Abuses

Recent Features

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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All Abuses Content

  • Special Report

Still No Action Taken: Complaints Against Border Patrol Agents Continue to Go Unanswered

Publication Date: 
August 2, 2017
This report raises more concerns about misconduct throughout Border Patrol sectors and shows Customs and Border Patrol has made little progress in its efforts to improve accountability.
  • Special Report

Why Caution is Needed Before Hiring Additional Border Patrol Agents and ICE Officers

Publication Date: 
April 24, 2017

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...

  • Special Report

Deported with No Possessions

Publication Date: 
December 21, 2016
Too often, some or all of a detainee’s belongings are lost, destroyed, or stolen by the immigration-enforcement agents entrusted with their care.
  • Special Report

Detained Beyond the Limit

Publication Date: 
August 18, 2016
This report reveals that individuals are frequently held for days and sometimes even months in holding cells in Border Patrol sectors along the U.S.’ southwest border.
  • Special Report

Hieleras (Iceboxes) in the Rio Grande Valley Sector

Publication Date: 
December 17, 2015
These accounts reveal the dehumanizing conditions to which these women were subjected while in Border Patrol custody.
  • Fact Sheet

Way Too Long: Prolonged Detention in Border Patrol Holding Cells, Government Records Show

Publication Date: 
June 10, 2015

Each year, the Border Patrol, a division of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), holds hundreds of thousands of people in detention facilities near the southern border that are...

  • Special Report

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

Publication Date: 
May 4, 2014
Of the 809 complaints of alleged abuse lodged against Border Patrol agents between January 2009 and January 2012, 97 percent resulted in “No Action Taken.” On average, CBP took 122 days to arrive at...
  • Special Report

Bordering on Criminal: The Routine Abuse of Migrants in the Removal System

Publication Date: 
December 10, 2013
This two-part series highlights the findings of the Migrant Border Crossing Study—a binational, multi-institution study of 1,110 randomly selected, recently repatriated migrants surveyed in six...
  • FOIA

The Council Files a FOIA with the United States Air Force on the Use of Military Aircraft to Remove Immigrants from the United States

The Council seeks records and data from the United States Air Force (USAF) about how the agency conducts military deportation flights.
  • FOIA

Council and RMIAN File FOIA Seeking Information about Detrimental Transfers of People in ICE Custody

Council and RMIAN seek records to shed light on why people in ICE custody are moved to different detention centers across the country with limited explanation and without notifying their families or attorneys.
  • Letters

American Immigration Council Calls for USCIS to Conduct Appropriate Searches When Processing FOIA Request for Immigration Records

November 26, 2024
On November 25, 2024, the Council sent a letter to the USCIS Ombudsman and FOIA Liaison asking them to investigate and cure the agency’s growing pattern of misprocessing FOIA requests for immigration records.
  • FOIA

Council Lawsuit Challenges USCIS Policies for Withholding Information in Refugee Case Files

This FOIA lawsuit seeks to compel U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) to end policies of unlawfully withholding application assessments, interview notes, and other records from refugees’ case files.
  • FOIA

Torrance County Detention Facility’s Troubling Role in Detaining Haitian Migrants During the 2021 Del Rio Incident

 

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  • FOIA

Ohio, We Have A Problem

Protestors raise their hands in solidarity outside of the Fifth Police Precinct in Minneapolis in response to the death of George Floyd
  • FOIA

Beyond the Border: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Presence at Racial Justice Protests in Summer of 2020

Our new, joint report shows that CBP often got involved in policing protests without being asked by city or state officials, and that its actions went beyond its supposed mandate to protect federal property.
  • Amicus Briefs

Demanding ICE Provide Essential Data

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.
  • FOIA Litigation

Council Sues To Get Records of ICE’s Treatment of Haitian Nationals at the Torrance Detention Facility

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.
  • FOIA Litigation

CBP Faces FOIA Lawsuit for Failing to Disclose Information About Border Patrol Practices in Ohio

This FOIA lawsuit seeks records about Border Patrol activities at the Sandusky Bay Station located in northern Ohio to improve the public’s understanding of CBP’s enforcement practices at northern U.S. borders, including cooperation with local law enforcement.
  • Blog

In Kilmar Abrego Garcia Case, Trump Administration Escalates Its War on Due Process

April 16, 2025

Less than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must “facilitate” the “release from custody in El Salvador” of wrongfully-deported Maryland father Kilmar Abrego...

