Immigration at the Border
Children in Immigration Court: Over 95 Percent Represented by an Attorney Appear in Court
Over the past few years, thousands of children—many fleeing horrific levels of violence in Central America—have arrived at the U.S. border in need of protection. Most children are placed in deportation proceedings before an immigration judge, where they will carry the legal burden of proving that they should be allowed… Read More
Reports of Additional Round-Ups of Refugees Met with Strong Condemnation
Reuters reported late on Thursday that the Obama Administration will launch a new round of immigration raids targeting Central American women and children following their last round-ups in January. The Reuters report says that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is “planning a month-long series of raids in May and… Read More
Mothers Held in Family Detention Centers Ask for Support from White House Mothers
Mothers who risked everything to flee horrific violence in their home countries, only to be held in immigration detention, gathered alongside advocates in front of the White House earlier this week in honor of Mother’s Day. The event, “Let Hope Bloom,” called on mothers in the administration to immediately visit… Read More
Two People Died in Immigration Detention This Week
For more than a decade, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been criticized for the inadequate medical care available in its detention facilities, which has had deadly repercussions. This week, two more people died while in ICE custody—Jose Leonardo Lemus Rajo, 23, of El Salvador and Igor Zyazin,… Read More
New U.S. Sentencing Commission Guidelines on Immigration Are a Mixed Bag
Earlier this month, the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) voted to change the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which in some cases will lead to increased sentences for those convicted of “Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States” or “Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien.” However, the USSC did not… Read More
New Data Sheds Light on Sprawling, Often For-Profit, Immigration Detention System
It is easy to forget at times just how sprawling and labyrinthine the U.S. immigration detention system truly is. But this is an important fact to keep in mind. Due to the sheer size and complexity of the detention system, detainees are easily “lost” to their family members and attorneys. Read More
Criminal Alien Program (CAP) FOIA Documents
American Immigration Council and AILA’s Connecticut chapter initially sought records related to CAP through a FOIA request to ICE in December 2011. When ICE refused to release records responsive to the request, Plaintiffs filed suit under FOIA for declaratory and injunctive relief to compel the disclosure and release of agency records improperly withheld by DHS and its component ICE Read More
Berks Detention Center Employee Convicted of Sexual Assault of Young Honduran Mother
A judge in Pennsylvania this week sentenced Daniel Sharkey, a 41-year-old former counselor at the Berks County Residential Center, to six to twenty three months of jail time. Sharkey previously worked at the county-run detention center for children and their parents. His sentence came down after he pled guilty… Read More
Custom and Border Protection Use–of-Force Data Raises More Questions
Use-of-force by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 declined more than 26 percent compared with the previous year, according to statistics released last week by CBP. During FY 2015, which ended in September of last year, CBP reported 756 uses-of-force, down from the… Read More
These Two States Are Pushing Back on Private Immigration Detention
Immigration detention is being addressed at the state and local level in a variety of ways. In Indiana, local advocates are opposing a new private detention facility, and in California, legislators are attempting to limit private detention and enforce national detention standards. California State Senator Ricardo Lara recently introduced the… Read More
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