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

All Enforcement Content

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...
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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.
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March 4, 2022
This Council fact sheet provides an overview and analysis of border encounters and border apprehensions in 2021.
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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.
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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.”
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February 26, 2021
This fact sheet draws from original data gathered from hundreds of community-organizations around the country and provides a snapshot of the extent of available services that help migrants navigate...
Publication Date: 
January 28, 2021
This analysis of data provided by the federal government reveals that 83% of all nondetained immigrants with completed or pending removal cases attended all their hearings from 2008 to 2018.
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.

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...

March 8, 2024

By Kate Melloy Goettel and Juan Avilez  A Texas law that allows local law enforcement to arrest migrants, state court judges to issue removal orders, and state officials to remove migrants to...

March 1, 2024

For decades, the Catholic nonprofit Annunciation House has worked to support migrants in El Paso, Texas. It’s provided shelter, food and services to countless people who have just arrived in the...

February 7, 2024

The “Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024” was released on February 4. For months, a bipartisan group of senators negotiated the compromise bill, which proposes...

February 2, 2024

The Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (OIG) published a report last month finding that nearly one-third of medical procedures performed on immigrants in U.S...

January 23, 2024

Buoy barriers with chainsaw devices in the Rio Grande river. Coils of concertina wire along the riverbank. Armored Humvees blocking access roads. Piles of dirt rendering gates unusable. Governor...

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 17, 2023
Legal organizations filed a federal lawsuit challenging Florida’s new anti-immigrant law, Senate Bill 1718.
July 1, 2023
The Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, Americans for Immigrant Justice, and American Immigration Council have announced they will file a federal lawsuit challenging Florida’s draconian Senate Bill 1718, which goes into effect, July 1.
June 23, 2023
The U.S. Supreme Court held in an 8-1 decision that states do not have the authority to challenge the executive branch’s authority to establish enforcement priorities.
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...

Publication Date: 
June 5, 2024
On June 4, the Biden administration issued a presidential proclamation and an Interim Final Rule restricting access to asylum for people crossing into the United States without legal status. The...
June 5, 2024
The U.S. government needs to be able to quickly and fairly sort out migrants who have a valid asylum claim, but instead of investing in U.S. ports of entry, immigration courts, or more options for legal migration, the order focuses on harsh and arbitrary turnbacks.
June 5, 2024
A new analysis of 2022 U.S. census data highlights how, amidst the Biden administration's recent actions to limit asylum access along the U.S.-Mexico border, and in the context of ramped-up anti-immigrant rhetoric during this year’s presidential campaign, immigrants are helping make the United States a more prosperous and economically booming country.
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 29, 2024
Immigrants accounted for 57.7 percent of Michigan’s population growth over last decade and contributed $67.8 billion, or 9.9 percent, of the state’s total GDP in 2022
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 22, 2024
On May 22, a federal court blocked a section of a draconian anti-immigrant law passed by Govenor Ron DeSantis's government in Florida.
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....

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