Immigration at the Border
When is Possession of a Sock a Deportable Offense?
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Mellouli v. Holder, No. 13-1034, a case that shows just how out of step immigration enforcement has become. Moones Mellouli was a conditional lawful permanent resident engaged to a U.S. citizen and resided in the U.S. for 8 years,… Read More
How Thousands of U.S. Citizen Children Are Impacted by Removal of Parents
While the President’s recent executive actions will help some parents of U.S. citizens, current border removal policies continue to separate U.S. citizen children from their parents, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. Using data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the authors calculated that… Read More
What Happened at the Meeting Between the Mexican and U.S. Presidents
The U.S. and Mexico share a nearly 2,000 mile border, and most of the immigrants in the U.S. are from Mexico. The relationship between the two countries runs deeper than just immigration even though attention in the last year has focused on the record number of children and families who… Read More
Government Report Blasts Border Patrol Drones as Ineffective, Wasteful
Over the past decade, as the government has pursued an “enforcement first” strategy, U.S. Border Patrol enforcement has exploded with devastating consequences. Border Patrol has used excessive force without accountability while costing taxpayers $8 billion annually, with little clear impact on migration. Amongst this spending, as… Read More
States Begin New Year by Implementing New Immigration Laws
Many of the positive immigration reforms approved in 2014 happened in the states. Despite federal inaction on federal immigration reform, state and local officials took pragmatic steps to help undocumented immigrants living in their communities better integrate. Connecticut and California were two of 10 states as well as the… Read More
Can the Border Patrol Change Its Ways?
In the year just ended, the U.S. Border Patrol and its parent agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), found themselves subject to an unprecedented level of public scrutiny. Crimes committed by Border Patrol agents—ranging from accepting bribes to shooting people in the back—no longer remained shrouded in secrecy. Rather,… Read More
Top Five Immigration Stories of 2014
This year, the narrative on immigration swung from hope that the House of Representatives would follow the Senate’s lead and act on comprehensive immigration reform legislation to hopelessness when Republican leaders refused to act. Then attention turned to anticipation of the President’s announcement of temporary executive actions to… Read More
Do the President’s New Immigration Policies Really Mark the End of Secure Communities?
The misnamed Secure Communities program has been plagued with problems since its inception—most fundamentally, its failure to make communities more “secure.” Critics of the program have cited to its adverse impact on community policing, asserted that it encourages racial profiling, and highlighted the mounting evidence that many individuals encountered… Read More
Cities in States Suing Over Executive Action Are Welcoming Immigrants
Half of the states have joined a lawsuit challenging President Obama’s executive action on immigration, the latest being Tennessee. Yet leadership of cities across the nation support the administration’s actions—even those within states whose governors and attorneys general are suing to stop it. What explains the disconnect?… Read More
New Family Detention Facility Opens in Dilley, Texas, Despite Due Process Problems
The Department of Homeland Security opened the largest immigrant family detention center in Dilley, Texas this week. The privately owned facility is designed to house 2,400 people—mostly women and children—who are caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The opening of this detention center reflects the administration’s continuing commitment to its flawed… Read More
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