Border 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.

Recent Features

For generations, the United States has seen periodic cycles of migration. The arrival of high numbers of asylum seekers is a humanitarian protection management challenge, not a security challenge.

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This report sheds light on the dehumanizing conditions of immigration detention facilities.

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All Border Enforcement Content

  • Blog

The Environmental and Cultural Risks of Resuming Border Wall Construction

March 19, 2021

A pause on border wall construction is set to expire on March 20, without an indication of what will happen next. President Biden signed a proclamation ordering the 60-day pause on his first day...

  • Blog

How the Biden Administration Should Respond to the Arrival of Unaccompanied Children

March 9, 2021

Since 2013, the government has struggled to respond to increasing numbers of unaccompanied children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. After disastrous Trump administration policies left...

  • Blog

Biden Administration Unveils Plan to Process Asylum Seekers Subject to the Migrant Protection Protocols

February 12, 2021

The Trump administration sent over 70,000 people who came to the U.S border seeking asylum back to Mexico to wait for court hearings. This so-called “Migrant Protection Protocols” (“MPP”) program...

  • Blog

The Border Patrol’s Culture of Racism Impacts Every Facet of the Agency Today

February 11, 2021

The U.S. Border Patrol has been rooted in institutional racism since its founding in 1924. Almost a century later, the agency continues to commit racially fueled violent acts with near impunity....

  • Blog

Biden Administration Ends ‘Safe Third Country’ Agreements

February 8, 2021

For more than 40 years, the law has guaranteed any person who is physically present in the United States a right to seek asylum. In 2019 the Trump administration attempted to effectively eliminate...

  • Blog

Biden Took 3 More Executive Actions on Immigration. Did He Go Far Enough?

February 3, 2021

On February 2, 2021, following the confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of Homeland Security, President Biden signed three executive orders that take steps to further unwind the Trump...

  • Blog

Biden Took Eight Administrative Actions on Immigration. Here’s What You Need to Know.

January 22, 2021

On his first day in office, President Biden took significant steps towards undoing the harm of the Trump administration’s immigration policies—and reforming our punitive and inhumane enforcement...

  • Blog

Trump’s Presidency Begins and Ends With Demonizing Immigrants

January 11, 2021

Five years ago, Donald Trump descended an elevator and declared that Mexico was sending rapists and “bringing crime” across the border. Now, while America still reels from the deadly...

  • Blog

Discriminatory Treatment of Haitians Throughout History Informs Current Policy at the US-Mexico Border

November 19, 2020

For years, the Trump administration has argued that limited capacity at ports of entry led to its policy of turning back asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border (the “turnback policy”). But a...

  • Blog

‘We Had a Shortage Last Night of Beds for Babies.’ Congressional Report Reveals Cruelty, Chaos of Family Separation

October 30, 2020

Congress released the “first complete narrative” on the Trump administration’s “Zero Tolerance” policy on October 30. This hallmark of President Trump’s immigration legacy led to the forcible...

  • Press Release

Court Orders Government to Fix Inhumane Conditions in Border Patrol Holding Cells

November 18, 2016
A federal district court found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is violating the constitutional rights of people detained in holding facilities in Arizona and ordered the government to take steps to improve conditions in these facilities, known as hieleras.
  • Press Release

Groups Settle Lawsuit Challenging Failure of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to Timely Respond to FOIA Requests

October 5, 2016
In accordance with a settlement reached by the parties, a federal district court dismissed a class action lawsuit which challenged U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) nationwide practice of failing to timely respond to requests for case information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
  • Press Release

Court Orders Release of Graphic Photos of Arizona Border Patrol Detention Facilities and Damning Expert Witness Testimony

August 18, 2016
Today, groups made public damning evidence, including expert testimony and video stills illustrating the deplorable and unconstitutional conditions detained individuals are subjected to in Border Patrol custody in the agency’s Tucson Sector.
  • Press Release

Groups File Lawsuit Challenging Failures of CBP to Respond to FOIA Requests

July 19, 2016
A class action lawsuit was filed by three immigration attorneys and eleven noncitizens challenging U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s nationwide practice of failing to timely respond to requests for case information under the Freedom of Information Act.
  • Press Release

