Abuses

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.

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No Action Taken: Lack of CBP Accountability in Responding to Complaints of Abuse

One of the most revealing findings of this report concerns the prevailing lack of action taken by CBP officials in response to the complaints received.

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All Abuses Content

  • Blog

Homeland Security Watchdog Conducts Surprise Inspections of Immigrant Detention Centers

December 15, 2017

The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) released a report which found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detention facilities are violating their...

  • Blog

How Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Turns Immigrants Into Criminals

November 6, 2017

It has been well established for decades that the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, immigrants who have committed no violent offense are often...

  • Blog

How Discretion Failed One 10-Year-Old Girl and What the Future Holds

October 30, 2017

Much has been said about Rosa María Hernández, the latest target of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the responsibility and...

  • Blog

DHS Wants to Monitor Immigrants’ Social Media. No One Knows What They Will Do With This Information

September 29, 2017

In a sweeping encroachment upon privacy, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it is planning to dramatically ramp up its surveillance of virtually anyone in the United States...

  • Blog

Why Are More Pregnant Women Being Held in ICE Detention?

September 26, 2017

Pregnant women held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody are required to be released, as detention frequently leads to extreme stress, depression, and in some cases,...

  • Blog

U.S. Immigration Officials Frequently Use Coercive Tactics to Deport Mexican Migrants

September 20, 2017

U.S. immigration officials have a long history of overstepping the boundaries of their legal authority and violating the constitutional and other legal rights of migrants at the Southwest border....

  • Blog

More Immigrants are Dying in Detention, and the Government Wants More Facilities

August 24, 2017

The Administration’s efforts to massively expand immigration detention in the United States are already evident in Texas, where a for-profit prison company is building the largest complex in the...

  • Blog

Civil Rights Concerns Continue Over 287(g) Immigration Enforcement Program

August 22, 2017

Racial profiling often runs rampant in communities that have mobilized their law enforcement officers to act as immigration officials, with the Hispanic community frequently faring the worst. A...

  • Blog

Border Patrol Abuses Rarely Result in Any Serious Disciplinary Action

August 2, 2017

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the nation’s largest federal law-enforcement agency, has a long history of violating constitutional and other rights of both immigrants and U.S. citizens...

  • Blog

Trump Administration Targeting Immigrant Children Is a New Low

July 27, 2017

The recent trend of broadly labeling unaccompanied immigrant children as criminals and gang members is just the latest in a series of attacks on some of the most vulnerable individuals in the U.S...

  • Blog

The Decade Ends with Another Death in Immigration Detention

January 9, 2020

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...

  • Blog

Thousands in ICE Detention Sue Private Prison Company for Forced Labor

December 16, 2019

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...

  • Blog

Privacy Concerns Grow as Federal Immigration Agencies Use More Surveillance Technology

October 24, 2019

Federal immigration officials are beginning to expand their use of surveillance technology to collect information on immigrants. As officials gather more tools in their arsenal—from DNA collection...

  • Blog

Cameroonian’s Death in ICE Custody Underscores Problems with Immigration Detention

October 7, 2019

Nebane Abienwi, a 37-year-old man who had recently fled war-torn Cameroon, died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on Tuesday. His passing—the first of the new fiscal year...

  • FOIA Litigation

FOIA Lawsuit Demands Information About CBP Officers’ Role in Credible Fear Interview Process

This lawsuit seeks to uncover information about the government’s troubling new practice of employing U.S. Custom and Border Protection officers to screen asylum seekers.
  • Legal Resources and Litigation

Statement for the House Subcommittee on Oversight, Management, & Accountability "Hearing on Oversight of ICE Detention Facilities: Is DHS Doing Enough?"

September 25, 2019
This statement shares our knowledge about these problems and inform the Subcommittee of these systemic human rights and due process violations. We hope that our perspective provides insight context for this important hearing.
  • Blog

Government Watchdog Says US Officials Were Unprepared to Address Children’s Trauma After Family Separation

September 19, 2019

In summer 2018, the Trump administration attempted to deter asylum-seeking families from coming to the United States by separating children from their parents at the southern border. It was...

  • Press Release

Parents and Children Torn Apart by Family Separation Policy Sue the Trump Administration

September 19, 2019
Five asylum-seeking mothers and their children who were torn apart under the Trump administration’s family separation policy filed a lawsuit against the United States for the cruel treatment and agony U.S. immigration agencies inflicted on them. The five parents and their children, who were as young as five at the time of the separation, claim that the U.S. government intentionally subjected them to extraordinary trauma that will have lifelong implications.
  • Advocacy

Firsthand Accounts of Medical Negligence in Customs and Border Protection Facilities

September 4, 2019
The administrative complaint filed with government oversight agencies highlights a systematic failure to provide adequate medical care to children in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody. This violates CBP’s own internal guidance and extensive medical guidelines.
  • Blog

US Citizens Caught in Immigration Dragnet As Enforcement Gets More Aggressive

August 1, 2019

There is a disturbing trend in aggressive immigration enforcement that is appearing more and more recently: the detention of U.S. citizens. There are clear indications that U.S. immigration agents...

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