Immigration

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

This picture taken on April 19, 2018 shows commuters on mopeds along a street in central Ho Chi Minh City.

Protections Fall for Vietnamese Immigrants as Trump Pushes Deportations

The Trump administration has reinterpreted a 2008 agreement with Vietnam in multiple ways to expand the categories of refugees it can deport. The effort appears to have affected…

Aug. 29, 2019 Charles Dunst

View of a Guatemalan migrant's identification wristband upon his arrival at the Air Force Base in Guatemala City after being deported from the United States on July 31, 2019.

“Offshore Processing” in Guatemala: A Deeper Look at the U.S. Asylum Deal

U.S. agreement to "offshore" asylum seekers (of different nationalities) to Guatemala bears striking similarity to Australia's policy of offshoring asylum seekers to an island…

Aug. 23, 2019 Regina Jefferies

Protestors hold a demonstration against U.S. Customs and Border Patrol funding during a rally inside the Russell Senate Office Building Rotunda on June 25, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Border Agents’ Secret Facebook Group Highlights Social Media Vetting Risks for Immigrants

Government social media monitoring is ripe for abuse in any context, but the implications of Customs and Border Protection's environment of racism and lack of oversight demand…

Aug. 1, 2019 Raya Koreh

Acting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan and Interior Minister of Guatemala Enrique Degenhart signe a “safe third country” agreement as U.S. President Donald Trump looks on in the Oval Office of the White House July 26, 2019 in Washington, DC.

Questions Surround Secretive US-Guatemala Agreement

The agreement signed between the U.S. and Guatemala looks more like an attempt to make Guatemala an American Nauru – a terrible jail for thousands who would seek asylum in the…

Jul. 30, 2019 Susan Gzesh

U.S. Border Patrol agents search a vehicle that was sent to secondary inspection at a highway checkpoint on August 1, 2018 in West Enfield, Maine.

Congress Tackles the “100-Mile” Border Zone for Federal Checkpoints

A long-festering issue affecting the entire U.S. border on the north, south, east, and west is finally getting congressional attention: the so-called “100-mile border zone”…

Jul. 30, 2019 Patrick G. Eddington