Immigration

Two refugees, a Honduran child and her mother, sit on the ground of the border bridge after being denied entry from Mexico into the U.S. on June 25, 2018 in Brownsville, Texas. The mother covers her face and the child with her sweater, and two border agents lean against a wall in the background.

Never Mind “America First” — Trump’s Newly Expanded Immigration Ban Puts Americans Last

Nationality-based restrictions will separate families and are the wrong tool to promote public safety and national security.

Feb. 7, 2020 Doug Rand

Central American migrants -mostly Hondurans- are blocked by Mexican police forces in full riot gear as they reach the El Chaparral border crossing, in Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, on November 25, 2018.

The “Virtual Wall”: Mexico, Part 1

The Trump administration has established its wall on the U.S.- Mexico border without putting one brick in place.

Feb. 4, 2020 Susan Gzesh

A group of school boys recruited as Ashbal-Saddam, or young militia commandos, train 12 July 2001 at a military camp in Baghdad.

Counterterrorism Laws Punish Legitimate Asylum Seekers

Exclusions to refugee status in U.S. law -- originally developed to prevent Nazi war criminals from attaining asylum -- have dramatically expanded in scope, preventing many innocent…

Feb. 3, 2020 Niku Jafarnia

Guests arrive at the Dune's Resort, in Kotu, near Bajul, for the ceremony launching the works of the Truth and Reconciliation and Reparation Commission on October 15, 2018.

A Gambian Paramilitary Fighter Could Face Justice in the United States

While Gambia wrestles with its past and decides how to hold those accused of human rights violations to account, the United States must similarly determine what to do with a former…

Dec. 24, 2019 Andrew Moore

A cluster of corrugated iron huts resembling military barracks jut out of Nauru's sweltering rocky landscape to reveal refugee Camp Four on the Pacific island of Nauru.

Boochani’s Tribunal: Normalizing Human Degradation at Borders

A complaint to the ICC on Australia's detention practices highlights a very clear risk that this precedent represents an emerging global normalcy of human degradation when it comes…

Dec. 12, 2019 Itamar Mann

Families sit and lie in overcrowded cells without privacy. Many individuals huddle in thin metallic emergency blankets as bedding. Barbed wire fencing serves as walls.

Holding DHS Accountable for a Child’s Death in the Custody of Border Patrol

A thorough federal criminal investigation under the civil rights laws is warranted in the case of 16-year-old Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez.

Dec. 9, 2019 Carrie Cordero, Heidi Li Feldman and 1 more

Rohingya youth Mohammad Rafiq uses his mobile phone to take photos of a man by his shack at the Kutupalong refugee camp on July 23, 2019.

Social Media Vetting of Visa Applicants Violates the First Amendment

The Knight First Amendment Institute and the Brennan Center for Justice sued the US government to stop social media vetting of visa applicants.

Dec. 6, 2019 Carrie DeCell and Harsha Panduranga

A migrant man embraces her daughter after taking to Turkish Coast Guard's unit 901 boat fallowing a rescue operation on the Aegean Sea between Turkish resort town of Bodrum and the Greek island of Kos following a rescue operation by the Turkish Coast Guard on November 15, 2019 in Bodrum, Turkey.

Calling Out the Misuse of Terrorism Rhetoric Against Refugee and Asylum Seekers

Using terrorism tropes to deny legitimate protection to refugee and asylum seekers is not a new phenomenon. But, given the ongoing deployment of such incendiary and poorly grounded…

Nov. 18, 2019 Fionnuala Ní Aoláin KC (Hons)

Honduran father Juan and his six-year-old son Anthony walk on their way to attend Sunday Mass on September 9, 2018 in Oakland, California. They fled their country and crossed the U.S. border at a lawful port of entry in Brownsville, Texas seeking asylum. They were soon separated and spent the next 85 days apart in detention. Juan was sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma, while his son was sent to a detention shelter New York. Juan said it took six weeks from the time of separation until he was able to make a phone call to his son.

Assessing the Legal Landscape of Family Separation in the Immigration Context

Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen was interviewed this week as part of FORTUNE’s “Most Powerful Women Summit” in Washington. Nielsen, who seemed nonplussed…

Oct. 25, 2019 Carrie Cordero, Heidi Li Feldman and 1 more

Bishop Martin Hein speaks at the coffin of murdered German politician Walter Lübcke at Lübcke's memorial service at St. Martin church on June 13, 2019 in Kassel, Germany.

Stop Blaming Immigrants for Right-Wing Extremism

While the connection between immigration and Islamist terrorism has been challenged, the assertion that immigrants are also to blame for right-wing extremism is just as dishonest…

Sep. 19, 2019 Niku Jafarnia

Protestors led by a coalition of interfaith religious leaders demonstrate against US immigration policy that separates parents from their children, June 23, 2018 outside the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, California. A sign reads, “Stop caging families,” and many protestors wear shirts reading, “& Vote.”

Fear and Loathing on the Border: A First-Hand Look at the Travesty

Far from the loophole-ridden sieve described by the administration, the asylum system we saw was a Kafka-esque labyrinth designed to punish migrants who dare to exercise their…

Sep. 13, 2019 Ambassador Donald Steinberg

An ICE agent with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and police lights in the background.

If National Security Was Driving Immigration Arrests, Employers Would be Charged Too

Since 2014, across the country, there have been no more than 200 prosecutions for alleged violations of 8 U.S.C. § 1324a, the law that makes hiring undocumented immigrants illegal.

Sep. 12, 2019 Brian Owsley