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.
Under the Trump administration, immigration enforcement has become increasingly unfocused. Rather than prioritizing the apprehension and removal of immigrants who have committed serious crimes, enforcement personnel are now scooping up anyone who is deportable for any reason. This lack of prioritization has translated into a surge in immigration-related arrests across the board. The jump in […]
Standing in the shadow of the White House Thursday afternoon, children from around the country gathered to deliver one unified message to President Trump: don’t break our families apart. This heartbreaking plea came from the dozens of American children that spoke at the We Belong Together Kid’s Caravan rally, the final stop of a four-city […]
After issuing only three weekly declined detainer reports, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will temporarily cease publishing them. Initiated by President Trump’s January executive order on interior enforcement, ICE had begun to release weekly lists of jurisdictions that declined immigration detainers. These lists—proposed as a means to track which law enforcement agencies had refused ICE’s […]
Attorney General Jeff Sessions decried drug dealers and armed cartels at the U.S.-Mexico border on Tuesday, but rather than announcing a crackdown on those elements, he instead declared war on undocumented immigrants and those who defend them. Sessions announced that he was instructing U.S. Attorneys to prioritize criminal immigration enforcement around the country as opposed […]
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a shift in policy for the Department of Justice on Tuesday, directing U.S. Attorneys to prioritize criminal immigration enforcement and drastically expand federal court prosecutions of immigration violators across the nation. Operation Streamline and other border enforcement programs—where some border crossers are referred by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to […]
President Trump’s campaign promise to ramp up immigration enforcement and build a beautiful wall along the southern border have found little support on Capitol Hill. As Congress leaves for spring recess it’s unclear which of the President’s immigration promises they are willing to help him fulfill. Permanent changes to immigration policy have always been up […]
According to their own guidance on the subject, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is supposed to practice restraint when it comes to arresting people at “sensitive locations” such as schools, churches, and hospitals—as well as “any organization assisting children, pregnant women, victims of crime or abuse, or individuals with significant mental or physical disabilities.” […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee this week. During the hearing Secretary Kelly attempted to clarify some of DHS’s controversial positions as they relate to immigration enforcement, extreme vetting, family separation, and the building of a border wall. Secretary Kelly noted early […]
If the Trump administration fulfills its promise to build a “big, beautiful wall” along the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border, it will be a very costly solution to a problem that no longer exists—and may not exist again for a very long time. A report from the Brookings Institution has concluded that changes in […]
The immigration executive order on interior enforcement signed by the President in January instructed the Department of Homeland Security to release a weekly list of jurisdictions that declined immigration detainers. On March 20, the Trump administration released the first Declined Detainer Outcome Report (DDOR). This report and the documentation surrounding it raise serious concerns about […]