Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Propose Rule Change to Make DACA Recipients Ineligible for Several Benefits, Including Health Care Coverage
In March 2025, The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services published a Proposed Rule to change public benefit requirements for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) recipients. Under the Proposed Rule, DACA recipients would no longer be considered “lawfully present” in the United States, making them ineligible for a Qualified Health Plan through the Marketplace, premium tax credits, and other related health benefits. The Trump Administration will need to publish a Final Rule addressing comments to the Proposed Rule before the regulation changes become effective.
Update on Executive Order Banning Birthright Citizenship for Children of Certain Noncitizens
On May 15, 2025, the Supreme Court will hear emergency oral arguments regarding the Trump Administration’s Executive Order ending birthright citizenship for US-born children of certain noncitizen parents. Federal district courts across the US have blocked the Executive Order’s enforcement since before it became active, with one judge declaring the Order “blatantly unconstitutional” based on the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship. In response, the Trump Administration filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court, challenging the district courts’ decisions and arguing that the lower courts should not have imposed nationwide bans on the Order.
Humanitarian Parole Programs and Related Work Authorization Remain Valid for Citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, Pending Further Litigation
On April 14, 2025, USCIS released a statement on their website confirming that the Humanitarian Parole Programs for citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (“CHNV”) remain valid, pending further litigation. For now, individuals granted parole under the program continue to have permission to stay in the US, and those issued an Employment Authorization Document (“EAD”) pursuant to the program (typically with code (c)(11)) continue to have valid work permission.
For background, on March 25, 2025 the Trump Administration published a Notice in the Federal Register that terminated the CHNV Humanitarian Parole Program, and USCIS issued parole termination notices to affected noncitizens. Individuals then filed lawsuits in federal district court fighting the termination, and on April 14, 2025 a judge issued a preliminary injunction to stay the order until the lawsuit could progress further.
TPS Venezuela 2023 EADs Remain Valid under Court Order
On March 31, 2025, a federal district court judge postponed the Trump Administration’s plan to vacate the Biden Administration’s extension and redesignation of Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) for about 350,000 Venezuelans. These Venezuelans were granted TPS under a second Venezuela designation in 2023; the first designation from 2021 remains active but unaffected by litigation of the 2023 designation. If the Trump Administration’s vacatur had been successful, Venezuelans with the 2023 TPS designation would have lost their work authorization on April 2, 2025.
Since the judge postponed the vacatur, Venezuelans holding an Employment Authorization Document (“EAD”) with code (a)(12) or (c)(19), and an expiration date of 09/10/2025, 04/02/2025, 03/10/2024, or 09/02/2022 will have valid work authorization through April 2, 2026, pending further court action.
DHS Begins Screening Noncitizens’ Social Media Activity for “Anti-Semitism”
On April 9, 2025, USCIS announced that they would start screening noncitizens’ social media accounts for what they characterized as “antisemitic activity” and would use this information as grounds for denying immigration cases. USCIS stated that this policy change would immediately impact noncitizens applying for permanent residency, foreign students, and noncitizens affiliated with educational institutions “linked to antisemitic activity.” USCIS published on its website that they “will consider social media content that indicates an alien endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, or other antisemitic activity as a negative factor in any USCIS discretionary analysis when adjudicating immigration benefit requests.” This policy change is connected to the Trump Administration’s targeting of pro-Palestinian protestors and severely risks censoring individuals in violation of their first amendment right to free speech.
Visa Bulletin - May 2025
The Department of State publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin which identifies all immigrant visa “preference” categories and indicates whether a backlog exists for each one. The categories are separated into two charts: a “Final Action” chart and a “Dates for Filing” chart for both family and employment-based immigration.
USCIS determined that the Final Action Dates chart must be used in May 2025. EB-2 and EB-3 preference categories remain backlogged for all countries, which means that individuals in these categories may not file Form I-485 applications until their priority dates become “current.” A priority date is current when it is earlier than the date listed in the Visa Bulletin.
In the May 2025 Visa Bulletin, the State Department advanced Final Action Dates for Indian nationals in the 3rd and Other Workers employment-based categories by two weeks. There were no other advancements in the employment-based preference categories.
