Last updated: 2026-10-19

US Immigration Policy and Court Rulings in 2026: Travel Ban, TPS, Birthright Citizenship

The US travel ban covers 39 countries plus Palestinian Authority travel documents from 1 January 2026 (GWU), the administration has terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 1,044,700 recipients across terminated designations, including two suspended in court (Pew), and the Supreme Court held the birthright citizenship executive order unconstitutional on 30 June 2026 in Trump v. Barbara (CRS). The refugee ceiling for fiscal 2026 was first set at 7,500, the lowest since the program began in 1980.

Last updated 19 October 2026. Government positions and critics' responses are attributed to named sources and are not endorsed. Several summaries here come from law firms and universities because primary pages could not be opened; the State Department and USCIS notices are authoritative.

Key figures

Which countries are on Trump's travel ban?

Proclamation 10998, signed 16 December 2025 and effective 1 January 2026, expanded the June 2025 ban to 39 countries plus Palestinian Authority travel documents (GWU; Columbia ISSO; Cozen O'Connor).

Sources: GWU; Mondaq. Check the State Department notice for the authoritative list.

What changed in the December version:

• Laos and Sierra Leone moved from partial to full restriction.
• The December proclamation removed several exceptions that applied in June, including immediate-relative immigrant visas and Afghan Special Immigrant Visas.
• Existing visas and green card holders are not affected (GWU; Mondaq).

Why did USCIS pause applications from 19 countries?

A USCIS memo posted on 2 December 2025 paused pending green card, naturalization and other applications for nationals of the 19 full-restriction countries (NPR).

The pause followed the shooting of two National Guard members near the White House in late November 2025. The suspect, an Afghan national, had been granted asylum in 2025 after entering on Biden-era parole, according to NPR. USCIS also paused all asylum decisions (NPR).

The memo ordered a "comprehensive re-review" of people from those countries who entered on or after 20 January 2021, with a prioritised list due within 90 days (NPR). ABC noted that some pauses came from internal directives rather than published policy (ABC/1011Now). The status of the pause in October 2026 was not located.

Is TPS ending for Haiti, Venezuela and other countries?

Yes for most designations: as of 12 August 2026 the administration had terminated TPS for 11 countries covering 1,038,600 recipients, and for two more (Ethiopia and Somalia) whose terminations were then suspended in court, 1,044,700 recipients in total (Pew). Somalia's termination took effect on 14 August 2026 after the court stay was lifted USCIS. TPS is a temporary status granted to nationals of countries designated as unsafe to return to because of conflict or disaster.

Source: Pew, 12 August 2026.

Dates conflict between sources. Pew gives effective dates only for Haiti and Syria (27 July 2026). Another source says Haiti's designation ended on 3 February 2026 and Syria's on 21 November 2025, with terminations held pending litigation. Sources also disagree about whether the terminations for Burma, Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Yemen are in force: Pew lists South Sudan, Myanmar and Yemen as having no pending challenge, while a June 2026 source lists them as pending litigation. One source gives 21 July 2025 as the effective date for Afghanistan. Each date should be confirmed on the USCIS TPS page.

What dates apply to other TPS designations?

One source (Borderless Magazine) lists these additional dates: El Salvador ends 9 September 2026, Sudan and Ukraine on 19 October 2026, and Lebanon (auto-extended) on 27 November 2026. Some Venezuelan work authorization runs to 2 October 2026 (Borderless). These come from a single secondary source and should be confirmed with USCIS before relying on them.

What did the courts decide on TPS?

On 25 June 2026 the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Mullin v. Doe (No. 25-1083) that the Haiti and Syria terminations may proceed. The Court held that the Secretary's TPS determinations are not judicially reviewable on non-constitutional grounds, and that an equal-protection claim about Haiti was unlikely to succeed (Borderless; UC Davis). The ruling affects about 350,000 Haitians and more than 6,000 Syrians.

The Ninth Circuit separately issued an order allowing DHS to proceed on Nicaragua, Honduras and Nepal (Borderless).

Challengers to the Haiti termination raised an equal-protection claim, which the Court found unlikely to succeed (Borderless).

What is the US refugee cap for 2026?

The fiscal 2026 refugee ceiling was set at 7,500 by a presidential determination dated 30 September 2025, the lowest since the program began in 1980, down from 125,000 in fiscal 2025 (EIG Law; Miller Mayer).

