What Happened This Week? 9/21 - 9/27
By Cady Wu and Olivia Chen
SEPTEMBER 14, 2026.
On September 14, 2026, a federal whistleblower said that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents may have broken state laws while investigating voter fraud—according to the whistleblower, agents were required to review at least 40 voters per day, amounting to roughly 12 minutes per case and a high risk of error. The investigation, known as the “Unlawful Voter Initiative,” uses voter data and DHS records to identify potential noncitizen voters; agents have been using private information such as birth dates and partial Social Security numbers to search public state voter websites for voting records. Yet some states explicitly limit website access to voters checking their own records, prompting agents to raise concerns about the legality of the searches, as well as the accuracy of the data, as the investigation’s source database often contains significant errors, including identification numbers for undocumented immigrants that remain even after citizenship is obtained. Following concerns that relying on faulty data could result in false records or improper identification of U.S. citizens as unlawful voters, Senators Chuck Schumer and Alex Padilla called on the Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullion to halt the operation and answer questions regarding the investigation. Still, the DHS’s chief counsel argued that the searches were permissible for the investigation, and DHS leadership told agents that they would not be personally liable if searches were conducted as part of their official duties and properly documented.
SEPTEMBER 21, 2026.
On Sunday, September 20, 2026, an ICE agent shot and injured a 28-year-old Venezuelan man, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, in North Austin, Texas, during an immigration enforcement operation. Garces Perez suffered a gunshot wound to the torso and was initially reported to be in serious but stable condition, according to DHS later on. DHS said Garces Perez was placed in federal custody pending deportation, and that he was being held at an ICE detention facility in Pearsall, Texas. His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said Garces Perez called his wife, who has legal status, after being shot and told her he was inside his car and in pain. Garces Perez's car had at least two bullet holes in the passenger side, according to Austin Councilmember Mike Siegel and photographs from the scene, and video from the scene shows at least one apparently uninjured person in civilian clothing also being handcuffed. The DHS, with assistance from the FBI, is leading the federal investigation into the officer involved in the shooting. Texas and Austin authorities are also involved in investigating the incident. Texas authorities have been working closely with federal immigration officials, including ICE, on immigration enforcement, but it is still unclear exactly why the ICE agent fired the shots and whether the agent's actions were legally justified. The investigation is ongoing.
SEPTEMBER 21, 2026.
More than 25,000 people have been deported to third countries since Trump returned to office in2025, including about 20,000 sent to Mexico and more than 5,000 were sent to other countries across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central Asia. More than 100 deportation flights to 28 countries have been made and the U.S. has made agreements with 35 countries to accept deportees. The administration has committed at least $410 million in connection with third-country deportation agreements, which can go directly to governments or through international organizations such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM). On top of agreements being different and having various restrictions, the Trump administration has said deportees include criminals but documents reportedly show that most of the 35 countries with agreements said they would not accept people with violent criminal records. These agreements are created by a State Department office called the Office of Remigration which was created in 2025 and has been involved in negotiating third-country agreements. Human-rights lawyers describe the arrangements as a deterrence strategy intended to make unauthorized migration to the U.S. appear more risky and uncertain. A major federal appeals court ruling on September 18, 2026 found the third-country deportation policy unlawful because of due-process concerns. The court said migrants were not given enough notice or opportunity to challenge being sent to another country, particularly when they might face danger there. The administration is expected to appeal.
SEPTEMBER 21, 2026.
Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, warned that bringing inflation back down could cause higher unemployment and slower economic activity in the short term. Goolsbee pointed to several ongoing supply shocks that are driving up inflation, including higher oil prices associated with the Iran war, tariffs, and strong investment in AI data centers. Goolsbee argued that the Federal Reserve may need to raise interest rates further to reduce consumer and business spending enough to match the reduced supply of goods and services, even though the Federal Reserve is trying to bring inflation back to its 2% target. However, because of this, Goolsbee said the Federal Reserve is facing a difficult choice between bringing inflation down or maintaining maximum employment. However, higher interest rates generally make borrowing more expensive, which can reduce spending and investment. That can slow economic growth and potentially increase unemployment. Currently, the Federal Reserve recently raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to about 3.9%, its first increase since 2023. Policymakers indicated another increase could come later this year but Goolsbee believes there will be more.
