April 2026 Newcomer Policy Update

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

This month’s Newcomer Policy Update at a glance:

  • Census Bureau finds population growth declining due to immigration restrictions
  • Temporary Protected Status (TPS) case reaches Supreme Court
  • Study: Immigrants pay more in taxes than the average person

House Passes Extension of TPS for Haitians

I-9 Restrictions Tightened

  • Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced changes to the I-9 forms that will be less accommodating to errors.
  • The I-9 form regulations stipulate that smaller errors, called “technical violations” can be corrected, but more serious, “substantive” ones can result in penalties.
  • Substantive errors now include missing DOB or USCIS numbers (where required), undated signatures, missing expiration dates, titles, hire dates, and translator details; incomplete document details, and improper use of remote verification, Spanish-language forms, and electronic systems.
  • http://- https://www.boundless.com/blog/ice-i9-inspection-policy

Paraguay Will Receive US-Deportees

  • The South American national of Paraguay became the latest third country to agree to receive those deported from the US, beginning with an initial group of Spanish speaking deportees.
  • Paraguay joins El Salvador, Costa Rica, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, and South Sudan in the ranks of countries that have signed these agreements, which are often millions of dollars.
  • These agreements have been challenged in court both in the United States and in some of the foreign countries involved.
  • http://- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/21/paraguay-plans-to-accept-25-third-country-migrant-deportees-from-us

Census Bureau Finds Population Growth Declining due to Immigration Restrictions

  • New Data from the Census Bureau shows a substantial decline in population growth nationwide, attributable to the sharply decreased immigration levels since President Trump took office in 2025.
  • Many of the nation’s largest counties saw a decline in population, including Los Angeles and Miami Dade counties, four of the five boroughs of New York City, and Dallas County.
  • The Census Bureau’s George Hayward said “”The nation’s largest counties … are often international migration hubs, gaining large numbers of international migrants and losing people that move to other parts of the country via domestic migration.”
  • https://www.axios.com/2026/03/26/county-population-growth-immigration?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiospm&stream=top

40 Country Pause Impacting OPT Usage – Inside Higher Ed

TPS Case Reaches Supreme Court

  • The US Supreme Court took up two key cases that will have major implications for the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program and the executive branch’s powers over it.
  • TPS allows for eligible individuals from specific countries to remain in, and work in, the US if they are unable to safely return home. At the center of the case are the designations for two countries, Syria and Haiti, that the Department of Homeland Security ended TPS Status for.
  • The lawsuits allege that the termination of TPS status for both countries lacked the procedures required by the statute that created the program, which mandates vetting by the state department.
  • In addition, case is expected to hinge on what parts of a TPS designation are subjet to judicial review by the courts system.
  • https://www.npr.org/2026/04/29/nx-s1-5794042/supeme-court-tps

Maryland Judge orders USCIS to Process Green Cards from Listed Countries

  • In a ruling on a controversial and high profile executive order, a judge in Maryland ordered the US Citizenship and Naturalization Services to move forward with the green card process for 83 immigrants that had been paused.
  • The plantiffs, mostly citizens of Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Syria, and Venezuela, challenged a Trump administration rule that halted applications from citizens of 39 “countries of identified concern.”
  • The order is restricted to the plaintiffs in this case; other litigation involving the rule is ongoing.
  • https://thedailyrecord.com/2026/04/27/uscis-immigration-applications-trump-maryland/

Study: Immigrants Pay More in Taxes than Average Person

  • The Cato Institute, a libertarian leaning think tank released a major study on the effect of immigration on government revenues, using data going all the way back to 1994.
  • It found that over the period from 1994 – 2023 immigrants paid $1.3 trillion in taxes while receiving $761 billion in benefits.
  • Compared to the average US born citizen, immigrants contributed about $100,000 in taxes per capita.
  • The impact was higher on average for more educated immigrants; foreign born non citizens with a college degree (bachelors or higher), on average, contributed $643,557 more in taxes than they received in benefits.
  • https://www.cato.org/blog/immigrants-pay-more-taxes-average-person

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