Interior Enforcement
Misplaced Priorities: Most Immigrants Deported by ICE in 2013 Were a Threat to No One
No one can say with certainty when the Obama administration will reach the grim milestone of having deported two million people since the President took office in 2008. Regardless of the exact date this symbolic threshold is reached, however, it is important to keep in mind… Read More
Federal Court Strikes Down Immigration Detainers
In a decision late last week, the federal district court in the Northern District of Illinois invalidated the practice of issuing immigration detainers by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The court found that detainers violate federal law because they exceed the government’s warrantless arrest authority and made it… Read More
Groups Settle Lawsuit Challenging Failure of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to Timely Respond to FOIA Requests
In accordance with a settlement reached by the parties, a federal district court dismissed a class action lawsuit which challenged U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) nationwide practice of failing to timely respond to requests for case information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Read More
What is the Economic Cost of Deporting All Undocumented Immigrants?
This election, there has been much discussion about what to do about unauthorized immigration. While candidate Hillary Clinton proposes a plan to eventually legalize most undocumented immigrants, Donald Trump has stated many times that he favors mass deportation. But what is the economic cost of deporting 11 million… Read More
Why Going Home First to Get Legal Status (“Touchback”) Makes No Sense
No one is quite sure where Donald Trump stands on immigration anymore. More precisely, experts are trying to divine what Trump would do with the 11 million undocumented immigrants now living in the country. When he first launched his campaign, Trump proposed a “deportation force” that would, presumably,… Read More
The Growth of the U.S. Deportation Machine
Despite some highly public claims to the contrary, there has been no waning of immigration enforcement in the United States. Read More
Immigration Enforcement Still Missing the Mark on Detainers
In November 2014, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the end of the Secure Communities program and the launch of its replacement: the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP). Under PEP, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claims to focus its efforts on apprehending individuals actually convicted of specified crimes. ICE… Read More
Government Sued For Withholding Records on Immigration Raids
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is continuing to defend the controversial “Operation Border Guardian” program that took more than 100 Central American women and children from their homes in two days of immigration raids last January. According to a lawsuit filed this week by the Southern Poverty Law… Read More
Central American Mothers Targeted in Immigration Raids and Still Detained Pen Letter to Obama
DILLEY, Texas – Seven women picked up and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in early January in widely publicized raids have made a direct and personal plea to President Barack Obama to allow their release while they pursue ongoing appeals of their deportation orders. The women and their children, representing 33… Read More
CARA: 33 Mothers and Children Protected from Immediate Deportation
Washington D.C. – In the last week, 121 mothers and children were brought to the South Texas Residential Family Center in Dilley, Texas, after being rounded up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project reviewed the cases of 13 families, filed appeals for 12, and… Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.