SEPTEMBER 21, 2026.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has stopped publicly displaying the locations of thousands of detainees who have received final deportation or removal orders, removing them from the online Detainee Locator System on September 15, 2026. This change was discovered as three current or former ICE officials told news outlets about the change, and immigration lawyers said their clients had disappeared from the locator system. The American Immigration Lawyers Association also warned its members. This could affect the approximately 65,000 people in ICE detention facilities as of early July. Immigration attorneys estimate that roughly 30% of detainees likely have final removal orders, and about 16,000 people booked into ICE detention in July already have final removal orders. Locations matter as lawyers and relatives use the locator to determine where someone is being held and how to contact them. Detainees are also frequently transferred between facilities before deportation. Now, relatives may no longer know whether a person has been transferred, remains detained, or has been deported and losing access to clients’ locations makes it harder for attorneys to communicate with their clients, prepare legal challenges, inform courts about developments, and try to stop an impending deportation. Generally, a final removal order means that an immigration judge has ordered someone removed and the decision has either been upheld on appeal or was not appealed. Some orders can also result when a person does not appear for an immigration hearing. However, this does not necessarily eliminate every legal option. This new practice reportedly does not apply to detainees at Adelanto, California, temporary holding facilities in Minneapolis, New York City, New York, and Suburban Chicago, Illinois. Interestingly, ICE did not confirm or deny that it had removed these detainees from the public locator. The agency said people with final removal orders are being prioritized for deportation and cited what it called a “historic number of injunctions” from courts blocking individual removals.
SEPTEMBER 21, 2026.
Due to a 1982 Supreme Court Case, Plyler v. Doe, undocumented children are able to attend public K-12 schools in the U.S. regardless of immigration status. However, since 2025, 8 states including Oklahoma, California, and Alabama have introduced over 15 bills that could make it harder for undocumented children to attend public schools. In these bills, the proposals include asking schools to collect students’ immigration information, requiring families to pay tuition, and denying enrollment without proof of legal status. So far, all of these efforts have failed and thus have not yet removed the right to public education, but the ideas have been introduced and are within circulation. Most of these efforts were abandoned, if not blocked. Critics of such policies argue that educating undocumented children benefits the U.S. economy, because they later can become workers and taxpayers. In addition, they also say that undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes which help fund public services. It is yet to be seen if undocumented immigrant children will continue to retain rights to attend public schools, but in the meantime, the 1982 SCOTUS precedent still maintains these protections.
SEPTEMBER 24, 2026.
On September 24, 2026, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report, finding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies have wasted tens of millions of dollars on rushed efforts to expand immigration detention capacity, with additional waste possible because of continued mismanagement as well. Congress gave ICE $45 billion for detention expansion under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, but the GAO has said that the agency lacks a comprehensive strategic plan for how to spend the money. The detainee population rose from 39,000 in January 2025 to 67,000 by the end of July this year; the GAO identified nearly $3 million spent on tents at Guantanamo Bay that were never used, and $20 million on maintaining warehouses now being sold without ever housing detainees,
SEPTEMBER 24, 2026.
According to the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), the proposed $103,265 H-1B fee could generate about $2.6 billion annually, rather than the $8.8 billion projected by DHS, a difference of roughly $6.2 billion. The proposed fee would apply to H-1B petitions subject to the annual cap, approximately 65,000 regular H-1Bs and 20,000 for foreign nationals with qualifying U.S. advanced degrees. NFAP's analysis assumes a dramatic drop in employer participation. It uses DHS data showing that H-1B consular filings fell 91.2% after the administration imposed a $100,000 fee in 2025. Applying that decline to FY2026's 343,981 eligible registrations would leave roughly 30,270 petitions, far below the 85,000 petitions DHS expects. However, DHS argues that employers would continue filing at high enough levels despite the enormous fee, but NFAP argues that DHS improperly relied on studies of relatively small fee changes to predict the impact of a fee exceeding $100,000. This projection is extremely important in litigation, as lawyers challenging the rule could argue that DHS failed to adequately account for the predictable reduction in applications, hence supporting an argument under the Administrative Procedure Act that the rule was arbitrary or inadequately justified.
SEPTEMBER 24, 2026.
