• THE PROBLEM WITH ICEHow the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks Shaped ICE’s Immigration Strategy

    By Pawan Dhingra

    The immigration enforcement response to 9/11 set the stage for ICE’s aggressive conduct. Under this way of thinking, if the homeland is under threat, then those who challenge immigration enforcement are “domestic terrorists.” Investigations into ICE officers are muted, for the officers are protecting the homeland against existential danger. Severe tactics to detain immigrants and condemn protesters – and violate U.S. citizens’ constitutional protections — become not only permissible but also advisable.

  • IMMIGRANT DETENTIONAs Trump Administration Pushes for More Detentions, Immigrants’ Options for Parole Shrink

    By Tim Henderson

    Despite immigration detention numbers receding from recent highs and even as conservative judges are opting to release more detainees by rejecting President Donald Trump’s mass detention policy, tools for detainees to seek release from ICE mandatory detention policy or appeal cases are disappearing.

  • IMMIGRATIONImmigrant Surge Helped Boost GOP States’ Population, and They May Gain U.S. House Seats as a Result

    By Tim Henderson

    The millions of immigrants who have crossed the border with Mexico since 2020 could change the balance of political power in Congress — but in a way likely to boost Republican states that emphasize border security, at the expense of more welcoming Democratic states.

  • THE PROBLEM WITH ICEHealth Care Workers Want ICE Out of Hospitals, and Blue States Are Responding

    By Shalina Chatlani

    As the Trump administration intensifies its immigration crackdown, health care workers in multiple states say ICE is increasing its presence in health care facilities, deterring people from seeking medical care and creating chaos that jeopardizes the safety of their patients.

  • IMMIGRATIONThe Real Story Behind the Midnight Immigration Raid on a Chicago Apartment Building

    By Melissa Sanchez and Jodi S. Cohen

    The Trump administration has claimed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had taken over the building. But new documents make no mention of the gang and reveal federal agents had information about “illegal aliens unlawfully occupying apartments.”

  • THE ICE PROBLEMICE Not Only Looks and Acts Like a Paramilitary Force – It Is One, and That Makes It Harder to Curb

    By Erica De Bruin

    ICE and CBP meet many but not all of the most salient definitions of a “paramilitary force.” Both are also not subject to the same constitutional restrictions that apply to other law enforcement agencies. ICE and CBP thus bear some resemblance to the informal paramilitaries used in many countries for “regime maintenance,” carrying out political repression along partisan and ethnic lines, even though they are official agents of the state.

  • THE ICE PROBLEMState Lawmakers Stand Ready to Help ICE — or Impede It

    By Amanda Watford

    Tensions rise nationwide over aggressive enforcement tactics and deadly encounters. As lawmakers convene for this year’s state legislative sessions, immigration has surged to the top of the agenda.

  • THE ICE PROBLEMLicense to Kill? The Legal Black Hole of Federal Misconduct

    By Mike Fox

    The killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents reveals a disturbing reality: everyday Americans falling victim to a system that enables—or even encourages—gross misconduct. To understand how we got here, we have to look at the bolted-shut doors of the American courthouse—a legal regime designed to ensure federal agents remain untouchable.

  • THE ICE PROBLEMDemocratic AGs Stress Importance of Citizen-Generated Evidence in Challenging ICE

    By Erika Bolstad

    Cellphone video has emerged as a powerful rebuttal to Trump’s – and Trump officials’ — version of events, at a time when the federal government has restricted state and local investigators from accessing potential evidence to pursue their own investigations into excessive force and fatal shootings by immigration agents in their jurisdictions.

  • THE ICE MESSFootage, Documents at Odds with DHS Accounts of Immigration Enforcement Incidents

    By Amanda Watford

    As a growing number of encounters between civilians and DHS agents are scrutinized in court records and on social media, federal officials are returning to a familiar response: self-defense. Often, this line of defense is contradicted by the evidence. Still, as Trump’s crackdown intensifies, people face steep barriers to holding federal agents accountable.

  • ICE’S TACTICSStates, Cities Are Hard-Pressed to Fight Violent ICE Arrest Tactics

    By Tim Henderson

    State leaders who want to curb the increasingly violent arrest tactics of immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere are struggling to push back. Potential approaches include state civil rights laws and a refusal to cooperate.

  • QUICK TAKES // By Ben FrankelICE Is Pushing the Legal Envelope

    ICE’s legal advisory – asserting that ICE agents may enter private homes with an administrative, rather than a judicial, warrant — rests on arguable, but exceedingly fragile, legal foundations. Administrative warrants, consent, and exigent circumstances can justify certain actions, but none supports a general authority to enter homes without a judicial warrant. The legal debate is not about immigration policy but about whether the executive branch can erode one of the Constitution’s most settled protections.

  • DEPORTATIONSICE Is Using Medicaid Data to Find Out Where Immigrants Live

    By Anna Claire Vollers

    A recent court ruling has cleared the way for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to resume using states’ Medicaid data to find people who are in the country illegally. States fear immigrants will shy away from seeking health care.

  • BORDER SECURITYSmall Boats and Shifting Threats: Britain Can't Keep Fighting Yesterday's Battle in the Channel

    By Shann Corbett and Dareen Toro

    U.K. core challenge today is not simply the volume of arrivals, but the rapidly evolving criminal ecosystems that facilitate them. Smuggling networks are adjusting faster than governmental policy tools, by shifting routes, exploiting digital platforms, and experimenting with new forms of coercion and revenue generation. Unless the UK and its European partners update their approach in 2026, they risk merely managing arrivals rather than disrupting the criminal systems that drive them.

  • IMMIGRATIONNew Ban Bars Half of Legal Immigrants, Even Citizens’ Spouses and Kids

    By David J. Bier

    The State Department announced it will suspend immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries starting this week. This ban builds on prior bans, and it brings the number of banned nationalities up to 93, or 42 percent of those in the world. Congress specifically barred discrimination based on national origin, but the courts the administration have invented ways around that prohibition.