Detention

Recent Features

COMPLAINT
Complaint Urges Investigation Into Misuse of Solitary Confinement in Colorado Immigration Detention Center

We demand an investigation into ICE's use of solitary confinement to punish and control people detained at the Aurora Detention Center in Colorado.

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FACT SHEET
Alternatives to Immigration Detention: An Overview

The United States can and should implement alternatives to detention that serve to reduce the overall detention population.

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FACT SHEET
U.S. Citizen Children Impacted by Immigration Enforcement

Deportations of parents and family members have serious consequences that affect children and extend to communities and the country as a whole.

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All Detention Content

  • Blog

Five Families Released After Prolonged Detention

September 9, 2015

  On Friday evening, just before the Labor Day weekend, the government released five mothers and their five children, ranging in age from three to seventeen years old, from the South Texas...

  • Blog

ICE’s Transfer of Transgender Women to Remote Detention Facility Raises Grave Concerns

August 28, 2015

Earlier this summer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), announced new policies regarding transgender adult detainees in its custody—policies that were intended to provide a “respectful,...

  • Blog

Newly-Released Government Docs Reveal Dangerous Flaws in Immigration Detention Contracting

August 26, 2015

The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) released government documents this month that expose the severe lack of accountability in the immigration detention system. NIJC’s Immigration...

  • Blog

Government Ordered to Promptly Release Children From Family Detention

August 24, 2015

In a decision issued Friday, a district court in California ruled yet again that the government is violating a long-standing settlement agreement protecting the rights of children in immigration...

  • Blog

Government Doubles Down on Locking Up Immigrant Mothers and Children

August 10, 2015

The government continued to defend its widespread detention of asylum-seeking women and children in documents filed last week in the Flores case. Advocates went to court in February to argue that...

  • Blog

ICE’s Computerized Detention Decision-Maker Can’t Work Because of Mandatory Detention Laws

August 4, 2015

In January 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) implemented the “Risk Classification Assessment” (RCA)—a computerized tool that analyzes evidence and recommends whether to detain...

  • Blog

Insider Speaks Out Alongside Formerly Detained Mothers Seeking Protection in the U.S.

July 30, 2015

At a congressional briefing held earlier this week, Dr. Olivia López spoke out about her experiences as a former social worker at the Karnes family detention center alongside formerly detained...

  • Blog

Judge’s Order in Flores Should Signal the End of Family Detention

July 27, 2015

A federal judge issued an order in the Flores case that should go a long way to ending the government’s practice of detaining children and their mothers in unlicensed, secure facilities in Dilley...

  • Blog

Evidence Shows Asylum Seekers Appear for Court with Alternatives to Detention and Legal Assistance

July 22, 2015

When thousands of Central American families fled violence to the United States last year, the Administration responded by opening family detention centers, which are detaining mothers and children...

  • Blog

New Memo on Detained Transgender Immigrants Does Not Go Far Enough

July 6, 2015

U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) will shift its policies regarding transgender adult detainees in its custody according to a memo released last week. While the changes seem positive,...

  • Blog

ICE Releases Infants in Its Custody Following Civil Rights Complaint

March 4, 2019

Nothing is more delicate or worthy of comprehensive care than a newborn. Yet, over the past several weeks, detention watchdogs and public health experts have noticed an alarming uptick in the...

  • Advocacy

Complaint Urges Immediate Release of Infants from Immigration Detention

February 28, 2019
Numerous babies under the age of one—and some as young as six months old—are being detained in immigration detention at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.
  • Blog

4 Ways ICE Doesn’t Hold Immigration Detention Facilities Accountable

February 13, 2019

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its component agency U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have a long-standing and poor track record when it comes to transparency and...

  • Blog

Government Quietly Increases ICE Detention to 48,000 Beds During the Shutdown

January 31, 2019

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) drastically expanded its network of immigration jails in the last month by a startling 7 percent. ICE now holds about 48,000 individuals in its jails and...

  • Blog

As One ‘Tent City’ for Immigrant Children Closes in Texas, Another Opens in Florida

January 18, 2019

Earlier this month, the Trump administration officially closed the doors of a “tent city” holding over 2,800 immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas. The closure comes after months of public...

  • Blog

FOIA Lawsuit Seeks Names of CBP Officers Who Allegedly Abused Children

January 10, 2019

Lack of transparency has long dogged the enforcement branches of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in particular, has been the subject of...

  • Amicus Briefs

ACLU v. DHS - Ninth Circuit

Publication Date: 
January 10, 2019

The American Immigration Council and the Immigrants’ Rights and Human Trafficking Program and Boston University School of Law filed an amicus brief in ACLU v. DHS, a Freedom of Information...

  • Advocacy

Comments Opposing Proposed Regulation Barring Asylum to Those Entering Between US Ports of Entry

January 7, 2019

The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) submitted a joint comment opposing the “Interim Final Rule: Aliens Subject to a Bar on Entry Under...

  • Blog

A Second Child Died in Border Patrol Custody. Why Is the Government Doubling Down on Deterrence?

January 2, 2019

In early December, seven-year-old Guatemalan Jakelin Caal died within hours after coming into the custody of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Her tragic death brought renewed attention to the...

  • Blog

How to Prevent More Deaths in Border Patrol Custody

December 17, 2018

In a year marked by the Trump administration’s cruel attempts to deter asylum-seeking families from coming to the United States, the news that a child had died in immigration custody appears to be...

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