Enforcement

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.

Thousands in ICE Detention Sue Private Prison Company for Forced Labor

A recent federal court ruling in California could allow hundreds of thousands of immigrants currently and previously detained by private prison companies to demand compensation and damages for work completed behind bars under threat of retaliation. The decision follows a series of lawsuits filed against GEO Group, the largest private prison corporation in the United […]

Detention of Pregnant Women Increases 52% Under the Trump Administration

The rate at which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained pregnant women increased 52% during the first two years of the Trump administration, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released last week. 2,098 pregnant women were detained by ICE in 2018, compared to 1,380 in 2016. The increase aligns with a December […]

‘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 family separation crisis, also led to overcrowded jails, backed […]

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 even announced. The policy was first […]

ICE Revises Its Standards for Some Detention Facilities

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently published an update to its National Detention Standards (NDS), which govern the treatment of people held in facilities that rent some of their beds to ICE, often city or county jails. The new standards may weaken some protections for up to 20% of ICE’s detained population. ICE does […]

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Volunteer Found Not Guilty After Providing Humanitarian Aid to Migrants

Over the last decade, the remains of more than 1,600 people have been found in the Arizona desert. Groups like No More Deaths, whose mission is “ending death and suffering in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands,” work to decrease that number. Their volunteer-based work is motivated by the slogan “Humanitarian aid is never a crime.” Last week, […]

Trump Administration Begins Sending Asylum Seekers to Guatemala

In yet another major blow to America’s asylum system, on Wednesday the Trump administration reportedly began sending some asylum seekers from Honduras and El Salvador to Guatemala rather than permit them to seek protection in the United States. Under the “Asylum Cooperative Agreement” deal signed with Guatemala in July, the Guatemalan government will process the […]

Trump Moves Forward With Seizing Private Land for Border Wall, Offers Landowners $100 for ‘Irrevocable’ Access

The Trump administration is preparing to seize private land in Texas to continue construction of the president’s long-promised border wall. According to government officials familiar with the process, the administration plans to take over the private land before telling property owners how much it will pay them in return. Attorneys for the Department of Defense […]

‘I Was Denied Access to the Tent Courts Where Asylum Seekers Are Rushed Through a Sham Process.’

Nearly 60,000 people seeking asylum in the United States have been returned to Mexico to wait for their U.S. court hearings under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the Remain in Mexico program. Last week, I traveled to South Texas to observe the effects of the Trump administration program firsthand. Those subjected to […]

Immigration Agencies’ Intrusive Searches of Cell Phones, Laptops Are Ruled Unconstitutional

A federal court ruled this week that sweeping policies permitting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to search personal cell phones, laptops, and other electronic devices without reasonable suspicion are unconstitutional. The policies that the court rejected authorized CBP and ICE officers to search the contents of electronic […]