Customs and Border Protection
Volunteers Needed for Credible Fear Interview Preparation in CBP Hotline
When someone crosses the border to seek asylum in the United States, they often first go through a credible fear interview (CFI). An asylum officer evaluates a person’s fear of returning to their home country and decides whether they will be allowed to apply for asylum and other forms of… Read More
Senate Deal Would Significantly Transform Border Policy
The “Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024” was released on February 4. For months, a bipartisan group of senators negotiated the compromise bill, which proposes significant changes to asylum and border policy to release billions in foreign military aid. The $118 billion bill would provide the president… Read More
Lawsuits Prompt Immigration Agencies to Publish Critical Documents in Their FOIA Libraries
Last September, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agreed to publish past versions of the Department of Homeland Security’s Privacy Impact Assessments on CBP One, the app that allows asylum seekers to schedule inspection appointments, among other functions. CBP agreed to post these documents in the agency’s Freedom of… Read More
Map the Impact: Immigrants Make Up Over 18% of the Total US Population Growth
Written by Robin Lundh, Research Manager and Anna Shepperson, Research Associate. Immigration—long central to the American experience—has dominated news coverage in recent years. Between 2016 and 2021 alone, record numbers of migrants arrived at the southern border; the Trump administration imposed travel bans on several Middle Eastern countries;… Read More
CBP’s Own Website Provides Insight Into Its Agents’ Corruption and Misconduct
Corruption within U.S. Custom and Border Protection’s workforce often has been hidden behind bureaucratic red tape. But what was once shrouded in mystery is now plainly available—on CBP’s own website. CBP has developed a “Transparency and Accountability” page designed to share information about CBP-related deaths, use of force incidents,… Read More
Spotlight on the Changing Demographics of Hispanic Americans
By Karen Aho and Robin Lundh of the American Immigration Council Today, Hispanic Americans form the largest ethnic group in the United States. The value of Hispanic Americans to the makeup of the United States—demographically, culturally, and economically—has grown every year. This Hispanic Heritage Month, we look at the most… Read More
New Board of Immigration Appeals Decision Sets Roadblock for Cubans, Others Seeking Green Cards
A recent Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision bars certain recently arrived noncitizens from becoming lawful permanent residents. In Matter of Cabrera-Fernandez, the BIA held that the petitioner had not been paroled into the United States when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released… Read More
New Immigration Court Rule Would Protect Critical Docket Management Tools and Rescind Trump-Era Changes
The Department of Justice has proposed a new rule to protect immigration judges’ ability to administratively close removal proceedings and control their ever-expanding dockets. The proposed rule, published on September 8, would also rescind most of the changes introduced by a 2020 Trump-era regulation, including shortened Board of Immigration… Read More
Biden Administration Fights to Keep Private Immigration Jails Open, Despite Promises
“There should be no private prisons, period, none, period. And we are working to close all of them.” Those are the words of President Joe Biden in April 2021, when he was called out by immigrant rights activists at a rally celebrating his 100th day in office. This was… Read More
CBP’s Continued ‘Turnbacks’ Are Sending Asylum Seekers Back to Lethal Danger
On April 8, a family came to the San Ysidro port of entry in Tijuana and asked to be let into the United States to seek asylum. The husband’s arm was bleeding. He’d been shot. The cartel that had driven him and his family from Jalisco the previous fall, when… Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone