Immigration policy news, and what it means for your evaluation

New articles appear in six languages as each edition is completed.

Why we write these

Immigration policy moves fast and most coverage stops at what the agency announced. We add the part nobody else writes: what a change does to the qualifying relative, to the hardship record, and to the timing of the clinical evaluation behind the filing. Every post is written by licensed clinicians, reviewed before it publishes, and sourced to the primary document rather than to somebody else’s summary of it.

EvergreenU and T visas

U and T visa psychological evaluations: similar symptoms, different questions

U and T visa matters can involve overlapping experiences, but an immigration psychological evaluation answers different questions in each. A U petition concerns substantial physical or mental abuse resulting from qualifying criminal activity. A T application concerns a severe form of trafficking and includes a separate question about extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm upon removal. In both, the principal clinical focus is the person who experienced the harm.

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NewsDoral, Florida, Immigration enforcement, Cancellation of removal

Does fear of ICE count in an immigration psychological evaluation? What families in Doral are describing

Fear of ICE can matter in an immigration psychological evaluation, but as evidence, not as a label. The evaluation records what the fear has changed for the person evaluated, such as sleep, concentration, work and daily routines, with dates, standardized questionnaires and records. Fear of a real threat is not, on its own, a diagnosis, and the report says so when symptoms fall short of DSM-5-TR criteria. In a hardship case, the person evaluated is the U.S. citizen or permanent resident relative, and the attorney decides how the findings fit.

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NewsSanta Fe County, New Mexico, I-601A

Santa Fe County's ICE ordinance and family hardship in New Mexico

Santa Fe County has adopted rules that limit how county property and resources can be used for civil immigration enforcement. The rules govern what the county does. Federal officers keep their own legal authority. For a family seeking a hardship waiver, an immigration psychological evaluation can look at the support a relative actually has, and how it affects their health and daily life.

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EvergreenVAWA, I-360

VAWA psychological evaluations: documenting abuse when the evidence is incomplete

A VAWA immigration psychological evaluation can document the effects of reported abuse on the person seeking protection through an I-360 self-petition. Nonphysical conduct may be relevant to the legal question of battery or extreme cruelty, but its meaning depends on the circumstances and evidence. The evaluation assesses the person who experienced the abuse and can describe psychological effects with or without a diagnosis. The self-petition is not a hardship waiver.

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EvergreenI-601A, I-601

Immigration psychological evaluations for I-601A and I-601: whose hardship matters?

An immigration psychological evaluation for an I-601A hardship waiver focuses on a qualifying U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent. Form I-601 covers several waiver provisions, so the relevant family relationship and legal test depend on the ground being addressed. Before arranging an evaluation, the attorney needs to identify whose hardship matters and what question the clinical evidence should answer.

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NewsThird country deportations, Withholding of removal, Immigration evaluations

Third Country Deportations

Third country deportations send people to countries other than their own, sometimes to places where they have never lived and have no personal ties. For an immigration psychological evaluation, the destination changes the questions we ask about family contact, caregiving, and support. When the destination is still unknown, the report can document how the person is functioning now and say which questions about the future cannot yet be answered.

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NewsPublic charge, Delayed care, Immigration evaluations

Public charge lawsuits: what happens when families delay care?

An immigration psychological evaluation can examine why someone delayed care and how they are functioning now. When records are limited, we document the person's account, assess the available evidence, and explain what remains uncertain. The new public charge lawsuits raise this concern: what happens when fear of immigration consequences changes whether a family seeks help?

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NewsFamily hardship, Public charge, Immigration enforcement

When immigration fear changes daily life: what can an evaluation document?

An immigration psychological evaluation can examine how uncertainty about a family's future is affecting daily life before a detention or separation occurs. We assess what has changed for the person being evaluated, when it began, and what the available evidence supports. News coverage provides context; the clinical findings come from the individual evaluation.

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NewsImmigration enforcement, Family separation, Evaluation process

ICE arrests are rising. What can an immigration psychological evaluation document?

An immigration psychological evaluation can document how detention, family separation, or prolonged uncertainty affects a person's health and daily life. The report connects those changes to an individual history and the evidence available. For families in New Mexico, we begin with what has happened in their own household and the question their attorney has asked us to evaluate.

