A May 2026 policy memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services briefly threatened to upend how foreign-born residents apply for green cards — and its partial rollback is the central story of this month's immigration developments in the United States.

On May 21, 2026, USCIS issued an adjustment of status memo (PM-602-0199) signaling that the agency would use its discretion to require many temporary visa holders to leave the United States and apply for a green card from abroad through consular processing. The backlash was immediate. By May 29, USCIS had clarified that most applicants will not need to leave the country, according to reporting cited by the George W. Bush Presidential Center's monthly update.

The memo caused widespread confusion because it touched a process that has operated on U.S. soil for generations. As the American Immigration Council noted, "Congress created the adjustment of status process in 1952 and has amended that section of the law more than 20 times in the decades since. At no time has Congress written this 'extraordinary discretionary relief' standard into the law that USCIS is now claiming Congress intended all along."

Who is affected? Temporary visa holders pursuing employment-based and family-based green cards, plus the U.S. businesses sponsoring them. Had consular processing become mandatory, employers would have faced workforce disruption, and families could have endured long separations while applicants waited abroad. For now, adjustment of status appears likely to continue for many applicants as it always has — though enforcement of the new guidance remains uncertain.

The memo joins a list of executive immigration actions stalled by legal challenges:

• The $100,000 H-1B visa fee, ruled unlawful by a federal judge on June 8, 2026, remains in litigation.
• The 39-country pause on asylum processing was struck down in federal court.
• Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is still tied up in the courts.

The Bush Center's editors argue that policy made through executive action is "fleeting, chaotic, and unstable" for businesses, schools, churches, families, and immigrants, and that durable reform requires congressional action.

$70 Billion for Enforcement Through September 2029

President Trump this month signed a $70 billion funding measure for immigration enforcement and border security. Passed through the budget reconciliation process, the law funds these agencies through September 2029.

Proposed Rule Would Restrict Work Permits

The Department of Homeland Security is proposing a rule that would make it harder for certain immigrants to obtain employment authorization. The rule would mainly affect people on temporary status — humanitarian parole, deferred action, or those remaining in the United States under final orders of removal. Critics note it may simply push these workers into jobs where employers do not ask about status.

Record Suicides in ICE Custody

At least 10 immigrants have died by suicide in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since January 2025, according to The Associated Press. Seven of those deaths occurred since October — the highest number recorded in the agency's history.

Enforcement's Local Economic Cost

A new paper by Wharton School professor Exequiel Hernandez, drawing on data from 5,388 geocoded ICE raids and millions of commercial points of interest, estimates that targeted metro areas saw a 2.7% drop in foot traffic and a 6.2% decline in spending per location per week. That equals roughly 8.1 billion fewer visits and as much as $14 billion in lost spending over a single year.

Demographic Dividend

A new Council on National Security and Immigration paper by Julie Myers Wood and Dan Brown finds that the United States, China, and Russia all have aging populations and similar fertility rates of 1.7 to 1.8 children per woman in 2025 — but only the U.S. population keeps growing, thanks to higher net migration. Immigrants make up 73% of agricultural workers, more than 30% of construction workers, 25% of STEM workers, and 28% of highly skilled health care professionals.

Other Developments

• A GAO report on the Camp East Montana detention center at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, found the government paid the full cost of meals and services even when the facility held no detainees, and a contractor failed to meet ICE's National Detention Standards on security, disabilities, recreation, and access to legal counsel.
• Politico reports ICE issued a request for information on how data and advertising technology providers could support investigations, raising concerns that advertising data — purchases, browsing history, location, personal networks — could be repurposed for enforcement.
• A pregnant Ghanaian woman and her 4-year-old son, detained for over a week in a windowless cell at Washington Dulles International Airport after expressing fear of returning home, were released and flown home after an immigration judge denied her asylum request.

What Does Not Change

For applicants, the practical takeaway as of June 2026: adjustment of status inside the United States remains available for most applicants, and official USCIS guidance — not policy memos — governs each case. Readers with pending or planned applications should track USCIS announcements and consult the agency's published resources.