The determination was published on 31 October 2025. It prioritised Afrikaners from South Africa and other "victims of illegal or unjust discrimination." South Africa disputes the persecution claim (Reuters via GDN).

Axios reported on 16 October 2026 that 16,292 refugees were admitted in fiscal 2026, of whom 16,287 were South African and five were Afghan, after the cap was raised to 17,500. The fiscal 2027 cap is also 17,500 (Axios).

Two points are unconfirmed:

• Axios places the increase to 17,500 in May 2026, while other reports describe it only as a midyear action. State Department confirmation was not located.
• Truthout, citing earlier data, reported 10,258 admissions in the first ten months of the fiscal year (Truthout). An official State Department release was not located.

What happened to the $100,000 H-1B fee?

A federal court vacated the $100,000 H-1B fee in June 2026, and on 24 July 2026 the First Circuit declined to restore it pending appeal, after which USCIS stopped collecting it (Univ. of Wisconsin; ImmiHelp).

• A September 2025 proclamation imposed a $100,000 payment on certain H-1B petitions.
• In June 2026 Judge Leo Sorokin of the District of Massachusetts vacated the fee as an unlawful tax. The order was briefly paused on 12 June.
• A separate decision from the Northern District of California (Global Nurse Force v. Trump) vacated agency enforcement policies pending rulemaking without striking the proclamations. DHS has proposed a $103,265 fee for certain petitions (Univ. of Wisconsin).

Dates in these secondhand summaries conflict in places. For example, the Northern District of California decision is dated both 2 September and 30 September 2026 in different summaries. Court dockets should be checked.

What is the Trump gold card?

The gold card application process opened in December 2025 at $1 million for an individual plus a $15,000 non-refundable fee, or $2 million per employee for corporate sponsors. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a House hearing on 23 April 2026 that only one had been approved, with hundreds queued (Fiscal Times). Lutnick had claimed in 2025 to have sold 1,000 cards (same source).

A later report cited about 338 applications and 165 paid fees, and said the comment period on Form I-140G closed on 29 June 2026 (LibertyMundo). These counts rest on testimony and a secondary report; no USCIS statistic was located.

What did the Supreme Court decide on birthright citizenship?

On 30 June 2026, in Trump v. Barbara (No. 25-365), the Supreme Court held Executive Order 14160 unconstitutional (CRS). The order, signed in January 2025, would have denied citizenship to children born in the US to parents who were unlawfully or temporarily present.

The vote. Chief Justice Roberts wrote for five justices (joined by Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett and Jackson), relying on common-law birthright citizenship, the Reconstruction history and United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898). Justice Kavanaugh concurred in the judgment, finding a violation of 8 U.S.C. 1401(a), and dissented in part. Justice Thomas (joined by Justice Gorsuch) and Justice Alito dissented (CRS; Faegre Drinker).

Six justices agreed the order could not take effect, and five agreed on the constitutional ground (CRS). One press summary reported the split as 6-3 (UC Davis blog and UPI recap). This page follows the CRS description. The case was argued on 1 April 2026.

Earlier ruling. On 27 June 2025, in Trump v. CASA (6-3, written by Justice Barrett), the Court held that federal courts lack authority under the Judiciary Act of 1789 to issue universal injunctions, without deciding the constitutional question (WilmerHale). Class actions then became the route for nationwide relief.

What is the new public charge rule?

DHS published a final rule on 20 July 2026 rescinding the 2022 public charge regulation, effective 18 September 2026 (SCC Online; Mintz).

The 2022 rule centred on cash assistance and long-term institutionalization. The new approach lets officers weigh receipt of means-tested benefits, including non-cash benefits, on or after the effective date, and relies on policy guidance. It applies to admission and adjustment applications filed on or after 18 September 2026, which require a revised Form I-485 (SCC Online).

What are the key Supreme Court and appeals court immigration rulings?

The Supreme Court ruled for the government in most immigration merits cases this term, with birthright citizenship the main exception, according to one analysis summarised by UC Davis, which says the government won four of five (UC Davis).

For the enforcement side of these cases, including the Alien Enemies Act and bond hearings, see Border and deportations.

What are the main dates in the 2025-2026 timeline?

The most recent events on this page are the 17 October 2026 announcement of preliminary border totals and the 16 October 2026 report of refugee admissions. Policy and court dates:

Related pages

• US immigration statistics: foreign-born and unauthorized population
• US border encounters, ICE arrests and deportations
• ICE protests and unrest
• Somali communities
• World immigration overview
• Frequently asked questions