A federal judge, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, ordered ICE to overhaul conditions at the 26 Federal Plaza detention facility in New York City, describing conditions during summer 2025 as “inhumane and unconstitutional.” Judge Kaplan issued a permanent injunction after finding that ICE repeatedly violated earlier court orders and, according to his opinion, sometimes concealed or recklessly disregarded information about its compliance. The facility was designed for short term holding periods of 12 hours or less, but detainees were held much longer and the overcrowding resulted in inadequate sleep, sanitation, hygiene, food, water, and medical care. Additionally, access to lawyers was also restricted and detainees had difficulty making meaningful calls, because calls were sometimes limited to a few minutes or ICE staff or contractors were close enough to overhear conversations, undermining confidentiality. The court imposed minimum standards for the detention facility, but DHS still defended its practices.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2026.
This summer, ICE arrests surged nationwide, hitting record highs of about 43,000 in June, 49,000 in July, and nearly 51,000 in August. Under the Trump administration, the crackdown was very widespread but still relatively low-profile. Rather than relying on highly visible large raids, ICE carried out many smaller operations that were documented through security cameras, cellphone videos, court records, and eyewitness accounts. Enforcement has also expanded into everyday settings, with individuals being arrested at or near laundromats, homes, traffic stops, airports, courthouses, hospitals, schools, churches, nightclubs, construction sites, and other routine locations. Furthermore, state and local cooperation helped expand enforcement through special agreements known as 287(g) agreements. In states such as Texas and Florida, ICE worked with sheriffs and state highway patrol officers. Federal funding and new technology also contributed to the broader enforcement network. Overall, previously sensitive or “protected” locations have seen increased enforcement, especially with ICE activity in courthouses and hospitals.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2026.
The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to revisit a major immigration detention question: whether certain immigrants facing deportation can be held throughout removal proceedings without a bond hearing. The petition involves Genalo v. D.C., a case that the administration wants to take up after an earlier case, Genalo v. Black, became moot following a pardon by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The underlying detainee, identified as D.C., is a Dominican national facing removal. According to ICE, he has a criminal history involving drug trafficking and domestic violence charges and has been previously removed from the U.S. six times. Federal law requires mandatory detention for certain criminal noncitizens during removal proceedings. However, the Second Circuit has held that prolonged detention can trigger a bond hearing, where the government must justify continued detention, though different federal appeals courts have reached different conclusions. Now, the Trump administration is taking the unusual step of asking the Supreme Court to intervene before the Second Circuit has finished ruling on the current case. The Supreme Court has previously upheld mandatory detention in certain removal proceedings, but the article says the Court has left open the specific constitutional question of when prolonged detention requires a bond hearing.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2026.
Since TPS ended in July 2026, the U.S. has deported 529 Haitians according to Haiti’s National office for Migration (ONM) across six deportation flights. The latest flight, on September 24, carried 39 people from Miami to Cap-Haïtien. Among the deportees, 23 were former TPS holders, 6 had pending asylum cases, 2 had pending green card or permanent residency applications, 6 had entered the U.S. during the Biden-era humanitarian parole program, and only two were apprehended by ICE at a border crossing. Deportation flights have been arriving almost weekly since August 20, and U.S. authorities had told Haiti that they could operate as many as two flights per week, carrying up to 250 people total. Haitian and international rights groups are criticizing the deportations and treatment of detainees, as GARR reported that some deportees were allegedly shackled during the roughly two-hour flight. Additionally, Human Rights Watch is calling for deportations to Haiti to be suspended, arguing that some people with unresolved asylum claims are being returned to a country experiencing severe gang violence and lacking sufficient capacity to protect or house them. While Haiti provides immediate assistance upon arrival, including a hot meal, food, and a 25,000 Haitian gourde allowance (about $192), long-term reintegration support is limited. Haitian officials and humanitarian organizations reportedly lack sufficient funding, personnel, and programs for sustained housing, health care, transportation, and community reintegration. On a broader scale, Haitian authorities say the U.S. has deported 1,397 people to Haiti since January 2026, while GARR reported that the Dominican Republic had forcibly returned 194,465 people to Haiti through August.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2026.
