Virginia’s attorney general said Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security may have violated several state laws after a whistleblower accused its employees of misrepresenting themselves on voter lookup tools to hunt for noncitizen voters.
In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Attorney General Jay Jones demanded that DHS confirm in writing whether it had directed anyone to access Virginia voters’ information without first obtaining permission from those voters.
Good Thursday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Sep 17, 2026.
Here is what’s going on Friday in Arlington, from our event calendar.
Expect partly sunny skies with temperatures reaching a high of 85°F and a gentle north wind of 7 to 9 mph. In the evening, skies will be partly cloudy with temperatures dropping to around 65°F, accompanied by a light north wind at about 6 mph. See more from Weather.gov.
“Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.”
– Charles R. Swindoll
The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.
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This sponsored column is by Law Office of James Montana PLLC. All questions about it should be directed to James Montana, Esq., Janice Chen, Esq., and Victoria Khaydar, Esq., practicing attorneys at The Law Office of James Montana PLLC, an immigration-focused law firm located in Falls Church, Virginia. The legal information given here is general in nature. If you want legal advice, contact us for an appointment.
Temporary Protected Status is supposed to be temporary. Congress built it that way on purpose. Congress also built it to be predictable, so that the people who rely on it, and the employers who hire them, know where they stand. Congress also did that on purpose. The statute sets deadlines and requires the government to publish its decisions.
In September, the unstoppable force of TPS elimination met the immovable object of “Here come the midterms!” and the Trump Administration simply blinked, but in such a way that nobody will be happy: neither the federal judiciary, nor immigration hawks, nor, God knows, TPS beneficiaries themselves.
How TPS is supposed to work
The TPS statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1254a, is not complicated. At least 60 days before a country’s designation expires, the Secretary of Homeland Security must review conditions in that country. He must then decide whether to extend or terminate the designation, and publish that decision in the Federal Register. A termination cannot take effect until at least 60 days after that notice is published.
Congress also anticipated a Secretary who doesn’t get around to deciding. Here is the text, in relevant part (our highlights in bold):
If the Attorney General does not determine under subparagraph (A) that a foreign state no longer meets the conditions for designation under paragraph (1) by the time required under such subparagraph, the period of designation of the foreign state is extended for an additional period of 6 months (or, in the discretion of the Attorney General, a period of 12 or 18 months).
El Salvador: 25 years, and then nothing
El Salvador has been designated for TPS since the earthquakes of 2001. Its most recent extension, published in January 2025, ran through September 9, 2026. The deadline for the Secretary’s decision was therefore July 11, 2026.
July 11 came and went, and so did September 9, with no Federal Register notice of any kind. Instead, the USCIS El Salvador TPS page now carries this alert:
An announcement on El Salvador’s TPS will be made at the appropriate time. Until such announcement is made, Salvadoran individuals present in the U.S. under TPS retain protection including work authorization.
“At the appropriate time.” The appropriate time was July 11!
Our reading of the statute is that El Salvador’s designation has been extended by operation of law, for at least six months, to March 9, 2027. The government hasn’t said so, and it may claim that a termination decision was made quietly and never announced. Even on that theory, the statute requires that a termination be published, and it cannot take effect until 60 days after publication. Either way, no Salvadoran TPS holder should lose status without at least 60 days’ public notice in the Federal Register.
Oktoberfest season opens in Arlington and Falls Church this weekend, with a three-day festival in Courthouse, a five-brewery run in Shirlington and — a bit incongruously — a mechanical bull at a restaurant in Crystal City.
Eight celebrations of note are on the local calendar between now and Oct. 3, most of them free. Munich’s original festival runs from Saturday through Oct. 4.
The County Board is preparing to vote on $365,810 in grant funding for individual artists and arts organizations around Arlington.
The grants, authorized annually and included on the consent agenda for the Board meeting this Saturday, are part of a program overseen by the Arlington Commission for the Arts.
Featuring both voice and instrumental performance on vielle, lute, gittern, harp, recorder, douçaine, and bagpipe, the program will include works by, among others, Johannes Ciconia, Trebor, Johannes Senleches, Solage, Guillaume de Machaut, Guillaume Dufay, and Gilles Binchois, rousing dance music from medieval Florence and finely wrought instrumental arrangements from the Faenza codex and the Buxheim Organ book.
Karaoke nights at Big Tony’s Pizzeria & Dive Bar are going up for debate at an upcoming County Board meeting.
The retro-style Clarendon bar is seeking county authorization to host karaoke nights and DJs at 3100 Clarendon Blvd — but it’s facing pushback from county staff, who say that the establishment violated the county’s zoning ordinance multiple times by hosting karaoke without permission.
A new grocery store is opening on Langston Blvd next week, replacing a Giant supermarket that closed more than two years ago.
Sprouts Farmers Market will host a grand opening in the Lyon Village Shopping Center beginning on Friday, Sept. 25 and continuing through the weekend. Celebrations will include free tote bags, food samples and discounts.
A new analysis of over 100 “near miss” traffic incidents in Arlington zeroes in on disproportionate issues on a handful of busy roads and intersections.
The report from Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets analyzed 136 incidents in Arlington where people said they were almost hit by vehicles. The data shows that “failure to yield” remains the most common risk factor, mentioned in 64% of the incidents, followed by vehicles speeding (35%) and running red lights or stop signs (29%).
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) has a message for House leaders: Congress may not get another chance to get ahead of artificial intelligence.
Beyer, who co-chairs the bipartisan Congressional AI Caucus, led nine colleagues from both parties in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) pressing them to move AI legislation immediately. The group released the letter yesterday (Wednesday) and made its case at a morning press conference on Capitol Hill.
Falls Church’s efforts to mark the nation’s 250th birthday could spill into 2027.
One of the goals for 2026, improvements to Fort Taylor Park, has yet to pan out. However, leaders hope that it could be completed with the support of local Eagle Scout candidates.
