Travel on advance parole now triggers the 3- and 10-year unlawful-presence bar for many pending-status immigrants

People with pending immigration cases who travel abroad on advance parole can now trigger a three- or ten-year ban on returning. The Board of Immigration Appeals, in Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, overruled the 2012 Arrabally rule and held that leaving on advance parole counts as a "departure" for the unlawful-presence bars: more than 180 days of prior unlawful presence can start a three-year bar, and a year or more can start a ten-year bar. Newsweek, La Opinión, El Nuevo Herald

Travel completed before August 13 is not affected, La Nación reports; the change applies to departures from that date forward. USCIS posted a traveler warning saying that as of August 13, departing after obtaining an advance parole document is a departure for inadmissibility purposes. The people most exposed are DACA recipients, certain Temporary Protected Status holders, and immediate family of U.S. citizens with pending green-card cases. AILA's president said the decision upends 14 years of settled law and punishes people who followed the rules. La Nación, AILA

The old workaround that let some people travel and then adjust status is gone. Leaving on advance parole can now start the bar that blocks or complicates a green-card case, which is why Spanish-language newsrooms spent the weekend telling DACA and TPS holders not to treat the travel document as a safe pass. Conexión Migrante, Telemundo 52, Diario Las Américas, El Tiempo Latino

Inside Walton County, Florida, a 287(g) task force and a jail that holds people for ICE

When NPR rode along with Sgt. Oscar D'Lassalas, the Walton County, Florida deputy ran traffic stops and checked IDs against a national database while Sheriff Michael Adkinson insisted the office isn't running raids. NPR also looked at the jail, whose state funding request has swelled to over $9 million, and we pulled more data and primary-source records to go deeper.

The original ask was $648,805 for beds, transport and bonuses. The June amendment took the request to $9.16 million. Ninety-three percent is equipment and services: radios at $4.84 million, Rapid DNA at $2.66 million, and Peregrine, a data-fusion platform, at $713,584. Buried in the same packet: $10,200 for 17 seats of on-demand phone interpretation, 240 languages. The state approved more than $87 million for 56 agencies that day, requested amounts rather than audited payouts.

The sheriff's office calls itself a "designated ICE transportation and holding hub," with 48 beds held for ICE and "consistently at maximum capacity." Jail-wide bookings, not ICE-only, jumped from 3,185 people in 2024 to 5,296 in 2025. Using the jail for immigration enforcement isn't new: WCSO's Warrant Service Officer agreement dates to 2019, and the office is still the county's only agency with an agreement, according to the most recent ICE data. The Task Force paperwork is from February 2025; Florida has the largest percentage of agencies with agreements of any state.

The Deportation Data Project counts 2,053 ICE arrest episodes first booked at the Walton County jail from March 2025 to March 2026: stays of about three days, a daily average of roughly 27 to 31 people held for ICE. Most are coded custodial, 287(g), or local-jail pickup; only four as traffic checks. Florida's encounter dashboard shows 249 sheriff encounters since August 2025, but the jail holds people arrested across the region, so the two figures describe different populations. One of them was Rolando Velasquez Andres, a South Walton High senior held about 36 hours after a crash on Highway 331, then moved to Miami.

Appeals court says the administration cannot deny bond hearings to detained immigrants in New England

People arrested by ICE in New England keep their right to ask a judge for release on bond. A divided First Circuit panel ruled 2-1 in Guerrero Orellana that the government is unlawfully jailing certain immigrants without hearings, the seventh appeals court this year to reject the administration's expanded reading of the mandatory-detention statutes. First Circuit, Portland Press Herald, ACLU of Maine

Around the system

• The Democratic National Committee approved conflicting messages on whether to abolish or reform ICE at its summer meeting, reflecting sharp opposition to the administration's crackdown but exposing party divisions ahead of the midterms; the nonbinding resolutions came amid renewed progressive anger after recent fatal ICE encounters. AP News, La Nación
• ICE grew its Maine staff by 44 percent over the past year, drawing recruits from local law enforcement with $50,000 bonuses. The Cumberland County sheriff lost two employees to the agency, and officials say vetting and training questions remain unanswered as the footprint expands. Portland Press Herald
• ICE's Denver division said the Denver County Jail declined a detainer for Emmanuel Roblero, a Guatemalan man the agency said had been arrested on DUI and hit-and-run charges. The Denver Gazette could not immediately confirm that history. Colorado and Denver limit honoring civil immigration detainers. Denver Gazette
• About 140 people held at the Tacoma, Washington ICE facility reached a fourth day without food Saturday, the 20th hunger strike there this year according to advocates. Reps. Maxine Dexter of Oregon and Emily Randall of Washington made an unannounced visit and said they were kept from the medical wing. The Seattle Times, House.gov
• Latin Americans deported from the United States to the Central African Republic describe being flown, shackled, to Bangui and left in poor living conditions. One was told, "This is Africa, deal with it." El País
• Immigration courts are packing 50 to 100 cases into single "mega master" hearings to cut a large backlog. Critics say the format slashes the already limited due process people get in those courtrooms. USA Today, Austin Kocher