For decades, Congress has recognized that immigrant survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and other serious crimes may be afraid to report abuse or cooperate with law enforcement because they fear deportation or retaliation from their abusers. To address this public safety challenge, Congress created humanitarian protections that allow eligible survivors to seek safety and stability without having to rely on their abusers, who may seek to weaponize immigration enforcement against them.
The central question of the ICWC v. Noem case is whether ICE can implement immigration enforcement policies that undermine the protections Congress created for immigrant survivors.
What’s happening?
For decades, ICE generally exercised its discretion not to pursue civil immigration enforcement against many people with pending applications for humanitarian protections, including relief under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), U visas for survivors of certain crimes, and T visas for survivors of human trafficking.
In 2025, ICE adopted new policies that reversed this longstanding practice. Instead of allowing immigrant survivors to remain in the United States while their applications were being considered, the new policies allowed ICE to arrest, detain, and even deport people who were seeking humanitarian protections created by Congress, even where the government had already determined those applications were bona fide.
The lawsuit argues that these new policies violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the Constitution because they abandon decades of agency practice and unlawfully expose immigrant survivors to immigration enforcement while they pursue the protections Congress created.
Why does this matter for immigrant survivors?
Congress created VAWA, U visas, and T visas because protecting survivors makes communities safer. These laws encourage survivors to report abuse, cooperate with law enforcement, and seek protection without fearing that doing so will lead to detention or deportation.
When survivors instead face immigration enforcement after coming forward, the impact extends beyond individual cases. Survivors may become less willing to seek help, perpetrators are less likely to be held accountable, and entire communities become less safe. The policies challenged in this case threaten to undermine the very purpose of these humanitarian protections.
What did the court decide?
On May 20, 2026, a federal court issued a preliminary ruling that temporarily restored important protections for many immigrant survivors while the case moves forward.
The court preliminarily certified three nationwide classes protecting:
- Individuals with pending VAWA self-petitions, U visa petitions, or T visa petitions whom ICE detains or seeks to detain.
- Individuals granted deferred action based on pending U or T visa petitions whom ICE detains or removes without notice and an opportunity to be heard.
- Individuals with pending U or T visa petitions who request a stay of removal before ICE carries out a final removal order.
The court also temporarily blocked key portions of the challenged 2025 guidance and related ICE policies while the litigation continues, including:
- Staying ICE’s 2025 guidance rescinding longstanding survivor protections, which blocked ICE from disregarding deferred action granted by USCIS to eligible U and T visa applicants.
- Blocking a policy that allowed the government to deport certain survivors while their U and T visa petitioners were still pending, before those requests for protection could be fully considered.
- Ordered the government to facilitate the return of certain named plaintiffs who had been unlawfully removed.
What happens next?
This preliminary ruling is not the final decision in the case. The litigation will continue while the above temporary protections remain in place. The federal government has appealed the preliminary ruling.
For many immigrant survivors, however, the May ruling provides immediate and meaningful relief. It helps preserve the protections Congress intentionally created so survivors can continue seeking humanitarian protection, cooperating with law enforcement when appropriate, and pursuing safety without facing unlawful detention or deportation while their cases are pending.
We will continue working alongside our partners to defend the legal protections Congress established for immigrant survivors and ensure they can access safety, justice, and dignity.
For more information, check out our press release after the preliminary certification in ICWC v. Noem: https://www.tahirih.org/news/in-icwc-v-noem-federal-court-blocks-policies-threatening-survivors-seeking-humanitarian-protection/
For litigation updates and resources, check out: https://www.centerforhumanrights.org/icwc-v-noem
For more information on how policy and law changes are impacting immigrant survivors, see all of our Breaking Down the News articles on our website.