Back in 1954, the Eisenhower administration shut down its last remaining long-term immigration holding facility, an immigration prison on Ellis Island. The attorney general at the time, Herbert Brownwell, said that closing the off-shore prison—with an ironic view of the Statue of Liberty—would stand as an example of the “humane administration of the immigration laws.” Hard as it is to believe, the United States teetered on the verge of abolishing immigration prisons. Yet in the decades since this missed chance, a new consensus has emerged. Even today, something that liberals and [...]
Aaron Bobrow-Strain at Denver Law
In the pitched political battles over migration, binaries dominate: Migrants are good or bad, desirable or undesirable, insiders or outsiders. The seesaw of discussions presumes a stark distinction that doesn’t reflect human experience. When it comes to migration, easy answers are hard to come by. The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story, the latest book by Aaron Bobrow-Strain, doesn’t try for an easy answer. Instead, he gives us a complicated narrative of life in the borderlands of Arizona and Sonora, where hope tangles with despair, possibilities and pitfalls merge [...]
Border realities
In the pitched battles over immigration, rhetorical binaries dominate. Republicans refer to migrants as aliens. Democrats trumpet innocent children traumatized by extremist Trump-era practices. Migrants are either good or they’re bad, and in the imaginations of politicians and pundits, it’s possible to put some people into one category and other people into the other. Where talking points end, laws and policies begin. Under the illusion that people can easily be boxed, immigration law assigns privileges and sets law enforcement priorities based on markers of undesirability. Born in [...]
From family detention to family separation
Separating families, as a Trump administration policy now requires when migrants try to sneak into the United States, is certainly cruel. Forgotten in the ruckus dominating immigration debates since last month’s policy announcement is the Obama administration’s embrace of an equally troubling alternative: locking up migrant children alongside their mothers. Losing sight of common threads between family separation and family detention runs the risk of missing an opportunity to reimagine immigration policies. In early May, Trump’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that federal [...]
The Perversity of External Immigration Enforcement
Alexander Sager On March 25, 2018, Palm Sunday, the Viacrucis del Migrante [The Migrants’ Way of the Cross] set out from Tapachula, Chiapas toward Tijuana. The approximately 1,000 Central American migrants traveled together for safety, as well as to draw attention to Mexican and U.S. policies that undermine the right to asylum. The 2018 Caravan drew significantly more attention than had previous years’ efforts. Sadly, much of the attention was from the Trump administration and right-wing media. President Trump (predictably) voiced his ire through a tweet: “Mexico is doing very little, if [...]
Abolish the ICE Prison Complex
Locking up migrants fighting to stay in the United States is permissible, the Supreme Court reiterated in February. The Court’s ruling mocks justice, but isn’t a big surprise. The federal laws under the Court’s consideration breathe life into a mean-spirited immigration law enforcement regime that holds tightly to the misguided belief that migrants pose a threat that prisons are best suited to extinguish. In Jennings v. Rodriguez, five justices overturned the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit allowing migrants detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement [...]
Legal limits on military deployment along US border
On Tuesday, President Trump said he plans to deploy military personnel to the United States border with México. The President’s plans may run into problems with longstanding prohibitions against using the military for domestic law enforcement purposes. Sitting next to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, President Trump said: “We have very bad laws for our border, and we are going to be doing some things — I’ve been speaking with General Mattis — we’re going to be doing things militarily…Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military. [...]
Immigration budget bill summary
Congressional leaders appear to have worked out a budget plan with President Trump that is expected to get through both chambers in the coming days. The budget bill, H.R. 1625, titled the “Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018,” helps Trump move forward with his border wall plans, but also imposes limitations on DHS’s immigration policing practices. The bill pays for federal government activities through September 30, 2018. Below is a quick summary of key provisions affecting DHS and the Justice Department’s immigration operations. DHS’s two main immigration law enforcement agencies, CBP [...]
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