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
- Asylum
- May 3, 2023
America needs durable solutions. These concrete measures can bring orderliness to our border and modernize our overwhelmed asylum system. Read…
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Class Action Lawsuit Challenging CBP Delays in Responding to FOIA Requests
In March 2015, the American Immigration Council, in collaboration with the Law Office of Stacy Tolchin, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, filed a class action lawsuit against CBP over its nationwide pattern and practice of failing to timely respond to requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The plaintiffs included both immigration attorneys and individuals, all of whom had FOIA requests pending for over 20 business days. Read More
Groups File Lawsuit Challenging Failures of CBP to Respond to FOIA Requests
Washington, D.C. — Yesterday, a class action lawsuit was filed by three immigration attorneys and eleven noncitizens challenging U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) nationwide practice of failing to timely respond to requests for case information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). FOIA gives an individual the right to access information that the federal government possesses about him or her within 20 business days of making the request. Read More
Documenting Ongoing Border Patrol Abuses
Last month, following a five day trial, a United States district court ordered the United States to pay almost $500,000 to Jesus Castro Romo, for injuries he sustained after a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot him in the back. Mr. Castro had been walking through the desert when a Border… Read More
Immigration Courts Are Ordering Unrepresented Children Deported
The Los Angeles Times recently reported that since 2013, more than 7,000 immigrant children have been ordered deported after missing a hearing in immigration court, according to government data. Immigration advocates and attorneys have raised the alarm that many children who never received notice of their hearings nonetheless… Read More
DHS Funding Controversy Over, But Enforcement-First Approach Remains
Over five months into fiscal year 2015, the President on Wednesday finally signed the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’) appropriations bill, after Congress twice narrowly averted shutting down the agency. Congressional members called it a “clean” bill, without House Republicans’ efforts to repeal President Obama’s recent executive actions (well within the President’s authority). But the debate over executive action has prevented a meaningful debate over the funding bill’s provisions, which support and expand DHS’ failed “enforcement first” approach to immigration policy. Read More
House Judiciary Considers Same Costly, Enforcement-Only ‘Reform’
The House Judiciary Committee devoted two days this week to the markup of three enforcement-only immigration bills. The legislation would strip much-needed protections from an already vulnerable population–including children and asylum seekers–impact the agriculture industry, place burdensome requirements on small business owners, and cost the American taxpayer a lot of… Read More
Potential Presidential Candidates Fail to Offer Immigration Solutions at CPAC
Most Americans want immigration reform. President Obama’s executive actions took temporary steps to provide relief for millions of undocumented immigrants who have spent years here, but it is up to Congress to pass legislation that would comprehensively improve the immigration system. According to a February poll from Public Religion… Read More
Report Shows Deported Parents Will Return to Kids in U.S., Risking Harsh Penalties
President Obama last November announced executive action to temporarily defer deportations for potentially 3.7 million unauthorized immigrant parents of children with U.S. citizenship or green cards, so as to focus enforcement resources on public safety threats and others. A new study by the University of California-Davis… Read More
Texas Judge Places Preliminary Hold on President’s Deferred Action Initiatives, Government Likely to Counter
A Texas Judge has placed a preliminary hold on the two initiatives announced by President Obama last November that would expand the two-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents (DAPA). These two programs would provide temporary relief from… Read More
Unrepresented Children Still Being Fast-Tracked Through Immigration Hearings
Since the government began “prioritizing” the deportation of unaccompanied children and mothers with children last summer, legal service providers and other court observers across the country have reported that immigration judges are giving children less time to find attorneys before moving forward in their cases. Now, children without attorneys… Read More
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