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

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...

  • Blog

Federal Court Orders Biden to Restore the ‘Remain in Mexico’ Program

August 16, 2021

The Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the “Remain in Mexico” program, inflicted extreme harm on vulnerable people seeking asylum at the border beginning in...

  • Blog

Texas’ Order to Pull Over Vehicles Carrying Migrants Likely Violates the Constitution, Judge Rules

August 6, 2021

A federal judge on Tuesday dealt an important blow to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s flawed plan to stop migrants from entering and traveling through Texas. Governor Abbott issued an executive order...

  • Blog

Biden Administration Announces Plans to Ramp up Deportations of Families Arriving at the Border

July 28, 2021

As the number of families coming to the border has increased from June to July, the Biden administration is beginning yet another crackdown. Late on July 26, the Department of Homeland Security (...

  • Blog

The State of Texas is Arresting and Detaining Border Crossers for Trespassing

July 27, 2021

The state of Texas has started a concentrated effort to arrest immigrants who have recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. The immigrants are charged with criminal state offenses of trespassing...

  • Blog

Biden Will Admit Asylum Seekers Ordered Deported Under Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols

June 23, 2021

Asylum seekers who were ordered deported for missing their U.S. court hearings under the Trump administration’s so-called Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)—informally known as the “Remain in...

  • Blog

Biden Will Use Border Wall Funding for Safety and Environmental Protections

June 17, 2021

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on June 11 its plan for funds the Trump administration had planned to use to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Unspent funds will...

  • Blog

Collecting DNA From Asylum Seekers at the Border Raises Privacy Concerns

June 10, 2021

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is collecting DNA from asylum seekers at the border, recent media reports confirm. This is the latest expansion of DNA collection as part of a program initiated...

  • Blog

Government Watchdog Finds Hundreds of Parents Separated by Trump Never Given Opportunity to Reunify

May 27, 2021

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) recently found that the Trump administration deported as many as 348 parents that had been separated from their children...

  • Press Release

Statement from the American Immigration Council on Leaked DHS Memo on Border Security

February 17, 2017
The memo calls for the expansion of detentions and deportations, the hiring of more Border Patrol agents, the use of State National Guards, the building of a border wall, and the creation of new barriers for asylum seekers, among other provisions.
  • Press Release

Lawsuit Seeks Transparency in CBP Admission Procedures

December 21, 2016
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), represented by the American Immigration Council and Foley & Lardner LLP, filed a lawsuit to compel U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and to request release of the CBP Officer's Reference Tool (ORT).
  • Press Release

Court Orders Government to Fix Inhumane Conditions in Border Patrol Holding Cells

November 18, 2016
A federal district court found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is violating the constitutional rights of people detained in holding facilities in Arizona and ordered the government to take steps to improve conditions in these facilities, known as hieleras.
  • Press Release

Groups Settle Lawsuit Challenging Failure of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to Timely Respond to FOIA Requests

October 5, 2016
In accordance with a settlement reached by the parties, a federal district court dismissed a class action lawsuit which challenged U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) nationwide practice of failing to timely respond to requests for case information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
  • Press Release

Court Orders Release of Graphic Photos of Arizona Border Patrol Detention Facilities and Damning Expert Witness Testimony

August 18, 2016
Today, groups made public damning evidence, including expert testimony and video stills illustrating the deplorable and unconstitutional conditions detained individuals are subjected to in Border Patrol custody in the agency’s Tucson Sector.
  • Press Release

Groups File Lawsuit Challenging Failures of CBP to Respond to FOIA Requests

July 19, 2016
A class action lawsuit was filed by three immigration attorneys and eleven noncitizens challenging U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s nationwide practice of failing to timely respond to requests for case information under the Freedom of Information Act.
  • Press Release

Court Again Rules Against Federal Government's Efforts to Detain Children

July 7, 2016
The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association commented on the decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirming that the nearly 20-year-old Flores Settlement Agreement governs the custody and release of all immigrant children, and that the Obama Administration’s family detention practices violate that agreement.
  • Press Release

Lawsuit Seeks to Shed Light on Customs and Border Protection's Complaint Process

July 6, 2016
he American Immigration Council (Immigration Council), represented by Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, today filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to compel the release of additional documents related to the complaints process at United States Customs and Border Protection.
  • Press Release

Court Orders Release of Some Evidence of Arizona Border Patrol Detention Facilities

June 27, 2016
A federal district court unsealed some of the photographs central to ongoing litigation challenging deplorable and unconstitutional conditions in Border Patrol detention facilities in the agency’s Tucson Sector. The court also allowed the Arizona Republic newspaper to intervene in the case to argue for the release of the documents.
  • Press Release

Lawsuit Seeks to Shed Light on Customs and Border Protection's Complaint Process

June 6, 2016

Washington D.C.

  • 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...

  • Amicus Briefs

Demanding ICE Provide Essential Data

Publication Date: 
January 30, 2023
The Council submitted an amicus brief explaining why ICE should release usable immigration data. The amicus brief was filed in a case where the ACLU is seeking information about how individuals are impacted by ICE enforcement practices.
  • Blog

DHS Fails to Address Concerns about CBP One as the Agency Expands the App’s Use

January 13, 2023

On January 5, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced new measures to process people seeking asylum at ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border who are asking to be exempt from...

  • Blog

What’s Next for Title 42? The Policy Still Has the Border in Its Grip

January 12, 2023

Weeks after Title 42 was ordered to end in December 2022, the supposed “public health” policy is still effectively closing the border to many asylum seekers after an eleventh-hour order from the...

  • Press Release

Biden Administration Expands Use of Title 42 and Proposes New Asylum Ban, In Exchange for Creation of Alternate Pathways for Migration and New Methods of Seeking Asylum at Ports of Entry

January 5, 2023
The American Immigration Council responds to new announced a series of border policy reforms, including a variant of President Trump's asylum "Transit Ban", from the Biden administration.
  • Press Release

Judge Strikes Down Title 42 Policy: A Long Overdue Step Toward Rebuilding the US Asylum System

November 15, 2022
Judge Emmet G. Sullivan issued a decision vacating and ending Title 42, more than two and a half years after the purported public health policy went into effect.
  • Blog

Public Records Requests Uncover Details About Flights of Migrants to Martha’s Vineyard

October 26, 2022

The flights of migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in September refocused attention on a phenomenon that had been unfolding for many months—the relocation of migrants by Republican governors...

  • FOIA

FOIA Request Seeks Records Regarding Parole Guidance and Incorrect Addresses on CBP Documents After Migrants Flown to Martha's Vineyard

The requested records will shed light on CBP's practices with respect to granting and extending humanitarian parole and the agency's determinations regarding which addresses to include on immigration paperwork.
  • Press Release

Biden Administration Pairs Humanitarian Aid and H-2B Visa Expansion with Trump-Style Border Enforcement in Venezuelan Response Plan

October 24, 2022
The American Immigration Council alongside responded to the Biden Administration’s announcement of a parole program to protect some Venezuelan nationals with ties to the U.S., expansion of Title 42 to expel Venezuelans who cross the border without prior authorization, and nearly 65,000 added visas under the H-2B program.

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