National Immigration Forum

06/05/2026

For 45 years, the U.S. refugee program worked one way: the people in the most danger got priority. They were among the most thoroughly vetted people entering the country.

That's all changed.

Last week, the administration raised the year's refugee cap from 7,500 to 17,500. All 10,000 of the new spots are reserved for one group: white South Africans of Afrikaner descent. The justification is an "emergency refugee situation." The South African government rejects that claim, and the administration hasn't offered examples to back it up.

Since the fiscal year began in October, more than 6,000 white South Africans have come in as refugees. From every other country in the world combined? Three.

When the initial 7,500 cap was set last fall, Jennie Murray, our President and CEO, said: "The administration's decision to set a low admissions cap is deeply disappointing and contrasts with America's longstanding tradition of welcoming the persecuted." She added that the refugee program "strengthens our national security and bolsters our economy, in addition to honoring human dignity."

A program built around a single group from a single country isn't that tradition.

06/04/2026

The Department of Homeland Security extended Temporary Protected Status for people from Lebanon who are already in the United States. The protection was set to expire May 27. It now runs through November 27, 2026.

TPS lets people stay and work legally when their home country isn't safe to return to, because of war, disaster, or other emergencies. DHS pointed to fast-moving events in Lebanon as the reason it couldn't yet say returning home was safe.

This is the first time the current administration has extended TPS for any country, after moving to end it for more than a dozen others over the past year. The extension is six months rather than the longer 18-month period the law allows, so DHS will review conditions in Lebanon again before November.

As military clashes intensify in the Middle East, the Department of Homeland Security issued a six-month extension.

06/04/2026

When people argue about immigration, they almost never talk about retirement checks. But the two are closely tied together!

Political scientist Robert Cropf made the case in The Fulcrum. Social Security runs on simple math: workers pay in, retirees draw out. Birth rates are falling. The population is aging. As Cropf puts it, the system's dependence on immigrant labor "is not ideological. It is demographic, rooted in the shrinking ratio between workers paying into the system and retirees drawing benefits from it."

We've been making this case for years. Our "Room to Grow" research found the U.S. needs about a 37% increase in net immigration, roughly 370,000 more immigrants a year, to avoid sliding into demographic and economic decline. The reason is the same one Cropf names: too few workers paying in.

This matters for all of us, and especially for those already retired. The Social Security Administration says about 40% of older Americans count on Social Security for at least half their income. Roughly 12% rely on it for 90% or more.

This is why we keep saying immigration is a workforce issue, not just a border issue. A nation that wants to keep its promises to retirees needs workers paying into the system.

The politics of restriction are colliding with the arithmetic of an aging nation.

06/03/2026

ICE's detention system held roughly 40,000 people in January 2025. By February 2026, that number passed 70,000.

Our new resource looks at what that growth has meant for medical care behind detention walls. The findings are hard to read.

Federal law requires ICE to provide necessary medical care to everyone it holds. ICE's own standards spell out what that means: a comprehensive intake screening within 12 hours of arrival, daily chances to request care, round-the-clock emergency care, and access to outside providers.

In October 2025, the system that paid for off-site care collapsed. For more than two decades, the VA processed reimbursement claims so detainees could see outside specialists for dialysis, chemotherapy, and prenatal care. When that agreement ended on October 3, 2025, internal ICE documents called it an "absolute emergency." Months later, some outside providers stopped seeing detainees because they hadn't been paid.

Human beings are paying the price. ICE reported 33 deaths in custody in 2025, the highest annual number in over two decades and a threefold increase from the 11 deaths recorded in 2024.

Just because we are detaining more people doesn’t mean the law no longer applies. ICE still has to provide adequate medical care to everyone it holds.

06/02/2026

There’s been a lot of movement on immigration, and most of it raises hard questions about fairness and due process.

In Newark, detainees at Delaney Hall started a hunger strike over conditions inside the facility. Families say guards have used force against them. A senator was hit with pepper balls at a protest outside, and New Jersey's governor was denied entry when she asked to see the conditions for herself.

The Trump administration is also weighing whether to pull federal customs and immigration staff from international airports in cities it calls "sanctuary cities," including New York, Chicago, and Seattle. That would slow arrivals right before the World Cup and a busy summer travel season.

And in immigration courts, judges are now packing 100 or more cases into single "mega master" hearings. People who arrive late or miss the hearing are getting deportation orders on the spot, often with little warning.

