Border Enforcement
Beyond A Border Solution
- Asylum
- May 3, 2023
America needs durable solutions. These concrete measures can bring orderliness to our border and modernize our overwhelmed asylum system. Read…
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Redefining Criminality: Untangling DHS’s Record High Deportation Numbers
It was another record breaking year for deportations, with DHS logging 396,906 removals during Fiscal Year 2011. While the raw number is not in doubt, its meaning is far from clear. According to DHS, 55% of those removed (approximately 218,000) were “criminal aliens,” but the definition of “criminal” is overly broad. While DHS may tout this numbers as proof that it’s rooting out serious criminals only, it’s important to note that many of these “criminal” aliens have only minor convictions such as traffic offenses or entering the U.S. without a visa. Read More
On Immigration, Some GOP Candidates Prefer Hostile Rhetoric to Policy Solutions
Over the weekend, Republican presidential hopefuls Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann made it clear that they were willing to increase their anti-immigration rhetoric in order to court voters. In the process, both confused the right to free speech with the responsibility of free speech, turning what should have been a debate on immigration policy into cheap and insensitive anti-immigrant rhetoric. Read More
House Hearing, New Report Add to Hysterical Narrative on Border Security
It was clear from the outset that Friday’s Congressional hearing on U.S.-Mexico border security was going to be light on data and heavy on bluster. The tabloid-style title of the hearing said it all: “A Call to Action: Narco-Terrorism’s Threat to the Southern U.S. Border.” Not surprisingly, it proved to be a largely fact-free performance. The stars of the show, which was staged by the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Management, were two retired generals: Barry McCaffrey, a former Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and Robert Scales, a former Commandant of the United States Army War College. Read More
Federal Appeals Court Enjoins Two Provisions of Alabama’s Extreme Immigration Law
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit temporarily blocked two controversial provisions of Alabama’s extreme immigration law, HB 56. A federal appeals court enjoined the provision requiring public school to determine the immigration status of enrolling students and the status of their parents as… Read More
Restrictionist GOP Members Rely on Scare Tactics in Hearing on Prosecutorial Discretion
The luster may be wearing off Republican attacks on DHS’s prosecutorial discretion policies. Efforts to paint the prioritization of cases as “backdoor amnesty” didn’t seem to go anywhere in yesterday’s hearing on immigration enforcement in the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement. ICE Director John Morton defended the prosecutorial discretion guidance he issued earlier this year as “trying to make good calls and good judgments” within a series of tough choices and finite resources. Members opposed to the Administration’s policies had a hard time rebutting the resource point, deciding instead to rely on scare tactics and hyperbolic comparisons to attack the guidance. Read More
The Facts (and Numbers) Don’t Matter in Alabama
Alabama Attorney General, Luther Strange, testifying before Congress. Photo by lutherstrange. As each day passes under Alabama’s new, highly restrictive immigration law (HB56), it is becoming increasingly clear that facts (and numbers) had very little to do with the passage of the law—and that they continue to be ignored as state officials defend the law. In fact, this willful disregard of facts and data may mean Alabama is about to pay a very high price for a small problem. Read More
Governor Jerry Brown Signs Immigration Bills that Help, Not Hurt, California’s Economy
Take note, Alabama. Over the weekend, Governor Jerry Brown signed two immigration bills that seek to boost California’s struggling economy, rather than saddle it and small businesses with costly enforcement programs. Governor Brown signed the “Employment Acceleration Act of 2011” (AB 1236), a bill that prohibits the state from requiring employers to use E-Verify, as well as the other half of California’s DREAM Act (AB 131), a bill which makes college more affordable for undocumented students and “benefits us all,” as Gov. Brown says, “by giving top students a chance to improve their lives and the lives of all of us.” Read More
Tell Me Again How Alabama’s Immigration Law is a “Victory for the State?”
Almost immediately after Judge Sharon Blackburn failed to enjoin key provisions of Alabama’s draconian immigration law (HB 56) last week, Alabamans began to feel the sting of the law’s harsh provisions. As immigrants leave the state, farmers, contractors, and homebuilders complain that labor shortages are and will continue to hurt their businesses. School administrators worry absent students will result in the loss of future funding. Immigrant rights groups fear the law will prevent victims from reporting crime to the police and pregnant women from going to the hospital. While Alabama Governor Robert Bentley hailed HB 56 as a “victory for the state,” the law’s intended and unintended consequences have proven to be anything but. Read More
Secretary Napolitano Acknowledges “Messaging Problem,” Dismisses Criticism of Key Enforcement Programs
In a speech at American University yesterday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano complained that she was tired of criticism from the left and the right that accuse DHS of both blindly deporting undocumented immigrants and participating in attempts at amnesty through the use of prosecutorial discretion. Secretary Napolitano argued that both cannot be true, but that these conflicting criticisms signify the need for a “reality check” on the way we talk about immigration enforcement. Given the highly political attacks made on the Obama administration’s enforcement strategies in recent months—especially those made by restrictionist Rep. Lamar Smith—many are sympathetic to the need for a reality check. But that check must also include an honest look at all of DHS’s programs, even the problematic ones. Read More
Federal Judge Denies DOJ’s Request to Stay Alabama’s Immigration Law
Today, U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn denied the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request to stay her previous ruling last week which kept major portions of Alabama’s restrictive immigration law, HB 56, intact. Following the judge’s ruling, the DOJ requested a stay of the law pending… Read More
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