Some services needed for immigration applications, like H-1B and E3 visas, no longer have funding, while others are still operational — for now.#Immigration #shutdown #visas
Government Shutdown Causes Even More Confusion for U.S. Visa Applicants
Amid the government shutdown, visa applicants are facing more confusion and are worried about potential delays, as some services essential to their application processes are “under maintenance” due to lapses in funding.The Foreign Labor Application Gateway website, which employers use for labor certification and immigration applicants use to access documentation for their applications, is down due to the shutdown, with an “Under Maintenance” notice on the site in place of the portal.
The federal government shut down on Wednesday, as Republican legislators refuse to budge on their desired cuts to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act healthcare subsidies. The last government shutdown was in 2018, also under President Donald Trump, and lasted 35 days.
“Due to a lapse in funding, all foreign labor certification activities administered by the Department’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) have been suspended,” the site currently says. “During this suspension, access to the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG), will be disabled and will not permit system users to prepare and submit new applications as well as submit any information associated with applications pending a final determination.”
Screenshot of flag.dol.gov as of Oct. 2
A notice on the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs site says consular operations domestically and abroad will remain operational, however, including passports, visas, and assisting American citizens abroad. Consular services, including US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), are almost entirely fee-funded and only a small part of their funding is reliant on congress. The American Immigration Council notes that for this reason, application interviews, naturalization ceremonies, biometrics processing, and other parts of the immigration system should continue as usual, and past reports have shown that only one percent of the USCIS would likely need to be furloughed during a shutdown, but that backlogs and increased immigration enforcement from the Trump administration could mean even that one percent could create more delays.The Office of Foreign Labor Certification website shows a notice about a lapse in appropriations: “This website is currently not being updated due to the suspension of Federal government services,” the site says. “The last update to the site was 10/1/2025. Updates to the site will start again when the Federal government resumes operations.”
An Australian applicant for an E3 visa — a specific type of temporary, non-immigrant work visa for Australian citizens — told 404 Media that not being able to access the FLAG website means she can’t access or download the Department of Labor-certified Labor Condition Application she needs for her visa appointment in two weeks.
“If the shutdown is lifted prior to my visa appointment, I’ll download the LCA and be on my way. If however the shutdown goes on past my appointment date, I don’t know what I’ll do,” she said.
The immigration and visa application process, overhauled by the Trump administration since taking office, has already caused chaos and confusion for applicants. On Friday, Trump signed an executive order that adds a $100,000 fee for applicants to the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers. US-based workers visiting abroad during the announcement rushed to travel back to the US after Trump’s announcement left them only hours before Trump’s deadline at midnight on Sunday, while some employers, especially small startups, scrambled to pay the fees for their workers.
playlist.megaphone.fm?p=TBIEA2…H-1B visa: US tech sector scrambles in the face of $100,000 fees
Startups and smaller firms could bear the brunt of Trump's new H-1B visa fee, and some fear it could thwart US innovation.Danielle Kaye (BBC News)
The Department of Defense asks its civilian workers to apply for a "volunteer force" to support ICE that may involve working under "austere conditions.#Immigration
Pentagon Asks Its Civilian Employees If They Want to Work for ICE
The Department of Defense sent an email to civilian employees Wednesday asking them to sign up for a “volunteer force” that will help both Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection with Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. A job application page says the Department of Defense's civilian employees would be deployed to ICE and CBP sites and that they may be expected to work under “austere conditions.”“The Secretary of Defense has authorized DoD civilian employees to participate in details to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to contribute to its operations along the Southern Border and its internal immigration enforcement activities,” the email, seen by 404 Media, says. “Selected Department employees will have a chance to offer critical support to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as they fulfill the President’s intent to ensure a safe and orderly immigration system.”
The Department of Defense has roughly 950,000 civilian employees.
The email suggests that DHS is trying to recruit from within the Department of Defense for CBP and ICE, which has a vastly expanded budget and has been trying to hire new agents at a huge scale. The email, which was addressed to “DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES,” asks current civilian Department of Defense employees to apply for the force on the USA Jobs website. The application page says the employees would be working largely in support roles at “facilities along the U.S. border or ICE and CBP facilities throughout the interior of the United States … Locations will extend to other geographic areas according to the need. Conditions at some locations could be austere. Deployment locations are based on need and are not negotiable.”
“At the discretion of ICE and CBP, Detailees will be assigned to perform some or all of the following duties at the several ICE and CBP facilities throughout the interior of the United States:
- Data Entry: Enter and maintain data elements in relevant information systems;
- Operational Planning Support: Assist ICE and CBP in developing concepts of operation and campaign plans to execute internal arrests and raids as well as patrols along the Southwest Border (SWB);
- Processing and Throughput Logistics: Assist ICE and CBP in managing the physical flow of detained illegal aliens from arrest to deportation, as well as manage associated data;
- Logistical Support: Assist ICE and CBP in managing the logistical planning to move law enforcement personnel, operational capabilities, and support equipment across the United States to improve efficiencies and the effectiveness of operations.”
