ICE Reclassifies I-9 Violations
ICE revised its I-9 fact sheet reclassifying certain technical or procedural errors (previously correctable) to substantive errors subject to immediate monetary penalties. These changes may significantly increase employer exposure in I-9 audits by narrowing the range of errors historically treated as correctable without penalty. Some examples of the changes include:
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Omitting a date of birth (section 1) is now a substantive violation
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Omitting employee signature (section 1) is now substantive
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Omitting the title of the employer representative (section 2) is now substantive
Contact us with questions about I-9 compliance.
USCIS Announces Procedures to Lift Holds on Adjudication of Benefits Applications for Individual from Travel Ban Countries
On January 1, 2026, USCIS issued a policy memo, Hold and Review of USCIS Benefit Applications Filed by Aliens from Additional High-Risk Countries, pausing the adjudication of all immigration benefits requests for individuals from certain countries. No information was given about the duration of the hold.
On March 30, 2026, in a seemingly positive development, USCIS announced that it has established procedures to lift holds for certain categories. On April 30, 2026, USCIS updated that announcement (enlarging the categories slightly) stating:
Internal Review Process
USCIS established an internal process for lifting holds on individual or group cases, requiring comprehensive review by multiple offices. Holds have been lifted for aliens vetted through Operation PARRIS, certain petitions filed by U.S. citizens, intercountry adoption forms, certain rescheduled oath ceremonies, statutory and regulatory decision issuance, refugee registrations for South African citizens/nationals, certain special immigrant visa petitions, certain employment authorization documents, and asylum applications from non high-risk countries, and applications associated with medical physicians. We continue to review all application types and lift holds for both individual and group cases as appropriate.
It should be noted that Operation PARRIS is a newly established USCIS vetting center to conduct additional background checks, re-interviews, and merit reviews of refugee claims.
This news should be viewed in conjunction with the below news entry, which seems to be a setback in the realm of holds on adjudication benefits.
New Vetting Processes at USCIS Likely Resulting in a Hold on Many Adjudications
Notwithstanding the above seemingly positive news on adjudication holds, on April 27, 2026, reports began to emerge that USCIS field and asylum offices across the country were notifying applicants and attorneys that adjudications were subject to a hold. Reports have indicated that this was impacting adjustment of status and asylum cases, but that it could be a much broader hold impacting all USCIS adjudications. Attorneys have learned that it is the result of a new security vetting process that took effect on April 27, 2026. The new vetting process will require fingerprints to be resubmitted for almost all pending cases (with the possible exception for Naturalization applicants with scheduled oath ceremonies) for which fingerprints were previously submitted for FBI checks prior to April 27, 2026. It is unclear how long of a delay this new process will cause or how many applications are impacted. On April 28, 2026, NPR published a story on the real world result of the hold on adjudications: Immigrants from travel ban countries wait in limbo in U.S. : NPR.
On April 29, 2026, CBS News reported (Trump administration mandates enhanced security checks for immigration applicants - CBS News) that the change in practice was a result of the FBI granting USCIS “greater access to its criminal history database” in response to Executive Order 12385, which requires federal criminal justice agencies to give DHS access to criminal history record information to the full extent permitted by law. The “enhanced” checks will impact all pending applications which require fingerprint submission, including adjustment of status, naturalization, and family sponsorship petitions. Officers were directed that resubmission is not required for applications they intend to deny. USCIS confirmed to CBS that new security checks were implemented, but stated processing is “ongoing” and that delays in decision issuance “should be brief and resolved shortly.”
Contact us with questions about the adjudication of benefits.
SAVE and E-Verify Provide Updates on EAD Validity for Haitian and Burmese (Myanmar) TPS Holders
In Miot v. Trump a federal court stayed the termination of TPS Haiti. As a result, TPS Haiti beneficiaries will keep their status and employment authorization, and their documentation will remain valid. Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) with category A12 or C19 remain valid and are extended.
SAVE will verify if an alien has received approval for TPS using information from any TPS related document, such as Form I-797, Approval Notice, or Form I-797C, Notice of Action. TPS beneficiaries will receive a SAVE manual response of:
- “Temporary Protected Status – Employment Authorized - Temp Emp Auth”
- The employment authorized through date will be the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) expiration date of “July 1, 2026"
- DHS Comments “TPS and employment authorization are extended per court order”
Employers and foreign nationals are instructed to check the USCIS TPS Haiti page regularly for updates.
Similarly, in Aung DOE v. Noem, a federal court issued an order postponing the termination of TPS. USCIS issued an update that is nearly identical to the above. Expiration dates for such EADs should be listed in E-Verify and SAVE as July 1, 2026.
