This week’s federal policy roundup covers immigration enforcement, voting rights, and humanitarian protections. From the expiration of TPS for hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Syrians, to new policies that bypass asylum interviews and convert child welfare data into an enforcement tool, this week’s developments carry serious consequences for immigrant families and communities across the country.
USCIS Rule Allows Asylum Cases to Bypass Initial Interviews
An interim final rule that took effect July 28 allows US Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) to refer certain affirmative asylum applications directly to immigration court without first interviewing the applicant. The change applies to some pending and future cases in which the applicant does not have another legal basis to remain in the United States. This could include applications that raise concerns about filing deadlines, ineligibility restrictions, or other legal restrictions. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that up to 444,724 pending applications could be reviewed under the new process. A referral is not a final denial, and an immigration judge will independently consider the asylum claim. However, applicants may lose the opportunity to explain inconsistencies or sensitive details in a less formal USCIS interview before entering removal proceedings. The rule may also add additional cases into immigration courts already facing substantial backlogs.
ORR Data Sharing Leads to More Than 12,000 Immigration Arrests
Since January 2025, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has shared more than 460,000 investigative leads with ICE, contributing to over 12,000 arrests of sponsors, household members, and others connected to unaccompanied children, according to internal government data. ORR is responsible for housing unaccompanied children and placing them with sponsors, typically parents or relatives, before reunification. Historically, sponsorship information was kept separate from immigration enforcement so children could be reunited regardless of their sponsors’ status.
The policy transforms child-welfare data into an enforcement tool, exposing parents and relatives to arrest when they provide personal records required to reunite with children in federal custody. The average time children spend in ORR custody increased from 30 days in fiscal year 2024 to 194 days in June 2026. Documented arrests following reunification have also separated families, disrupted children’s care, and contributed to missed immigration court appearances and deportation orders.
Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Reinstate Mail-Voting Executive Order
The Trump administration filed an emergency application asking the Supreme Court to allow key provisions of President Trump’s March executive order on mail voting to take effect while litigation continues. The order directs federal agencies to compile state-level citizenship data, requires the Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to voters on state-approved lists, and threatens to withhold federal funding from jurisdictions that do not comply. A federal district court blocked the provisions in 23 states and the District of Columbia, finding that the Constitution assigns authority over elections to states and Congress, not the president. The First Circuit left that ruling in place, warning that implementing new procedures before the midterms could create confusion and disenfranchise eligible voters.
The Supreme Court directed the states challenging the order to respond by August 3. The provisions remain blocked while the Court considers the administration’s request. If reinstated, the order could require election officials to adopt new verification procedures shortly before the election and create barriers for eligible voters whose citizenship records are missing, outdated, or inaccurate. Mail voting accounted for approximately 30 percent of ballots cast in the 2024 presidential election.
Haitian and Syrian TPS Protections Lapse
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 300,000 Haitians and approximately 6,000 Syrians expired on July 27. The expiration followed a Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to terminate the designations. Haitians who relied exclusively on TPS have lost their protection from deportation. Haiti remains under a State Department “Do Not Travel” advisory because of widespread gang violence, kidnappings, civil unrest, and limited access to health care. Nearly 1.5 million people are internally displaced in Haiti.
The expiration could also disrupt families, communities, and industries that rely on Haitian workers. An estimated 13,000 Haitian TPS holders work as nursing assistants and collectively care for approximately 65,000 patients each day, raising concerns that their removal from the workforce could deepen existing long-term-care staffing shortages. Many affected individuals have lived in the United States for years or decades, paid taxes, and support U.S.-citizen children and other relatives. As part of a broader policy, the administration has terminated TPS for nationals for more than a dozen countries. This affects approximately 1 million immigrants.