Enforcement

The enforcement of immigration laws is a complex and hotly-debated topic. Learn more about the costs of immigration enforcement and the ways in which the U.S. can enforce our immigration laws humanely and in a manner that ensures due process.

Recent Features

All Enforcement Content

April 15, 2016

A judge in Pennsylvania this week sentenced Daniel Sharkey, a 41-year-old former counselor at the Berks County Residential Center, to six to twenty three months of jail time. Sharkey previously...

April 13, 2016

Use-of-force by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 declined more than 26 percent compared with the previous year, according to statistics released last...

April 12, 2016

Immigration detention is being addressed at the state and local level in a variety of ways. In Indiana, local advocates are opposing a new private detention facility, and in California,...

April 7, 2016

26 Mexican nationals say the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deported them from the El Paso Border Patrol sector, which covers West Texas and all of New Mexico, without their identification...

April 1, 2016

Last month the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that since the end of January they have been conducting “Operation Border Guardian,” which has been focusing on the removal of...

March 28, 2016

Protesters gathered in Lafayette Square just across from the White House on Monday. The protest coincided with the 138th annual White House Easter Egg roll. As families inside enjoyed the annual...

March 24, 2016

As part of its announced efforts to become more transparent and accountable, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) just released the results of a review of its processes for handling...

March 22, 2016

At a time when there is a great deal of national attention being placed on criminal-justice reform,  it is troubling that the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) is now proposing, new amendments to...

March 18, 2016

For years, immigrant rights groups have documented deplorable conditions in immigration detention facilities. Yet, in spite of the growing evidence pointing to the prevalence of inhumane...

March 17, 2016

When Donald Trump speaks of the Great Wall he would build between the United States and Mexico, he fails to account for a few inconvenient facts. For instance, there are millions of men, women,...

November 7, 2018

While the pundits digest the lessons to be learned from the 2018 midterm elections, one takeaway is immediately clear: many Americans want Congress to resume its critical role of checks and...

November 6, 2018

As Americans go to the polls, many will also be taking part in another form of government participation—submitting comments on the Trump administration’s proposal to expand family detention for...

November 6, 2018
The Trump administration proposed new regulations undermining the 1997 Flores settlement agreement. If the proposed regulations are finalized, they would weaken protections for children and place them at greater risk of trauma and mistreatment.
November 2, 2018

On Thursday, President Donald Trump declared his administration would be taking drastic steps to prevent asylum seekers from coming to the United States. In a rambling speech filled with false and...

October 23, 2018

Just two weeks ahead of the midterm elections, much attention is being placed on a migrant caravan of Central Americans making their way north through Mexico. Now reported to include more than 7,...

October 22, 2018

The horrifying and tragic legacy of the Trump administration’s family separation policy—which allegedly ended by executive order in June this summer—is far from over. Even with many children still...

October 19, 2018

  When you think of a national border, you probably think of a defined edge—a place where one country ends and another begins. However, when it comes to federal immigration operations, the border...

October 18, 2018

Thousands of migrants—many of whom are mothers, fathers, and children fleeing their homes in violence-stricken areas of Central America—are traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of an...

October 16, 2018

Eight new asylum seekers joined a lawsuit last week that challenges U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials’ widespread and well-documented practice of turning back asylum seekers at U....

October 16, 2018
In a new court filing, asylum seekers and an immigrant rights group are challenging the Trump administration’s policy and practice of turning back asylum seekers at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border