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California State Capitol, Sacramento — Photo: site archive / public domain illustration

Accountability|United States

DOJ sues California over vote-by-mail ballots to more than 20,000 likely noncitizens

In United States v. California, No. 2:26-cv-12025 (C.D. Cal., filed 15 October 2026), the Justice Department asks a federal court to stop California from tabulating federal vote-by-mail ballots from people on a federal list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizens until citizenship is verified. The complaint cites 18 U.S.C. § 611 and California’s practice of mailing ballots to every registered voter.

Daily Teabag Desk·Centre
Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park, Texas — illustrative border landscape; not a worksite named in the rule — Photo: Yinan Chen, public domain

Policy Watch|United States

DHS makes permanent its ban on automatic work-permit renewals while a new card is pending

A final rule published 14 October 2026 (91 FR 65306) adopts without change the October 2025 interim rule that ended automatic extensions of Employment Authorization Documents for people who timely renew in covered categories. Asylum seekers and green-card applicants are the two biggest groups. Renewals filed before 30 October 2025 can still get up to 540 days; those filed on or after that date cannot. The rule is effective on publication.

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Amtrak Adirondack train at Rouses Point, New York, near the Quebec border — illustrative; the proposal does not name specific services — Photo: David McCormack, CC BY 2.0

Policy Watch|United States, Canada

U.S. border agency proposes making railways send it every cross-border passenger’s details an hour before the train leaves

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection proposed rule, scheduled for Federal Register publication on 13 October 2026, would require rail carriers to transmit each passenger’s and crew member’s name, date of birth, sex, citizenship, residence, travel-document details, itinerary, U.S. address, seat, and phone and email if given, at least 60 minutes before any train leaves for or from the United States, including trains to and from Canada. Sharing this data has been voluntary since 2005, and CBP says one carrier does it now. Comments are open for 60 days.

Daily Teabag Desk·Centre
Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park, Texas — Photo: Yinan Chen, public domain

Policy Watch|United States

DHS makes its fast-track fines for migrants who ignore removal orders permanent, after issuing about 176,000 under the interim rule

A joint DHS–Justice final rule, published 14 October 2026 at 91 FR 65390, adopts the June 2025 interim rule that lets ICE and CBP issue civil fines directly and moves appeals from the Board of Immigration Appeals to a DHS supervisor. The only change: ICE may accept a late appeal if documented mail delays caused it. Fines run up to $998 a day for willfully failing to leave after a final removal order. The rule is effective on publication.

Daily Teabag Desk·Centre
Massachusetts State House, Boston — Photo: King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0

Policy Watch|United States

DHS proposes a $70,000 fee on schools for each foreign student they recommend for OPT work, and $30,000 for each repeat

A proposed rule from DHS/ICE, published in the Federal Register on 8 October 2026, would charge SEVP-certified schools $70,000 per F-1 student recommended for initial Optional Practical Training and $30,000 for any later OPT, including the STEM extension. DHS says schools may pass the cost on to students, all students, or employers. Comments close 9 November. Nothing changes until a final rule takes effect 60 days after publication.

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Abstract accountability illustration — The Daily Teabag

Accountability|United States

DHS watchdog: ICE received 3.1 million visa-overstay leads in 2021–24, and lead-driven investigations produced eight arrests

A DHS Inspector General audit (OIG-26-38, 29 September 2026) found ICE rated 104,049 overstay leads as potential security or safety concerns, deemed 21,885 viable, investigated 496 and made eight arrests from those investigations. A 2021 enforcement-priorities memo narrowed the work, and bad address data got in the way. ICE separately arrested thousands of overstays through other operations.

Daily Teabag Desk·Centre
California State Capitol, Sacramento — not the Oakland federal courthouse — Photo: Alex Proimos, CC BY 2.0

Accountability|United States

California judge vacates the agency policies behind the $100,000 H-1B payment

On 30 September 2026 Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. vacated the USCIS, CBP, and State Department policies that collected the $100,000 H-1B payment and barred those agencies from enforcing them until they finish notice-and-comment rulemaking and a regulatory-flexibility analysis. The order does not strike Presidential Proclamation 10973 itself. A Massachusetts court had already vacated the same policies; a D.C. court went the other way.

Daily Teabag Desk·Centre
Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park, Texas — Photo: Yinan Chen, public domain

Accountability|United States

Judge halts Big Bend border-barrier work until DHS follows the laws it waived

On 2 October 2026 Judge Kathleen Cardone (W.D. Tex.) granted a preliminary injunction in Friends of the Ruidosa Church v. Mullin, No. EP-26-CV-1099-KC. Effective immediately, defendants may not build border barrier or do ground-disturbing work in the Big Bend Sector until they comply with all applicable laws. The order stays the effect of the named Big Bend IIRIRA waivers. A memorandum opinion is still to come — this is not a final merits ruling.

Daily Teabag Desk·Centre
U.S. Supreme Court Building — Photo: Kjetil Ree, CC BY-SA 3.0

Accountability|United States

SCOTUS stays block on third-country removals — and takes the merits

On 29 September 2026 the Supreme Court granted the government’s emergency stay in DHS v. D.V.D. (No. 26A406), pausing a Massachusetts district-court judgment that had blocked third-country removal guidance, treated the application as a cert petition, granted review (No. 26-426), and set December 2026 argument. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson would have denied the stay.

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