Immigration and Customs Enforcement
A Humanitarian Catastrophe at the Border: One Year of the ‘Migrant Protection Protocols’
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 would become the first of nearly 60,000 people subjected… Read More
Lawmakers Call for Release of All Transgender Migrants From ICE Custody
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this month demanding the release of all transgender people in ICE’s custody. At least two transgender women have died in the last two years. Both died following multiple, ignored requests for medical attention 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
Judge Allows Certain Family Separations at the Border to Continue
The Trump administration received an unfortunate victory in the case against their family separation policy. On January 13, 2020, Federal Judge Dana Sabraw sided with the government in a lawsuit challenging continued separations at the border. Although the judge ordered an end to most family separations in 2018, he has… Read More
On Trial: Inhumane Conditions in Customs and Border Protection Facilities in Arizona
After more than four years of gathering evidence of the substandard conditions in the government’s short-term detention facilities in Arizona’s Tucson Sector, a case challenging these conditions called Doe v. Wolf went to trial on Monday. Over the course of the trial, plaintiffs will show how… Read More
The Decade Ends with Another Death in Immigration Detention
The government closed out the decade with yet another person’s death in immigration detention. Fiscal year 2019 was one of the most fatal years on the books for immigrants held in the custody of both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Eight people died while… Read More
Thousands in ICE Detention Sue Private Prison Company for Forced Labor
A recent federal court ruling in California could allow hundreds of thousands of immigrants currently and previously detained by private prison companies to demand compensation and damages for work completed behind bars under threat of retaliation. The decision follows a series of lawsuits filed against GEO… Read More
The Number of People in ICE Detention with Criminal Records Continues to Drop
As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has expanded immigration capacity across the country in recent years, the number of people held in its facilities with actual criminal records dropped, according to a new report from Syracuse University’s TRAC Center. Since October 2017, the number of… Read More
‘Zero Tolerance’ Overwhelmed Courts and Diverted Resources From Criminal Investigations
Attorney General Sessions’ orders to prioritize prosecuting people for immigration-related offenses in 2017 and 2018 put a significant strain on law enforcement across the border, diverting resources away from drug and organized crime prosecutions. The increase in immigration prosecutions, which played a primary role in the… Read More
ICE Revises Its Standards for Some Detention Facilities
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently published an update to its National Detention Standards (NDS), which govern the treatment of people held in facilities that rent some of their beds to ICE, often city or county jails. The new standards may weaken some protections for up to 20%… Read More
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