After weeks of nationwide protests, the Trump administration announced it will withdraw most immigration agents from Minnesota, ending a widely contested enforcement surge. But legal battles continue across the country as federal judges weigh the end of certain legal immigration pathways and immigrant rights.
While a federal judge has temporarily paused the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled that the government can end protections for immigrants from Honduras and Nicaragua. Meanwhile, a panel of 5th circuit judges allowed the Trump administration to arrest immigrants without bond hearings, a decision advocates say could significantly further the federal government’s immigration crackdown.
El Tecolote is tracking rapidly changing policies that can impact San Francisco’s Latino immigrant communities. This list has the latest national, state and local updates from February. You can find a list of January policy changes here.
News across the country
Partial DHS shutdown continues as Democrats push for reforms to ICE and CBP
The partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shows no signs of ending soon, as Democrats and the White House remain at odds over immigration enforcement tactics, following two deadly shootings of U.S. citizens in Minnesota.
On Feb. 14, DHS funding expired. Congressional Democrats have refused to approve more funding until ICE reforms some of its policies related to immigration enforcement. They say that federal immigration agents should not wear masks during enforcement operations and should identify themselves. They also want agents to wear body cameras and to require ICE agents to have judicial warrants when arresting people on private property — rules they say already apply to other law enforcement agents around the country. Federal officials, meanwhile, counter that agents need to wear masks to protect themselves from doxing and harassment.
The shutdown doesn’t affect ICE and CBP’s ability to continue carrying out immigration enforcement because of increased funding from Trump’s 2025 spending bill. But news agencies predict some travel disruption and a pause to training operations and nonessential missions for the U.S. Coast Guard.
Latest update: Feb. 17, 2026
Trump administration announces end to immigration surge in Minnesota
The controversial federal immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota is ending, according to White House border czar Tom Homan. Homan said that a thousand agents have left the state, and that only a small number of federal agents will remain to help provide security.
In early December, DHS announced the immigration operation, which it expanded at the start of 2026, calling it the largest enforcement operation ever. As the surge continued, clashes between protesters and federal agents escalated. On Jan. 7, an ICE agent fatally shot Renée Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Less than three weeks later, ICE agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, 37, a registered nurse.
In the aftermath, protests over the shootings and the broader enforcement operation erupted across the country, including in San Francisco. Minnesota and the Twin Cities sued the Trump administration, seeking an end to the crackdown through legal avenues as well as the ability for state and local authorities to investigate the shootings that took place.
Latest update: Feb. 15, 2026
9th Circuit clears path for end of TPS for Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal
A panel of Ninth Circuit judges paused a lower court order that had temporarily prevented the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Hondurans, Nicaraguans and Nepalis. The decision allows the federal government to end deportation protections and work permits for more than 60,000 immigrants.
Last month, a federal judge had voided the Trump administration’s earlier decision to end TPS for these countries, ruling that the government’s planned termination was motivated by racial hostility rather than improved conditions in those countries. The Ninth Circuit panel, however, found that the Trump administration was likely to succeed on its claims that ending TPS for those countries was lawful.
Throughout 2025, the Trump administration also moved to eliminate TPS protections of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from other countries, including Venezuela, which the Supreme Court allowed to proceed last October.
Latest update: Feb. 10, 2026
Appeals court lets Trump administration continue detaining immigrants without bond
A panel of 5th Circuit judges ruled that the Trump administration’s decision to deny detained immigrants the opportunity of a bond hearing is legal regardless of how long they had lived in the U.S..
The decision to deny bond hearings affects millions of immigrants who entered the U.S. “without inspection.” As a result, many detainees’ only option to seek release is to file a habeas corpus petition in federal court and challenge that their detention was unlawful.
In past administrations, immigrants arrested far from the border who did not have a criminal record and were not considered a flight risk could request a bond hearing while their cases went through immigration court.
Latest update: Feb. 6, 2026
Federal court postpones end of TPS for Haitians
On Feb. 2, a federal judge indefinitely postponed the Trump administration’s efforts to strip legal protections and work permits from Haitians who have Temporary Protected Status. In her temporary stay order, which affects around 350,000 immigrants, the judge noted inflammatory language that Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem had used when describing Haitian nationals, and said that plaintiffs were likely to prevail in their case.
In response, the Homeland Security Assistant for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said the Trump Administration will appeal the case in the Supreme Court. The administration has been trying to revoke TPS from Haitians since last summer, though legal challenges have continued to postpone the deadline.
Latest update: Feb. 2, 2026
Legal organizations sue Trump administration over immigrant visa ban
A group of legal aid groups and U.S. citizens has sued the State Department over the Trump administration’s decision to stop issuing immigrant visas to applicants from dozens countries. In their lawsuit, the group argued that this decision failed to follow the regulatory process.
The ban, which went into effect on Jan. 21, currently affects people from dozens of countries, including Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Uruguay, due to the federal government’s concerns that applicants from these countries are more likely to rely on government benefits.
The visa suspension doesn’t apply to people with nonimmigrant visas, such as tourist, student or temporary work visas. It only affects people applying to live permanently in the U.S., including sponsored family members. DHS also said dual passport holders with a nationality not mentioned in the list will be exempt.
Latest update: Feb. 2, 2026
News in California:
Judge blocks California law that would ban masks for ICE agents
A federal judge in Los Angeles struck down a California law that would have banned federal and local officers from wearing masks, ruling that because the law exempted state agents, it was unconstitutional. The judge’s decision will go into effect on Feb. 19.
In September, California passed a law that banned some federal law enforcement officers, including ICE agents, from wearing masks. The law was supposed to go into effect this January, but was put on hold because of a lawsuit filed by the Trump Administration in November opposing the new policy. Senator Scott Wiener, who authored the original bill, said he plans to introduce a similar bill that includes state officers.
Though she rejected the mask ban, the federal judge did uphold another California law that requires federal officers to readily display identification when carrying out operations.
Latest update: Feb. 9, 2026
News in San Francisco:
ICE detains and then releases woman who was on her way to work in SF
On Feb. 13, immigration agents detained a woman who was headed to work in San Francisco’s Diamond Heights neighborhood, but released her by the end of the day, following a court order.
According to the San Francisco Rapid Response Network, the elderly nanny was followed by several unmarked vehicles as she drove to work, and was surrounded and then handcuffed by federal immigration agents after she parked and stepped out of her car. The federal agents allegedly refused to show a judicial warrant or to identify themselves as they detained her.
The 66-year-old woman, according to Mission Local, has been in the U.S. for more than 10 years and has legal work authorization. A judge ordered her release by that evening, responding to a habeas corpus petition filed by the immigration law office that represents her. No other immigration enforcement operations were reported that day.
Latest update: Feb. 13, 2026
Lawsuit to stop courthouse arrests in SF goes national
A group of civil rights organizations has filed a motion to block immigration courthouse arrests across the country and to get ICE to respect the 12-hour limit on detention in temporary facilities again.
The motion is an escalation of a San Francisco class action lawsuit that wasfiled this fall, and that led a Bay Area judge to order ICE stop arresting immigrants at San Francisco immigration courthouses on Dec. 24, as well as a preliminary injunction ordering ICE to improve conditions in its temporary holding cells at the San Francisco Field Office in November.
Latest update:Jan. 30, 2026