Want to keep up with immigration news in the U.S.? Every month, Global Cleveland publishes our immigration update so that you can stay informed about the latest immigration news.

This month’s Immigration Update at a glance:

• More States Move Forward on IMG Bills

• DHS to Screen for Antisemitic Activity Online

• Supreme Court Blocks Deportations under Alien Enemies Act

• Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian man and Maryland resident who was deported to a prison in El Salvador due to an “administrative error”
• Held in a high-security prison known as CECOT, Abrego Garcia was moved to a different detention center in El Salvador where he will have his own room.
• Van Hollen has been outspoken in support of Abrego’s case, which has been the subject of a protracted legal battle in the US
• https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/kilmar-abrego-garcia-transferred-el-salvador-maryland-van-hollen/

• A controversial bill in Tennessee that would criminalize the act of being in the state without legal status passed a subcommittee.
• The bill would require judges to issue a 72-hour warning to violators to leave the state
• However, the bill would not go into effect even if passed; because of the prior supreme court present against states enforcing federal immigration law, the law would not be in effect unless the supreme court overturns the 2012 decision in Arizona v. US, a constitutional amendment is passed, or other states enact similar laws that are upheld in court
• https://tennesseelookout.com/2025/03/26/bill-giving-immigrants-without-legal-status-72-hours-to-leave-tennessee-advances-in-house/

• Vermont and Arkansas are two of the latest states to move forward on alternative pathway legislation for International Medical Graduates.
• A majority of states in the US now either passed or introduced legislation on the subject, which has been a major trend across the US in the last two years.
• States considering the legislation in the current session include Minnesota, Kentucky, Indiana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Wyoming, Arizona, Georgia, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Vermont.

• Rep Paul Gosar has introduced legislation, the Fairness for High Skilled Americans Act, which would abolish the OPT program.
• Gosar said the OPT program “undercuts American workers” and also criticized the program for allowing employers to avoid having to pay FICA and Medicare taxes
• The bill has eight co-sponsors, all of whom are republicans
• https://gosar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=8784

• As of April 24^th, over 60 international students across 14 Ohio colleges and universities have seen their visas revoked by the Trump administration
• Several of these revocations are being challenged in court, some of these involve students with relatively minor charges on their records, or students who were charged with a crime, but later had those charges dropped.
• The universities with the largest number of revoked visas are Youngstown State University, the Ohio State University, and Kent State University.
• https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/04/ohio-visa-revocations-reach-61-international-students-across-14-colleges.html

• The Department of Homeland Security will begin to monitor prospective immigrants and international visitors social media for antisemitic statements, the agency announced in early April.
• The screening will also include support for antisemitic terrorist organizations; the announcement specified Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the group commonly known as the Houthis, and Hezbollah.
• Under this new guidance, social media content that is deemed to be antisemitic will be considered a negative factor in analysis of their application
• https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/dhs-to-begin-screening-aliens-social-media-activity-for-antisemitism

• US Citizenship and Naturalization Services updated both the I-9 form and E-Verify.
• I-9s and the online E-Verify website are used by employers to verify a new employee’s work authorization in the US
• The changes are relatively minor, but a significant aspect of the change includes updated wording for the List B documents, establishing a person’s identity
• https://www.boundless.com/blog/form-i-9-e-verify-updates/

• The “Gold Card” visa, a proposed visa for high net worth individuals, is moving forward after an announcement earlier this year.
• The program would allow for foreign individuals to obtain residence in the United States after paying a $5 million fee to the government. The program would replace the existing EB-5 investor visa
• While at the moment, the program is being created by an executive order, there is speculation it may not be upheld in court, and could require congressional legislation.
• https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/10/gold-card-trump-lutnick-millionaires/83033022007/

• The Supreme Court issued a temporary ruling that halted the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants from Venezuela accused of being members of organized crime organizations
• The law was passed in 1798 but has only been used rarely, most recently during the Second World War
• The decision was issued after the ACLU asked for its intervention, seeking to block the deportation of several Venezuelan migrants.
• https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-temporarily-blocks-deportations-venezuelan-migrants-under-2025-04-19/

• A federal court of appeals ruled against the federal government in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, declining an administration request to halt an order from a lower court judge.
• Judge Harvie Wilkinson ruled that the government’s claim to be able to deport without due process lacked assurances that the executive branch would not do so to American citizens
• https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/17/politics/4th-circuit-wilkinson-abrego-garcia-xinis/index.html

• Judge Algenon Marbley granted an order in favor of Prasanna Oruganti, an Indian student studying agricultural engineering, reinstating her F-1 visa.
• The government argued that Oruganti’s status was terminated because of a criminal history; Oruganti argued that this referred to a minor driving related charge, which came with a $300 fine, her attorneys argued this was an insufficient reason for loss of status.
• The student’s case is one of several that are in court in Ohio, which has seen numerous revocations of student visas in recent months
• https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/courts/2025/04/22/trump-immigration-ohio-state-student-visa-laws-federal-judge/83217297007/?tbref=hp

• An immigration judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration in a high-profile case involving a Columbia University Grad Student.
• The student, Mahmoud Khalil, had been a legal permanent resident, until his visa was revoked earlier this year. Khalil has been a prominent critic of the Israeli government and has played a major role in protests at Columbia that critics argue have been antisemitic.
• It is expected that the case will continue to be litigated, with separate court cases playing out in both Louisiana and New Jersey
• https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/13/us/mahmoud-khalil-deportation-ruling-appeals/index.html