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.
The government often relies on “fast track” deportation methods to bypass due process protections in an effort to more rapidly process asylum seekers who come to the United States seeking humanitarian protection. One such deportation method, expedited removal, disadvantages the most vulnerable non-citizens currently in the United States: women and their children held in detention […]
After threats of a government shutdown echoed throughout Capitol Hill in early May, Congress finally passed a bill to fund the government through the remainder of the Fiscal Year. Though much of the attention centered on the lack of funding for a border wall and massive detention expansion—there was another aspect to the funding bill […]
What can the first 100 days of the Trump administration tell us about how immigration will be handled in the next 100 days and beyond? Since his inauguration, President Trump has prioritized making splashy announcements on a range of issues to show his supporters that he can make good on campaign promises. He hit immigration […]
The post Tracking the Trump Immigration Agenda and What Comes Next appeared first on Immigration Impact.
Texas Governor Greg Abbot is preparing to sign SB4, a fiercely-debated bill that will make it a crime for local law enforcement to refuse cooperation with federal immigration officials. Supporters of the new law say they intend to put an end to “sanctuary” cities in Texas, although the federal government and state legislators themselves admit […]
Congress reached an agreement this week to fund the government through the rest of the Fiscal Year which ends on September 30, 2017. This agreement does not fund many of President Trump’s immigration priorities like the border wall. However, it does provide additional funding for immigration detention and border security measures. In March, the Trump […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched a new office for Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) on April 26, declaring that its “singular mission is to support victims of crime through access to information and resources.” Originally proposed in the Trump administration’s interior enforcement executive order, the office seeks to be a “programmatic liaison […]
In the latest judiciary blow to the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, a U.S. District Court Judge blocked the president’s plans to deny funding to jurisdictions deemed uncooperative on federal immigration enforcement. The administration had hoped to end so-called “sanctuary cities” by forcing them into compliance with federal law. However, these cities already comply with federal […]
When President Trump signed three immigration executive orders in January of this year, much of the attention was focused on the travel ban and border wall. But within those orders is another proposal that is equally troubling: his call for hiring 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents and 10,000 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. […]
The last time the Border Patrol received a large infusion of money to hire thousands of new agents, cases of corruption and misconduct spiked in the agency. New hires were not sufficiently vetted, novice agents were not adequately supervised, and agents who abused their authority acted with impunity. Now the Trump administration wants to repeat history by hiring thousands of additional Border Patrol agents, as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, without introducing the reforms and safeguards needed to avoid the abuses and scandals of the past.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kelly stated this week that DHS is not targeting undocumented immigrants simply for being undocumented. Kelly asserted that the department is focusing on people that are undocumented “plus,” categorizing this as an immigrant that has another factor—such as criminal activity—that makes them a priority beyond their undocumented presence […]