Immigrants in San Francisco continue to face uncertainty as the Trump administration expands enforcement and rolls back key protections. This month, the federal government announced plans to process new DACA applications for the first time in years, even as the Supreme Court allowed the end of TPS protections for Venezuelans, Hondurans and Nicaraguans.
Across California, deportations are up 78% under Trump, and federal judges have pushed back on the administration’s National Guard deployments to cities like Portland and Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the administration has begun offering cash incentives to minors to self-deport, raising concerns about due-process violations.
This list highlights major immigration policy changes from October 2025. [See updates from September here.] We’ll continue updating this article every week as new developments unfold.
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Mass federal operations: ICE and National Guard in San Francisco and beyond
Current status: Trump’s latest deployments of the National Guard have targeted Portland and Chicago — but both cities are pushing back. On Oct. 5, a judge blocked the Trump administration from sending troops to Oregon to suppress protests outside of Portland’s ICE holding facility. A day later, Illinois officials filed a lawsuit opposing Trump’s authorization of additional Guard troops in Chicago. In San Francisco, no similar surge of federal agents has occurred so far. | Latest update: Oct. 6, 2025
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Most local enforcement in San Francisco has targeted specific individuals, according to Mission Action, the nonprofit that coordinates the city’s Rapid Response Network.
Statewide, however, immigration enforcement has risen sharply. A San Francisco Chronicle analysis found that approximately 5,500 immigrants in California have been deported since Trump took office, and more than 900 people have chosen for “voluntary departures” — a stark increase from just 46 during the same period in 2024. Overall, deportations in California are up 78% under Trump, new data has shown.
Other parts of the country have seen more aggressive federal operations. In early September, the administration launched a major immigration operation in Chicago after weeks of threats to send agents to sanctuary cities. Trump has also threatened to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like San Francisco, and already sent troops to Portland and Chicago, though both deployments are now tied up in lawsuits.
Trump previously deployed the Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., where troops remain stationed. In both cities, deployments coincided with heightened immigration enforcement. On Sept. 2, a federal judge ruled Trump’s June deployment to Los Angeles unlawful, blocking further Guard deployments to California.
Meanwhile, a July spending bill authorizing nearly $170 billion for immigration enforcement is set to accelerate deportations beginning Oct. 1, including 20,000 additional officers and doubled detention capacity.
Immigrant advocates and lawyers in Northern California are preparing for intensified operations, noting that ICE arrests have already been occurring inside courthouses for the past seven months.
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans, Haitians, Hondurans and Nicaraguans
Current status: TPS was terminated for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, after a Supreme Court ruling Oct. 3. The Trump Administration has also successfully revoked TPS protections for Hondurans and Nicaraguans, while Haitians remain protected under a pending lawsuit. | Latest update: Oct. 3, 2025
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Judge Edward Chen’s ruling allows more than 600,000 Venezuelans — whose temporary protections expired earlier this year or were set to expire Sept. 10 — to continue living and working in the U.S. It also preserves protections for approximately 500,000 Haitians. A separate New York court ruling in August delayed the final decision for Haitian TPS holders until February 2026.
Some nationalities, however, have lost their status after unsuccessful legal battles. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a California judge’s ruling that had temporarily extended TPS for Hondurans and Nicaraguans until November, allowing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to terminate protections in early September.
TPS provides deportation relief and work permits to immigrants from 17 countries facing armed conflict, natural disasters or other emergencies. Designations last 18 months and can be extended by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Earlier this year, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem reversed Biden-era actions and ended protections for Venezuelans, putting more than one million TPS holders at risk, including 350,000 Venezuelans. A federal judge in San Francisco initially paused the termination, but the Trump administration argued before the Supreme Court that the pause interfered with executive authority over immigration.
On May 19, the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration, allowing deportation protections for Venezuelans to end. Justices said individual immigrants may still appeal if their work permits or protections are revoked. The case continued to be litigated.
The Trump Administration previously failed to end TPS for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador, Nepal and Honduras in 2017 and 2018.
Self-deportations encouraged by the federal government
Current status: The Trump administration has started offering unaccompanied children over the age of 14 a $2,500 incentive to voluntarily self-deport. Eligible minors, according to CBS News, are non-Mexican migrants currently in federal custody. While ICE said the option is “strictly voluntary”, immigration advocates warn the program could undermine children’s access to a fair immigration process. | Latest update: Oct. 3, 2025
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This is not the first time that the government has used cash incentives for self-deportation. On May 5, the Trump administration offered immigrants who self-deport via the CBP Home app free airline tickets and a $1,000 stipend, paid after departure, and would deprioritize them for arrest and detention as they arranged their exit.
Earlier in the year, the Trump administration also tried to cut funding for federal legal aid to unaccompanied minors, a move which was later blocked by a federal judge.
Federal government can now resume new DACA applications
Current Status: Immigration officials are now considering new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications for the first time in years. Although Trump has asked the Supreme Court to uphold his order to limiting birthright citizenship to children of permanent residents and U.S. citizens, the federal government plans to begin processing initial DACA applications — a lifeline for thousands of immigrants. | Latest update: Oct. 1, 2025
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In a proposal outlined on Monday, Sept. 29 by the Justice Department announced plans to reopen DACA to first-time applicants in every state except Texas, where DACA recipients would remain protected from deportation but lose eligibility for authorized work permits. The policy shift responds to an ongoing lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Brownsville, Texas.
If approved, federal officials say the change could encourage recipients in Texas to relocate to other states to maintain their two-year work authorization. As of Sept. 30, 2024, more than 580,000 immigrants hold active DACA status, with more than a quarter of them in California.
Trump has sought to end DACA since 2016, but the program has endured through years of court battles. This latest development signals a potential pivot by the federal government toward reinstating protections for new “Dreamers,” though no clear implementation timeline has been announced.