Immigration

Viewpoint: Vetting Foreigners’ Facebook Feeds Won’t Make Americans Safer

The federal government wants visa applicants to cough up their social-media handles.

  • Faiza Patel and Harsha Panduranga, The Atlantic

ACLU Alleges Coast Guard Detained and Abused Fishermen

A lawsuit says the agency accused innocent men of drug smuggling, chained them to decks, and sailed with them straight into a hurricane.

  • Kathy Gilsinan, The Atlantic

A Once Unthinkable Proposal for Refugee Camps

A political scientist has suggested closed camps on Western soil. Only the awfulness of the status quo makes it worth considering.

  • Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic

Trump Skirts Vacancies Law With Selection of Acting Agency Director

Legal experts say the president is flouting the spirt of vacancies statute.

  • Eric Katz

ICE Doesn't Know How Many Non-Citizen Military Veterans It Has Deported

Poor data on those living here or overseas means many are denied benefits, GAO found.

  • Charles S. Clark

Surprise Inspections Reveal Widespread Violations at Immigrant Detention Facilities

Poor conditions add to the expanding list of crises caused by the influx of migrants at the souther border.

  • Eric Katz

Homeland Security Watchdog Wades Into Debate Over Border Crisis

Management alert highlights dangerous overcrowding at El Paso processing center for undocumented detainees.

  • Charles S. Clark

Justice Dept. Rejects New Evidence of False Testimony on Census Citizenship Question

Statement rejects claims of a political motive for adding the question.

  • Charles S. Clark

Over 200 Allegations of Abuse of Migrant Children; 1 Case of Homeland Security Disciplining Someone

A federal judge found the department’s own records disturbing and ordered the names of the accused agents made public. Now, DHS has taken its fight against doing so to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

  • A.C. Thompson, ProPublica

Viewpoint: Yes, Trump Can Invoke the Insurrection Act to Deport Immigrants

Congress has delegated too much power to presidents.

  • Stephen I. Vladeck, The Atlantic

Ignoring Trump’s Orders, Hoping He’ll Forget

Slow-walking or flat-out disobeying Trump’s fleeting obsessions has become common practice across various sectors of government.

  • Elaina Plott, The Atlantic

Charging Asylum Application Fees Is The Latest Way The U.S. Could Make Immigrants Pay For Its Red Tape

Only two countries charge people who seek asylum fees. The rationale for not doing that is clear.

  • Sarah R. Sherman-Stokes, The Conversation

The Engineers’ Plan for Creating Border Security With Clean Energy

A proposal imagines how building solar panels and wind turbines along the U.S.-Mexico border could unite calls for a Green New Deal and a border wall.

  • Amal Ahmed, The Atlantic
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American Military Duties Grow at the Mexico Border

Service members will have permissions that go beyond "observe and report," the Defense Department announced late Monday.

  • Ben Watson, Defense One

House Committees Launch Probe of Firings at Homeland Security

Cummings, Nadler, Thompson blame White House adviser Miller, who won’t testify.

  • Charles S. Clark

What the Supreme Court Said About the 2020 Census Citizenship Question

In oral arguments, conservative justices asked about data science, while liberals asked what the citizenship question was really for.

  • Kriston Capps, CityLab

Why HUD Wants to Restrict Assistance for Immigrants

A proposal by Ben Carson’s agency would eject immigrant families from public housing to make way for the "most vulnerable." Housing advocates aren't buying it.

  • Kriston Capps and Tanvi Misra, CityLab

The Real Illegal Immigration Crisis Isn’t on the Southern Border

Focusing on asylum seekers who cross land borders ignores the real problem: people who overstay their visas.

  • Krishnadev Calamur, The Atlantic

Analysis: Trump’s Border Obsession Is Courting Disaster

The president’s single-minded focus on immigration is shortchanging Homeland Security’s other crucial functions, from election security to emergency response.

  • David A. Graham, The Atlantic

One Chart Shows the Unprecedented Turmoil at Homeland Security

Nearly a dozen top-level vacancies have left the Homeland Security Department in flux.

  • Ross Gianfortune

Analysis: Kirstjen Nielsen Shows Why It’s Impossible to Restrain Trump

If anyone was going to moderate the president’s worst impulses, it was an expert and a bureaucrat like the former DHS secretary. Instead, all she did was sacrifice her own reputation.

  • David A. Graham, The Atlantic