Monthly immigration update: April 2026

Southwest border encounters of migrants remain low with a little over 11,000 recorded for March. At the same time, the federal government’s policy to turn back migrants without providing an opportunity to be screened for asylum protections is being challenged in court in a class action lawsuit brought by asylum seekers against the Department of Homeland Security. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in this case, Al Otro Lado v. Mullin, in late March.

We don’t know how the court will rule, but the opinion will impact the policies both the current and future administrations will pursue to manage the border. A ruling that interprets the law to require an applicant to be physically on U.S. soil – not merely at a port of entry requesting access – could unintentionally strain border personnel because they may see an increase in asylum seekers paying to be smuggled onto U.S. territory at locations between ports of entry.

The solution to the border shouldn’t be left solely to the judicial branch. In a new paper for the Bush Institute, immigration fellow Theresa Brown argues that the executive branch can use foreign policy tools to strengthen regional cooperation on migration. Intelligence sharing, coordination to combat smuggling networks, and expanded economic opportunity at home are all policies a future administration could pursue.

Immigration and border issues aren’t purely domestic policy problems. The solutions shouldn’t be, either.

Figure of the Month

9 out of 10

International migration – both foreign-born immigrants and Americans returning home from living abroad – fell in nine out of 10 U.S. counties between 2024 and 2025, according to new Census Bureau data highlighted by Axios. The nation’s largest counties “saw their population growth diminish or even turn into loss,” Census Bureau demographer George M. Hayward said.

Bush Institute Insights

• I spoke to Jesus Jiménez of The New York Times for his piece on labor needs in the Texas restaurant industry. As I shared in the piece, incremental reforms like legal work authorization for undocumented workers could help Texas businesses maintain staff even when more comprehensive immigration reform might not be a political reality.
• The George W. Bush Presidential Center kicked off celebrations of America’s 250th birthday last week with our ninth annual Forum on Leadership themed The Heart of America. We awarded the 2026 George W. Bush Medal for Distinguished Leadership to David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group; the George W. Bush Institute Citation to Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America; and the George W. Bush Institute Trailblazer Citation to Joni Carswell, CEO and president of Texan by Nature.

“The American genius is that we recognize that when groups are given their freedom, they build up their nation. America would literally be unrecognizable without the contributions of our diverse faith communities. This is pluralism. Respect for diverse identities, relationships between different communities, cooperation with one another for the common good.”
— Eboo Patel, founder and president, Interfaith America

Data Dive

• More than 13,000 immigrants living legally in the United States while awaiting asylum decisions have been issued removal orders to so-called safe third countries like Honduras, Ecuador, and Uganda, per Mobile Pathways data cited by the Associated Press. Yet fewer than 100 are believed to have actually been deported, leaving thousands in legal limbo after receiving orders to countries where they have no ties and are unable to pursue their asylum claims, and creating uncertainty about if or when those orders will be carried out.
• While the Department of Justice ramped up immigration prosecutions, it was declining to prosecute tens of thousands of other criminal cases, according to an analysis by ProPublica. The first six months of the second Trump Administration brought 32,000 new immigration prosecutions, a 15% increase from the first Trump Administration. In that same timespan, it closed 23,000 criminal cases.
• The number of immigrants currently detained has dropped slightly, according to Department of Homeland Security data published by USA Today. Around 60,000 people are currently in immigration detention, down from a high of nearly 71,000.

What I’m Reading

• The Trump Administration is scaling back its sweeping asylum freeze enacted after the fatal shooting of a National Guard member in Washington, D.C., CBS News reports. This has allowed most cases to resume after monthslong delays that halted hundreds of thousands of applications. However, the asylum freeze remains in place for nationals from 39 countries still subject to travel bans and heightened restrictions.
• Politico has an interesting read on a sticky topic. What do we do with immigrants with criminal records who cannot be detained or easily removed? Many of these immigrants have final orders of removal that the U.S. cannot easily enforce – their home countries have declined to receive them, the immigrant is stateless, or the immigrant has expressed a fear of persecution. They are under orders of supervision, so they check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement regularly. The U.S. government wants to deport them; federal court judges say they are entitled to due process.
• A growing number of foreign-trained doctors are being forced out of the workforce as visa processing delays drag on, leaving American hospitals short-staffed and patients without care, Politico reports. Other medical professionals, such as nurses and lab techs, are also impacted.
  • The New York Times has stories about two of these doctors, Ezequiel Veliz and Rubeliz Bolivar. Both are Venezuelan-born doctors working in an underserved area – south Texas. Both were recently detained. Dr. Veliz has since been released.
• Many undocumented immigrants file income tax returns using the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN, created by the Internal Revenue Service in 1996 to promote tax compliance. But with the IRS now sharing data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, some undocumented immigrants are scared that following the law to pay taxes will put a target on their backs.
• Potential challenges to Plyler v. Doe, the case that said undocumented students are entitled to public education, are brewing. Tennessee’s Legislature is considering a bill that would require public schools to collect students’ immigration status. Never heard of Plyler? The National Immigration Forum has a thorough explainer.
• Ten House Republicans joined all House Democrats to pass legislation requiring the Department of Homeland Security to extend Temporary Protected Status for Haitians for three years. The Trump Administration has attempted to terminate TPS for Haiti, and the case is currently with the Supreme Court.
• NPR reports on the rollercoaster number of naturalizations in 2025. In early 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved 88,488 naturalizations – a record for a single month. By the end of the year, both applications and approvals declined dramatically as the agency implemented enhanced screening and vetting procedures for dozens of countries.

Upcoming Events

• May 14, 2026 – Baker Institute: Addressing Protracted Displacement in the Middle East and North Africa