IN THE NEWS TODAY
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS
Supreme Court Allows Third-Country Deportations to Resume
Associated Press | September 29, 2026
The Supreme Court voted 6–3 to allow the administration to resume expedited deportations to countries other than migrants’ countries of origin while the Court reviews the policy’s legality. The justices will hear the underlying case in December, making Tuesday’s decision an interim ruling rather than a final judgment on the policy.
GAO Says Administration Cannot Cancel $810 Million Through “Pocket Rescission”
U.S. Government Accountability Office | September 29, 2026
The congressional watchdog concluded that the administration cannot allow $810 million in congressionally appropriated funding—including $567 million for programs serving refugees, asylees and other noncitizens—to expire without congressional approval of the proposed rescissions.
New Immigrant Welcome Center Opens in Manhattan
ABC7 New York | September 29, 2026
A new Manhattan Immigrant Welcome Center opened in Northern Manhattan to connect immigrant New Yorkers with immigration legal assistance, health-care navigation and social-service resources—a local integration model built around coordinated access to services.
New Proposal Would Create an H-1D Visa for Direct-Care Workers
The Hamilton Project | September 29, 2026
Economist Tara Watson proposes a new employment-based visa for immigrants with at least two years of direct-care experience, explicitly connecting immigration policy with America’s rapidly growing need for workers serving older adults and people with disabilities.
GAO Finds Federal Noncitizen Incarcerations Fell 44%
U.S. Government Accountability Office | September 28, 2026
The average number of noncitizens incarcerated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons declined from approximately 36,300 in FY2017 to 20,300 in FY2024, while GAO cautions that no comprehensive national dataset exists for citizenship status among state and local prisoners.
Federal Government Abandons South Jersey Military-Base Detention Plan
WHYY | September 29, 2026
Plans to use Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to hold as many as 1,000–3,000 immigration detainees have been abandoned. A broader GAO investigation found ICE incurred more than $20 million in unrecoverable costs during a rapid detention-expansion effort that lacked comprehensive strategic planning.
IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION FACT OF THE DAY
Approximately 4.4 million New Yorkers are foreign-born—more than one-fifth of New York State’s population.
The figure provides the demographic foundation for IIIRP’s statewide, regional and county-level analyses of immigrant integration.
Source: IIIRP Data Gateway | U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2021