On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the Trump Administration’s efforts to end deportation protections and work authorization for more than a million Haitian and Syrian immigrants who have Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
The hearing comes as the Trump administration continues to pursue its crackdown on immigration, ending legal pathways for immigrants and increasing arrests, including of some immigrants with temporary protections.
For the past year, El Tecolote has been tracking the policies shaping the lives of both undocumented immigrants and those with legal status. Here are the latest national, state and local updates from April. You can find a list of March policy changes here.
News in San Francisco
One of San Francisco’s immigration courthouses to close in May
On April 10, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) announced it will stop holding hearings at San Francisco’s immigration courthouse at 100 Montgomery Street after May 1. While some cases will be reassigned to the city’s other immigration courthouse at 630 Sansome Street, according to the agency, most will be moved to the immigration courthouse in Concord, a city in the East Bay.
The decision shifts hearings out of San Francisco months earlier than initially planned. As hearings get rescheduled, attorneys are concerned immigrants could accidentally miss their new appointments and get deportation orders. Last month, SF immigration judges ordered more than 800 people to be removed in a week, after they didn’t show up for their hearings.
Latest update: April 21, 2026
Women’s Building closes family reunification program
After a federal decision not to renew its contract, San Francisco’s Women’s Building will close its Safe Release Support Program, which for more than 20 years has helped caregivers reunite with children immigrating into the U.S..
The program had been at risk throughout 2025 due to budget cuts that forced the Women’s Building to cut staff in half. Other family reunification programs for migrant children were also cut last year, after the Trump administration suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
In a statement on Instagram, the Women’s Building urged community members to financially support its remaining services, including a fingerprinting program for survivors of gender-based violence seeking immigration support.
Latest update: April 17, 2026
News in California
Appeals Court blocks California law requiring ICE agents to identify themselves
A panel of judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a California law requiring federal immigration agents to display identification while carrying out enforcement duties, siding with a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration.
The law was passed last fall following a massive immigration crackdown in the Los Angeles area. A separate state law banning ICE agents from wearing masks was blocked by a federal judge in February.
Latest update: April 22, 2026
News across the country
Supreme Court to weigh end of TPS protections for Haitians and Syrians
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on April 29 on whether the Trump administration can end TPS protections for Haitian and Syrian nationals.
The program currently allows more than 350,000 immigrants to live and work in the U.S. legally.
For now, TPS protections remain in place for Haitians and Syrians. A federal judge blocked the administration’s attempt to end the program for Haitians in February, and similar efforts affecting Syrians have also been halted by lower courts.
Latest update: April 13, 2026
Ruling makes it easier to deport DACA recipients
People enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program now have weaker deportation protections following a Board of Immigration Appeals ruling limiting judges from pausing deportation orders solely based off DACA status.
The decision stems from a case surrounding a 28-year-old DACA recipient who was detained by Customs and Border Protection officers while boarding a domestic flight in El Paso, and
could have broader implications for hundreds of thousands of so-called “Dreamers”.
Latest update: April 25, 2026
Appeals court upholds ruling against Trump’s asylum restrictions
A federal appeals court ruled that Trump cannot deny asylum claims made at the U.S.-Mexico border, finding that the policy violated federal law.
In his first day in office, Trump announced he would be suspending migrants’ ability to seek asylum at the southern border. Months later, a federal judge ruled that this proclamation was unlawful and that Trump had exceeded his authority.
This decision was upheld by the appeals court. Before the order can take effect though, the court has to consider any requests from the Trump administration to reconsider the ruling.
Latest update: April 24, 2026
Justice Department assigns hundreds of denaturalization cases
The Department of Justice is aiming to revoke the citizenship of more than 300 foreign-born Americans as part of the department’s larger effort to focus on denaturalization cases. Prior to the Trump Administration, these efforts had been very rare.
Though it is not clear why this particular group is being targeted, the DoJ says the focus is on cases involving fraud during the naturalization process. Previously, it had also instructed its attorneys to focus on people who posed “national security” threats, had engaged in war crimes or had defrauded the government.
Latest update: April 24, 2026
Judge orders restoration of legal status for immigrants who entered the US with CBP One
A federal judge ordered the Trump Administration to restore the legal status of migrants who entered the U.S. through the CBP One parole program, determining that the federal government did not follow required procedures when canceling it.
The program allowed asylum seekers in Mexico to schedule appointments at U.S. ports of entry and remain in the U.S. while awaiting court proceedings. Last April, the Trump administration cancelled it, affecting 900,000 migrants who had entered the U.S..
DHS maintains that it had full authority to revoke parole, calling the ruling “blatant judicial activism.” In a court filing later in April, the Trump administration detailed plans to once again end legal status for those who had entered the U.S. through this app.
Latest update: April 24, 2026
ICE director to resign in late May
Todd Lyons, acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will resign in late May, according to federal officials. Lyons is one of several top immigration officials to leave their position in recent weeks. Among them is former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary Kristi Noem, who was fired in March.
In late March, Politico reported that Lyons has been hospitalized at least twice in the past seven months for “stress-related issues,” which sources attribute to federal pressure to ramp up deportations, though Lyons has denied the claim. He was also questioned by Congress over enforcement actions, including a January operation in Minnesota in which ICE officials shot and killed two U.S. Citizens.
Latest update: April 17, 2026
House passes bill to extend TPS for Haitians
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure to extend Haitians’ Temporary Protective Status (TPS) through 2029. The bill is now headed to the Senate.
Supporters say the three-year extension could help address worker shortages while protecting immigrants from a country still deemed “too dangerous” for American citizens to visit.
Currently, the Trump Administration is trying to end TPS for Haitian nationals, a legal battle that is now before the Supreme Court.
Latest update: April 16, 2026
Legal groups sue ICE over warrantless arrests
Several legal advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a lawsuit on April 2 accusing the Department of Homeland Security of violating the Fourth Amendment by allowing ICE agents to enter homes without a judicial warrant.
The lawsuit cites a memo, secretly issued last May and later leaked, that allows ICE agents to forcibly enter and search homes using administrative warrants issued by DHS officials instead of judges.
The groups are asking the court to block the policy. DHS, meanwhile, maintains the practice is constitutional.
Latest update: April 2, 2026
Supreme Court hears arguments over birthright citizenship
On April 1, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case challenging Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship.
At the hearing, which Trump attended, the justices questioned the federal government’s argument that children born in the U.S. to parents without permanent legal status are not entitled to citizenship.
A ruling, which could impact millions of people, is expected by early summer.
Latest update: April 1, 2026
