Department of Homeland Security
Evidence Shows Asylum Seekers Appear for Court with Alternatives to Detention and Legal Assistance
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 as their asylum-based claims work through the court system. Family detention has since led to complaints of psychological harm, suicide attempts, protests and hunger strikes by detainees, and lawsuits over lack of due process, all at exorbitant cost. Yet a new paper by the American Immigration Council and Center for Migration Studies, A Humane Approach Can Work: The Effectiveness of Alternatives to Detention for Asylum Seekers, suggests that U.S. detention of asylum seekers is not only harmful, but unnecessary. Read More
Report Finds Border Patrol Deporting Children Without Proper Screening
A recent U.S. government report found that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deported thousands of Mexican unaccompanied alien children (UACs) under age 14 in violation of its own policies, without adequately screening them for independent decision-making or their fear of returning to Mexico. Read More
DHS Secretary Johnson Testifies to House Judiciary Committee About Detainers
On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson testified to the House Judiciary Committee—his first appearance in Congress since the tragic killing of Kate Steinle in San Francisco. Secretary Johnson faced Congressional representatives who repeatedly supported making immigration detainer requests mandatory. Johnson responded by repeatedly emphasizing “cooperation” with local authorities, rather than mandated detention. Read More
After Earthquake in Nepal, Bill Introduced to Grant Temporary Protected Status to Nepalese Nationals
One form of humanitarian assistance the United States can offer to Nepal, a country now recovering from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that flattened buildings and killed more than 7,000 people, is temporary protected status (TPS) for Nepalese nationals who currently are in the United States. Last week, several members… Read More
Why Immigration Enforcement Effectiveness Should Be Measured
For decades, the United States has been pursuing an “enforcement-first” approach to immigration control, spending more on immigration enforcement than all other law enforcement combined, but failing to address our dysfunctional immigration system. A new report by the Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC’s) Immigration Task Force, called “… Read More
Effectiveness of DHS’ “Consequences Delivery System” Questioned
Despite billions of tax-payer dollars spent by the government on border security and immigration enforcement each year, the effectiveness of such an onerous expense has been long questioned. In an effort to shed light on the impact of current immigration enforcement policies, a new study by researchers from… Read More
Senate Hearing Examines Proposals to Increase Guest Workers
This week, the Senate Homeland Security committee examined various immigrant guest worker proposals. This was the Committee’s third “Securing the Border” hearing this week, after Tuesday’s hearing on transnational crime, and Wednesday’s hearing on root causes of Central American migration. The witnesses all agreed that increasing… Read More
How Immigrant Women Contribute to the U.S. Economy
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, it is worthwhile to keep in mind the depth and breadth of the contributions that immigrant women workers make to the U.S. economy. More and more, immigrant women are coming to the United States not as the dependent relatives of immigrant men,… Read More
DHS Funding Controversy Over, But Enforcement-First Approach Remains
Over five months into fiscal year 2015, the President on Wednesday finally signed the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’) appropriations bill, after Congress twice narrowly averted shutting down the agency. Congressional members called it a “clean” bill, without House Republicans’ efforts to repeal President Obama’s recent executive actions (well within the President’s authority). But the debate over executive action has prevented a meaningful debate over the funding bill’s provisions, which support and expand DHS’ failed “enforcement first” approach to immigration policy. Read More
House Funds Homeland Security Through September
The House voted to approve a measure Tuesday to fund the Department of Homeland Security through September, the rest of the fiscal year. The bill, which originally passed the Senate on Friday, is a “clean” funding bill without any amendments attempting to defund President Obama’s executive actions. The House vote… Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.
