This week ( JUNE 26, 2018) , the Supreme Court upheld the third, reengineered version of President Trump’s travel and entry ban by a vote of 5 to 4.

.The court dismissed the anti-Muslim statements of President Trump and other administration officials when evaluating the legality of the ban.

• President Trump signed Executive Order (EO) 13769, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” just one week after the inauguration, on January 27, 2017, imposing a travel and entry ban on foreign nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
• The ban was eventually enjoined by the courts, modified, and reissued in two later iterations.
• The latest reengineered travel ban was announced on September 24, 2017 via Presidential Proclamation.
• The proclamation currently imposes travel restrictions on foreign nationals seeking to enter to the United States from seven countries: Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday ending the process of separating children from families after they are detained crossing the U.S. border illegally. Until Wednesday, the federal government repeatedly argued the only way to end the practice was for Congress to pass new legislation.

Trump also wrongly claimed prior to today that his administration had no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of federal law and a court decision. The executive order is a complete U turn of that policy.

Trump said his order would not end the “zero-tolerance” policy that criminally prosecutes all adults caught crossing the border illegally. The order aims to keep families together while they are in custody.

Justice Department lawyers provided the ground work for the executive order as a legal workaround for a previous class-action settlement that set policies for the treatment and release of unaccompanied children who are caught at the border.

However, Trump’s executive order now creates a new set of problems involving length of detention of families. Fresh court litigation is expected if the children are slated to be detained “indefinitely” along and together with the adult parents.

USCIS announced that as of 6/11/18, petitioners who file Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, or Form I-829, Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status, will receive a Form I-797 receipt notice that can be used as evidence of continued status for 18 months past the expiration date on their Form I-551, Permanent Resident Card, when presented with the expired card. USCIS is making the change from 12 to 18 months due to increased processing times for Forms I-751 and I-829.

By memorandum dated May 10, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a change, effective August 9, 2018, in the way it will calculate periods of unlawful presence in the United States for students and exchange visitors who remain beyond completion of their academic/training program.

Under the new policy the date on which a person begins to accrue unlawful presence is not tied to a definitive notice of a violation or official determination by USCIS or an immigration judge. Students and exchange visitors who for one reason or another have failed to maintain their status will begin to accrue unlawful presence, in some cases unbeknownst to them, on that August 9, 2018.

Therefore, an individual may learn only after the fact that he or she has already accrued months of unlawful presence and is left with no recourse for avoiding the 3- and 10-year bars to admission.

Moreover, under the new policy, the failure of the student or exchange visitor to maintain status results in a finding of unlawful presence for dependent family members over the age of 18 years. Therefore, the dependent family member can suffer significant consequences through no fault of his or her own.

USCIS claims more precise tracking of compliance with academic and training programs is now possible due to technological developments since 1997. USCIS will now rely on the information entered by the school/training sponsor in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) administered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to determine the status of students.

The revisions will be reflected in Chapter 40 of the Adjudicators Field Manual.

On May 31, 2018 the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, has decided to authorize the issuance of up to an additional 15,000 H-2B through the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. This numerical limitation increase is based on a time-limited statutory authority and does not affect the H–2B program in future fiscal years.

However, the benefits of this cap increase is directed to businesses that need workers to avoid irreparable harm, rather than directing the cap increase to any and all businesses seeking temporary workers.

This final rule is effective from May 31, 2018 through September 30, 2018.