Abuses

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No Action Taken: Lack of CBP Accountability in Responding to Complaints of Abuse

One of the most revealing findings of this report concerns the prevailing lack of action taken by CBP officials in response to the complaints received.

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  • Blog

Two Border Patrol Agents Charged with Murder Highlights the Need for Robust Hiring Standards

September 19, 2018

For the second time this year, a Border Patrol agent has been charged with murdering multiple people in Texas. Both agents were hired nearly a decade ago amidst a surge in staffing that backfired...

  • Blog

Medical Neglect and Abuse Reported at Atlanta Immigration Detention Center

August 30, 2018

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) currently uses hundreds of detention centers throughout the country to hold individuals in immigration proceedings. Many of these facilities have a...

  • Blog

Asylum Seekers Challenge Spending Months Locked Up Without Interviews or Bond Hearings

August 24, 2018

Earlier this year, the Trump administration launched its “zero tolerance” policy, aimed at punishing immigrants, including asylum seekers, who enter the United States without authorization. Among...

  • Blog

Government Coerced Parents into Signing Their Rights Away Before Being Reunited with Their Children

August 23, 2018

In all the chaos of family separation, another disturbing detail has come to light: immigration officials may have coerced vulnerable parents into signing away their right to be reunified with...

  • Blog

The Family Reunification Deadline Passed. What’s Next for Separated Families?

July 27, 2018

The court-imposed deadline of July 26 for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reunite families separated at the southern border has passed. So far, over 1800 children have been released...

  • Blog

Government Uses Separated Children as Leverage to Coerce Parents Into Signing for Deportation

July 19, 2018

Among the many questions presented by the separation of immigrant families at the border is whether detained parents are being coerced into signing paperwork ensuring their deportation. Without...

  • Blog

Federal Investigation Finds ICE Fails to Address Sexual Assault, Abuse in Immigrant Detention Centers

July 10, 2018

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) consistently fails to conduct adequate inspections of its detention facilities or to follow up on recommended corrections at facilities that are...

  • Blog

The Trump Administration Is Choosing to Separate Children From Their Parents Every Day

June 19, 2018

Every day under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is choosing to separate children from their parents. Despite claims by the...

  • Blog

Trump’s Signature Family Separation Policy and Migrant Kid Jails Meet Outrage

June 18, 2018

The outcry against family separation has only just begun. The Trump administration’s cruel policy of separating migrant children from their parents when they cross the U.S.-Mexico border is...

  • Blog

As Ramadan Ends, Religious Rights Abuses Emerge at Immigrant Detention Center

June 14, 2018

The end of Ramadan 2018 is here, which is the holy month of fasting, contemplation, and prayer for Muslims worldwide. Yet, despite the First Amendment’s protection of the right to practice one’s...

  • Blog

How Immigration Enforcement Is Eroding Your Privacy

March 13, 2020

The United States has pursued aggressive increases in immigration enforcement over the past two decades across several presidencies. Congress has allocated increasing resources during this period...

  • Blog

Supreme Court Rules Parents of Slain Teenager Can’t Sue Border Patrol Agent Responsible for His Death

March 2, 2020

The Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit seeking damages from a U.S. Border Patrol agent who shot and killed a teenager across the U.S.-Mexico border. With this latest decision in the...

  • Blog

The Fight to Stop ICE From Destroying Records About Deaths and Abuse in Its Custody

February 19, 2020

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to destroy thousands of records documenting horrific treatment of immigrants in the agency’s custody. The records contain vital details about...

  • Press Release

Federal Court Finds Conditions in Customs and Border Protection Detention Facilities Unconstitutional

February 19, 2020
A federal court ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection to overhaul the way the agency detains people in its custody in the Tucson Sector. The court found that the conditions in CBP holding cells, especially those that preclude sleep over several nights, are presumptively punitive and violate the U.S. Constitution.
  • Blog

Customs and Border Protection Officials Are Allowed Full Anonymity Under FOIA—and That’s a Blow to Government Transparency

February 14, 2020

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—the largest law enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security, with tens of thousands of officers charged with policing our borders—is...

  • Press Release

Trial Challenging Unconstitutional Conditions in Customs and Border Protection's Facilities in Arizona Ends

January 23, 2020
During the course of the trial, a federal judge heard from qualified experts who testified on the inadequate medical care and severe conditions inside CBP detention centers.
  • Blog

On Trial: Inhumane Conditions in Customs and Border Protection Facilities in Arizona

January 15, 2020

After more than four years of gathering evidence of the substandard conditions in the government’s short-term detention facilities in Arizona’s Tucson Sector, a case challenging these conditions...

  • Blog

The Decade Ends with Another Death in Immigration Detention

January 9, 2020

The government closed out the decade with yet another person’s death in immigration detention. Fiscal year 2019 was one of the most fatal years on the books for immigrants held in the custody of...

  • Blog

Thousands in ICE Detention Sue Private Prison Company for Forced Labor

December 16, 2019

A recent federal court ruling in California could allow hundreds of thousands of immigrants currently and previously detained by private prison companies to demand compensation and damages for...

  • Blog

Privacy Concerns Grow as Federal Immigration Agencies Use More Surveillance Technology

October 24, 2019

Federal immigration officials are beginning to expand their use of surveillance technology to collect information on immigrants. As officials gather more tools in their arsenal—from DNA collection...

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