National Immigration Forum

06/19/2026

Rahim Sultani fled Afghanistan with his family in 2023. The Taliban had marked them as high-risk for violence, so they left and resettled in Columbia, South Carolina. His youngest daughter was born here in May 2025. She's an American citizen by birth.

Now that might change.

The Supreme Court is weighing an executive order that would redefine birthright citizenship. If the Court allows it, children born on U.S. soil to parents who aren't citizens or green card holders could lose the citizenship they were born with. Sultani's family is still waiting on their green cards, more than 18 months now, with almost no updates.

"We came here to find a piece of life for us and for our family," Sultani told reporter Sydney Lewis of The State. "But here again we are facing another problem."
In South Carolina alone, more than 20,000 children are U.S. citizens born to undocumented parents, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty. If the order takes effect, many could become stateless and lose access to basic services like Medicaid.

This is a settled legal question. The Supreme Court ruled in 1898, in the Wong Kim Ark case, that being born here makes you a citizen, no matter your parents' status. That's held for more than 125 years.

A decision is expected before the end of June.

06/19/2026

The Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution on immigration. It backs strict enforcement and rejects amnesty. It also calls for humane policies that uphold justice and mercy, and it rejects nativism, discrimination, and racial or ethnic hostility.

That combination of opinions is where most people of faith land.

Our new polling with the Bullfinch Group shows it clearly. 78% of Protestants said they'd support a fair, firm, and compassionate immigration solution. Only 14% opposed it.

What do people of faith want?

- Consequences for breaking the law, followed by a chance to earn lawful status
- Securing legal immigration and ending illegal immigration
- A firm but compassionate approach

American voters in general (not just those in the pews) back the solution by 72% to 14%, with more than 70% of Republicans and independents on board.

Most people aren't asking for chaos or cruelty. They want rules that work and dignity for the people those rules affect.

Immigration is one issue among several that delegates of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination will consider, but among its most important.

06/18/2026

Adjustment of status sounds technical. Let us explain! (It probably affects people you know.)

For more than 60 years, immigrants already living and working here legally could apply for their green cards without leaving the country. They filed their paperwork and stayed put while it was processed.

A May 21 USCIS memo signaled that this process could change. It called adjustment of status an "extraordinary" benefit instead of the routine process it has been since 1960. Public statements suggested many applicants would instead have to return to their home countries and finish at a U.S. consulate abroad.

But applying from outside the U.S. wouldn’t be a small detour. Consular processing can take up to two years. For some family members of U.S. citizens, leaving the country could trigger reentry bars that lock them out for as long as a decade, even though they qualify for a green card under current law.

After pushback from businesses and lawyers, the administration walked much of it back, saying skilled workers and people serving the national interest would likely still be able to apply from inside the country. But this situation showed how much rides on the adjustment of status process. In fiscal year 2024, nearly 783,000 people became permanent residents this way.

06/17/2026

New polling has an answer most people don't expect. By a margin of 72% to 14%, American voters back an immigration solution built on three things:

1. Consequences for breaking the law, then a chance to earn lawful status.
2. Securing legal immigration and ending illegal immigration.
3. A firm but compassionate path forward.

Jennie Murray, our President and CEO: "Across every political affiliation and ideological viewpoint, there is an overwhelming consensus for a fair, restitution-based immigration solution."

The agreement is there. The question is whether Congress and the administration will act on it.

06/16/2026

Four immigration stories shaped last week.

Congress passed nearly $70 billion to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the rest of the administration's term. The bill cleared the House 214-212 and was signed on June 10. It's the largest enforcement funding in U.S. history, and it passed without the accountability reforms many lawmakers pushed for.

A federal judge blocked the $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas. Those visas help hospitals, universities, and businesses hire skilled workers like doctors and nurses. The court ruled the fee worked like a tax, and only Congress can create one.

Another judge ordered the government to restart asylum and immigration processing for people from 39 countries. Hundreds of thousands had been stuck waiting for work permits and decisions for months.

And the World Cup kicked off across North America, with travel bans and visa suspensions raising questions about who can actually attend.

