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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Why is the Obama Administration So Afraid of Administrative Fixes to Our Immigration System?
This week, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano was clearly channeling her predecessor, Michael Chertoff, as she touted her Department’s remarkable progress in enforcing immigration laws. Not only did she proudly announce that DHS had a record-breaking year for deportations, but she clarified that local law enforcement cannot opt out of the Secure Communities program once it’s in place. Moreover, she made it clear that DHS is not a warm and fuzzy place, noting that the separation of families couldn’t be helped until we had comprehensive immigration reform. She also gave a resounding “no” when asked if the Department contemplated any major deferral of removal programs as suggested by a series of leaked memos. And, virtually repeating the mantra of Secretary Chertoff, Napolitano insisted, “This department is about enforcing the law that we have." But concerning administrative fixes to our immigration system, Secretary Napolitano and the Obama Administrative should be taking their cue from the Bush administration. Read More
Supreme Court to Hear Two Cases Affecting Immigrants, Including a Case Challenging a Recent Anti-Immigrant Law
This week, the United States Supreme Court opened its October session. Among the cases it will hear is a challenge to a state law that sanctions employers for hiring unauthorized workers. This is the first case challenging the recent influx of state and local laws attempting to regulate immigrants and immigration and an opportunity for the Supreme Court to assert the federal government’s constitutional right to set immigration law. In the second immigration case, the Supreme Court must decide whether former citizenship law provisions—which imposed a five-year residency requirement for U.S. citizen fathers, but not mothers—violate equal protection. Read More
Nativist Group Unhinged Over GOP’s “Pledge to America”
The nativist Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is apoplectic over the Republican Party’s recently released “Pledge to America.” Apparently, the GOP’s professed commitment to “establish operational control of the border,” “strengthen visa security,” and “work with state and local officials to enforce our immigration laws” isn’t tough enough—or unrealistic enough—to meet FAIR’s high standards. In a shrill and fact-free press release, FAIR complains that immigration was “barely a blurb” in the Pledge, and then claims—without a shred of evidence—that pouring more money into worksite immigration enforcement would amount to a form of “economic stimulus” that would magically “protect American workers” and “raise wages.” FAIR’s press release concludes by presenting its own “serious and effective immigration plan,” which includes a laundry list of just about every costly, ineffective, and destructive immigration-enforcement policy which has ever been tried. Read More
Utah Leaders Balk at Arizona-esque Immigration Enforcement Bill
With midterm election campaigning well underway, some local candidates are lifting up state and local immigration enforcement legislation as a means to garner public support. Unfortunately, as is often the case when politics meets reality, not everyone is on board with local enforcement laws like Arizona’s SB1070—key provisions of which were enjoined by a federal district judge in late July. Over the last few months, state leaders in Ohio, Idaho, Nebraska and Houston have either heavily edited or voted not to pursue state immigration measures, citing costly lawsuits, court battles and the dubious constitutionality of such laws. This month, state leaders in Utah are also balking at an immigration measure modeled on the controversial Arizona law. Read More
Counties Say No to ICE’s Secure Communities Program, But is Opting Out Possible?
Earlier this week, the Santa Clara (CA) Board of Supervisors and the Arlington County (VA) Board both voted unanimously to opt-out of the Secure Communities program—an ICE program that shares the fingerprints of individuals booked into jails with immigration databases. However, Today’s Washington Post claims that opting out of Secure Communities “is not a realistic possibility, and never was.” The Secure Communities program, launched in 2008, is currently active in 658 jurisdictions in 32 states, according to ICE, who plans to activate the program in every jurisdiction in every state by 2013. It remains unclear, however, whether the program is voluntary. Read More
House Republicans Pledge More of the Same on Immigration
It was a week of broken dreams and empty promises for immigration reform. The failure of the Senate to take up the DREAM Act illustrated once again that good policy isn't enough to make legislation work. And over on the House side, GOP members unveiled their “Pledge to America,” a pledge that promises, among other things, more of the same deportation-driven strategies for resolving our immigration crisis. Although the public appears to have an insatiable appetite for talking tough on illegal immigration, if cable shows and Tea Party candidates are your measure of the public taste, catering to the worst of the public's instincts is not a strategy for the long run. Read More
With Recess Over, Where Does Immigration Fall on the Congressional To Do List?
Congress returns on September 13 for one last round of legislating before the November elections. It is a short work period (four weeks) and the prospects for getting things done are, particularly in this gridlocked Congress, not great. Congress watchers predict that the emphasis will be on jobs and the economy, which is not surprising given that this is what’s on voters’ minds. But where does immigration fit into this framework? Read More
Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Hazleton, Pennsylvania’s Immigration Enforcement Laws
Today, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Hazleton, Pennsylvania may not enforce its immigration enforcement laws, which sought to deny business permits to companies who hire undocumented immigrants, fine landlords who rent to the undocumented and require prospective tenants to register with City Hall. The laws, which were never enforced, were previously struck down by a federal judge in 2007 and were again found to conflict with the federal government’s “exclusive power to regulate immigration.” Read More
Yet Another City Gives Local Immigration Enforcement Proposals a Thumbs Down
This week, city leaders in the Houston suburb of Tomball, Texas, joined a host of other local leaders when they voted not to pursue harsh immigration enforcement measures at a city council meeting. Council members cited costly lawsuits while city residents expressed fear of being branded unwelcoming and “racist.” The ordinances under consideration would have banned undocumented immigrants from renting property or owning businesses and would have made English Tomball’s official language. The council also voted to continue running a day labor site and tabled a mandate banning companies awarded city contracts from hiring undocumented workers. Read More
New Report Explores Cost-Saving Alternatives to Immigration Detention
In recent years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has taken a lot of heat over questionable detention practices—everything from routine denial of access to loved ones and legal services to detainee death cover-ups and instances of medical negligence and sexual abuse. Although this administration has attempted to overhaul our immigration detention system, some find that changes to date don’t quite go far enough and only hint at the problem. A new report by Detention Watch Network (DWN) argues that the solution is the wide-scale implementation of community-based alternatives to detention that are cost-saving, effective and more humane. Read More
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