Humanitarian Protection

The United States has long-been a beacon of hope for individuals around the world seeking protection and refuge. Our immigration policies must continue to protect those who need it. Learn more about how America can continue to provide humanitarian protection to those in times of crisis.

Recent Features

An Overview of U.S. Refugee Law and Policy

Before admission to the United States, each refugee must undergo an extensive interviewing, screening, and security clearance process. They go on to contribute to our communities and our economy.

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All Humanitarian Protection Content

  • Blog

Lawsuit Challenges the Government’s Policy of Indefinitely Detaining Asylum Seekers

March 22, 2018

A class action lawsuit was filed on March 15, 2018 challenging the U.S. government’s practice of detaining asylum seekers indefinitely and argues the practice is an attempt to deter future asylum...

  • Blog

The Invisible Wall That President Trump Has Already Built

March 21, 2018

Legal immigration and the number of foreigners visiting the United States has taken a serious hit within the last year, as the Trump administration makes changes to policies and procedures without...

  • Blog

Immigrants Rights Group Sues U.S. Government Over Family Separation at the Border

March 2, 2018

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit this week to demand the immediate release and reunification of an asylum-seeking Congolese mother and her 7 year-old daughter, who had...

  • Blog

USCIS Changes to Asylum Interview Scheduling Allows Long-Pending Cases to Languish

February 23, 2018

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) made abrupt and sweeping changes to how the agency will schedule interviews for affirmative asylum applications. Rather than interviewing those...

  • Blog

Lawsuit Asks Government to Stop Blocking Temporary Protected Status Holders from Applying for Green Cards

February 22, 2018

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is an important humanitarian protection for people who are in the United States when certain natural disasters or civil conflict strike their home countries,...

  • Blog

Immigrant Women and Girls Often Face Abuse, Homelessness After Arriving to the United States

February 5, 2018

Immigrant women and girls face unique challenges in navigating the U.S. immigration system, their dire circumstances often exacerbated by the gender-based violence they encounter on the journey...

  • Blog

DHS Extends Temporary Protected Status for Syrians, but Leaves Some Without Protections

February 1, 2018

For the first time in many months, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decided to extend a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation – this time for Syria.  With civil war continuing to...

  • Blog

Decoding the White House Immigration Framework

January 26, 2018

After President Trump ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, he instructed Congress to pass legislation to protect Dreamers. However, Congress had to wait for...

  • Blog

What Salvadorans With Temporary Protected Status Should Know Now

January 9, 2018

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristjen Nielsen announced on Monday that the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for El Salvador would be terminated. The decision to terminate TPS for...

  • Blog

Trump Administration Ends Protections for Long-Time Salvadoran Residents

January 8, 2018

The Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen announced the Trump administration will end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 200,000 individuals from El Salvador after 17 years. TPS allows...

  • Press Release

Trump Asylum Transit Ban Blocked

March 5, 2020
A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel today blocked the Trump administration’s asylum transit 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. The decision lifts a prior administrative stay of the district court’s preliminary injunction. That injunction prohibits the government from applying the asylum ban to those who had been illegally metered before the ban went into effect.
  • Blog

Judge Voids USCIS Asylum Policies Because Ken Cuccinelli Wasn’t Appointed Legally

March 3, 2020

The Trump administration suffered another blow on Sunday, when a federal judge in Washington D.C. ruled that Ken Cuccinelli was unlawfully appointed to the role of acting director of U.S....

  • Press Release

Ruling on Migrant Protection Protocols Is a Step Forward in Restoring the Rule of Law at the Border

February 28, 2020
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” program. Nearly 60,000 people seeking asylum in the United States have been returned to Mexico to wait for their U.S. court hearings under MPP.
  • Press Release

Federal Court Finds Conditions in Customs and Border Protection Detention Facilities Unconstitutional

February 19, 2020
A federal court ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection to overhaul the way the agency detains people in its custody in the Tucson Sector. The court found that the conditions in CBP holding cells, especially those that preclude sleep over several nights, are presumptively punitive and violate the U.S. Constitution.
  • Blog

These Humanitarian Aid Workers’ Convictions Were Overturned. Here’s How It Sets Precedent for Future Protection.

February 13, 2020

A federal judge in Arizona reversed convictions of four volunteers of the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths last week. No More Deaths is an Arizona-based group that works to end death and...

  • Blog

Conditions in Border Facilities Deny Asylum Seekers Meaningful Screening Interviews

February 4, 2020

In U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody, asylum seekers are detained in horribly cold and overcrowded facilities, unable to sleep, without access to food, water, or adequate medical...

  • Blog

The State of Immigration in Our Union

February 3, 2020

Three years into the Trump administration, it’s become clear that we have lost our rudder. For a nation that long-provided a welcome mat to the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, our...

  • Press Release

New Travel Ban Calls Into Question Our Commitment to Basic American Principles

January 31, 2020
Citing national security concerns, the Trump administration announced the expansion of travel restrictions to the United States to nationals of six countries. The new travel restrictions suspend the issuance of immigrant visas to nationals from Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, and Nigeria, and bans nationals from Sudan and Tanzania from participating in the diversity visa program.
  • Amicus Briefs

Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center v. Wolf

Publication Date: 
January 31, 2020

The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association submitted an amicus brief in Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center v. Wolf, a case filed by the American...

  • Blog

A Humanitarian Catastrophe at the Border: One Year of the ‘Migrant Protection Protocols’

January 28, 2020

One year ago today, a confused Honduran man seeking asylum in the United States became the first person to be turned away from the border and sent back to Mexico to await a U.S. court hearing. He...

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