Border 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

TESTIMONY
Providing Perspective on the Application of Immigration Law at the US Southwest Border

The reality at the U.S. southern border is complicated. Dive into the role and authority of the executive branch and immigration enforcement agencies. 

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FACT SHEET
Rising Border Encounters in 2021: An Overview and Analysis

For generations, the United States has seen periodic cycles of migration. The arrival of high numbers of asylum seekers is a humanitarian protection management challenge, not a security challenge.

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All Border Enforcement Content

  • Blog

CBP’s Plan to Expand Data Collection of Individuals Before Arrival at the Border Leaves Questions Unanswered

November 30, 2021

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) plan to collect information from more individuals before they arrive at the border has raised questions about how the agency will gather and use the...

  • Blog

Apprehensions at the Border Dropped 15% This Fall, Highlighting Mexico’s Role in Stopping Migrants

November 18, 2021

Data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows that the number of individuals apprehended by the Border Patrol at the U.S.-Mexico border fell by 15% from September to October,...

  • Blog

Family Separation Has Caused Life-Long Trauma Years Later

November 16, 2021

Four years ago, immigration lawyers and advocates began to see a disturbing practice emerge: the U.S. government began to forcibly separate children—some very young—from their parents at the...

  • Blog

The Border Isn’t Open. Just 1 in 3 People at the Border Last Year Could Access the Asylum Process.

October 26, 2021

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published new data last week showing that over the past 12 months, the Border Patrol has carried out nearly 1.7 million apprehensions at the southern...

  • Blog

Biden Administration Announces Plan for Reinstating the Migrant Protection Protocols

October 18, 2021

Two months after a federal court ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols (also known as “Remain in Mexico”), the administration announced that it...

  • Blog

Biden Administration Doubles Down On Title 42 As Del Rio Expulsions Draw to A Close

October 8, 2021

In September, nearly 15,000 Haitians arrived near Del Rio, Texas seeking asylum in the United States. But rather than allowing them to seek protection, as is their right under United States law,...

  • Blog

With New Florida Lawsuit, States’ Efforts to Dictate Federal Immigration Policy Continue

September 30, 2021

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a new lawsuit on Tuesday seeking an order requiring the Biden administration to detain almost all people arriving at the Southwest border. It is the latest...

  • Blog

Del Rio Migrant Camp Shows How Biden Administration Is Not Living Up to Its Promises

September 21, 2021

Roughly 14,000 Haitians arrived at the border across from Del Rio, Texas in mid-September and walked across the Rio Grande to seek asylum. Many first left Haiti in 2010 following a devastating...

  • Blog

Turning Back Asylum Seekers is Against the Law, Court Finds

September 7, 2021

A federal court concluded Thursday that the U.S. government’s turning back of asylum seekers at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border—primarily through a practice called metering—not only...

  • Blog

Supreme Court Refuses to Stop the Migrant Protection Protocols From Going Back Into Effect

August 25, 2021

The Supreme Court refused to block an order to reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy. The decision comes after a Texas judge halted the government...

  • Press Release

Lawsuit Demands Trump Administration Hand Over Family Separation Policies and Procedures

June 27, 2018
The lawsuit asks the court to compel the agencies to produce family separation documents in response to FOIA requests submitted in April.
  • Press Release

American Immigration Council's Statement on Trump's Executive Order on Family Separation

June 20, 2018
President Donald Trump signed an executive order today to try to stem criticism of his family separation policy. He has offered an unacceptable alternative: imprisoning mothers and fathers with their children.
  • Press Release

Lawsuit Seeks To Hold CBP Accountable for Turning Away Asylum Seeker and Falsifying Paper Trail

June 7, 2018
José Crespo Cagnant filed a lawsuit to hold the government accountable for abusive, unlawful conduct and depriving him of an opportunity to apply for asylum.
  • Press Release

Increase in Border Prosecutions Will Separate More Families

May 7, 2018
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Thomas Homan announced today that the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security will be stepping up prosecutions of individuals along the southern border—likely resulting in the criminalization of asylum seekers and more family separation.
  • Press Release

Civil and Human Rights Organizations File Joint Complaint With DHS on Behalf of Families Forcibly Separated in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Custody