An orderly, secure, and humane system depends on a fair process for everyone in it.

05/29/2026

A traffic stop. A missed paperwork deadline. A decades-old visa overstay. Until recently, immigrants picked up for situations like these could request a bond hearing: a chance to make their case before an immigration judge and, if approved, return home to their families while their court case moved forward.

That's changing fast.

A July memo from ICE instructs officers to detain immigrants "for the duration of their removal proceedings." Uriel J. García at The Texas Tribune reports this shift breaks with "decades of established law.” Lawsuits are piling up in response.

ICE detention is already at a record high. More than 59,000 people, nearly half with no criminal record and no pending charges. New federal funding will push capacity past 116,000 beds.

Bond hearings exist for a reason. They let a judge, not just an officer, decide whether detention is actually necessary. They keep parents with their kids while cases work through the court. They give long-time residents a chance to be heard.

Last year the Trump administration launched a policy of keeping all immigrants arrested by ICE in detention without the right to request bond, reversing decades of established law.

05/29/2026

Pilar found out she was pregnant after three years of trying. Two weeks later, she found out her baby might not be born a U.S. citizen.

She's one of millions of parents waiting on the Supreme Court this summer. The case is Trump v. Barbara, and it asks whether the president can end birthright citizenship by executive order, a right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment since 1868 and upheld by the Supreme Court in 1898.

Pilar told Christianity Today she once supported President Trump. She aligns with conservative values and serves in youth ministry at her charismatic church. But the executive order changed something for her.

"As a mom, it's the worst," she said. "When things happen to your kids, that kind of broke me that day."

Jennie Murray, our President, said churches are showing up in real ways: organizing prayer, putting together baby showers for undocumented women whose husbands are in detention.

"I've seen a lot of congregations start to figure out if they can actually stand in the gap," she said.

The Court is expected to rule in June or early July.

As the Supreme Court weighs Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship, Christian immigrants say it has cast a shadow over the joy of parenthood.

05/28/2026

Big news worth celebrating. 🌟

Emily Foster, our Vice President and Chief of Public Affairs, has been named one of Washingtonian magazine's 500 Most Influential People of 2026.

For over two decades, Emily has worked at the intersection of immigration policy and the business community. She's spent her career helping CEOs, policymakers, and advocates understand each other and find common ground on one of the most consequential debates of our time.

Washingtonian put it this way: she's "one of Washington's most effective translators between the business community and the immigration-reform debate."

Anyone who's worked with Emily knows that's true. She listens carefully, builds trust across lines that don't usually meet, and shows up ready to do the work. The Forum is stronger because of her, and so is the broader conversation about an orderly, secure, and humane immigration system.

Congratulations, Emily. This honor is well-earned!

05/28/2026

For the first time since the Great Depression, more people left the United States than came in.

That's what 2025 looked like. The U.S. lost about 150,000 people through a mix of reduced immigration and rising emigration. Only 2.6 million people immigrated last year, down from 5.8 million in 2023. Over 2.2 million noncitizens self-deported, on top of roughly 675,000 formal deportations.

Here's what that means for the economy. Noncitizen workers make up about one in five U.S. workers. Payroll growth has already slowed: Deloitte reports the economy added just 29,000 jobs per month from October to December 2025, compared to 166,000 per month in 2024. Construction, transportation, and manufacturing felt it first.

Immigrants contribute more than $1.3 trillion every year in federal, state, and local taxes. Undocumented immigrants alone contribute around $100 billion. Fewer workers paying in means more pressure on Social Security at the exact moment baby boomers are retiring in record numbers.

Our new analysis breaks down what net negative migration means for jobs, taxes, Social Security, and U.S. global competitiveness.

05/27/2026

Four immigration developments, all from the federal government, all moving in the same direction.

The Trump administration is raising the refugee cap by 10,000, and reserving every one of those slots for White South Africans. UNHCR has not designated this group as needing refugee protection. Meanwhile, refugees who already had conditional approval are still waiting.

A new executive order pushes banks to collect immigration status information from customers. The banking industry estimates this could cost $2.6 to $5.6 billion a year to implement.

USCIS issued new guidance requiring more green card applicants to leave the U.S. and finish the process from their home country, even people who've been living here legally for years.

And DOJ is onboarding more than 80 new immigration judges, its largest class ever, while having fired more than 100 sitting judges since early 2025.