AILA and Members Sue Administration Over Arbitrary Mandatory Form Changes

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and immigration law firm Benach Pitney Reilly sued the Trump Administration for implementing substantive form changes again, without warning, that will harm potentially thousands of AILA members and their clients. The lawsuit was filed by AILA and co-counsel on behalf of our members in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia.

Late on Monday, August 31, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that as of that day, new editions of the forms I-864, I-864A, and I-864EZ would be required without exception—potentially leading to the rejection of countless applications. In violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), and longstanding agency practice, no notice was given and no grace period was implemented; USCIS only informed the public of these changes via the “Forms Update Alert” after 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on the day they would take effect. To make matters even more alarming, form errors on the USCIS website created additional barriers to compliance.

Immigration attorneys and their clients realized that potentially hundreds of forms that had been submitted properly and in accordance with the law would be rejected even if mailed before the new form was made available. Thousands of other forms were in the process of being prepared and submitted in the coming days and weeks before the annual visa allotment expires and the new public charge rules take effect. AILA immediately requested that USCIS grant a grace period for acceptance of the new forms, but the agency did not respond.

AILA Benefits Litigation Attorney Jennifer Coberly stated, “USCIS has arbitrarily and capriciously failed to provide adequate notice of these revised forms, or even a grace period for implementation. Thousands of forms were potentially already in the mail on August 31 or prepared for filing. This abrupt change puts AILA and our members in an impossible situation. AILA has reached out to USCIS requesting a grace period be applied. To date, they have declined to do so, resulting in this litigation.”

Sarah Beth Pitney, one of the partners at plaintiff firm Benach Pitney Reilly, shared, “The failure to provide notice or a grace period for the new version of the Form I-864 created absolute chaos in our office after I found out about it from a social media post. We had adjustment of status applications ready to file for a time-sensitive case and had to drop everything to get new I-864s prepared and signed to ensure applications wouldn’t be rejected. We have also had to field calls from panicked clients worried that their applications will be rejected. It is absurd that we were given no opportunity to prepare for this.”

AILA Second Vice President Rekha Sharma-Crawford added, “This is now the second time in 17 months that the Trump Administration has attempted to weaponize their executive power to directly harm immigrants, families, employers, and communities across the nation by altering forms designed to provide benefits without notice. These USCIS actions have directly caused panic, as eligible applicants now fear a wave of rejected filings that have the potential to cause increased delays or loss of benefits to applicants. A grace period or other remedy must be implemented to remove the concern that applications will be wrongfully rejected. Every rejection results in increased costs and expenditures for applicants and their representatives as they resubmit forms. The harm here is potentially irreparable: families can lose their filing date through no fault of their own, applicants can lose work authorization and travel permission, children may age out and lose eligibility permanently.”

Brian Green, Chair of AILA’s Benefits Litigation Committee and Founder of the Law Office of Brian Green, stated, “Attorneys across the country are already suffering harm as they try to pull together new applications with the new form as appropriate; clients are being harmed because a complete application may have already been mailed out. These changes were done without warning. Now attorneys are facing clients who are frustrated and angry at them, when in fact the federal government is the cause of all of this unnecessary and unlawful turmoil.”

Christopher W. Dempsey of Dempsey Law, PLLC added, “Since taking office, this Administration has too often targeted and vilified immigration lawyers for doing their jobs as advocates and officers of the court: representing human beings, insisting that the law be followed, and ensuring that those affected by government action have a voice. USCIS’s no-notice, no-grace-period form change is par for the course—an unnecessary burden on an already overextended immigration bar—and I am grateful AILA is standing up for its members, their clients, and the rule of law at a defining moment for our nation’s values.”

Zachary New of Joseph & Hall, P.C. stated, “USCIS has had, as its ceaseless mission, to create as many barriers and obstacles to lawful immigration pathways as it can. This newest action, rehashing an old play it has failed in previously, will cost families time in reuniting, block the ability of some to obtain permanent residency in the United States entirely, and threatens to rip families apart, all because USCIS does not feel the law applies to it. We seek to show them that feeling is incorrect.”

AILA and Benach Pitney Reilly are represented by Rekha Sharma-Crawford of Sharma-Crawford Attorneys, Brian Scott Green of the Law Office of Brian Green, Jennifer R. Coberly of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Christopher W. Dempsey of Dempsey Law, PLLC, and Zachary Ryan New of Joseph & Hall, P.C.