Enforcement

Recent Features

FACT SHEET
A Primer on Expedited Removal

Expedited removal is a process by which low-level immigration officers can quickly deport certain noncitizens who are undocumented or have committed fraud or misrepresentation. 

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Detained, Deceived, and Deported: Experiences of Recently Deported Central American Families

First-hand accounts from Central American women and their family members reveal the dangerous and bleak circumstances of life these women and their children faced upon return to their home countries, as well as serious problems in the deportation process. 

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Children in Immigration Court: Over 95 Percent Represented by an Attorney Appear in Court

Many children are placed in deportation proceedings before an immigration judge, where they will carry the legal burden of proving that they should be allowed to remain in the United States. The government does not guarantee them the right to a lawyer. As a result, many children navigate the complicated system without legal representation.

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All Enforcement Content

  • Research and Analysis

Managing Immigration as a Resource

Publication Date: 
August 1, 2006
Benjamin Johnson, Director of the Immigration Policy Center, discusses the futility of an enforcement-only approach to immigration reform and the need for a more comprehensive strategy to deal with...
  • Special Report

Border Insecurity: U.S. Border-Enforcement Policies and National Security

Publication Date: 
April 10, 2006
The U.S. government's efforts to stem undocumented immigration by fortifying the U.S.-Mexico border have increased the profitability of the people-smuggling business and fostered greater...
  • Research and Analysis

Achieving 'Security and Prosperity': Migration and North American Economic Integration

Publication Date: 
February 1, 2006
Most of the border-enforcement and immigration-reform proposals currently being considered in Washington, DC, are not comprehensive or adequate solutions to the issue of undocumented immigration. The...
  • Research and Analysis

Beyond the Border Buildup: Towards a New Approach to Mexico-U.S. Migration

Publication Date: 
September 1, 2005
A proper understanding of the causes of international migration suggests that punitive immigration and border policies tend to backfire, and this is precisely what has happened in the case of the...
  • Research and Analysis

Five Myths About Immigration: Common Misconceptions Underlying U.S. Border-Enforcement Policy

Publication Date: 
August 1, 2005
The current crisis of undocumented immigration to the United States has its roots in fundamental misunderstandings about the causes of immigration and the motivations of immigrants. A growing body of...
  • Research and Analysis

Fencing in Failure: Effective Border Control is Not Achieved by Building More Fences

Publication Date: 
April 1, 2005
New proposals for more fencing and Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border may only perpetuate an unsuccessful and counterproductive policy that does not effectively enhance national...
  • Special Report

From Denial to Acceptance: Effectively Regulating Immigration to the United States

Publication Date: 
November 1, 2004
U.S. immigration policy is based on denial. Most lawmakers in the United States have largely embraced the process of economic “globalization,” yet stubbornly refuse to acknowledge that increased...
  • Fact Sheet

Legal Fiction Denies Due Process to Immigrants

Publication Date: 
October 1, 2004
Over a thousand noncitizens face indefinite detention in the United States on the basis of a meaningless legal technicality.
  • Research and Analysis

Targets of Suspicion: The Impact of Post-9/11 Policies on Muslims, Arabs and South Asians in the US

Publication Date: 
May 1, 2004
In response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. government began a campaign of aggressive immigration enforcement targeted at Muslims, Arabs and South Asians. Rather than first...
  • Research and Analysis

The Lessons of 9/11: A Failure of Intelligence, Not Immigration Law

Publication Date: 
December 1, 2003
In the hours following the deadly terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States government took the extraordinary step of sealing U.S. borders to traffic and trade by grounding all...
  • Blog

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Issues Annual Report—What Does It Really Mean?

March 18, 2022

Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released its fiscal year 2021 annual report. In it, the agency reported a significant decrease in both overall deportations and internal...

  • Blog

Florida’s Anti-Immigrant Bills Follow a Decade-Long Trend

March 11, 2022

The path toward commonsense federal immigration solutions seems to be continuing the cyclical and frustrating pattern of two steps forward, one step back. As soon as a measure is introduced—be it...

  • Blog

Dueling Court Orders May Decide Fate of President Biden’s Title 42 Expulsions

March 8, 2022

In just under two years, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has carried out over 1.5 million rapid “expulsions” of asylum seekers and migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border under Title 42, a...

  • Blog

New Border Surveillance Technology Raises Privacy Concerns and Could Increase Deaths

March 4, 2022

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced that it has been developing and testing robot dogs for use by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) at the U.S.-Mexico border. The...

  • Blog

Settlement Thwarts ICE’s Ability to Conduct Warrantless Sweeps

February 25, 2022

A federal court in Illinois recently approved a settlement agreement governing unlawful, warrantless arrests and vehicle stops. The settlement requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (...

  • Blog

COVID-19 Rates in ICE Detention Are at Record Highs. Advocates Are Demanding an Investigation.

February 14, 2022

The Omicron variant has spread through immigration detention like wildfire, with a record 14% of people in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody testing positive for COVID-19 as...

  • Blog

Corrupt US Employers and Smugglers Are Exploiting Migrant Teens for Profit

February 9, 2022

A skyrocketing number of migrant teens from Central America are finding their way into the undocumented workforce of the United States. They are doing rigorous, grueling work often meant for...

  • Blog

Leaked Photos Reveal Inhumane Conditions in Border Processing Centers

January 14, 2022

New leaked photos of Border Patrol stations in Yuma, Arizona show Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) inhumane treatment of people apprehended at the border— revealing that years of overcrowded...