06/12/2026

Gloria Miller is 100 years old. Earlier this month, she joined more than 100 of her neighbors in Lansing, Michigan, for a prayer walk in support of immigrants.

"As long as I'm still alive, I wanna do something good," she told Fox 47 News.

Stories like Gloria's are happening all over the country this month. Our friends at We Choose Welcome have launched their Walk in Solidarity, inviting people of faith to walk one mile every day in June, in honor of World Refugee Day and in remembrance that the journey to safety is often made on foot.

You don't have to be an expert to take a step. You just have to start walking.

It's not too late to join:

In June 2026, we’re inviting this community to Walk in Solidarity with people who are displaced, detained, and deported—neighbors near and far navigating journeys no one should have to take alone.In honor of World Refugee Day, we come together to collectively honor the strength, resilience, and ...

06/11/2026

Federal law requires ICE to provide medical care to everyone in its custody. A new investigation by the Associated Press and KFF Health News found that's not what's happening.

Reporters reviewed thousands of court cases and found more than 300 sworn claims of medical neglect from detainees in at least 33 states. People say they went without medicine for high blood pressure, diabetes, epilepsy, and HIV. Infections went untreated. Cancer care stopped.

One man in Virginia was held for 10 months. His attorney says he was denied insulin and lost some of his vision as a result.

This is happening as detention grows fast. More than 75,000 people were in ICE custody as of mid-January, up from about 40,000 a year before. About 70% have no criminal conviction.

A system can enforce the law and still treat people with dignity. In fact, it has to. The legal duty to provide care doesn't shrink when the detained population grows.

Immigrant detainees have told courts across the nation that detention officials have failed to treat or stabilize their conditions, from pregnancy to prostate cancer, suggesting that systemic lapses in care extend well beyond record deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.

06/11/2026

Training for new ICE officers is going back up to 72 days on July 1.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed the change before a House committee last week. "We had to rewrite the curriculum," he said. "All training starting July 1st will be back up to the regular standards."

Here's the background: last summer, Congress gave ICE billions of dollars to hire 10,000 new deportation officers. To get officers in the field faster, training was cut from 72 days to 42. A former ICE lawyer who helped train new officers called the shortened program "deficient, defective and broken."

The Council on National Security and Immigration warned about this in February. In a white paper, DHS veteran Theresa Cardinal Brown wrote that rapid hiring without strong training and vetting puts both public safety and national security at risk.

Restoring the full training schedule is a step toward enforcement that is professional, accountable, and safe for officers and communities alike. An orderly, secure, and humane system depends on it.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says Immigration and Customs Enforcement will increase training for new officers.

06/10/2026

Two weeks ago, a new federal policy looked like it would force many green card applicants to leave the U.S. and apply from their home countries.

The next week, the administration changed its tone.

Why? American businesses spoke up. Companies, industry groups, and CEOs told the White House the policy would hurt their workers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce raised concerns. So did tech leaders. By late last week, officials were telling reporters that most people seeking green cards would not have to leave the country after all.

Our President and CEO Jennie Murray told Washington Post: "Business reached out in a straightforward way to the administration to share their concerns about the green card policy. We are glad to know that the administration is listening to those concerns and willing to work with the American business community."

There's still no official written guidance, and many employers are waiting for clarity. But this moment shows something we see again and again: when business leaders speak up for their immigrant workers, policymakers listen.

Big business, including tech and AI companies, launched a quiet but extensive lobbying effort against the green card policy requiring applicants to apply from abroad.

06/09/2026

Several state legislatures wrapped up their sessions this year without passing harmful immigration bills. That didn't happen by accident.

Broad coalitions of faith, law enforcement, and business leaders pushed back. Yesterday, some of them came to DC. Community leaders from Iowa, Tennessee, Virginia, and Idaho shared what they're watching in their states: immigrant kids' access to K-12 education, mandatory E-Verify, and how federal, state, and local agencies share immigration enforcement work.

They shared that states are trying to fill a gap, but immigration is a federal responsibility. Communities and employers need certainty, and that only comes from Congress.