submit your comment by March 9th.

TPS Updates

The Trump-Vance administration continues to attempt to take away the TPS benefits of a host of nationalities. Here are the latest updates:

  • Haiti: Haiti TPS remains in effect as of today! It was set to expire on February 3rd, but a district judge blocked the termination order. TBA: Link Ana Reyes decision
  • Somalia TPS: terminated effective March 17th, 2026 
  • Burma / Myanmar TPS: termination postponed 

City Updates

CPD interactions with federal agents

On January 27th, CIRR hosted a Joint Meeting of the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights and the Committee on Police and Fire (watch the video on the City Clerk website if you missed it!) to discuss legislation to strengthen and clarify the investigation process for Welcoming City Ordinance violations.

For background: after witnessing a mass detention on June 4th, 2025 that involved Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers, CIRR held a hearing to pass an order requiring the release of data and footage of CPD activity (you can review all of the information that was released from June 4th at 40thward.org/june4info). During that hearing, we discovered that the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) was not investigating potential violations of the Welcoming City Ordinance, due to a perceived lack of jurisdictional authority.

Since the hearing, we have heard from numerous members of the community with reports of CPD involvement in civil immigration enforcement in violation of the Welcoming City Ordinance, including at a CCPSA public hearing on January 8th.

In response to these concerns, the Committee passed an ordinance (O2025-0020004) to clarify COPA’s authority to investigate Welcoming City Ordinance violations. The ordinance will now progress to City Council for a vote at the next City Council meeting on February 18th. 

CCPSA is also hosting a follow-up hearing and additional efforts to ensure CPD is held accountable to upholding the Welcoming City Ordinance on February 26th, 6:30pm at Kennedy King College.

CIRR will continue to collect information on potential violations related to immigration enforcement in Chicago, including reports of potential CPD involvement. We submit any reports we receive to the appropriate investigative agency, and follow up to determine the status of the investigation. You can report any information you have at bit.ly/reportimmviolationschi. We also update the public report weekly, which you can view on our website.

Mayoral Executive Order

Mayor Brandon Johnson released an ICE On Notice Executive Order directing CPD to investigate and document alleged illegal activity by federal immigration agents and refer evidence of felony violations to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. The order also requires CPD to seek credentials from federal immigration officers if they are called out to a scene, and to call emergency medical services if anyone is injured on scene of a civil immigration enforcement action. Lastly, it requires body-worn camera footage and other records from incidents involving civil immigration enforcement be retained.

It remains to be seen whether the Cook County state’s attorney’s office will prosecute DHS federal agents, as the executive order has received considerable pushback. We are still working to get answers on what enforcement of this order will look like.

In the meantime, we continue to work toward passing the Immigration Enforcement Reporting Ordinance (O2025-0019959), which we hope will serve as a public reporting model for footage and records collected by CPD related to immigration enforcement.

Calls to Action

There are a lot of ways to get involved to support our immigrant and refugee communities! There are several opportunities this month to make your voice heard by your city and federal representatives:

  • Send a letter to your Congressional Representatives demanding that they refuse to increase funding to ICE
  • Submit public comment to oppose the new BIA interim rule
  • Call Your City Council Alder and tell them to vote yes on the Welcoming City Investigation Clarity Ordinance (O2025-0020004)

There are also, as always, many ways to get involved locally! 

As always: please continue speaking up for immigrant rights! Visit the CIRR Protecting Immigrant Rights page and Illinois Immigration Info to find out how you can get more involved.

The next immigration briefing will be on Tuesday, March 10th at 1pm! Register at bit.ly/CIRRBriefing.

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