IMMIGRATION UPDATE – June 24, 2025
HEADLINES
DOS Resumes Visa Processing for Foreign Students and Exchange Visitors, Announces Enhanced Social Media Vetting – The Department of State resumed visa processing for new and returning students and exchange visitors (F, M, and J nonimmigrants) but announced enhanced social media and online presence screening and vetting procedures. Consular posts may resume processing of expedited appointment requests and are directed to prioritize physicians applying for J visas and applicants studying at U.S. universities where international students constitute 15 percent or less of the total student body.
President Trump Backtracks on Pause in ICE Enforcement Against Hotel, Restaurant, and Farm Workers; Worksite Enforcement to ‘Massively Expand’ – President Trump has reversed the pause he called for a week ago on deportation-related raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on worksites in the agricultural, hospitality, and restaurant industries.
SCOTUS Allows DHS to Resume Third-Country Removals Without Advance Notice for Now — The U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of a district court ruling barring DHS from sending noncitizens to countries where they are not nationals without advance notice as litigation continues. Justice Sotomayor issued a dissent. (Department of Homeland Security, et al. v. D.V.D., et al., 6/23/25)
Trump Administration Considers Expanding Travel Ban to 36 Additional Countries – Following the Trump administration’s issuance of a travel (entry) ban on 19 countries, President Trump is considering expanding the ban to up to 36 additional, mostly African, countries.
DETAILS
DOS Resumes Visa Processing for Foreign Students and Exchange Visitors, Announces Enhanced Social Media Vetting
On June 18, 2025, the Department of State resumed visa processing for new and returning students and exchange visitors (F, M, and J nonimmigrants) but announced enhanced social media and online presence screening and vetting procedures. All applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas will be instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to “public” at their visa interviews. If the consular officer finds them otherwise eligible for the visa sought, the officer will issue the student an INA § 221(g) decision, which is a soft refusal/ holding status. The consular officer will then gather more information and documentation before issuing a final determination.
The guidance directs consular officers to review visa applicants’ online presence for “any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.” Consular officers will review more than just social media accounts with particular attention to applicants with a history of political activism. Officers will comprehensively screen every visa applicant “for potential security and non-security related ineligibilities.” Although the online content found may not alone be sufficient to deny a student’s visa, officers will conduct additional vetting to determine if the applicant will respect U.S. laws and “engage only in activities consistent with” their status. While some travelers have taken to temporarily wiping their social media accounts, consular officers will be taking screenshots during their vetting process to preserve records of their findings.
Lack of a public online presence or refusal to make sites accessible will raise a red flag. If no derogatory information is found, the officer may make a decision on the visa application. However, according to the guidance, “[i]f potentially derogatory information is found, post should refuse the case under the appropriate refusal code; or, if needed, post should call the applicant back for a follow-up interview.”
According to the guidance, consular posts may resume processing of expedited appointment requests and are directed to prioritize physicians applying for J visas and applicants studying at U.S. universities where international students constitute 15 percent or less of the total student body.
President Trump Backtracks on Pause in ICE Enforcement Against Hotel, Restaurant, and Farm Workers; Worksite Enforcement to ‘Massively Expand’
President Trump has reversed the pause he called for a week ago on deportation-related raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on worksites in the agricultural, hospitality, and restaurant industries. He said raids would be focused on “Democrat-run cities,” which he claimed on Truth Social are the “core of the Democrat Power Center.”
Tom Homan, the White House “border czar,” said that “[w]orksite enforcement operations are going to massively expand.” On June 16, 2025, Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said that worksite operations “are very much a cornerstone” of the Trump administration’s enforcement efforts. “There is no safe harbor, whether it be a church or a courthouse or a worksite. We will come for you; we will arrest you; you will be deported.” Following President Trump’s latest comments, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement held a call with its agency leaders in the field, ordering them to resume raids on hotel, restaurant, and agricultural worksites.
The previous change in policy for those industries, implemented last week, came after President Trump posted on Truth Social, “Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace. … We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”
According to reports, some public companies are now warning investors about disruptions in their workforces. Smithfield, a major meatpacking company, said in its securities filing in March, “Increased enforcement efforts with respect to existing immigration laws by governmental authorities may disrupt a portion of our workforce or our operations.”
Trump Administration Considers Expanding Travel Ban to 36 Additional Countries
According to reports, following the Trump administration’s issuance of a travel (entry) ban/restrictions on 19 countries, President Trump is considering expanding the ban to up to 36 additional, mostly African, countries.
The 36 countries have 60 days to “mitigate ongoing vetting and screening concerns, develop corrective action plans to remediate deficiencies and evaluate progress.” A related cable reportedly said there were a range of concerns but did not specify what the concerns were for each country. In general, the cable cited concerns including unreliability in identity documents, criminal records, passports, and visa overstays, among other issues. The countries could reduce the concerns, the cable said, if they agree to accept deportees or asylees from other countries sent by the United States.
The countries on the new list reportedly include Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
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PUBLICATIONS AND ITEMS OF INTEREST
Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) report. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released SEVIS by the Numbers: Annual Report on Foreign Student Trends. The report on SEVP and the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) highlights key SEVIS data trends, values, and information on F and M foreign students studying in the United States and J exchange visitors participating in U.S. Department of State-designated exchange visitor programs. It also examines data related to F-1 and M-1 student employment in the United States. The report compares data from calendar year 2024 with data from calendar year 2023.
Know your rights. A number of organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (English and Spanish), the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., the National Immigrant Justice Center, and the Asian Law Caucus, have published resources highlighting immigrants’ rights in the United States, including “know your rights” information and what documents they may want to carry when traveling inside the United States.
ACLU of Northern California has also released Know Your Rights: U.S. Airports and Ports of Entry.
See also Information for Employers — “What to Do if Immigration Comes to Your Workplace” : NELP_EmployerGuide_Eng_2025_Final-.pdf. Note the important distinction between administrative and judicial warrants, and a public lobby versus private areas of a business.
New FAQ on effect of changes to parole and TPS for SAVE agencies. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has released a new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, FAQs on the Effect of Changes to Parole and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for SAVE Agencies. The FAQs address questions that Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements agencies may have regarding the implementation of various changes to parole and Temporary Protected Status, including through published Federal Register notices. DHS noted that it has also taken actions to terminate parole before the parole expiration date for certain people.
IMMIGRATION AGENCY INFORMATION/PROCESSING TIMES
U.S. Customs and Border Protection:
Accessing I-94 Information: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home
Department of Labor:
PERM and Prevailing Wage Processing Times: https://flag.dol.gov/processingtimes
State Department:
Visa Appointment Wait Times: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas.html
Monthly Immigrant Visa Bulletin: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin.html
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services:
Processing Times: https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/
Case Status Online: https://egov.uscis.gov/
GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENTS
E-Verify webinars: E-Verify has added a webinar with a focus on acceptable documents for Form I-9 verification, and has updated its calendar of webinars.
SAVE webinars: Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) has updated its calendar of webinars.
Immigration agency X (formerly Twitter) accounts:
- EOIR: @DOJ_EOIR
- ICE: @ICEgov
- Study in the States: @StudyinStates
- USCIS: @USCIS
Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers: ABIL is available on X (formerly Twitter): @ABILImmigration
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This information was prepared in collaboration with ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, comprised of twenty U.S. immigration lawyers who head some of the top immigration practices in the country. Larrabee Albi Coker LLP is an active member of ABIL.
Legal Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not substitute for legal advice based on the circumstances of a specific matter.