USCIS, in coordination with ICE and the State Department, helped dismantle a nationwide marriage fraud ring resulting in 10 arrests and multiple indictments. The investigation uncovered that U.S. citizens were paid to marry foreign nationals to fraudulently obtain immigration benefits. Key coordinators in New York City arranged the fake marriages and filed false documents. One recruiter targeted women in Baltimore and other areas. Immigration benefits for those involved have been revoked, and further arrests are expected.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has stopped accepting petitions for the 19,000 supplemental H-2B visas allocated to returning workers set to begin employment between April 1 and May 14, 2025. Any applications submitted after April 18 will be denied. These additional visas, commonly used in industries such as hospitality and construction, were part of a temporary increase to the standard annual limit. However, 20,000 H-2B visas are still available for nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica — and prior H-2B employment is not required to apply.

House Republicans have introduced a new proposal that would charge certain immigrants $550 every six months to renew their work permits — part of a broader effort to fund immigration enforcement by dramatically increasing fees on legal immigration applications. The legislation, introduced by the House Judiciary Committee, would require asylum applicants, parolees, and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients to pay $550 to apply for an initial work permit (Form I-765) and $550 every six months to keep it valid.

Between April 6–12, ICE and federal partners arrested 206 illegal aliens in and around New York City during a targeted enforcement operation focused on dangerous criminal offenders. Of those arrested, 121 had serious criminal histories, including charges or convictions for murder, rape, assault, arson, and drug or firearms crimes. Several had gang affiliations, and two were foreign fugitives. ICE emphasized the importance of multi-agency collaboration, particularly in cases where local jurisdictions had released alien offenders despite immigration detainers.

In March 2025, CBP reported record-low southwest border crossings, with only 7,181 illegal aliens apprehended—a 95% drop from March 2024. The CBP Home app launched to facilitate voluntary departures. CBP also seized 760 pounds of fentanyl and increased overall drug seizures by 47% from February. Over $913 million worth of counterfeit goods were intercepted, and 434 shipments tied to forced labor were halted. Additionally, CBP processed over $352 billion in trade, collected nearly $15 billion in duties, and completed audits identifying $310 million in owed revenue.

On April 14, 2025, a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction staying parts of the DHS’s March 25 notice terminating the CHNV parole process. As a result, termination notices sent to Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan nationals are not currently in effect, though no new CHNV parole requests will be processed.

The U.S. State Department has released the May 2025 Visa Bulletin which is the eighth Visa Bulletin for the fiscal year. The headline in the month’s Visa Bulletin is the lack of pretty much any movement across the cutoff dates for employment categories and very minor forward movement for some family-based categories. According to the May 2025 Visa Bulletin, family-based applicants must use the Dates for Filing chart, while employment-based applicants must follow the Final Action Dates chart for Adjustment of Status filings.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will now consider antisemitic social media posts and harassment of Jewish people when reviewing immigration applications. The policy targets content supporting antisemitic terrorism or terrorist groups and is part of a federal effort to fight rising antisemitism following the October 7 Hamas attacks. Immigrant rights and progressive Jewish groups say the move could suppress political speech and unfairly target marginalized communities amid growing backlash over U.S. protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

In a major shift, the IRS has agreed to share taxpayer information with ICE for deportation cases. ICE can now access data like addresses and income of immigrants under investigation or facing removal. Critics warn the move could reduce trust, hurt tax compliance, and harm immigrant communities. Lawsuits aim to block the agreement, and no data has been shared so far, per court filings.

Nearly 500 international students at universities across the U.S. had their visas abruptly revoked after their SEVIS records were unexpectedly terminated. In many cases, the cited violations were minor — such as traffic offenses — but were incorrectly flagged as criminal activity. Students from over 50 institutions, including UCLA, Stanford, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, have reported being impacted. The situation has raised alarms about a growing crackdown on international students during the Trump administration, marked by a lack of transparency and advance notice.

ICE, alongside federal, state, and local law enforcement, arrested 72 illegal aliens in the Rio Grande Valley from March 16 to 22, including 61 criminal aliens and two documented gang members. Charges and convictions included aggravated felonies, violent offenses, sex crimes, drug trafficking, firearm violations, alien smuggling, and immigration-related offenses. ICE reaffirmed its commitment to enforcing immigration laws without exemptions and ensuring public safety through targeted operations.

USCIS has reached the H-2B cap for the second half of FY 2025, with March 5, 2025, as the final receipt date for cap-subject petitions requesting employment between April 1 and September 30, 2025. New cap-subject petitions received after this date will be rejected. Filing dates for supplemental H-2B visas are available in the Temporary Increase in H-2B Nonimmigrant Visas for FY 2025 chart.