Border Enforcement
Migration at the border is a multifaceted issue, challenging the U.S. to secure our borders while upholding the human rights of individuals seeking safety and better opportunities. Balancing national security with compassion and our legal obligations to asylum seekers presents intricate dilemmas, and we collaborate with policymakers to advance bipartisan, action-oriented solutions.
Immigrants Kept for Days in Border Patrol’s Bedless Holding Cells
Every day, over a thousand individuals are held in Border Patrol detention facilities near the U.S. southern border. These facilities are notorious for freezing cold temperatures, overcrowded conditions and lack of any bedding or beds. In addition, they routinely lack adequate food, water, and medical care. The reality is… Read More
Immigrants Held for Days in Freezing, Unsanitary Cells File Class-Action Lawsuit
Washington D.C. — Tucson Sector Border Patrol holds men, women, and children in freezing, overcrowded, and filthy cells for extended periods of time in violation of the U.S. Constitution, a group of legal organizations allege in a class-action lawsuit filed Monday. The class-action suit, which was filed on behalf of two people… Read More
Nebraska and Alabama Changing Their Stride on Immigration
In 2010 and 2011, Nebraska and Alabama made national headlines for their anti-immigrant measures. Fremont, Nebraska passed a local ordinance to check immigration status of renters, and Alabama passed HB 56, the most restrictive anti-immigrant state legislation in history. However in 2015, we’re seeing a changing tide in… Read More
California Leads the Transition in Pro-Immigrant State Lawmaking
In the last two decades, the state of California has transformed itself from a leader in anti-immigrant policymaking—most famously attempting to bar the undocumented from attending public schools and localizing immigration enforcement through Prop 187—to a leader in providing creative, forward-thinking policies on immigration. A new analysis by the… Read More
No Justice For Family of Mexican Child Killed By U.S. Border Patrol Agent
On June 7, 2010, Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, a fifteen-year-old Mexican national, was playing with a group of friends on the Mexican side of the border near the Paso del Norte Bridge in El Paso, Texas. The boy and his friends were playing a game in which they ran up… Read More
Commissioner Kerlikowske Offers Vision of Change at CBP
On Thursday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP’s) Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske answered questions from the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee regarding CBP’s budget, and more generally his first year on the job. Kerlikowske’s seeming rationality, and openness to administrative changes, provided an alternative to the enforcement-first strategy that… Read More
Without Legalization, State Policies Remain Crucial to Healthy Communities
In the absence of meaningful immigration reform to address the situation of the millions of undocumented individuals living in the United States, state policies have become more and more important. One of the areas in which that is especially true is public health. It is unquestionable that healthy communities require broad access… Read More
Why Immigration Enforcement Effectiveness Should Be Measured
For decades, the United States has been pursuing an “enforcement-first” approach to immigration control, spending more on immigration enforcement than all other law enforcement combined, but failing to address our dysfunctional immigration system. A new report by the Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC’s) Immigration Task Force, called “… Read More
Effectiveness of DHS’ “Consequences Delivery System” Questioned
Despite billions of tax-payer dollars spent by the government on border security and immigration enforcement each year, the effectiveness of such an onerous expense has been long questioned. In an effort to shed light on the impact of current immigration enforcement policies, a new study by researchers from… Read More
These Four Maps Illustrate How States Are Shaping Immigration Policy
The New York Times published a series of maps illustrating the different ways in which states either attempt to welcome immigrants into their communities or go out of their way to make them feel unwelcome. The main indicators include which states have a policy allowing undocumented immigrants to drive… Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
