Due Process and the Courts

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

  • FOIA

Investigating the Immigration Court System

We're demanding information to uncover the hiring process for Assistant Chief Immigration Judge and their influence over the immigration courts.

  • Blog

‘Your Client Is Going Bye-Bye.’ Investigation Details Immigration Judges’ Cruel Behavior in El Paso Court

The complaint outlines systemic due process concerns around unprofessional behavior by immigration judges and troubling court practices in El Paso.

Two Systems of Justice: How the Immigration System Falls Short of American Ideals of Justice

This special report lays out the the incongruency between America's criminal justice system and its immigration justice system, and provides recommendations for how these problems could be fixed.

READ MORE

All Due Process and the Courts Content

  • Blog

Court Rules That Immigration Authorities May Not Deny Bond Hearings to Children

July 7, 2017

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a strong rebuke to the government’s years-long effort to strip detained immigrant children of the right to a bond hearing in immigration court. The 3-0...

  • Blog

Who Will and Won’t Be Impacted by the Travel Ban After the Supreme Court’s Decision

June 26, 2017

The Supreme Court has decided to hear the Travel Ban case when its fall session begins in October 2017. In the meantime, the Court will allow the administration to implement parts of President...

  • Blog

Supreme Court Sends a ‘Dangerous Message’ by Not Finding Bush Officials Liable in Post-9/11 Abuse Case

June 21, 2017

A bare majority of the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that six former immigrants of Arab or South Asian descent—all but one of whom are Muslim—cannot sue high-level U.S. officials over policies...

  • Blog

“Immigration, Even for the President, Is Not a One-Person Show”: The Ninth Circuit Rejects Trump’s Travel Ban

June 13, 2017

Barely three weeks after the Fourth Circuit ruled that President Trump’s travel ban “drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination” and thus violated the First Amendment by...

  • Blog

Why Are the Immigration Courts So Backlogged? Government Findings May Surprise You

June 8, 2017

Anyone familiar with the immigration system knows that the immigration courts have an enormous backlog which has persisted—and grown—for more than a decade. As of April 2017, the immigration court...

  • Blog

President’s Tweets Dim His Prospects for Supreme Court Review of The Travel Ban Case

June 7, 2017

President Trump reignited discussion around his controversial travel ban through a series of early morning tweets on Monday, in a move legal experts say could ultimately cripple his administration...

  • Blog

The Dire State of Immigration Detention in Georgia

June 6, 2017

Recent deaths at immigration detention centers in Georgia have made one fact disturbingly clear: detainees’ rights are being violated, with life and death consequences. These tragedies are not...

  • Blog

Circuit Judge Says “Even the Good Hombres Are Not Safe”

June 5, 2017

A judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an important immigration opinion last month, blasting the administration’s immigration policy and the unfettered discretion it is...

  • Blog

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Continues to Inhibit Asylum Seekers’ Legal Access and Invite Litigation

June 2, 2017

Since the reintroduction of family detention under the Obama administration, abuse of the mothers and children held in these facilities has run rampant. The family detention scheme has grown...

  • Blog

Appeals Court Upholds Block on Trump’s Travel Ban

May 25, 2017

In a sweeping decision issued Thursday, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a nationwide preliminary injunction against President Trump’s second Executive Order, which restricts...

  • Blog

Judge Allows Certain Family Separations at the Border to Continue

January 21, 2020

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...

  • Blog

Tent Immigration Courts Are Still Not Fully Open to the Public

January 17, 2020

Asylum seekers subject to the Migrant Protection Protocols—or the “Remain in Mexico” program—in Laredo and Brownsville, Texas attend their court hearings in tents known as “port courts.” The...

  • Blog

‘Zero Tolerance’ Overwhelmed Courts and Diverted Resources From Criminal Investigations

December 5, 2019

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...

  • Blog

Immigration Courts Further Limit Legal Help Available to People Facing Deportation

December 3, 2019

Every year, thousands of people are forced to face the complex deportation system without an attorney representing them. Now, the immigration courts are seeking to limit the assistance that these...

  • Press Release

Federal Court Blocks Trump Asylum Ban from Being Applied to Thousands of Asylum Seekers

November 19, 2019
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s asylum ban from being applied to thousands of asylum seekers who were unlawfully prevented from accessing the U.S. asylum process before the ban was implemented.
  • Blog

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

November 18, 2019

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...

  • Blog

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

November 15, 2019

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,...

  • Blog

What’s Happened to the People Returned to Mexico Under the Migrant Protection Protocols?

November 6, 2019

It’s been nearly a year since the Trump administration announced the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), or the “Remain in Mexico” program. This program forces vulnerable asylum seekers to return...

  • Blog

A Federal Agency Is Deleting Court Records That Implicate Trump’s Immigration Policies  

November 5, 2019

Understanding how the immigration agencies operate has never been more important. Equally important is being able to rely on the information that those agencies release to the public. For this...

  • Press Release

New Pilot Program in El Paso Rushes Asylum Seekers Through A Deeply Flawed Process

October 24, 2019
Media reports today indicate that the government has initiated a new pilot program in El Paso, Texas to rush the review of sensitive asylum cases. The reported program, called “Prompt Asylum Case Review,” forces families to navigate the asylum process while detained in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Most Read

  • Publications
  • Blog Posts
  • Past:
  • Trending