  • Blog

The Missing Due Process for Gang Allegations

March 26, 2025

When the Trump administration essentially disappeared 238 Venezuelan men (and potentially women) living in the United States to a prison in El Salvador earlier this month, it alleged they were...

  • Blog

State, Federal Policies Escalate Attacks on Immigrant Children

February 27, 2025

Federal and state policy efforts targeting immigrant kids are on the rise. The new wave of cruelty includes plans that plainly violate existing law. Many of these attacks seem designed to tee up...

  • Blog

The Chilling Effect of Trump’s Indiscriminate Immigration Arrests & Propaganda

February 14, 2025

As we near the one-month mark of the new Trump administration, it is clear that the president’s thinly veiled threats of imposing mass deportation on “criminal immigrants” are in fact a promise to...

  • Blog

Sending Migrants to Guantánamo Bay Is a Costly, Abusive Shift in Immigration Detention

February 7, 2025

Last week, President Trump ordered the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand immigration detention at Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba to house up to 30,000 people. Since then, U.S....

  • Blog

ICE’s Inadequate Recordkeeping on Treatment of Detained Asylum Seekers Threatens Their Lives

January 24, 2025

By Anne Peterson, Center for Gender and Refugee Studies As the Trump administration prepares for a dramatic increase in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, advocates are...

  • Blog

FOIA Documents Show Troubling Gaps in Transparency at Torrance County Detention Facility

October 29, 2024

The Torrance County Detention Facility, located in the remote deserts of New Mexico, is notorious for its mistreatment of migrants. The facility’s issues are compounded by the fact that Torrance...

  • Blog

Border Patrol’s 100th Anniversary Offers Chance to Look Back at Its Disturbing Origins

June 7, 2024

The U.S. Border Patrol turned 100 years old on May 28. Its troubled origins and history form the backdrop for contemporary concerns about the agency, including impunity for abuses against migrants...

  • Blog

Borderland: The Line Within Takes Viewers Through CBP’s Raid on a Humanitarian Aid Camp

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...

  • Blog

Volunteers Needed for Credible Fear Interview Preparation in CBP Hotline

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...

  • Press Release

Congress Approves Even More Funding for Detention, Deportation

March 14, 2025
Congress is spending tax dollars on ICE and family separation instead of what would actually fix our broken system: our overloaded courts and lack of legal pathways to residency.
  • Press Release

PRESS CALL: Experts To Warn Trump’s Immigration Surveillance and Registry Policies Will Turbocharge Mass Raids & Removals

March 5, 2025
The Trump administration is poised to supercharge mass deportation through militarized enforcement, invasive surveillance, and government overreach, all at the expense of civil rights and working families.
  • Press Release

PRESS BRIEFING: Community Leaders, Prosecutors, and Local Electeds Condemn HR 32, A Direct Attack on American Communities And Public Safety

March 5, 2025
The “No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act” forces local leaders to choose between preserving funding for essential services or facing Trump's politically motivated cuts to schools, disaster relief and more.
  • Press Release

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Block on SF 2340, Iowa’s Anti-Immigrant Law

January 25, 2025

ST LOUIS, MISSOURI, JAN. 25, 2025 — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit today upheld a temporary block on SF 2340, Iowa's worst-ever immigration law.

