Customs and Border Protection
What the Government Considers the US Border May Surprise You
When you think of a national border, you probably think of a defined edge—a place where one country ends and another begins. However, when it comes to federal immigration operations, the border extends many miles into the country. While those whose daily lives are negatively impacted by this overreach of… Read More
A Caravan of Migrants Makes Its Way to the US, as Trump Threatens to Close the Border
Thousands of migrants—many of whom are mothers, fathers, and children fleeing their homes in violence-stricken areas of Central America—are traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of an impromptu caravan. A majority of the estimated 4,000 migrants left last week from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, which has long ranked… Read More
New Court Filing Highlights the Government’s Official “Turnback Policy” for Asylum Seekers
Eight new asylum seekers joined a lawsuit last week that challenges U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials’ widespread and well-documented practice of turning back asylum seekers at U.S. ports of entry (POE) along the U.S.-Mexico border. The plaintiffs also amended the complaint in the lawsuit with new facts… Read More
As Immigration Court Quotas Go Into Effect, Many Call For Reform
On October 1, immigration judges around the country will arrive at work and face a daunting new task; complete 700 removal cases in the next year or risk official sanction. The new court quotas and performance metrics were imposed as part of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ ongoing push to reduce… Read More
Sessions Limits Immigration Judges’ Ability to Dismiss Deportation Cases
In his latest attempt to micromanage immigration judges and ensure a maximum number of deportations, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a decision last week restricting a judge’s ability to terminate cases. He made this decision despite the fact that these cases may be unnecessary to pursue and helpful to… Read More
Two Border Patrol Agents Charged with Murder Highlights the Need for Robust Hiring Standards
For the second time this year, a Border Patrol agent has been charged with murdering multiple people in Texas. Both agents were hired nearly a decade ago amidst a surge in staffing that backfired on U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in many ways, resulting in… Read More
Court Allows Lawsuit Challenging CBP’s Practice of Turning Away Asylum Seekers to Proceed
In a blow to the Trump administration, a federal court in California recently allowed a class action lawsuit to move forward challenging U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) practice of turning away asylum seekers at the border. The lawsuit, Al Otro Lado v. Nielsen, was brought in 2017 by… Read More
Government Emails Show Trump Was Determined to Terminate TPS Despite the Facts
Over the past year, the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for six countries, putting more than 300,000 mostly long-residing immigrants at risk of deportation. Newly released documents reveal that U.S. government officials determined to terminate TPS ignored evidence produced by their own agencies in a rush… Read More
Government Coerced Parents into Signing Their Rights Away Before Being Reunited with Their Children
In all the chaos of family separation, another disturbing detail has come to light: immigration officials may have coerced vulnerable parents into signing away their right to be reunified with their children. In a complaint filed on Thursday with the DHS Office of Civil Rights and… Read More
USCIS’ Wait Times for Citizenship Have Doubled
The average wait time on a U.S. citizenship application was about five months in 2014. Today, the average time a green card holder will wait for their citizenship application to be processed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is 10 months. With the increased wait… Read More
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No one should face the immigration system alone