Due Process and the Courts

While updating our immigration system has been a slow process, over the last decade, there have been efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation and the DREAM Act. Other reform efforts include executive actions such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). Learn more about the ways America can upgrade its immigration system.

Recent Features

  • FOIA

Investigating the Immigration Court System

We're demanding information to uncover the hiring process for Assistant Chief Immigration Judge and their influence over the immigration courts.

  • Blog

‘Your Client Is Going Bye-Bye.’ Investigation Details Immigration Judges’ Cruel Behavior in El Paso Court

The complaint outlines systemic due process concerns around unprofessional behavior by immigration judges and troubling court practices in El Paso.

Two Systems of Justice: How the Immigration System Falls Short of American Ideals of Justice

This special report lays out the the incongruency between America's criminal justice system and its immigration justice system, and provides recommendations for how these problems could be fixed.

READ MORE

All Due Process and the Courts Content

  • Blog

Immigration Court Backlog Shows No Sign of Shrinking

April 22, 2016

The latest figures show that the number of cases pending in immigration court continue to grow. According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), there were 486,206 cases in the...

  • Blog

What Are the Next Steps at the Supreme Court in U.S. v. Texas?

April 21, 2016

The oral arguments in U.S. v. Texas are now complete and dozens of news articles and analyses have attempted to predict what the Court will decide. However, all that truly matters is the final...

  • Blog

Understanding Justice Kennedy’s “Upside Down” Argument in U.S. v. Texas

April 20, 2016

By Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, faculty scholar and law professor at Penn State Law-University Park. On April 18, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in United States v. Texas, a case...

  • Blog

Digesting the Argument in U.S. v. Texas: What Is Lawful Presence and Why Does It Not Mean What It Sounds Like?

April 19, 2016

The oral argument in United States v. Texas shined a light on the confusion between the term “lawful presence” and what it means to have a legal immigration status in the United States. Early in...

  • Blog

Supreme Court Considers President’s Executive Actions on Immigration While Thousands Rally Outside

April 18, 2016

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in United States v. Texas. While lawyers presented their arguments before the eight Justices inside, on the outside families, advocates, immigrants, faith...

  • Blog

What You Need to Know About the DAPA and Expanded DACA Case Before the Supreme Court

April 11, 2016

In the spring of 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider United States v. Texas, a politically charged lawsuit about the legality of some of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration....

  • Blog

Texas and Other 25 States File Misleading Brief at Supreme Court

March 30, 2016

This week, Texas and the 25 other states challenging the President’s executive actions on immigration filed their brief with the Supreme Court in United States v. Texas. The brief attempts to...

  • Blog

District Court Holds Hearing in Case About Kids’ Right to Attorneys in Immigration Court

March 25, 2016

A federal district court in Seattle heard arguments in a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to ensure that all children in immigration court have legal representation. The case received a flurry of...

  • Blog

Judge Who Believes Toddlers Can Represent Themselves, Only Part of the Problem in the Battle over Representation for Kids

March 9, 2016

Over the past week, several media outlets reported that Assistant Chief Immigration Judge (ACIJ) Jack Weil claimed that he could teach immigration law to three- and four-year-old children such...

  • Blog

Hundreds of Groups Weigh in on Immigration Case Headed to Supreme Court

March 8, 2016

A diverse coalition of 326 immigration, civil rights, labor, and social service groups filed an amicus (friend-of-the-court) brief with the U.S. Supreme Court today in United States v. Texas,...

  • Press Release

Groups Launch Legal Challenge to Trump Administration Policy on Jailing Asylum Seekers

May 2, 2019
The American Immigration Council, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and The American Civil Liberties Union, filed a proposed amended complaint in federal court today in order to challenge the Trump administration’s new policy that categorically denies bond hearings to asylum seekers. The policy, announced April 16 by Attorney General William Barr, targets asylum seekers whom immigration officers previously determined have a “credible fear” of persecution or torture if returned to the places they fled.
  • Blog

Trump Wants to Make These 4 Disastrous Changes to the Asylum System

May 1, 2019

President Trump is calling for new regulations that will target asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. These new rules would accelerate court hearings, limit options for relief, create...

  • Blog

Government Will Help 2,700 Central American Children Reunite With Their Families After Court Settlement

April 16, 2019

The Trump administration has agreed to reverse course and begin the process of reuniting 2,700 children living in Central America with their parents in the United States. The decision comes as...

  • Press Release

Attorney General’s Decision Would Deprive Asylum Seekers of Bond Hearings

April 16, 2019
In a decision today, Attorney General William Barr ruled that individuals with valid protection asylum claims who entered between ports of entry no longer are eligible for release on bond by an immigration judge. The decision could result in the unnecessary detention of thousands more individuals each year, despite the enormous financial and human costs. With the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and the ACLU, the American Immigration Council intends to challenge the new decision.
  • FOIA

FOIA Request on EOIR Institutional Hearing Program

The Council, along with AILA and the Immigrant Defense Project (IDP) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) seeking information relating to the Institutional Hearing Program (IHP).
  • Blog

Certain Detained Asylum Seekers Must Receive a Bond Hearing Within 7 Days, Judge Orders

April 9, 2019

Asylum seekers are often imprisoned in immigration detention for weeks or months before they can ask a judge to release them, even though they’re entitled to bond hearings. But this injustice may...

  • Press Release

Federal Court Orders Timely Bond Hearings and Legal Protections for Asylum Seekers

April 5, 2019
In a groundbreaking decision, a federal judge in Seattle dealt a blow to the government’s campaign to deter and obstruct asylum seekers applying for protection in the United States. Judge Marsha Pechman ordered the government to provide certain individuals with bona fide asylum claims either a bond hearing before an immigration judge within seven days of their request or to release them from detention.
  • Blog

‘Your Client Is Going Bye-Bye.’ Investigation Details Immigration Judges’ Cruel Behavior in El Paso Court

April 3, 2019

Texas—and specifically El Paso—has been ground zero for many of the incredibly harmful policies introduced under the Trump administration, such as family separation, returning asylum seekers to...

  • Press Release

Complaint Brings Injustice in El Paso Immigration Court to Light

April 3, 2019
The complaint demands an immediate investigation into systemic due process concerns at the El Paso Service Processing Center (SPC) immigration court in El Paso, Texas.
  • Advocacy

How the El Paso Immigration Court Fails to Uphold Due Process

April 3, 2019

This complaint highlights systemic due process violations that are undermining justice for detained immigrants called before judges at the El Paso Service Processing Center (SPC) Immigration Court...

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