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…

Read More
Pennsylvania Should Widen Access to Justice for People in Immigration Detention

Pennsylvania Should Widen Access to Justice for People in Immigration Detention

People in immigration detention who are represented by an attorney are more likely to receive a positive outcome in immigration court than those that face judges alone. Unfortunately, people who arrive in the U.S. from other countries are not guaranteed representation even though having one can be the difference between… Read More

Federal Court Blocks Error-Prone ICE Deportation Program

Federal Court Blocks Error-Prone ICE Deportation Program

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested millions of people based on unreliable electronic databases. In a recent court decision with nationwide impact, a federal judge in California ruled that parts of this mass deportation program—called Secure Communities—are unconstitutional. Through Secure… Read More

CBP Officers Take on Role of Asylum Officers – This Lawsuit Demands to Know Why

CBP Officers Take on Role of Asylum Officers – This Lawsuit Demands to Know Why

Officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—a law enforcement agency with a history of misconduct and abuse—are reportedly conducting screenings of asylum seekers pursuing protection in the United States. A new lawsuit aims to find out more about this secretive practice. For decades, these screenings—called credible fear… Read More

Cameroonian’s Death in ICE Custody Underscores Problems with Immigration Detention

Cameroonian’s Death in ICE Custody Underscores Problems with Immigration Detention

Nebane Abienwi, a 37-year-old man who had recently fled war-torn Cameroon, died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on Tuesday. His passing—the first of the new fiscal year that began on October 1—follows a string of tragic and unnecessary deaths in ICE detention that… Read More

Federal Judge Says DHS Must Keep Its Promise to Protect Children in Immigration Detention

Federal Judge Says DHS Must Keep Its Promise to Protect Children in Immigration Detention

A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to significantly undo the Flores Settlement Agreement, which mandates certain protections for children held in immigration detention. The changes to the settlement would have allowed the administration to hold immigrant children and their parents indefinitely in jail-like settings. Federal Judge… Read More

FOIA Lawsuit Demands Information About CBP Officers’ Role in Credible Fear Interview Process

FOIA Lawsuit Demands Information About CBP Officers’ Role in Credible Fear Interview Process

This lawsuit seeks to uncover information about the government’s troubling new practice of employing U.S. Custom and Border Protection officers to screen asylum seekers. Read More

Lawsuit Demands Information on the Expansion of CBP’s Role in the Screening of Asylum Seekers

Lawsuit Demands Information on the Expansion of CBP’s Role in the Screening of Asylum Seekers

The American Immigration Council and Tahirih Justice Center filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in federal court to compel the government to release records about the Trump administration’s troubling new practice of allowing U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers to screen individuals seeking asylum in the United States. The lawsuit seeks these documents to shed light on changes to the asylum screening process, CBP’s role in conducting interviews and making determinations regarding an asylum seeker’s “credible fear” of persecution, and the measures taken by CBP, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of Homeland Security to implement this new practice. Read More

Federal Judge Blocks the Expansion of Fast-Track Deportation Program, Expedited Removal

Federal Judge Blocks the Expansion of Fast-Track Deportation Program, Expedited Removal

A federal judge blocked the expansion of a fast-track deportation program, known as “expedited removal,” minutes before the government said it would begin implementing its expansion on September 28, 2019. Expedited removal allows the government to deport certain people without basic legal protections. Those who are… Read More

After SCOTUS Ruling, Asylum Seekers  Ask Court for Protection

After SCOTUS Ruling, Asylum Seekers Ask Court for Protection

Immigrant rights attorneys moved to block the Trump administration’s Asylum Ban from affecting tens of thousands of migrants who have already attempted to access the U.S. asylum process before the ban was implemented. With limited exceptions, the Asylum Ban prohibits anyone who traveled through a third country and did not seek protection there from obtaining asylum here. The request filed today is in the ongoing case challenging the Trump administration’s policy of turning back asylum seekers at ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border, including the “metering” policy. Read More

State Governments Should Step In to Provide Oversight of Detention Facilities

State Governments Should Step In to Provide Oversight of Detention Facilities

Immigration enforcement may be a federal responsibility, but state governments have a great deal of power over the conditions under which immigrants are detained. At a time when over-crowded detention facilities are failing to meet even the minimum standards of humane treatment, states must step up and exercise their authority to improve a situation that has become truly dire. Read More

Make a contribution

Make a direct impact on the lives of immigrants.

logoimg