Immigration at the Border
Texas’ Proposed ‘Border Protection Unit’ Doubles Down on Failed Deterrence Policies
With all eyes on the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of the end of Title 42 on May 11, Texas lawmakers are pushing to increase the state’s role in enforcing federal immigration laws—despite Supreme Court precedent making clear that immigration enforcement is the federal government’s responsibility. A bill currently before the Texas… Read More
The Border Patrol’s Inhumanity Has Reached New Heights
A family with a baby, waiting outside in the cold overnight. A pregnant woman, enduring the elements for multiple days. An Afghan who worked for the U.S. Army as a translator, hoping for food and water. Asylum seekers who traveled from as far as Africa and Asia, looking for protection. Read More
GOP’s Extreme Border Bill Rejects Solutions and Embraces Ending Asylum
On Monday, April 17, the House GOP introduced its first comprehensive border bill of the 118th Congress. The bill comes after months of disagreement within the caucus surrounding legislative responses to the border, with moderate Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) having branded a proposal by Rep. Chip Roy… Read More
A Closer Look at Deaths in ICE Detention Facilities
On April 6, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the death of 61 year-old Salvador Vargas at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, GA which occurred on April 4. Deaths in ICE custody are far too common, and particularly devastating in detention centers with a… Read More
Biden’s Reviving Phone-Booth Asylum. Here’s Why It Was a Disaster
The Biden administration is yet again turning to the Trump playbook as it tries to slap together a border crackdown to succeed the end of the Title 42 “public health” order next month. The latest revived Trump-era idea: keeping asylum seekers in Border Patrol custody for longer, and conducting asylum… Read More
DHS Publishes Privacy Document About ATDs and the Data They Collect – Two Decades Late
Written by Raul Pinto and Rebekah Wolf of the American Immigration Council The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published the Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) implementation of Alternative to Detention Programs (ATD) on March 17. ATD programs provide noncitizens in removal… Read More
Deadly Detention Center Fire Is a Reminder: Both the US and Mexico Are Failing Migrants
On Monday night, 39 migrants died, and another 27 were seriously injured, in a fire in a Mexican detention center in Ciudad Juarez. The migrants—most of them from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Venezuela—were being held for deportation by the Mexican immigration enforcement agency INM, after a sweep to pick… Read More
Where the ‘Migrant Protection Protocols’ Stand, Four Years After Going Into Effect
Last week, a federal court in California issued a decision allowing asylum seekers and other plaintiffs to continue their legal challenge to the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program, officially (and in true Orwellian fashion) called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). The program—which forced migrants to wait indefinitely in… Read More
Three Years of Title 42
In March 2020, the world came to an unfamiliar halt. The COVID-19 pandemic was no longer a looming and distant concern. Events rapidly fell off calendars, schools shuttered, and those who could sheltered in place. Our hopes that the impact of the pandemic would be short lived were shattered with… Read More
States Lead the Way in Banning Immigration Detention Centers
State governments are leading the way on eliminating a blemish from their communities—immigration detention centers. As some state governments begin their legislative sessions, bills attempting to ban certain immigration detention centers have been introduced in multiple states. Following the lead of states like New Jersey and Illinois, New… Read More
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