In recent weeks, the Trump administration deployed the Marines to Los Angeles and deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington D.C. The Los Angeles deployments were in response to widespread protests against ICE raids in the city, but the military itself was not conducting immigration enforcement.
The email references a June memo sent by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to "senior Pentagon leadership" that reads "In support of the President' s priority of securing our borders, I am authorizing the detail of Department of Defense (DoD) civilian employees to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to support its operations at the United States southern border and with internal immigration enforcement."
Volunteer Force (DOD Detail)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Volunteer Force (VF) provides Department of Defense civilian employees an opportunity to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in their commitment to ensuri…USAJOBS
A DHS sizzle reel that used "Public Service Announcement" got hit with a copyright takedown request and has been deleted off of X.#Immigration #ICE
ICE Propaganda Video That Used Jay-Z Song Hit With Copyright Takedown
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) propaganda video that featured Jay-Z’s music was hit with a copyright takedown request on X, and appears to have been hit with copyright violations on both Instagram and Facebook as well.The video features footage of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents training and doing immigration raids set to Jay-Z’s 2003 song “Public Service Announcement,” which has recently been used in at least two DHS videos. DHS tweeted the video alongside the caption “Hunt Cartels. Save America. JOIN.ICE.GOV.” The original tweet, from August 10, has 2.9 million views on X; the video has been replaced with the message “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”
DHS also posted the video on Instagram and Facebook. On both platforms, the video has stayed up but Jay-Z’s music has been removed, suggesting that it got hit with a copyright notice on those platforms too. On Instagram, where it has nearly a million views, a message that says “This audio is no longer available” plays if you try to unmute the video. The sound on the video has been removed on Facebook as well, but a quirk of the platform allowed me to check what the removed audio was by clicking the name of the “sound” in the bottom left corner of the Reel, which showed it was indeed Jay-Z’s “Public Service Announcement. A Facebook user ripped and reposted the video, which still has the sound, and can be found here at the time of publication.Neither Meta nor X responded to a request for comment. The Recording Industry Association of America, which files a huge number of copyright takedown requests across the internet for major artists, declined to comment to 404 Media. DHS also did not respond to a request for comment. Jay-Z’s Roc Nation also did not respond to a request for comment.
In recent weeks, DHS officials and agents have heavily ratcheted up the number of videos they post to social media. Many of the videos are heavily edited sizzle reels from immigration raids set to rap music or songs like the “Bad Boys” theme and Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.”
The footage is being used to recruit new ICE agents and to promote the cruelty of Trump’s immigration raids; a video posted by chief border patrol agent Gregory Bovino features Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass warning about the overreach of the federal government in LA and includes a remixed version of “Public Service Announcement” over first-person footage of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents doing an immigration raid Thursday at a Home Depot in Los Angeles. That particular raid may have violated a court injunction, experts have argued.
“The Call of Duty aesthetic is sickening,” Chris Gilliard, co-director of The Critical Internet Studies Institute and author of the forthcoming book Luxury Surveillance, told 404 Media.
404 Media reported last week that CBP agents have been wearing Meta’s AI camera glasses to at least two recent immigration raids in Los Angeles (it is unclear what cameras were used to film the footage used in either of the videos featuring Jay-Z music).
“CBP utilize Go Pros mounted to helmets or body armor at times, as well as traditional DSLR handheld cameras,” a CBP spokesperson told 404 Media when we asked about its agents wearing Meta AI glasses. The spokesperson added “CBP does not have an arrangement with Meta. The use of personal recording devices is not authorized. However, Border Patrol agents may wear personally purchased sunglasses.”
DHS has also allowed Fox News reporters to embed with and film agents on raids, and footage from these raids shows DHS agents with DSLR cameras running alongside each other to capture footage. It is clearly important to this administration to capture and widely publicize this footage, which often emphasizes agents grabbing people who are running away from them.
The copyright takedown is notable because it shows DHS is not getting permission from artists to use their music in these propaganda videos, which are being used to recruit ICE agents in the immediate aftermath of a huge funding increase. As we reported earlier this month, ICE is trying to do a social media advertising blitz with part of this new funding, and is looking to plaster ads on social media, TV, and streaming sites. Despite this cash injection, early reports suggest that ICE is having trouble finding people to work for it.
Dept. of Homeland Security on Instagram: "Hunt Cartels. Save America. JOIN.ICE.GOV"
48K likes, 3,716 comments - dhsgov on August 10, 2025: "Hunt Cartels. Save America. JOIN.ICE.GOV".Instagram
404 Media spoke to Dave McNamee, the original creator of the babyface Vance meme, about free speech, our rights, and how it feels to see the thing you created being blamed for someone's denial of entry to the U.S.
404 Media spoke to Dave McNamee, the original creator of the babyface Vance meme, about free speech, our rights, and how it feels to see the thing you created being blamed for someonex27;s denial of entry to the U.S.#vance #meme #Socialmedia #Immigration
'My Bad:' Babyface Vance Meme Creator On Norwegian Tourist's Detainment
404 Media spoke to Dave McNamee, the original creator of the babyface Vance meme, about free speech, our rights, and how it feels to see the thing you created being blamed for someone's denial of entry to the U.S.Samantha Cole (404 Media)
