Immigration at the Border
Over 100 Cities and Counties Now Riding the Anti-Detainer Wave
There have been four recent federal court decisions ruling that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents cannot require local jurisdictions to detain someone and that local law enforcement can be held liable for holding someone for no reason other than an ICE detainer. ICE… Read More
CBP Releases Report Critical of Agency, Issues Updated Use of Force Policy
When Jeh Johnson took over as Secretary of Homeland Security, he committed to increased transparency of his law enforcement agencies, thus, building trust between the agencies and the communities in which they operate. Last week, in line with this pledge, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), one of… Read More
Study: Providing Representation for Indigent Immigrants Could Pay for Itself
U.S. immigration laws provide only minimal due process protections for even the most vulnerable immigrants facing deportation, and in 59 percent of cases, immigrants are forced to navigate the byzantine immigration court system without representation, including many unaccompanied children. Many do not… Read More
Homeland Security Secretary Responds to House Republicans and Flawed Anti-Immigrant Report
Only days after President Obama asked Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to hold off his deportation review in order to give House Republicans space to move immigration reform negotiations forward, some of those same House Republicans in the Judiciary Committee held an “oversight hearing”… Read More
Summary Removal Procedures and Their Role in Rising Deportations
A string of new reports and analysis have resulted in competing story lines around the deportation numbers. The question of whether current policies are indiscriminate and inhumane, or whether the Obama administration is ignoring the law and “can’t be trusted” are dominating the politics around the immigration… Read More
The U.S. Deportation System’s Human Toll
The injustice of the U.S. deportation machine is apparent in many ways. There are the senseless deportations of people whose worst offense was a traffic ticket. There is the tearing apart of families as wives are separated from husbands, children from parents—not to mention the impact on… Read More
Counties Limit ICE Detainers As DHS Secretary Says He’s Taking a ‘Fresh Look’
As a growing number of states and counties end or limit their cooperation with immigration detainers, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Thursday that he is taking a “fresh look” at Secure Communities, a program that started in 2008 that allows local law enforcement to share fingerprints… Read More
Understanding ICE’s Release of Immigrants with Criminal Convictions
Washington D.C. – Understanding the complexities of immigration law and its intersection with criminal law is not easy. Over the past month, a flood of reports about enforcement policies and deportation data have compounded the confusion. Some of these reports were clearly designed to derail genuine and productive… Read More
Nativist Report Mischaracterizes and Over Dramatizes ICE Releases
Once again, in an attempt to derail an honest debate about immigration policy, the nativist Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a report this week claiming that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is setting free tens of thousands of dangerous criminals. The implication, of course, is that… Read More
Why Federal Officials Reminded Schools Not to Discriminate Against Immigrant Students
Last week, the Department of Education took steps to help ensure that undocumented students are not deterred from enrolling at K-12 public schools. The Department issued updated guidance regarding public schools’ responsibility to provide equal access to elementary and secondary education for all students regardless of immigration… Read More