Democratic Senators Dick Durbin (Illinois) and Alex Padilla (California) introduced the Immigration Warrant Reform Act, aimed at limiting warrantless ICE arrests and prolonged immigration detention. The bill would generally require ICE officers to obtain an administrative warrant from a supervisor showing probable cause before detaining someone, and provide the warrant and court-appearance information to the detainee; warrantless arrests would trigger a bond hearing within 24 hours. Additionally, anyone held in immigration detention would receive a custody review every 60 days by an immigration judge or federal district judge, with the goal of preventing indefinite detention without justification. Durbin and Padilla say the legislation responds to reports of U.S. citizens and legally authorized immigrants being arrested, and is intended to strengthen oversight and reduce racial profiling and arbitrary enforcement. However, passage faces significant political obstacles because Republicans control both chambers of Congress. Immigration advocates support stronger safeguards but criticize the bill as insufficient, particularly because it still permits warrantless arrests when someone is deemed an “imminent danger to the community,” a term the legislation does not clearly define. Advocates also question how the bill would hold ICE accountable for violating the proposed standards and argue that immigration detention for civil violations raises broader due-process and civil-liberties concerns.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2026.
The Supreme Court temporarily cleared the way for the Trump administration to use an expanded DHS immigration database to help state and local election officials verify voter citizenship ahead of the November 2026 midterms. The database is an updated version of DHS’s SAVE system, which was originally used to verify eligibility for certain federal benefits. The overhaul connects SAVE with Social Security records and expands its search capabilities. The administration argues the changes are needed to improve election-integrity efforts and detect ineligible voters, but a federal judge had blocked the overhaul, finding that it likely violated federal laws governing Social Security data and disclosure of personal information. The D.C. Circuit declined to lift that block before the Supreme Court intervened. However, the Supreme Court's emergency ruling is not a final decision on the legality of the program; it simply allows the changes to proceed while the underlying lawsuit continues in lower courts. In SCOTUS, the three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson arguing that the potential harm to even a small number of eligible voters outweighed the government's claimed harm from temporarily blocking the program. Additionally, voting-rights groups oppose the overhaul, arguing that inaccurate data could lead to eligible voters being improperly targeted or removed from voter rolls, and the League of Women Voters called the database “unprecedented” and said it would continue challenging the program on voting-rights and privacy grounds. The immediate effect of the ruling is limited by the federal 90-day pre-election “quiet period”, during which states generally cannot conduct systematic voter-roll purges; changes must instead be handled individually. The decision is part of a series of emergency election-related cases reaching the Supreme Court shortly before the 2026 midterms.
SEPTEMBER 26, 2026.
Trump publicly criticized Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) by reposting more than a dozen social-media comments attacking her and calling for her replacement, after Salazar recently broke with Trump on immigration after releasing an ad saying his immigration policies “have gone too far” and that some Hispanic voters “feel betrayed.” Trump initially said he understood her position, while describing her as having become “a little bit soft on the border,” and Salazar later said she had a cordial conversation with Trump and urged him again to reconsider his immigration approach. Republican criticism of Trump’s move followed: former Rep. Carlos Curbelo said Trump appeared to be demanding “absolute loyalty” from Salazar despite her strong support for him. Salazar is currently seeking re-election in November, and the Cook Political Report recently shifted her race from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican.” This reflects the growing public differences between some Republican candidates and Trump ahead of the midterm elections.
SEPTEMBER 27, 2026.
DHS has denied reports that ICE had ordered agents to stop arresting immigrants without criminal records, specifically saying that “No one is off the table” and that ICE would continue arresting people who are in the U.S. unlawfully, while emphasizing a focus on criminal illegal aliens in sanctuary cities. The Daily Wire had first reported that new guidance would prioritize immigrants with criminal records and end “collateral arrests” of people who were not the primary targets of enforcement operations, and Fox News reporter Bill Melugin said sources in the administration and ICE told him the report was the result of a miscommunication surrounding instructions to prioritize the “worst first.” Melugin reported that ICE subsequently sent guidance to field offices reaffirming existing enforcement policy, including that collateral arrests would continue. This comes amidst ongoing scrutiny of ICE enforcement, especially given the recent September 20 shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan man with no known criminal record. Still, DHS said he had a final removal order; his lawyer disputed the circumstances surrounding his missed immigration hearing.
References:
https://apnews.com/article/inflation-goolsbee-federal-reserve-rates-5acf1f7e4f38ac77329fa0b9aaddd30f
https://www.washingtonsun.com/immigration/dhs-ice-arrest-guidance-policy-report?redirected=notus_org
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