Enforcement

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

All Enforcement Content

Publication Date: 
June 2, 2023
This fact sheet provides an overview on CBP One, a mobile app developed to streamline interaction between travelers and CBP officers at ports of entry using technology which includes GPS tracking and...
Publication Date: 
May 3, 2023
America needs durable solutions. These concrete measures can bring orderliness to our border and modernize our overwhelmed asylum system.
Publication Date: 
August 9, 2022
This fact sheet provides an explanation on how noncitizens may find themselves facing deportation from the country, how the removal proceeding may look, what types of relief can be sought after a...
Publication Date: 
May 16, 2022
This fact sheet describes the organizational structure of immigration detention oversight, the standards by which detention centers are governed, where to file complaints regarding ICE detention, and...
Publication Date: 
May 3, 2022
This research brief highlights the key role that new Americans are playing in Utah as participants in the state’s workforce, taxpayers, consumers, entrepreneurs, international students, and more.
Publication Date: 
March 4, 2022
This Council fact sheet provides an overview and analysis of border encounters and border apprehensions in 2021.
Publication Date: 
November 29, 2021
The Institutional Hearing Program permits immigration judges to conduct removal proceedings for noncitizens serving criminal sentences in certain correctional facilities.
Publication Date: 
August 23, 2021
Over the last two decades, the federal government increasingly has utilized the criminal courts to punish people for immigration violations. This overview provides basic information about entry-...
Publication Date: 
May 20, 2021
This report analyzes the Biden administration's 100 days progress in reforming immigration enforcement and recommendations for how to best move forward.
Publication Date: 
March 16, 2021
This fact sheet provides an overview of “aggravated felonies” under federal immigration law and the immigration consequences of being convicted of an “aggravated felony.”
This lawsuit, filed on behalf of several individuals and the Farmworker Association of Florida, challenges Section 10 of Florida’s new anti-immigrant law, Senate Bill 1718.
This FOIA request seeks information on CBP’s treatment of asylum seekers and their access to inspection appointments scheduled via CBP One, revealing potential violations of their rights.
In 2021, the Biden administration issued policy guidance on how ICE should carry out immigration enforcement. This report is a breakdown of how ICE carried out these policies.
This Lawsuit seeks to compel ICE to comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and publish bond processing procedures that must be followed to obtain the release of individuals in detention.
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.
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.
This lawsuit challenges ICE's policies that have made it extremely difficult—and in many cases impossible—for people in immigration detention to access their attorneys.
These Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seek records from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) about treatment of Haitian immigrants.
This FOIA lawsuit seeks to compel U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to provide information about the agency’s treatment of Haitian nationals detained at the Torrance Detention Facility.
This Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeks to compel U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to publish information on its website about how the public can pay bonds and secure the release of a loved one from ICE detention.
Publication Date: 
November 20, 2013

This Practice Advisory discusses the "departure bar" to motions to reopen and arguments adopted by circuit courts that have rejected or upheld the bar.

Publication Date: 
June 1, 2008

This Practice Advisory offers a short introduction to habeas corpus, addressing when and how a petitioner may file a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the immigration context.

June 5, 2024

On June 4, President Biden issued a sweeping order under section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act claiming that allows him to “suspend the entry” of most migrants who cross the border...

May 31, 2024

Borderland: The Line Within, a documentary directed by Pamela Yates and produced by Skylight Pictures, made its theatrical debut on May 3. Borderland takes viewers through a gripping narrative of...

May 22, 2024

The Department of Justice asked a court to partially terminate the decades-old agreement that protects the rights of immigrant children earlier this month. The government argues that the Flores...

May 17, 2024

Iowa is following in the footsteps of Texas with a new law that would allow state officials to arrest, detain, and remove noncitizens who have reentered the United States after being deported—even...

May 13, 2024

On May 9, the Biden administration proposed a rule that would allow asylum officers to consider and impose certain restrictions or “bars” to the initial asylum screening process at the border....

