Border Enforcement

The United States has long-been a beacon of hope for individuals around the world seeking protection and refuge. Our immigration policies must continue to protect those who need it. Learn more about how America can continue to provide humanitarian protection to those in times of crisis.

Recent Features

TESTIMONY
  • Policy Briefs
Providing Perspective on the Application of Immigration Law at the US Southwest Border

Providing Perspective on the Application of Immigration Law at the US Southwest Border

The reality at the U.S. southern border is complicated. Dive into the role and authority of the executive branch and immigration enforcement agencies. 

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FACT SHEET
  • Fact Sheet
Rising Border Encounters in 2021: An Overview and Analysis

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.

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All Border Enforcement Content

  • Research and Analysis

Is More Getting Us Less? Real Solutions for Securing our Border

Publication Date: 
February 15, 2007
Ongoing reports about Mexico’s bloody conflict with organized crime have raised again the question of whether the United States should do more to prevent such violence from “spilling over” into the...
  • Research and Analysis

A Humanitarian Crisis at the Border: New Estimates of Deaths Among Unauthorized Immigrants

Publication Date: 
February 1, 2007
By Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, M. Melissa McCormick, Daniel Martinez & Inez Magdalena Duarte
  • Special Report

The Rush to Limit Judicial Review

Publication Date: 
September 1, 2006
Access to an independent judiciary with the power to hold the government accountable in its dealings with individuals is a founding principle of the United States. In contrast, imagine a system...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • Research and Analysis

A Moratorium on Common Sense: Immigration Accord On Hold While Failed Border Enforcement Policies Continue

Publication Date: 
May 1, 2003
After September 11th, efforts to reach an immigration accord with Mexico came to a halt. As a result, the Bush administration continues a poorly conceived border-enforcement strategy from the 1990s...
  • Blog

Abbott’s Anti-Immigrant Blockade Cost the US Billions in Just a Few Days 

April 22, 2022

Less than a week after the Biden Administration announced the impending end to the COVID-era Title 42 border policy, Texas Governor Greg Abbott escalated his ongoing political fight with the Biden...

  • Blog

What is President Biden’s Plan for Ending Title 42?

April 12, 2022

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in early April that it would end Title 42, the pandemic border policy that allowed immigration officials to rapidly “expel” migrants...

  • Blog

Biden Administration Announces End to Horrific Title 42 Border Policy

April 1, 2022

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Friday that it will be terminating the Title 42 border policy. The U.S. government has used this policy to turn away asylum seekers and...

  • Blog

Government Must Release Names of Border Patrol Agents Involved in Illegal Pilot Program, Court Orders

March 28, 2022

In a victory for government transparency, earlier this month a federal district court ordered the government to release the names of the Border Patrol agents involved in a program to screen asylum...

  • 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

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

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

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...

  • Blog

Substance Abuse, Criminal Charges, and Death: National Guard Border Deployments Plagued by Problems

January 5, 2022

National Guard troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border face a grim reality, with their deployments plagued by substance abuse problems and discontent. Eight troops have committed suicide or died...

  • Press Release

U.S. Border Enforcement Prioritizes Non-Violent Migrants Over Dangerous Criminals

May 20, 2010

Washington D.C. - The Mexican President's visit to the United States allowed both he and President Obama to address the important issues of immigration, border con

  • Press Release

Disentangling Unauthorized Immigration and Border Violence

May 19, 2010

Washington, D.C.

  • Blog

Where the ‘Migrant Protection Protocols’ Stand, Four Years After Going Into Effect

March 24, 2023

Last week, a federal court in California issued a decision allowing asylum seekers and other plaintiffs to continue their legal challenge to the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program, officially (...

  • Blog

Three Years of Title 42

March 17, 2023

In March 2020, the world came to an unfamiliar halt. The COVID-19 pandemic was no longer a looming and distant concern. Events rapidly fell off calendars, schools shuttered, and those who could...

  • Blog

This Is Pretty Simple, Mr. President: Don’t Restart Family Detention

March 7, 2023

The Biden administration is reportedly planning to detain large numbers of immigrant families again this spring. This is part of the administration’s plan to replace Title 42 with a new policy...

  • Blog

CBP One Is Riddled With Flaws That Make the App Inaccessible to Many Asylum Seekers  

February 28, 2023

In January and February of this year, the Biden administration announced new policies to process individuals seeking asylum at ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. A key component of these...

  • Blog

Supreme Court Pauses Oral Arguments in Title 42 Case – What’s next?

February 17, 2023

In December 2022, the Supreme Court stepped in to keep Title 42 (the pandemic health policy that has allowed the United States to carry out over 2.5 million expulsions since March 2020) in effect...

  • Blog

At Dueling Border Hearings, New House Majority Pushes Partisan Narrative Over Facts

February 10, 2023

In January, Republicans took control of the House of Representatives. After a lengthy fight over the Speaker of the House resolved, the new majority wasted no time in holding multiple hearings on...

  • Blog

Family Reunification Task Force Reports Nearly 1,000 Children Remain Separated

February 10, 2023

Nearly 1,000 children separated from their families at the southern border by the Trump administration remain separated to this day, according to a Biden administration fact sheet released on...

  • Blog

Still Awaiting Court Dates, Migrants Suffer the Effects of ‘Band-Aid’ Fixes to Our Broken Immigration System

February 8, 2023

When asylum seekers arrive in the United States, so long as they are not rapidly deported or expelled, the government is generally supposed to issue them a “Notice to Appear” (NTA). This charging...

  • Blog

DHS Fails to Address Concerns about CBP One as the Agency Expands the App’s Use

January 13, 2023

On January 5, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced new measures to process people seeking asylum at ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border who are asking to be exempt from...

  • Blog

What’s Next for Title 42? The Policy Still Has the Border in Its Grip

January 12, 2023

Weeks after Title 42 was ordered to end in December 2022, the supposed “public health” policy is still effectively closing the border to many asylum seekers after an eleventh-hour order from the...

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