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December 19, 2025

5 entries on this date.

DOJ fired Virginia immigration judge weeks after he granted asylum in majority of November cases

AP reporting published December 19, 2025 revealed that the Justice Department had fired Christopher Day, a U.S. Army Reserve lawyer detailed as a temporary immigration judge at the Annandale, Virginia immigration court, around December 2 -- about a month into his post, according to the National Association of Immigration Judges. Federal data analyzed by the nonprofit Mobile Pathways showed Day had granted asylum or other relief in 6 of the 11 cases he decided in November, a rate at odds with the administration's mass-deportation goals; DOJ declined to explain the dismissal.

United States and Antigua and Barbuda signed non-binding third-country deportation MOU

The United States and Antigua and Barbuda signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding dated December 19, 2025, allowing the U.S. to propose transferring up to 10 "noncriminal refugees" per year to the Caribbean nation. The deal only became public in January 2026, after the U.S. imposed partial visa restrictions on Antigua and Barbuda effective January 1, 2026, prompting accusations from the political opposition that the timing amounted to coercion.

HHS proposed barring Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals providing gender-affirming care to minors

On December 19, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published proposed rules that would bar Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals providing gender-affirming care to patients under 18, using hospitals' conditions of participation to put their entire federal reimbursement eligibility at risk. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a declaration asserting a federal standard of care for transgender youth. The proposals drew more than 30,000 public comments, including opposition from the American Medical Association and the Children's Hospital Association.

Alaska signed confidential DOJ agreement enabling federal flagging of individual voters for removal

Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher and U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon signed a "confidential memorandum of understanding" on December 19, 2025, alongside Alaska turning over a copy of its voter rolls to the Justice Department. The agreement lets DOJ's Civil Rights Division notify Alaska of individual "voter list maintenance issues," requiring the state to act on that notice within 45 days by moving flagged voters toward removal and reporting back to DOJ. State officials dispute that the agreement permits DOJ to directly purge voters or that Alaska requested the arrangement; at least 11 other states have signed materially identical agreements.

Ohio Gov. DeWine signed S.B. 293, eliminating four-day grace period for mailed absentee ballots

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed S.B. 293 on December 19, 2025, eliminating the state's four-day grace period that had allowed absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day to arrive and be counted up to four days after the election. DeWine acknowledged signing reluctantly, citing a pending U.S. Supreme Court case from Mississippi he feared might require elimination of all grace periods if left in place. An estimated 7,800 absentee ballots in Ohio's 2024 election had arrived within that window and would have been discarded under the new law.