The federal criminal justice system is squarely focused on immigration activity. In the 2016 fiscal year, 68,314 defendants were prosecuted in federal courts for federal immigration crimes, the administrative office that helps operate the federal courts reported this month. This represents forty-three percent of all people prosecuted for federal crimes that year. Two crimes made up the bulk of federal immigration crime prosecutions. Illegal entry, a misdemeanor, and its felony counterpart, illegal reentry. No other category of federal crime came near immigration to receive top billing among [...]
Is the border truly a shoot-at-will location?
The Fourth Amendment offers a powerful bulwark against the state’s power to deprive people of their liberty. Only with the intercession of a neutral arbiter, the text indicates, can the government exercise its immense coercive powers. Anyone who has followed the evolution of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence over the last three decades knows that this promise is far from the reality. Along the border, however, even the watered-down state in which the Fourth Amendment hobbles along might be too much. Is it possible that a Border Patrol officer might have wielded his weapon too loosely, but the [...]
Lawsuit reveals DACA data treasure trove
Litigation often reveals fascinating information tough to obtain otherwise and the states’ lawsuit against the federal government’s use of its executive powers to provide temporary lawful status to many migrants already in the United States is proving to be no exception (for more on that lawsuit see my article here). A document that the United States filed in federal court last week provides a much-needed glimpse into DACA’s internal operations. In a formal declaration, Donald W. Neufeld, the associate director for service center operations at USCIS, gives a detailed accounting of the [...]
Immigration took center stage among federal criminal cases during FY 2011-12
A new report indicates that federal law enforcement agents, prosecutors, and courts are significantly involved in regulating immigration law through the criminal process. Mark Motivans, Federal Justice Statistics, 2011-2012 (Jan. 2015). By overall historical standards, this is quite anomalous, but it is in line with the trend we’ve seen in recent years (see my analysis of parallel data for fiscal year 2010). Law enforcement investigations and arrests for alleged immigration law violations are at eye-catching rates, with the bulk of those arrested individuals soon finding themselves in federal [...]
17 states sue federal government over its immigration priorities
And so it begins. Republicans have been clamoring about the illegality of President Obama’s announced immigration priorities since long before he stepped in front of the cameras last month. Yesterday they took a crucial first step toward forcing a court to decide whether they’re correct. Led by Texas Governor-elect Greg Abbott, currently the state’s Attorney General, seventeen states and four governors sued the federal government in an attempt to stop implementation of the Administration’s immigration enforcement strategy. Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, State of Texas v. [...]
Ohio students & advocates sue Border Patrol to get immigration policing records
This week students from Ohio State University’s Civil Law Clinic and the Ohio legal services group Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE) jointly sued the Border Patrol in a continued attempt to gather documents about the agency’s immigration policing practices in northern Ohio. The students and advocates are concerned about reports of racially biased policing by the Border Patrol’s Sandusky Bay Station. Sandusky is located on the coast of Lake Erie about one hour west of Cleveland. Their suspicion is buttressed by a statistical analysis of three years of apprehension log data done [...]
Immigration detainer workshop
Immigration detainers are a key feature of current-day crimmigration law enforcement. They enable ICE to identify and apprehend potentially removable individuals who come into contact with local law enforcement agencies across the United States. In recent years, ICE has used detainers quite vigorously. From October 2011 to August 2013, the agency issued 436,478 detainers. Immigration detainers essentially ask local law enforcement agencies such as sheriffs’ offices to hold a potentially removable migrant for up to 48 hours after the end of the criminal matter. For example, 48 hours after a [...]
Oregon federal court: Detainer led to Fourth Amendment violation
A federal magistrate judge in Oregon concluded that county officials violated a woman’s Fourth Amendment rights when they kept her in custody solely on the basis of an immigration detainer. Miranda-Olivares v. Clackamas County, No. 3:12-cv-02317-ST, slip op. (D. Or. April 11, 2014) (Stewart, Magistrate Judge). This case involved a woman who was arrested for violating a restraining order. Though county jail officials did not ask her about her immigration status, they somehow learned that she was born outside the United States. Pursuant to a jail policy, they then notified ICE. The next [...]