Court Again Rules Against Federal Government's Efforts to Detain Children

July 7, 2016
The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association commented on the decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirming that the nearly 20-year-old Flores Settlement Agreement governs the custody and release of all immigrant children, and that the Obama Administration’s family detention practices violate that agreement.
  • Press Release

Lawsuit Seeks to Shed Light on Customs and Border Protection's Complaint Process

July 6, 2016
he American Immigration Council (Immigration Council), represented by Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, today filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to compel the release of additional documents related to the complaints process at United States Customs and Border Protection.
  • Press Release

Court Orders Release of Some Evidence of Arizona Border Patrol Detention Facilities

June 27, 2016
A federal district court unsealed some of the photographs central to ongoing litigation challenging deplorable and unconstitutional conditions in Border Patrol detention facilities in the agency’s Tucson Sector. The court also allowed the Arizona Republic newspaper to intervene in the case to argue for the release of the documents.
  • Press Release

Lawsuit Seeks to Shed Light on Customs and Border Protection's Complaint Process

June 6, 2016

Washington D.C.

  • Press Release

Immigration Groups Seek Information on Customs and Border Protection’s “Translation” Activities in Northern Border States

June 4, 2016
Last week an alliance of immigration advocacy groups represented by the Legal Action Center filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
  • Press Release

Court Rejects Government’s Efforts to Dismiss Lawsuit Challenging Detention Conditions

January 13, 2016

Washington D.C.—On Monday, a federal district court permitted a class action lawsuit challenging harmful and unconstitutional conditions of confinement by Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

  • Blog

New Documents Reveal Details About Border Patrol’s Deadly High-Speed Pursuits

January 11, 2022

As the border has become harder to cross over the last few years, smugglers have increasingly turned to the use of vehicles to smuggle migrants. But along with this rise has come an increase in...

  • Fact Sheet

The “Migrant Protection Protocols”

Publication Date: 
January 7, 2022
Under the “Migrant Protection Protocols”, individuals who arrive at the southern border and ask for asylum (either at a port of entry or after crossing the border between ports of entry) are given...
  • Blog

Substance Abuse, Criminal Charges, and Death: National Guard Border Deployments Plagued by Problems

January 5, 2022

National Guard troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border face a grim reality, with their deployments plagued by substance abuse problems and discontent. Eight troops have committed suicide or died...

  • Press Release

Lawsuit Seeks Answers to Privacy and Data Risks Associated with the CBP One App

December 21, 2021
The American Immigration Council filed a FOIA lawsuit against CBP requesting information about the agency’s implementation of CBP One— an app designed to help process individuals entering the United States including asylum seekers—that has raised concerns among immigration and privacy advocates.
  • FOIA Litigation

Council Sues CBP To Obtain Records About CBP One

This FOIA Lawsuit seeks to compel CBP to release information about its implementation of CBP One, an app designed to streamline interactions between CBP officers and travelers, including asylum seekers, that has raised concerns amongst advocates.
  • Letters

Coalition Letter Calling on the Biden Administration to End MPP and Title 42

Publication Date: 
December 17, 2021
The Council condemned the Biden administration's expansion of MPP and continued use of Title 42 to turn away asylum seekers at the border.
  • Blog

Collaboration Between the FBI and CBP Led to Increased Surveillance of Arab and Muslim Immigrants

December 15, 2021

By Katy Murdza and Rebekah Wolf, American Immigration Council staff Collaboration between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has led to...

  • Blog

Biden’s Border Ambitions Fall Short in a Year of Setbacks and Continued Focus on Deterrence

December 14, 2021

President Biden took office committing to unwind Trump’s border policies and go in a new direction—to reunite families, restore access to asylum, and reverse “policies enacted over the last 4...

  • Blog

Biden Reinstates the ‘Remain in Mexico’ Program: What You Need to Know

December 3, 2021

Following months of negotiations with Mexico, the Biden administration announced that it would reinstate the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (informally known as the “Remain in Mexico”...

  • Blog

CBP’s Plan to Expand Data Collection of Individuals Before Arrival at the Border Leaves Questions Unanswered

November 30, 2021

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) plan to collect information from more individuals before they arrive at the border has raised questions about how the agency will gather and use the...

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