Border Enforcement

Migration at the border is a multifaceted issue, challenging the U.S. to secure our borders while upholding the human rights of individuals seeking safety and better opportunities. Balancing national security with compassion and our legal obligations to asylum seekers presents intricate dilemmas, and we collaborate with policymakers to advance bipartisan, action-oriented solutions.

Beyond A Border Solution

America needs durable solutions. These concrete measures can bring orderliness to our border and modernize our overwhelmed asylum system. Read…

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Homeland Security Secretary Announces Changes to Family Detention Policies

Homeland Security Secretary Announces Changes to Family Detention Policies

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson released a statement on plans to make “substantial changes” to the agency’s family detention policies. The following is a statement, in response, from Ben Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Council. Read More

New Book Documents 10 Years of Operation Streamline

New Book Documents 10 Years of Operation Streamline

For more than 10 years, the federal government has operated a program in federal courts along the Southwest border targeting unauthorized border crossers for criminal prosecution. The program, known as Operation Streamline, has long been criticized for its group hearings—up to 75 people at once—that provide little or no… Read More

Government Shows No Signs of Backing Down on Family Detention

Government Shows No Signs of Backing Down on Family Detention

Washington D.C. – Yesterday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced efforts to “enhance oversight” to help ensure that families are detained in “safe and humane facilities” and in doing so demonstrated no signs of reevaluating its misguided family detention policy. The American Immigration Council welcomes efforts to increase access to legal… Read More

Groups File Lawsuit Challenging Failures of CBP to Respond to FOIA Requests

Groups File Lawsuit Challenging Failures of CBP to Respond to FOIA Requests

A class action lawsuit was filed by three immigration attorneys and eleven noncitizens challenging U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s nationwide practice of failing to timely respond to requests for case information under the Freedom of Information Act. Read More

Immigrants’ Rights Groups to Provide Pro Bono Legal Services to Detained Families in Texas

Immigrants’ Rights Groups to Provide Pro Bono Legal Services to Detained Families in Texas

Washington D.C. – Immigrants’ rights and immigrant legal services groups are announcing the establishment of a family detention project to provide legal services to children and their mothers detained in Karnes City and Dilley, Texas, and to advocate for the end of family detention.  The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the … Read More

Understanding Trust Acts, Community Policing, and

Understanding Trust Acts, Community Policing, and “Sanctuary Cities”

The term “sanctuary city” is often used incorrectly to describe trust acts or community policing policies that limit entanglement between local police and federal immigration authorities. Here are the facts. Read More

Arriving Noncitizens and Adjustment of Status

Arriving Noncitizens and Adjustment of Status

This practice advisory identifies who falls under the classification of “arriving noncitizens,” discusses the regulations delineating USCIS vs. EOIR jurisdiction over adjustment applications of arriving noncitizens in removal proceedings and suggests strategies to facilitate the adjustment of status of eligible parolees in removal proceedings before they are removed. Read More

Departure Bar to Motions to Reopen and Reconsider: Legal Overview and Related Issues

Departure Bar to Motions to Reopen and Reconsider: Legal Overview and Related Issues

This Practice Advisory discusses the “departure bar” to motions to reopen and arguments adopted by circuit courts that have rejected or upheld the bar.

Inspection and Entry at a Port of Entry: When is there an Admission?

Inspection and Entry at a Port of Entry: When is there an Admission?

This Practice Advisory focuses on the meaning of “admission” in four very specific, but frequently encountered situations: a “wave-through” at a port of entry; and entry based on misrepresentation; an entry based on a false claim to U.S. citizenship; and the grant of TPS as an admission for purposes of adjustment of status. Read More

Introduction to Habeas Corpus

Introduction to Habeas Corpus

This Practice Advisory offers a short introduction to habeas corpus, addressing when and how a petitioner may file a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the immigration context.

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