Border Enforcement

Recent Features

  • Fact Sheet

Rising Border Encounters in 2021: An Overview and Analysis

For generations, the United States has seen periodic cycles of migration. The arrival of high numbers of asylum seekers is a humanitarian protection management challenge, not a security challenge.

  • Special Report

Hieleras (Iceboxes) in the Rio Grande Valley Sector

This report sheds light on the dehumanizing conditions of immigration detention facilities.

All Border Enforcement Content

  • Blog

Border Patrol Raids Camp in Retaliation Against Humanitarian Aid Workers

August 3, 2020

The United States Border Patrol raided a humanitarian aid camp in Arizona on July 31, detaining volunteers and over 30 people receiving care. The camp—known as Byrd Camp—is run by No More Deaths (...

  • Blog

Government Secretly Held Asylum-Seeking Children in Hotels

July 29, 2020

The Trump administration has been detaining immigrant children in hotels along the Texas-Mexico border and in Arizona. Some of the children are just a year old and are held in the hotels for weeks...

  • Blog

Trump Deployed a Federal Agency With a History of Excessive Force to Police Racial Justice Protests

July 27, 2020

The May 25 killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police officers rightly sparked public outrage and protests throughout the United States. In response, the Trump administration deployed federal...

  • Blog

Trump Labels Asylum Seekers as National Security Threat in Expanded Asylum Bar

July 9, 2020

Even as President Trump downplays the threat of COVID-19, the Trump administration is using the pandemic as a pretext to bar more people from asylum in the United States. While the proposal is...

  • Blog

Court Orders ICE to End Its Practice of Unlawfully Detaining Immigrant Youth

July 6, 2020

Immigrant children who arrive in the United States without a parent are placed in shelters or foster care while their guardianship and immigration process play out. But all too often, U.S....

  • Blog

Inspector General Report Overlooks Serious Medical Care Issues Within Border Patrol Custody

June 30, 2020

The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently published a report analyzing U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) treatment of noncitizens at the border in...

  • Blog

The Government Said It Wouldn’t Separate Families at Ports of Entry. It Was Lying.

June 10, 2020

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently condemned U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for its role in separating families at the border in 2018. Like previous inspections, the...

  • Blog

5 Ways Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Agenda Gets in the Way of an Effective Coronavirus Response

May 27, 2020

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government has implemented sweeping revisions to U.S. immigration policy. Many of the changes fail to prioritize the health of immigrants or...

  • Blog

Trump Is Using the Coronavirus Pandemic as an Excuse to Permanently Close the Borders

May 26, 2020

The Trump administration has indefinitely extended its ban on immigration at U.S. land borders.  The order was also expanded to include immigrants arriving at coastal ports. The ban is based on an...

  • Blog

Two Years After Zero Tolerance, More Revelations About the Failures of Family Separation

April 2, 2020

Nearly two years after the “zero tolerance” policy was announced, evidence condemning the practice and implementation of family separation continues to mount. A recent report from the U.S....

  • Blog

Biden Will Use Border Wall Funding for Safety and Environmental Protections

June 17, 2021

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on June 11 its plan for funds the Trump administration had planned to use to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Unspent funds will...

  • Blog

Collecting DNA From Asylum Seekers at the Border Raises Privacy Concerns

June 10, 2021

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is collecting DNA from asylum seekers at the border, recent media reports confirm. This is the latest expansion of DNA collection as part of a program initiated...

  • Press Release

Biden Budget Request on Immigration is a Missed Opportunity for Meaningful Change

May 28, 2021
The Biden administration disclosed today a $54.2 billion budget request for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2022. The request is is deeply disappointing and a missed opportunity to set immigration enforcement in the United States on a new path.
  • Blog

Government Watchdog Finds Hundreds of Parents Separated by Trump Never Given Opportunity to Reunify

May 27, 2021

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) recently found that the Trump administration deported as many as 348 parents that had been separated from their children...

  • Blog

It’s Time to End Title 42

May 19, 2021

One policy first created by the Trump administration is responsible for the greatest restriction on access to our immigration system for asylum seekers than any other. It provides no meaningful...

  • Letters

Coalition Letter Urges Biden Administration to End Migrant Protection Protocols

May 18, 2021
The Council urged the Biden administration to improve MPP wind down processing and toy move ahead with a second phase to include all individuals subjected to MPP.
  • Blog

Controversial Practice of Detaining and Interrogating Immigrant Advocates Included Legal Service Providers in El Paso

May 17, 2021

Newly revealed government documents provide details on the extent of the Trump administration’s retaliation against people who provided legal assistance to asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border...

  • Letters

Council and Broad Coalition Urge Department of Homeland Security to Withdraw Records Destruction Plans

May 3, 2021
In this letter, the Council and a diverse coalition call on the Biden administration to stop and reevaluate plans to destroy immigration agency records documenting abuse and misconduct.
  • Policy Briefs

Building an Efficient and Humane Processing of Unaccompanied Children

April 27, 2021
The American Immigration Council appeared before Congress to address the treatment of Unaccompanied Children at the Border and provide recommendation to ensure the creation of a unified humanitarian...
  • Blog

Border Patrol’s New Coordinators Are Meant to Help Process Children, But Concerns Linger

April 13, 2021

A record number of migrant children are arriving to the U.S.-Mexico border alone. In March 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered nearly 19,000 unaccompanied minors—the most to...

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