  • Press Release

NEW REPORT: Gaps in Detention Data from Torrance Detention Facility Show Racial Disparities

October 24, 2024
In a New Mexico detention center, ICE categorized People with African, Asian, and South American backgrounds as racially ‘white’
  • Press Release

Ninth Circuit Upholds Rights of Asylum Seekers, Rules “Metering” Unlawful

October 23, 2024
In a decision issued on Oct. 23, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals largely affirmed a lower court decision that found the U.S. government's systemic practice of turning back asylum seekers ("metering") at the U.S.-Mexico border is unlawful.
  • Press Release

New Report Details Catastrophic Impact of Mass Deportation and Family Separation Plans

October 2, 2024
A new report details the catastrophic costs of a potential mass deportation and family separation plan.
  • Press Release

Court Allows Legal Challenge to CBP One Turnback Policy to Proceed

October 1, 2024
A case that challenges that U.S. government's policy of turning away asylum seekers who legally approach ports of entry can move forward, a judge ruled.
  • Press Release

Federal Court Temporarily Blocks Key Provision of Florida’s Anti-Immigrant SB 1718

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.
  • Press Release

Civil Rights Groups File Lawsuit to Block Iowa's Unconstitutional SF 2340

May 9, 2024
Civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit today to block SF 2340, one of the worst, most far-reaching immigration laws ever passed in the state of Iowa.
  • Blog

In Kilmar Abrego Garcia Case, Trump Administration Escalates Its War on Due Process

April 16, 2025

Less than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must “facilitate” the “release from custody in El Salvador” of wrongfully-deported Maryland father Kilmar Abrego...

  • Blog

The Missing Due Process for Gang Allegations

March 26, 2025

When the Trump administration essentially disappeared 238 Venezuelan men (and potentially women) living in the United States to a prison in El Salvador earlier this month, it alleged they were...

  • FOIA

The Council Files a FOIA with the United States Air Force on the Use of Military Aircraft to Remove Immigrants from the United States

The Council seeks records and data from the United States Air Force (USAF) about how the agency conducts military deportation flights.
  • Press Release

Congress Approves Even More Funding for Detention, Deportation

March 14, 2025
Congress is spending tax dollars on ICE and family separation instead of what would actually fix our broken system: our overloaded courts and lack of legal pathways to residency.
  • Press Release

PRESS CALL: Experts To Warn Trump’s Immigration Surveillance and Registry Policies Will Turbocharge Mass Raids & Removals

March 5, 2025
The Trump administration is poised to supercharge mass deportation through militarized enforcement, invasive surveillance, and government overreach, all at the expense of civil rights and working families.
  • Press Release

PRESS BRIEFING: Community Leaders, Prosecutors, and Local Electeds Condemn HR 32, A Direct Attack on American Communities And Public Safety

March 5, 2025
The “No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act” forces local leaders to choose between preserving funding for essential services or facing Trump's politically motivated cuts to schools, disaster relief and more.
  • Blog

State, Federal Policies Escalate Attacks on Immigrant Children

February 27, 2025

Federal and state policy efforts targeting immigrant kids are on the rise. The new wave of cruelty includes plans that plainly violate existing law. Many of these attacks seem designed to tee up...

  • Blog

The Chilling Effect of Trump’s Indiscriminate Immigration Arrests & Propaganda

February 14, 2025

As we near the one-month mark of the new Trump administration, it is clear that the president’s thinly veiled threats of imposing mass deportation on “criminal immigrants” are in fact a promise to...

  • FOIA

Council and RMIAN File FOIA Seeking Information about Detrimental Transfers of People in ICE Custody

Council and RMIAN seek records to shed light on why people in ICE custody are moved to different detention centers across the country with limited explanation and without notifying their families or attorneys.
  • Blog

Sending Migrants to Guantánamo Bay Is a Costly, Abusive Shift in Immigration Detention

February 7, 2025

Last week, President Trump ordered the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand immigration detention at Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba to house up to 30,000 people. Since then, U.S....

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