The enforcement of immigration laws is a complex and hotly-debated topic. Learn more about the costs of immigration enforcement and the ways in which the U.S. can enforce our immigration laws humanely and in a manner that ensures due process.
U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) will shift its policies regarding transgender adult detainees in its custody according to a memo released last week. While the changes seem positive, they still fall short according to LGBTI and immigration advocates. According to a Fusion investigative report on transgender detainees released last year, “On any given night, some […]
Last week, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Integrity Advisory Panel, whose creation was directed by the Secretary of Homeland Security in December 2014, released a report recommending specific steps CBP should take in order to increase transparency, assure integrity, and ensure compliance with use of force policy. The recommendations include both staffing and policy […]
A recent U.S. government report found that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deported thousands of Mexican unaccompanied alien children (UACs) under age 14 in violation of its own policies, without adequately screening them for independent decision-making or their fear of returning to Mexico. The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on […]
If there is one thing that the past few decades of immigration enforcement has made clear, it’s that unauthorized immigration responds much more to the U.S. job market and the natural desire for family reunification than it does to border fences or the ubiquitous presence of armed immigration agents. Since the last major overhaul of […]
The tragic murder of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco this month prompted Congress to schedule two hearings this week—one held today in the Senate Judiciary Committee and another scheduled for Thursday in the House Judiciary Committee. While several family members of victims shared their heart-wrenching stories of loss in today’s Senate hearing, one witness, Reverend […]
When thousands of Central American families fled violence to the United States last year, the Administration responded by opening family detention centers, which are detaining mothers and children as their asylum-based claims work through the court system. Family detention has since led to complaints of psychological harm, suicide attempts, protests and hunger strikes by detainees, […]
The Migration Policy Institute released a new report that examines the potential impact of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new policy guidance for immigration enforcement, which attempts to focus immigration enforcement more specifically on certain categories of individuals while, according to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, “deprioritizing those undocumented who have been here for […]
In January 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) implemented the “Risk Classification Assessment” (RCA)—a computerized tool that analyzes evidence and recommends whether to detain or release immigrants facing deportation. Yet ICE still detained 80 percent of its arrestees in FY 2013, in a detention system that remains enormous, and expanded further in 2014 to […]
It would seem to be a simple matter of conscience that no child should ever stand before a judge without having an attorney as an advocate. Younger children in particular may not even understand the significance of their day in court or how a judge’s ruling can profoundly impact the rest of their lives. Nowhere […]
While some politicians on the campaign trail dial-up the anti-immigrant rhetoric and rehash old debates around birthright citizenship and mass deportation, the majority of America is unmoved. According to the Pew Research Center’s recent breakdown of their extensive public polling on immigration, and even more recent Gallup poll data, most of the U.S. public remains […]