10/09/2026
In a major victory for detained immigrants seeking lawful immigration status and humanitarian protections, a federal court has blocked a Trump-Vance administration policy that prevented people in immigration detention from completing required steps in their immigration applications, putting them at risk of deportation, family separation, and return to dangerous conditions.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a stay of the administration's December 2025 policy that stopped the collection of biometrics, including fingerprints and photographs, from detained immigrants with pending applications before USCIS. The ruling restores the previous biometric collection process while litigation continues.
The decision comes in J.Z. v. DHS, a lawsuit brought by detained immigrants represented by Democracy Forward, the National Immigration Project, and the National Immigrant Justice Center.
Full press release: https://nipnlg.org/news/press-releases/federal-court-blocks-trump-vance-policy-denying-detained-immigrants-access