Link: Visa Bulletin For May 2025
If you have questions about planning, please schedule a consultation with one of the attorneys at Iandoli, Desai & Cronin (info@iandoli.com).
Cap Season Update
We are now in the middle of the H-1B petition filing period for beneficiaries who were selected in the FY2026 H-1B cap lottery at the end of March. Employers have until June 30, 2025 to file H-1B petitions for their employees who were selected in the lottery. If USCIS does not receive the maximum 85,000 H-1B cap petitions by June 30, 2025, then they may run a second lottery to fill the remaining spaces.
Reminder: New USCIS Registration Requirement for Noncitizens who Turn Fourteen Years Old While in the United States
USCIS now requires registration of all noncitizens (including Legal Permanent Residents) 14 years old or older “who were not fingerprinted or registered when applying for a U.S. visa and who remain in the United States for 30 days or longer.” Most noncitizens with valid immigration status were already registered as part of the visa interview and I-94 issuance process. Noncitizens under the age of fourteen upon last entry were likely also already registered, but the new USCIS guidance requires them to “re-register” within 30 days after their fourteenth birthday.
You may use this publication from the American Immigration Lawyers Association to preliminarily assess whether you or a family members needs to register or re-register under USCIS’s new requirement. Note that this document does not serve as legal advice; please consult an immigration attorney if you believe you need to register or re-register.
Nonimmigrants may submit their registration online via Form G-325R. Once a noncitizen registers, USCIS will issue them evidence of their registration. Noncitizens must then carry this evidence with them at all times.
Failure to register could result in fines, imprisonment, or other penalties. However, registration of undocumented noncitizens would alert USCIS to the noncitizen’s presence in the United States. Please contact an immigration attorney if you have concerns about undocumented individuals registering.
Trump Administration Terminated Thousands of F-1 SEVIS Records for International Students but Many Records Now Restored
Trump Administration Terminates F-1 SEVIS Records for Thousands of International Students; Many Records Now Restored; ICE then issues amended Termination Guidelines
In early April, the Trump Administration terminated the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (“SEVIS”) records of numerous F-1 international students without prior notification to the students or their universities. Universities only found out about the terminations upon logging into their SEVIS portals, at which point they notified their students of the terminations. Universities and students received insufficient or no information explaining why the SEVIS records were terminated. These terminations left the students without valid immigration status, putting them at risk of detention and deportation.
In response, many affected students filed individual and class action lawsuits against the Trump Administration for failure to follow established administrative procedures and for violating constitutional due process rights. Judges across the US ordered the Trump Administration to restore the students’ statuses, which the Trump Administration began complying with on April 25th.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Carilli released the following statement regarding the terminations: “ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain Active or shall be re-activated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination. ICE maintains the authority to terminate a SEVIS record for other reasons, such as if the plaintiff fails to maintain his or her nonimmigrant status after the record is reactivated or engages in other unlawful activity that would render him or her removable from the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act.”
ICE reactivated terminated SEVIS records. The terminations were revoked by ICE, in part, because of constitutional violations of the Due Process Clause and because of ICE’s failure to follow the APA (Administrative Procedures Act).
On Monday, 4/28/25, ICE issued a SEVIS notice to all Government & School persons using SEVIS: “Broadcast Message: SEVIS Notice – Policy Regarding Termination of Records”. Apparently, by making the announcement of the new Termination Guidelines, ICE is seeking to correct the constitutional and statutory deficiencies which had led to the issuance of some 40 TROs (Temporary Restraining Orders) by the Federal Courts.
Litigation will no doubt continue on this front.
Noncitizens with valid immigration documents targeted for Pro-Palestine Activity
In March 2025, the Trump Administration began targeting noncitizens with valid immigration documents due to their connections to the pro-Palestine movement. Noncitizens were either denied entry into the U.S. after returning from a trip abroad, were arrested in the U.S. and placed in immigration detention, or are facing deportation charges. These individuals include: Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident and Columbia University graduate student; Rasha Alawieh, MD, a Brown University professor and doctor with a valid H-1B visa; and Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University Ph.D. student with valid F-1 nonimmigrant status. Several of these individuals were promptly moved to a Louisiana detention center without prior notice to their immigration attorneys and sometimes in violation of a court order.