Detention
Council and Partners Oppose CBP’s Proposal to Dispose of Medical Records of People in CBP Custody
The Council, along with the ACLU National Prison Project and the Texas Civil Rights Project, led efforts to oppose U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) proposal to destroy records of medical treatment received by migrants in CBP custody. Read More
White House Leans Into Trump-Era Immigration Policy Changes to Get Ukraine Aid
The Biden administration signaled on December 12 that it is willing to make disastrous—and permanent—changes to asylum and immigration policy to obtain temporary military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Top White House officials reportedly met with some of the key Senate negotiators, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), Sen. Chris… Read More
Council and AILA File FOIA Requests Seeking Information on FERM Program
These Freedom of Information Act requests seek to uncover information about the FERM program, which places families enrolled on a fast track to deportations if they don’t pass credible fear interviews. Read More
Council, Partners, Renew Advocacy For Meaningful Access to Counsel in Detention
The American Immigration Council and nearly 90 legal service provider organizations sent a letter to ICE Acting Director Patrick Lechleitner highlighting the obstacles to attorney access that exist in immigration detention facilities nationwide and making recommendations for improvements. Read More
New Board of Immigration Appeals Decision Sets Roadblock for Cubans, Others Seeking Green Cards
A recent Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision bars certain recently arrived noncitizens from becoming lawful permanent residents. In Matter of Cabrera-Fernandez, the BIA held that the petitioner had not been paroled into the United States when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released… Read More
Biden Administration Fights to Keep Private Immigration Jails Open, Despite Promises
“There should be no private prisons, period, none, period. And we are working to close all of them.” Those are the words of President Joe Biden in April 2021, when he was called out by immigrant rights activists at a rally celebrating his 100th day in office. This was… Read More
The Council and AILA submit comment on DHS rule allowing electronic service of cash bond notices
The Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association comment on DHS's Interim Final Rule on its plan to electronically serve bond-related notifications to obligors to release immigration detainees. Read More
Biden Keeps Ties with Billion-Dollar Business of Immigration Detention, Despite Reports of Serious Abuse
On Thanksgiving Day 2017, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested Kamyar Samimi—a lawful permanent resident with a decade-old conviction for drug possession—and sent him to the privately run ICE Processing Center in Aurora, Colorado. Two weeks later, he was dead. Facility staff had forced him to stop methadone… Read More
Stays in CBP Custody Are Getting Longer Due to ‘Phone Booth Asylum’ Policy
“I never thought I’d say there’s anything worse than ICE custody, but this is it.” That’s an immigration attorney in San Diego talking to CNN about the shelter facilities run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). These shelters near the border are not designed to house people for… Read More
New Complaint Shows ICE’s Use of Solitary Confinement Is Excessive
“If I spoke too loudly, solitary. If I climbed on top of a table to get a guard’s attention, solitary. If I had suicidal thoughts, solitary. When the guards would tease me about being deported back to my home country and make airplane sounds at me and gesture like a… Read More
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