- With Congress and the White House unable to agree on federal funding for Fiscal Year 2026, the government entered another shutdown on October 1st. Here’s how the government shutdown will impact various federal operations:
ICE: Considered “essential” law enforcement work and will continue with little disruption. The OBBBA provided $35 billion through Sep 2029, which will continue even with a shutdown. Furloughs are unlikely.
CBP: Similar to ICE, is considered “essential” law enforcement. While we will likely see some administrative furloughs, they will probably be very limited as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act already provided the agency with $15 billion for hiring, technology, and enforcement activities.
USCIS: Since the agency is largely funded by application fees, the impact of a shutdown should be minimal. E-Verify is funded by Congress, so that system could be suspended.
EOIR/Immigration Courts: Immigration courts are almost entirely funded by Congress, so a shutdown will likely have a significant impact. Although cases in both Boston and Chelmsford are proceeding normally so far, previous shutdowns have led to the suspension of non-detained cases in immigration courts. The Department of Justice has already indicated that detained cases are likely to continue as normal, as they are concerned about exacerbating the existing backlog of nearly 4 million immigration court cases, but we expect detained cases to be suspended in the near future, but people with court cases scheduled should plan to attend unless and until they hear otherwise from the government. Individuals with court hearings can check the status of their case through the online portal or by calling the EOIR at 1-800-898-7180.
Dept of State: Visa application processing is largely funded by fees, so the impact should be minimal.
Federal Courts: Will likely have to cease operations by the end of the week. Budgets for federal courts are tighter than they have been in the past, so there is less cushion for the judicial branch to ride out a shutdown. It is not clear yet what this might look like in practice, although SCOTUS is likely to continue operations.
The Trump Administration has shown that they are eager to move Congressionally appropriated money between agencies without Congress’s consent, and there is no guarantee that they will not do the same thing during a shutdown, so the above might change at any time on the whims of a capricious president.
- In another blatant attack on his political enemies, President Trump signed a new memo last week targeting nonprofits that oppose his agenda. For weeks, the administration has been maligning nonprofits as enemies of the people and baselessly accusing us of fueling political violence without providing any evidence. In particular, the memo specifically calls out organizations for “extremism on migration, race, and gender” and accuses our organizations of supporting, “the overthrow of the United States government” while also equating our peaceful work with and for our communities with terrorism. The memo contains no new enforcement authorities and is simply a gesture of intimidation to silence the administration’s critics and undermine our communities. Protect Democracy has created a toolkit for organizations that are concerned they may be targeted by the administration, which you can find here.
- Following a long and tortuous series of lawsuits, the Trump Administration indicated in court filings that it may reopen DACA to new applicants in the near future. The plan outlined by the administration would exclude residents of Texas from being eligible for work authorization under the program, but would otherwise seem to leave the program unchanged. There is no indication that eligibility for DACA will change, applicants would still need to have arrived before June 15, 2007 and before their 16th birthday. There is also no timeline of when the administration might reopen the program to first-time applicants.
- A federal judge in Boston has rejected the Trump Administration’s attacks on non-citizen academics who express support for Palestinians. The judge, a Reagan appointee, stated that “This case … squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in the United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally ‘yes, they do’.”
- As federal civil enforcement becomes more aggressive, more and more US citizens are being caught up. In Alabama, a native-born US citizen has filed a class action lawsuit to stop enforcement actions at industries with large immigrant workforces after being twice detained by DHS. In a separate action, a 79 year old business owner and naturalized US citizenship filed a $50 million claim against DHS after he was knocked down and severely injured by officers during an immigration raid at his car wash in California.
- Over the weekend, the administration shared with the media their appeal to the Supreme Court of the birthright citizenship case, although it appears they have not filed with the Court yet. Expect a hearing in late winter/early spring with a decision in the summer.