Rubio issued APA determination exempting all immigration and border regulations from notice-and-comment rulemaking
On March 14, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio published a determination in the Federal Register declaring that all federal efforts to control the entry and exit of people and goods at U.S. borders constitute a "foreign affairs function" under the Administrative Procedure Act. The determination invoked a narrow APA exception — historically limited to diplomatic agreements — to categorically exempt all immigration and border-control rulemaking by any federal agency from notice-and-comment requirements. The action eliminated the public's statutory right to review and challenge a broad category of federal regulations before they took effect.