Family Separation
Judge Allows Certain Family Separations at the Border to Continue
The Trump administration received an unfortunate victory in the case against their family separation policy. On January 13, 2020, Federal Judge Dana Sabraw sided with the government in a lawsuit challenging continued separations at the border. Although the judge ordered an end to most family separations in 2018, he has… Read More
Trump Implemented Family Separation After Government Officials Raised Red Flags
Government officials were aware of the harm family separation would cause and were critical of the practice years before the Trump administration established it as an official policy. Advocates unearthed this and other details about the “zero tolerance” policy in response to a series of Freedom… Read More
‘Zero Tolerance’ Overwhelmed Courts and Diverted Resources From Criminal Investigations
Attorney General Sessions’ orders to prioritize prosecuting people for immigration-related offenses in 2017 and 2018 put a significant strain on law enforcement across the border, diverting resources away from drug and organized crime prosecutions. The increase in immigration prosecutions, which played a primary role in the… Read More
The Government Knew It Didn’t Have the Technology to Track Separated Families. It Did So Anyway.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—the agency responsible for systematically separating thousands of migrant families in the summer of 2018—lacked the technology or mechanisms to record and track the separations, a government watchdog group recently found. Family separations—done under the Trump administration’s “Zero Tolerance policy”—started before the policy was… Read More
‘I Have DACA. No Matter What the Supreme Court Decides, I’ll Continue to Build American Communities.’
On November 12, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments regarding the legality of President Trump’s 2017 rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. The court’s decision will impact the ability of nearly 700,000 DACA recipients across the country to continue to live and work in… Read More
Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans Extended, While Liberians Face Looming Deadline for Departure
Following an agreement between the governments of the United States and El Salvador, Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will be able to extend their status for another year into early 2021. At the same time, many Liberians with special protections from deportation are suddenly facing… Read More
American Communities Benefit From Welcoming Refugees – The White House Wants to Stop That
For many small towns and rural communities, opening their doors to refugees is part of a local strategy to reverse population decline, stimulate their workforce, and build diverse communities. There are countless examples. Clarkston, Georgia—once a Southern town struggling to keep up with rapid population decline—has… Read More
Federal Judge Says DHS Must Keep Its Promise to Protect Children in Immigration Detention
A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to significantly undo the Flores Settlement Agreement, which mandates certain protections for children held in immigration detention. The changes to the settlement would have allowed the administration to hold immigrant children and their parents indefinitely in jail-like settings. Federal Judge… Read More
How the Immigration Court Reached a Record One Million Case Backlog
When Donald Trump took office in January 2017, the immigration courts faced a record backlog of over 542,000 cases. This month, the immigration court backlog hit a new historic high with over 1,000,000 cases. Driven by new Trump administration immigration court policies and the growth in the number… Read More
‘Don’t Let Them Take Me Away Again.’ Mothers and Children Sue Trump for Harm Inflicted by Zero Tolerance Policy
Five mothers and their children sued the U.S. government on Thursday for forcibly separating them in 2018. The five families are among the thousands of parents and young children who were split apart for months under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. The lawsuit demands accountability and compensation for… Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
