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.

ICE Announces New Victim-Centered Policy, Showing a Favorable Shift Toward Vulnerable Immigrants

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced this week a new policy designed to honor and protect vulnerable immigrants. The new policy addresses protections for survivors of violence, trafficking, and domestic abuse. Issued on August 11, the policy states that ICE will exercise prosecutorial discretion “to facilitate access to justice and victim-based immigration benefits by […]

New Illinois Law Expected to Go Furthest Toward Ending Immigration Detention in the US

A new Illinois law limiting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention is expected to effectively end detention in the state by next year. The law goes further than those that have limited detention in other states. On August 2, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed SB 667, known as the Illinois Way Forward Act. The […]

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

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 on July 28 that prohibited anyone other than law enforcement officials from transporting people who had been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection […]

The New CBP One App May Put Immigrants and Travelers’ Privacy at Risk

It is unquestionable that technology creates efficiencies. But efficiency should not come at the total expense of privacy. A new app from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) toes that line between productivity and the need for users’ privacy. In October 2020, CBP launched a new mobile application to help process individuals entering the United […]

ICE May Have Deported as Many as 70 US Citizens In the Last Five Years

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) keeps making an inexcusable error: it has been deporting U.S. citizens by mistake. 70 potential U.S. citizens were deported between 2015 and 2020, a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded. They were deported even though U.S. citizens cannot be charged with violations of civil immigration law. […]

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

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 (DHS) announced that it would begin subjecting some families to “expedited removal.” This legal procedure allows individual immigration officials to issue deportation orders […]

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

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 and criminal mischief. The arrests are the latest in a series of attempts by Texas officials to increase the consequences of entering or being present in […]

Who Is Ed Gonzalez? Biden’s ICE Nominee Signals Few Changes for the Agency

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may soon have its first Senate-confirmed leader in nearly five years. On July 15, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing on the nomination for the head of ICE, Ed Gonzalez, who is currently the Sheriff of Harris County, Texas. Gonzalez’s nomination presents a unique […]