Immigration News Today: Green Card Lottery Ordered to Reopen

Julia Malleck

Oct 16, 2026

immigration, attorney, lawyer, uscis

Green card application form. (Shutterstock)

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Just have a minute? Here are the top stories you need to know about immigration. This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.

IN COURT

  • A federal judge has ordered the Department of State to reopen the 2027 Green Card Lottery by Oct. 18 after the Trump administration paused the program last November. (Bloomberg Law)  
  • The DOJ filed a suit against California and Los Angeles County officials, claiming there are over 20,000 noncitizens registered on the voter rolls. ([Paywall] The Washington Post)
  • A federal appeals court ruled that California cannot require ICE agents to wear a visible ID. ([Paywall] New York Times, The Hill)

FROM THE FEDS

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  • ICE rejected the Government Accountability Office’s recommendation that agents’ body cameras activate automatically when they pull out a weapon or activate a car siren. (Reuters, 📄Report)

LOCAL

  • Oscar Belgal, who was shot by an ICE agent in Marble Hill last week, was arrested without a valid warrant and is being held in solitary confinement, according to a new court filing from his legal team. (Documented, The City Reporter)
  • Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin shook on a deal to end the city’s horse carriage industry, drawing criticism from the Transport Workers Union over the move’s impact on immigrant workers. (POLITICO)
  • A New Jersey woman has been indicted for stealing over $25,000 from immigrant New Yorkers while posing as an IRS and immigration agent. (Gothamist, 📄Press Release)

ACROSS THE U.S.

  • Immigration enforcement fears are impacting attendance at English-language learning programs in Vermont’s Upper Valley. (Valley News, VT Digger)
  • David Gonzalez III, the ICE agent accused of assaulting a 72-year-old Fresno resident and his daughter while drunk, has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges. He was hired as an ICE agent 10 months ago amid an agency hiring push, according to a report. (KRGV, The Sacramento Bee) 
  • A prosecutor said that an ICE officer intentionally hit Miguel Parra Hernandez, a 48-year-old construction worker and Mexican national, in Houston — contradicting claims from the agency that he stepped in front of the vehicle. (AP) 
  • Residents in Alexandria, Virginia, have raised alarm about “anti-immigrant flyers” distributed on cars in communities that included a hotline to report violations of voting and immigration laws. (WTOP)
  • ⏳[Long read] Trump says the border is secure. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott keeps declaring an emergency. (Houston Public Media)
  • ⏳[Long read] The Death of a Young Haitian’s American Dream. (The New Yorker) 

Julia Malleck

Julia Malleck is a journalist based in NYC. She writes Documented's flagship newsletter, Early Arrival, which tracks national and local developments in immigration policy. (And my handle on X/Twitter is @txt_julia)

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