IN THE NEWS TODAY
Friday, September 11, 2026
FEDERAL POLICY & COURTS
They cleaned up ground zero. Now many are hiding from ICE
Thousands of immigrant workers helped clean Ground Zero after 9/11, including an estimated 2,000 to 6,000 undocumented workers; 25 years later, many continue to suffer from cancers, respiratory disease and PTSD while some now avoid travel, services or public spaces because of fear of immigration enforcement.
Administration Proposes Ending 60-Day Grace Period for H-1B and Other Foreign Workers
DHS proposes eliminating the discretionary up-to-60-day grace period following job loss for H-1B and several other employment-based nonimmigrant classifications, potentially requiring affected workers and their dependents to leave the United States immediately when qualifying employment ends unless they have another lawful basis to remain.
Census Bureau Proposes New Residence Rules for 2030 Census
The Census Bureau has proposed new rules governing who would be considered a “usual resident” for purposes of the decennial census, including new criteria for foreign citizens in the United States. The proposal could exclude some noncitizens from the population used for congressional apportionment, with potential implications for federal resources, demographic research, state and local planning, and political representation in states such as New York.
Appeals court cites detention of Japanese Americans in ruling blasting Trump immigration policy
The Fourth Circuit ruled 2–1 against the administration’s broad mandatory-detention interpretation, holding that immigrants arrested in the country’s interior under the circumstances at issue are entitled to access the statutory process that can permit individualized bond hearings rather than automatic detention throughout their cases.
The decision adds to an increasingly consequential appellate conflict: AP reports that nine federal appeals courts have rejected the government’s position while two have upheld it, strengthening the possibility of eventual Supreme Court review.
NEW YORK
Body camera video offers a rare look inside an immigration raid at a New York factory near Syracuse
Newly examined federal body-camera footage from the September 2025 raid at Nutrition Bar Confectioners in Cato, New York, is now part of litigation alleging officers exceeded their warrants when they detained and questioned workers throughout the facility; 57 people were arrested during the operation, while only five ultimately faced criminal charges.
IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION
Proposed visa rule would make job loss an immigration-status event
The H-1B proposal demonstrates the unusually close relationship between employment and immigration status for many foreign professionals. Under the existing grace period, a displaced worker can ordinarily use the period to seek a new sponsor; eliminating it could make an ordinary layoff simultaneously a workforce, household-income and immigration-status disruption.
IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION FACT OF THE DAY
42.2% of employed Latin American-born women in New York worked in service occupations in 2021.
Among Latin American-born female civilian workers age 16 and older in New York State, IIIRP’s Data Gateway reports that 42.2% worked in service occupations, compared with 20.4% of employed women statewide, illustrating the importance of immigrant women to New York’s service workforce.