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NewsNew Mexico, Cancellation of removal, I-601A

ICE arrests spiked in Santa Fe in August. What changes for a family’s immigration psychological evaluation?

An ICE arrest does not change who we evaluate in a hardship case, and it does not stop the evaluation. The qualifying relative, the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse, parent, or child, is the person interviewed, over secure video, from wherever they are. What changes is the clinical picture. Hardship the family had been anticipating is now being lived, and the report documents both. When a detention moves a case into immigration court, the same relatives are evaluated against the higher standard that cancellation of removal requires.

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NewsEnforcement data

ICE arrests set a record in July 2026, and for the first time most of the people arrested had no criminal record

Immigration and Customs Enforcement recorded 49,571 arrests in July 2026, about 1,599 a day and roughly fifteen percent above June's record, according to agency data released to the Deportation Data Project. The Guardian's analysis found that July was the first month of this administration in which a majority of people arrested, 51 percent, had no criminal convictions and no pending charges. The arrests are happening at ICE check-ins, at airports, and at traffic stops rather than in televised raids, which means compliance with instructions no longer protects a family the way it once did. None of this changes the extreme hardship standard or our clinical protocol. It changes how a family's fear should be understood in an evaluation, and how early an evaluation needs to be scheduled.

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NewsVAWA, I-360

USCIS rewrote its VAWA self-petition guidance in December 2025. What changed, and what does it mean for the psychological evaluation?

On December 22, 2025, USCIS replaced the entire VAWA chapter of its Policy Manual, effective the same business day for every pending and future I-360 self-petition. Officers now decide in their sole discretion what evidence is credible and what weight it gets, a self-petitioner must show she lived with the abuser during the qualifying relationship, and “extreme cruelty” is being read for severity. A psychological evaluation was never required for VAWA and still is not. What changed is what a survivor’s own statement is worth on its own, and that is the gap a documented, co-signed evaluation exists to fill.

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NewsMonthly briefing

What changed in U.S. immigration policy in August 2026, and what it means for hardship and survivor evaluations

August's defining action was the USCIS public charge guidance, effective September 18, 2026, which widens what counts as dependence on public benefits at adjustment of status and arrives with a new I-485 edition that has no grace period. Around it, DHS moved to mandatory electronic filing, the July asylum rule that skips interviews stayed in force, and a federal court split its ruling on the H.R. 1 rollout. The direction is consistent: more cases pushed toward consular processing, closer review of admissibility, and shorter timelines. None of it changes the hardship standard or the clinical protocol. It changes when the evaluation needs to be ordered and how carefully its financial facts are written.

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NewsAsylum, Removal proceedings

USCIS can now send asylum cases to immigration court without an interview

An interim final rule published July 28, 2026 allows USCIS to refer affirmative asylum applications to immigration judges without first interviewing the applicant. The agency says the change is meant to shorten adjudication times and reduce the asylum backlog. It took effect immediately, with a public comment period to follow. For families with a member in the asylum pipeline, the practical effect is that a case can land in immigration court sooner than the old process allowed.

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NewsI-601A, Adjustment of status

USCIS limited adjustment of status in May 2026. Here is what it means for hardship evaluations.

On May 21, 2026, USCIS issued a policy memo directing officers to treat adjustment of status inside the United States as extraordinary relief, with consular processing abroad as the default path. For waiver families the practical effect is that more cases land on the consular track, which is the track where an I-601A provisional waiver, and the extreme hardship evaluation behind it, carry the most weight.

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NewsTPS, Asylum, Litigation

A federal court paused parts of the H.R. 1 rollout on July 21

The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted an administrative stay covering some of the USCIS policies that implement H.R. 1, the Reconciliation Act of 2025. TPS-based work permits that had been extended keep their earlier expiration dates for now, certain asylum application rejections are on hold, and the court said it would rule on a longer stay on or before August 5.

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EvergreenProcess, Timing

How long does an immigration psychological evaluation take, and when should you order it?

Standard report delivery is 5-7 days after the final interview and receipt of all required assessments and records. Rush delivery of 72, 48 or 24 elapsed hours starts at the same point and includes weekends, subject to availability. We confirm the exact delivery date and time in writing before the rush surcharge is paid. Clinical review and co-signature remain required. Allow time before that clock for scheduling, interviews and gathering records.

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Illustrative images only. Some are AI-assisted, and none are photographs of clients or evaluees.