Department of Homeland Security
Privacy Concerns Over Trump’s Demand to Collect the DNA of Hundreds of Thousands of People
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began collecting DNA from people held at the border earlier this month. This is part of a pilot program that DHS plans to expand nationwide. The program is currently operating at the port of entry in… Read More
Student’s Deportation Shows a Pattern of US Government Targeting Iranians
Iranian students coming to the United States are being stopped at airports, having their visas revoked, and are being deported. Advocates warn this trend is emerging less than a month after hundreds of Iranian Americans were stopped and interrogated at a port of entry between Washington… Read More
What Are the Proposed New Bars to Asylum?
In yet another move to gut asylum protections in the United States, the Trump administration proposed a rule last month that would add severe new restrictions on asylum access. The restrictions would apply to people convicted of—and in some cases, merely accused of—a wide range of… Read More
4 Ways USCIS’ Proposed Fee Increase Fails to Solve the Agency’s Problems
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) recent proposal to increase most of their fees has been met with strong opposition. The proposal drew widespread attention, garnering nearly 10,000 comments. The agency claims the new fees will help reduce the growing application backlog. Read More
Detention of Pregnant Women Increases 52% Under the Trump Administration
The rate at which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained pregnant women increased 52% during the first two years of the Trump administration, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released last week. 2,098 pregnant women were detained by ICE in 2018, compared to… Read More
The Government Knew It Didn’t Have the Technology to Track Separated Families. It Did So Anyway.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—the agency responsible for systematically separating thousands of migrant families in the summer of 2018—lacked the technology or mechanisms to record and track the separations, a government watchdog group recently found. Family separations—done under the Trump administration’s “Zero Tolerance policy”—started before the policy was… Read More
How Cities Are Building Inclusive Communities
What do you envision when you think of a community that is welcoming? Researchers have developed ways of defining and evaluating how welcoming cities are across the United States. The results are in—Midwestern cities are leading the pack. According to New American Economy, which produced an index of the 100… Read More
Stephen Miller‘s Racially Motivated Animus Toward Immigrants Is Revealed
White House Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller is no friend to immigrants—particularly those he views as racially “lesser than.” While this is evident from the anti-immigrant policies Miller has promoted over the past three years, it is also crystal clear in the private messages he sends to other anti-immigrant activists. Read More
The Artificial Intelligence Industry Thrives on a Global Workforce
At a time when skills related to the burgeoning field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are in very short supply, the U.S. government is making it harder to recruit highly trained professionals from abroad. According to a report from Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, U.S. immigration policies… Read More
Privacy Concerns Grow as Federal Immigration Agencies Use More Surveillance Technology
Federal immigration officials are beginning to expand their use of surveillance technology to collect information on immigrants. As officials gather more tools in their arsenal—from DNA collection to cell phone tracking devices—the privacy concerns also grow. The Trump administration proposed a new regulation on Monday that… Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.