  • Blog

Supreme Court Hears Arguments Addressing the Legality of Detention Without Bond

January 12, 2022

Written by Caroline Walters and Kate Melloy Goettel  This week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two related immigration cases. Each asks whether certain noncitizens are entitled to bond...

  • Blog

New Documents Reveal Details About Border Patrol’s Deadly High-Speed Pursuits

January 11, 2022

As the border has become harder to cross over the last few years, smugglers have increasingly turned to the use of vehicles to smuggle migrants. But along with this rise has come an increase in...

  • Press Release

The AIC Welcomes Customs and Border Protection’s New Guidance on Interpretation

December 14, 2012

The American Immigration Council (AIC) welcomes U.S.

  • Press Release

Groups Seek Information on CBP’s "Translation" Activities in Northern Border States

July 4, 2012

Washington, D.C. - Last week an alliance of immigration advocacy groups represented by the Legal Action Center filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with U.S.

  • Press Release

Legal Action Center Files Suit Against DHS for Failure to Disclose Records on "Voluntary" Returns

June 8, 2012

Washington D.C.

  • Press Release

Mocking Humane Immigration Detention Standards

March 28, 2012

Washington D.C. - Today, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on new immigration detention standards recently issued by Immigration a

  • Press Release

Advocates File Suit Against DHS for Refusal to Disclose Records on Enforcement Program

March 12, 2012

Washington D.C. - Last week, an alliance of national immigration advocacy organizations filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), seeking to co

  • Press Release

The Real Meaning of “Self-Deportation”

January 26, 2012

Washington D.C. - The term “self-deportation” has found its way into the GOP presidential primary race, with candidate Mitt Romney outlining a vague immigration pl

  • Press Release

DOJ Report Slams Sherriff Joe Arpaio and DHS Restricts 287(g) and Secure Communities Programs

December 15, 2011

Washington D.C. - After a three-year investigation into the abusive practices of Sherriff Joe Arpaio’s Maricopa County Sherriff’s Office (MCSO), t

  • Press Release

DHS Issues Awaited Guidance on Prioritizing Deportations, Law Enforcement Letter Praises Approach

November 17, 2011

Washington D.C. - Today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Principal Legal Advisor directed all ICE attorneys to begin a systematic review of immigration

  • Press Release

AILA-AIC Survey Reveals ICE Officials' Sporadic Exercise of Prosecutorial Discretion

November 9, 2011

Washington, DC – The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the American Immigration Council (AIC) released a

  • Press Release

DOJ Responds Forcefully to Civil Rights Disaster in Alabama, What Will DHS Do?

November 4, 2011

Washington D.C. – This week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it was filing suit in South Carolina to block Act No.

  • Blog

Is Chevron deference on the Supreme Court’s chopping block?

May 24, 2023

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide a case that asks the Court to overturn Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council—an influential decision that requires courts to defer to federal...

  • Blog

Border Patrol Custody Is Already Dangerous and This Florida Lawsuit Is Making It Worse

May 19, 2023

One of the biggest concerns after the end of the Title 42 policy of mass expulsion at the U.S.-Mexico border was that large numbers of people would cross in the hours and days afterward. When the...

  • Blog

How To Seek Asylum (Under Biden’s Asylum Transit Ban), In 15 Not-At-All-Easy Steps

May 11, 2023

Back in February, when the Biden administration proposed a new regulation that would essentially restrict the vast majority of border crossers from qualifying for asylum, we broke it down with a...

  • Letters

Coalition Letter Urges Vote Against Border Bill That Dismantles Asylum and Harms Asylum Seekers and Border Communities

Publication Date: 
May 10, 2023
The American Immigration Council joined a coalition of 129 organizations calling for members of the House of Representatives to vote against an anti-immigrant border bill that would dismantle the U.S...
  • Blog

Newly Introduced Border Bill Would Create More Chaos at the Border, Not Less

May 9, 2023

With the pandemic-related expulsion policy “Title 42” set to expire May 11, the House GOP introduced its first large-scale border and immigration package on Monday. The bill combines three...

  • Special Report

Beyond A Border Solution

Publication Date: 
May 3, 2023
America needs durable solutions. These concrete measures can bring orderliness to our border and modernize our overwhelmed asylum system.
  • Blog

The End of Title 42 Might Be Chaotic, But It Doesn’t Have to Be Confusing. Here’s What You Should Know

May 2, 2023

Title 42 – a policy that has allowed the U.S. government to expel border-crossers without giving them a chance to seek asylum – is expected to officially sunset next week. Federal courts prevented...

  • Blog

ICE Is Shifting Bond Payments to an Electronic System

April 26, 2023

Last week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the launch of CeBONDS, a new system people can use to pay bonds and secure the release of individuals in immigration detention....

  • Blog

Texas’ Proposed ‘Border Protection Unit’ Doubles Down on Failed Deterrence Policies

April 21, 2023

With all eyes on the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of the end of Title 42 on May 11, Texas lawmakers are pushing to increase the state’s role in enforcing federal immigration laws—despite Supreme Court...

  • Blog

The Border Patrol’s Inhumanity Has Reached New Heights

April 20, 2023

A family with a baby, waiting outside in the cold overnight. A pregnant woman, enduring the elements for multiple days. An Afghan who worked for the U.S. Army as a translator, hoping for food and...

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