Quite a bit of news gets lost during the holidays, between vacations, staycations, visiting loved ones, or simply just tuning out for some mental health purposes. On an issue like immigration, even just a couple of days off can mean missing some major announcements and developments. To help us all catch up, I compiled some of the biggest immigration headlines from over the holidays.

Remain in Mexico to the Supreme Court? The Biden administration asked the high court to take up litigation around the previous administration’s anti-asylum policy in its upcoming term, “citing ‘erroneous’ decisions by lower courts that mandated the border policy’s revival,” CBS News reported on Dec. 29. While Biden formally ended Remain in Mexico in June, a right-wing judge appointed by the previous president in August issued a “bizarre” decision ordering the new administration to resurrect it. The Supreme Court that same month then handed down an order from its “shadow docket” upholding Remain in Mexico’s implementation. Daily Kos’ Joan McCarter noted the ruling was “unsigned and without any public transparency or arguments, or any need to explain the decision.” The Biden administration began to return asylum-seekers to Mexico at the start of December, facing further criticism from human and immigrant rights advocates for expanding the policy beyond what the courts required. Then on Dec. 13, the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the administration’s second attempt to end Remain in Mexico (officially known as Migrant Protection Protocols). That nonsensical decision was similarly slammed by experts. “In an unprecedented move, the 5th Circuit ruled that MPP was required by a 1996 law—even though it did not exist before 2019,” American Immigration Council Policy Counsel Aaron Reichlin-Melnick wrote at Immigration Impact.

Haitian asylum-seekers sue over abuses: A group of Haitian asylum-seekers who faced abuses at the hands of border agents at Del Rio, Texas last fall have filed a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging mistreatment and violation of their constitutional rights. Among the 11 plaintiffs is “Esther Doe,” who in documents described being “terrorized by officers on horseback.” Despite President Biden’s assurances that agents involved “will pay,” the Department of Homeland Security inspector general took nearly two months to say the office would decline an investigation, instead referring the matter back to Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility. “We are disappointed to see @DHSgov treating Del Rio as a one-off, and not a direct consequence of systemic violence targeting Black migrants,” the Texas Civil Rights Project tweeted. This new lawsuit filed by the group of Haitian asylum-seekers “also underscores the unlawfulness of the Title 42 policy, invoked by the Trump administration and embraced by President Biden, which uses the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to close the border to asylum seekers,” advocacy groups said in a Dec. 20 release. Among asylum-seekers quickly deported were Mirard Joseph and his family. “This was the most  painful and humiliating experience of my life,” he said in the release. Asylum-seekers from the lawsuit are represented by Haitian Bridge Alliance, Justice Action Center, and Innovation Law Lab.

Right-wing demonization of asylum-seeking children continues: Anti-immigrant loudmouth and former Republican Rep. Lou Barletta is using asylum-seeking kids as political props in his campaign for Pennsylvania governor, claiming in a Dec. 30 interview with the Associated Press (AP) that flights of unaccompanied minors to the states will stop if he wins. Of course, like previously noted, the federal government has routinely flown children on these flights throughout multiple administrations, some to be transferred to a Office of Refugee Resettlement contracted facility, others to be reunited with sponsors. But anti-immigrant Republicans like Florida’s Ron DeSantis have just now apparently decided this is a controversial practice, and claimed that these flights are happening without notification to the state. That claim turned out to be a complete lie. Barletta and DeSantis are not alone: “In South Carolina, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster banned foster care and group homes there from taking in migrant children,” the AP continued. Republicans are also seeking to stifle the ability of the federal government to place asylum-seeking children in contracted facilities and with sponsors as a record number of kids arrived to the U.S. in search of safety in 2021.

Afghan evacuees continue their wait: While the Biden administration celebrated an important milestone in November when the first U.S. base housing Afghan refugees closed after families were resettled to their new communities, nearly 3,000 Afghans who had been evacuated to bases in regions including the United Arab Emirates for further processing continue to wait, CNN reported Dec. 29. “Aminullah Hotaki flew out of Afghanistan on Sept. 21 with his wife and 5-year-old son,” the report said. “They landed in the United Arab Emirates where they expected to stay for a short period of time before coming to the United States. Now, three months later, he is still there.” Nearly 48,000 Afghans who were evacuated to the U.S. have been resettled all over the country, the report said. Additionally, nearly 1,500 Afghan children who arrived to the U.S. without a parent have been placed with a sponsor but continue to wait for reunification, CNN also reported. Reuters had previously described how some children were horrifically separated from their parents when the Kabul airport was attacked with artillery fire. While most of Afghan children designated as unaccompanied are now with a sponsor, about 250 remain in custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, CNN said. “And most of those children, advocates say, have no family members to reunite with in the United States.”

Well, fuck: Illinois seemed to be on the verge of a huge victory, when a federal judge last month dismissed a lawsuit from two counties challenging new legislation that effectively ends immigration detention in the state. Under Illinois Way Forward Act, local jails were directed to end their Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts by Jan. 1. This is a BFD. “While one in downstate Illinois complied last year, two others are involved in a federal lawsuit challenging the law,” NBC Chicago reported Jan. 2. “The case was dismissed last month, but a federal judge on Thursday granted an extension while an appeal is considered. Authorities in McHenry and Kankakee counties now have until Jan. 13.” What’s in it for these two counties in challenging this law? Money, roughly $12 million per year, Injustice Watch noted. While the  Illinois Way Forward Act appears to be delayed for now, it is hopefully nothing more than a slight bump in the way of this years-in-the-making victory. “This law is a result of years of persistent work by a broad coalition of immigrant communities and advocates,” the National Immigrant Justice Center said following the bill’s passage into law last summer.

Racist hate rag tries to be tricky: Breitbart wrote in a Jan. 1 post that I’m not linking to that border agents “faced historic level of line-of-duty deaths” in 2021, clearly trying to give the impression that migrants, the Biden administration’s policies, or a combination of both were to blame. But a look at the post itself makes clear that 13 of the 15 deaths in 2021 were due to COVID-19. The remaining two deaths were the result of “vehicle-related accidents.” Read through to the end, and you see that the post was in fact authored by a 32-year veteran of the force. Notably missing from the post is that as of November, 20% of Border Patrol’s workforce had failed to comply with the federal government’s vaccine mandate, The Washington Post reported. “The Border Patrol appears to have one of the highest refusal rates among the federal workforce,” the report continued. American Immigration Council’s Aaron Reichlin-Melnick noted in a Jan. 2 tweet that the agency classifies COVID-related deaths “as line-of-duty deaths, as have most every other law enforcement agency. It ensures families get survivor’s benefits if they’re classified that way.” And, let’s not forget how Breitbart also spread the despicable lie that an undocumented immigrant had been to blame for California’s deadly 2017 wildfires.