December 11, 2017
A complaint on behalf of family members who have been forcibly separated while in custody at the southern border of the United States was filed with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General and Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
  • Press Release

American Immigration Council's Statement on President Trump's Immigration Principles

October 8, 2017
The White House released its long anticipated, "Immigration Principles and Policies," which lay out many of the already-stated aspirations of the Trump administration on immigration. The laundry list represents a wholesale attack on immigration and immigrants. It includes not only limits on immigration generally, but enables mass deportations and envisions bypassing necessary procedures that protect children and asylum seekers.
  • Press Release

ICE Settles Case Challenging Interference with Legal Representation at Dilley

August 16, 2017
The parties in Dilley Pro Bono Project v. ICE have reached a settlement that ensures access to mental health evaluations for certain detained mothers and children seeking asylum.
  • Press Release

Class Action Lawsuit Challenges Practice of Turning Away Asylum Seekers at U.S. Southern Border

July 12, 2017

Washington D.C. - Today an immigrant rights group and several asylum seekers filed a class action lawsuit against officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S.

  • Press Release

Lawsuit Challenges Government’s Interference with Legal Representation of Mothers and Children Detained in Dilley, Texas

June 2, 2017
Access to legal counsel is a core American value and is the cornerstone of our justice system. Yet, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has severely limited access to legal assistance for asylum-seeking women and children held in family detention facilities.
  • Press Release

Immigrants’ Access to Counsel Topic of New Rulemaking Petition

May 25, 2017
AILA and the Council have petitioned the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State to issue new regulations that will ensure all immigrants have access to legal counsel in secondary and deferred inspection, as well as overseas consular interviews.
  • Blog

Deadly Detention Center Fire Is a Reminder: Both the US and Mexico Are Failing Migrants

March 29, 2023

On Monday night, 39 migrants died, and another 27 were seriously injured, in a fire in a Mexican detention center in Ciudad Juarez. The migrants—most of them from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras...

  • Blog

Where the ‘Migrant Protection Protocols’ Stand, Four Years After Going Into Effect

March 24, 2023

Last week, a federal court in California issued a decision allowing asylum seekers and other plaintiffs to continue their legal challenge to the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program, officially (...

  • Blog

Three Years of Title 42

March 17, 2023

In March 2020, the world came to an unfamiliar halt. The COVID-19 pandemic was no longer a looming and distant concern. Events rapidly fell off calendars, schools shuttered, and those who could...

  • Blog

This Is Pretty Simple, Mr. President: Don’t Restart Family Detention

March 7, 2023

The Biden administration is reportedly planning to detain large numbers of immigrant families again this spring. This is part of the administration’s plan to replace Title 42 with a new policy...

  • Blog

CBP One Is Riddled With Flaws That Make the App Inaccessible to Many Asylum Seekers  

February 28, 2023

In January and February of this year, the Biden administration announced new policies to process individuals seeking asylum at ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. A key component of these...

  • Press Release

Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security Release Details of Dangerous New Asylum Transit Ban

February 21, 2023
The American Immigration Council responds to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on the implementation of a new asylum transit ban.
  • Blog

Supreme Court Pauses Oral Arguments in Title 42 Case – What’s next?

February 17, 2023

In December 2022, the Supreme Court stepped in to keep Title 42 (the pandemic health policy that has allowed the United States to carry out over 2.5 million expulsions since March 2020) in effect...

  • Blog

At Dueling Border Hearings, New House Majority Pushes Partisan Narrative Over Facts

February 10, 2023

In January, Republicans took control of the House of Representatives. After a lengthy fight over the Speaker of the House resolved, the new majority wasted no time in holding multiple hearings on...

  • Blog

Family Reunification Task Force Reports Nearly 1,000 Children Remain Separated

February 10, 2023

Nearly 1,000 children separated from their families at the southern border by the Trump administration remain separated to this day, according to a Biden administration fact sheet released on...

  • Blog

Still Awaiting Court Dates, Migrants Suffer the Effects of ‘Band-Aid’ Fixes to Our Broken Immigration System

February 8, 2023

When asylum seekers arrive in the United States, so long as they are not rapidly deported or expelled, the government is generally supposed to issue them a “Notice to Appear” (NTA). This charging...

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