U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

The Statue of Liberty is viewed from the rooftop of the new Statue of Liberty Museum, May 13, 2019 on Liberty Island in New York City.

The President and Immigration Law: Introduction to a Just Security Series

In order to develop a meaningful reform agenda, it is essential to understand how the U.S. immigration system and the president’s prominent role within it came to be. In a new…

Oct. 12, 2020 Cristina Rodríguez and Adam Cox

U.S. Army soldiers work fortifying the US-Mexico border fence with barbed wire on November 26, 2018 in Mexicali, Mexico.

DOD Inspector General’s Report Whitewashes Potential Violations of the Posse Comitatus Act

In finding no violation of Posse Comitatus Act, the IG misinterprets federal law and exaggerates the power of DOD policy — creating a dangerous precedent for the domestic use…

Sep. 3, 2020 Joseph Nunn

Asylum seekers in face masks wait to enter a US port of entry.

There is No Public Health Rationale for a Categorical Ban on Asylum Seekers

"We asked six infectious disease epidemiology experts to respond to the CDC's public health justifications for closing the border to asylum seekers." Their unanimous response:…

Apr. 17, 2020 Joanna Naples-Mitchell

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

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

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

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

Undocumented immigrants sit on the dirt, handcuffed together, as they wait to be transported to a central processing center shortly after crossing the border from Mexico into the United States on Monday, March 26, 2018 in the Rio Grande Valley Sector near McAllen, Texas.

Criminal Prosecutions and Illegal Entry: A Deeper Dive

A look at how laws that criminalize entry and reentry into the U.S. actually work in practice and how they have been used to punish asylum seekers and migrants in violation of…

Jul. 18, 2019 Eleanor Acer

The end of a section of the border wall stands on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border, with Tijuana in the background, on April 3, 2019 in Otay Mesa, California. U.S.

Journalist Watchlist Raises Specter of Civil Rights-Era Secret Surveillance

Throughout his campaign and now his presidency, historians have drawn parallels between President Trump’s treatment of the news media and the Nixon White House’s efforts to…

Jun. 19, 2019 Linda Moon

Police arrest activists demonstrating against anti-immigration policies near the US-Mexico border fence at Imperial beach in San Diego county, US on December 10, 2018.

CBP’s New Social Media Surveillance: A Threat to Free Speech and Privacy

U.S. Customs and Border Protection's efforts to map out the networks and activities of American activists and journalists through link analysis and social media monitoring pose…

Apr. 26, 2019 Raya Koreh

U.S. Army troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border line up for a meal at a base near the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge on November 22, 2018 in Donna, Texas.

Legal Analysis of “Cabinet Memo” on the Military’s Role at Southern Border

Avoidance of military involvement in civil society is part of America's political culture and heritage. The new White House order on U.S. Army role at the southwest border threatens…

Nov. 26, 2018 William Banks

Asylum Seekers Being Turned Away No Matter Where They Cross the Border

Even as it tells asylum-seekers they must go to a port of entry, the Trump administration has been turning them away from these very same ports for months, claiming that they are…

Nov. 20, 2018 Katherine Hawkins