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.
Beyond A Border Solution
- Asylum
- May 3, 2023
America needs durable solutions. These concrete measures can bring orderliness to our border and modernize our overwhelmed asylum system. Read…
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Unrepresented Children Still Being Fast-Tracked Through Immigration Hearings
Since the government began “prioritizing” the deportation of unaccompanied children and mothers with children last summer, legal service providers and other court observers across the country have reported that immigration judges are giving children less time to find attorneys before moving forward in their cases. Now, children without attorneys… Read More
Why Are Immigration Court Hearings Being Set Into 2019?
The immigration court system in the United States is being stretched to the breaking point. Immigration courts have long been expected to do more and more work without the additional funding or personnel needed to do the job effectively. But now, the courts are struggling to handle newer cases… Read More
Early Legislative Action in States Shows Mixed Bag of Immigration Proposals
While some state attorneys general are suing to stop President Obama’s immigration executive actions, many state lawmakers are working to address immigration issues within their own states. New York, for example, is trying to pass new reforms to help young immigrants afford college while Colorado legislators try to limit… Read More
House Bill to Seal the Border is Unrealistic, Congressional Budget Office Finds
Last week, the House Homeland Security Committee sent to the House floor H.R. 399, the “Secure our Borders First” Act. The measure would mandate 100 percent “operational control”—defined as “the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States”—of high traffic areas within two years, and… Read More
House to Vote on Bill to Further Militarize the U.S. Border
With the start of the 114th Republican-controlled Congress, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, introduced H.R. 399, the “Secure Our Borders First” Act. McCaul introduced the new bill exclusively with Republican co-sponsors unlike his 2013 bill, the Border Security Results Act, that… Read More
When is Possession of a Sock a Deportable Offense?
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Mellouli v. Holder, No. 13-1034, a case that shows just how out of step immigration enforcement has become. Moones Mellouli was a conditional lawful permanent resident engaged to a U.S. citizen and resided in the U.S. for 8 years,… Read More
How Thousands of U.S. Citizen Children Are Impacted by Removal of Parents
While the President’s recent executive actions will help some parents of U.S. citizens, current border removal policies continue to separate U.S. citizen children from their parents, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. Using data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the authors calculated that… Read More
What Happened at the Meeting Between the Mexican and U.S. Presidents
The U.S. and Mexico share a nearly 2,000 mile border, and most of the immigrants in the U.S. are from Mexico. The relationship between the two countries runs deeper than just immigration even though attention in the last year has focused on the record number of children and families who… Read More
Government Report Blasts Border Patrol Drones as Ineffective, Wasteful
Over the past decade, as the government has pursued an “enforcement first” strategy, U.S. Border Patrol enforcement has exploded with devastating consequences. Border Patrol has used excessive force without accountability while costing taxpayers $8 billion annually, with little clear impact on migration. Amongst this spending, as… Read More
Can the Border Patrol Change Its Ways?
In the year just ended, the U.S. Border Patrol and its parent agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), found themselves subject to an unprecedented level of public scrutiny. Crimes committed by Border Patrol agents—ranging from accepting bribes to shooting people in the back—no longer remained shrouded in secrecy. Rather,… Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.