May 3, 2024

When someone crosses the border to seek asylum in the United States, they often first go through a credible fear interview (CFI). An asylum officer evaluates a person’s fear of returning to their...

April 26, 2024

On April 19, forty minutes after the ostensible deadline to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Congress passed H.R. 7888, the Reforming Intelligence and...

March 27, 2024

By Gwen Short, Staff Attorney at Advocates for Basic Legal Equality and Raul Pinto, Deputy Director of Transparency at the American Immigration Council ABLE and the American Immigration Council...

March 15, 2024

By Tsion Gurmu, Legal Director at the Black Alliance for Just Immigration and Raul Pinto, Deputy Legal Director of Transparency The main way in which the public can access information about what...

March 13, 2024

Six years ago, a man came to the U.S./Mexico border with his five-year-old daughter, looking for safety in the United States.   At home, a rival political faction had been making death threats...

May 1, 2024
The American Immigration Council and Welcoming America, two national nonprofits, are thrilled to announce that four communities were selected to receive Implementation Technical Assistance and Grant awards as part of Round V of the Gateways for Growth Challenge (G4G).
April 9, 2024
A new civil rights complaint filed on behalf of a group of transgender and non-binary individuals describes the routine abuse they endured at an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado.
April 4, 2024
Immigrants play a crucial role in the labor force in southern Maine, according to data in a new report.
March 19, 2024
SB4 is cruel, inhumane, and clearly unconstitutional.
March 19, 2024
A new report sheds light on Border Patrol's use of racial profiling when targeting Latinos in northern Ohio.
February 13, 2024
On Tuesday, February 13, 2024, the House Republican majority chose to continue efforts to impeach the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, holding another vote which passed, 214 to 213.
October 18, 2023
The American Immigration Council and the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to compel the Biden administration to release information on its new policy of turning back people who request asylum without first obtaining an appointment via the government’s CBP One smartphone app.
August 10, 2023
El miércoles, un grupo de solicitantes de asilo presentó una petición para bloquear la política ilegal de la administración Biden de rechazar a las personas que buscan asilo en los puertos de entrada a lo largo de la frontera con Estados Unidos.
August 10, 2023
On Wednesday a group of asylum seekers moved to block the Biden administration’s unlawful policy of turning back people seeking asylum at ports of entry along the southern border.
August 8, 2023
Legal organization filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to block Section 10 of Florida’s draconian anti-immigrant law, Senate Bill 1718.
July 19, 2024

Border crossings are at their lowest in four years. Is the Biden administration’s executive action working as intended—or is there another factor at play? Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border...

July 18, 2024

Written by Juan Avilez, Policy Associate for State and Local Initiatives and Raul Pinto, Deputy Legal Director  Texas’ SB4 set the tone for the national discourse around immigration enforcement....

July 17, 2024
In June of 2024, the American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) submitted a joint comment urging the Biden administration to rescind this IFR.
June 30, 2024
The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) submitted comments to a Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice proposed rule that would apply certain bars to asylum during asylum seekers' credible and reasonable fear screenings.
June 28, 2024

Written by Raul Pinto & Laila Khan Approximately one year ago, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched Cash Electronic Bonds (CeBONDS), a web portal with the stated intent...

The American Immigration Council filed requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to learn about the process migrants go through after they are interdicted by U.S. Coast Guard personnel.
June 26, 2024

In 2022, more than one in five Florida residents were immigrants. In that same year, immigrants in Florida were over 14% more likely than their U.S.-born neighbors to be of working age,...

June 18, 2024
On June 18, the Biden administration announced policy changes that will provide immigration relief to thousands of deeply-rooted immigrants in the United States.
June 17, 2024
In a victory for immigrant communities and families, on June 17 a federal district court in Iowa issued a preliminary injunction to block SF 2340, one of the worst, most far-reaching immigration laws ever passed in the state of Iowa.
June 7, 2024

The U.S. Border Patrol turned 100 years old on May 28. Its troubled origins and history form the backdrop for contemporary concerns about the agency, including impunity for abuses against migrants...

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