• ImmigrationReport: Economics Drives Migration from Central America to the U.S.

    By Peter Dizikes

    A new survey underscores how material needs lead to movement within the Americas — at a high cost to those trying to relocate.

  • Family SeparationFamily Separation’s Psychological Trauma in Parents, Children Persists After Reunification: Medical Study

    New analysis finds long-lasting psychological harm sustained by survivors of the “zero tolerance” policy. The study finds that forcibly separating parents and children, especially when compounded with pre-migration traumas, produced signs and symptoms of trauma that met the diagnostic criteria for at least one mental health condition such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder (MDD), or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

  • STEM ImmigrationThe Only Way for the U.S. to Maintain Tech Edge Over China: STEM Immigration

    U.S. global technology leadership is under serious threat. Given current trends, it is inevitable that China will overtake the United States. The most powerful—and perhaps only—lasting and asymmetric American science and technology advantage over China is the U.S. ability to attract and retain international S&T talent. But the U.S. government risks squandering that advantage through poor immigration policy.

  • Climate & SecurityDHS Strategic Framework for Addressing Climate Change

    Two weeks ago, the Biden administration released four reports, by DHS, the intelligence community, the Department of Defense, and the National Security Council, on how climate change-driven developments — among them:  worsening conflict within and between nations; increased dislocation and migration as people flee climate-fueled instability; heightened military tension and uncertainty; infrastructure destruction; worsening public health; food and water shortages; financial hazards, and more – are posing an increasingly more serious challenge to global stability and to U.S. national security.

  • Border SecurityOfficial Reject Claims of Terrorists Infiltrating U.S. From Mexico

    By Jeff Seldin

    DHS Counterterrorism Coordinator said that fears the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan could reinvigorate terror groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State, and lead to a surge of attempted infiltrations along the southern U.S. border, have not been realized. “It is just factually inaccurate to frame the southern border as a place where we are seeing a significant number of al-Qaida or ISIS-related terrorists or foreign terrorists,” he said.

  • Border SecurityNorthern Skies Provide the Backdrop for Testing Border Security Tech

    The purpose of demonstrations and tests recently conducted in Montana North Dakota was to evaluate specialized air domain awareness technologies such as radar systems; electro-optical and infrared cameras; radio frequency detection systems; and acoustic devices to see how effectively each can monitor, safeguard, and secure the various terrains and airspace that surround the northern border between the U.S. and Canada.

  • Border SecuritySeptember Saw a Decline in Attempts to Cross into the U.S. from Mexico

    CBP reports that The number of unique encounters with individuals trying to cross into the United States from Mexico in September 2021 was 142,710, a 9 percent reduction in unique encounters from the prior month. Encounters of unaccompanied children decreased 24 percent, with 14,358 encounters in September compared with 18,806 in August.

  • Influence OperationsWhy Do the Russian and Chinese Governments Want Americans to Dislike Immigrants?

    By Michael Howard and Alex Nowrasteh

    The Internet Research Agency (IRA), the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation arm, employs fake social media accounts, media properties, memes, and bots to conduct what the Russians call “active measures” campaign to influence U.S. public opinion. The IRA’s goal is to intensify political opinions on every issue, and one of the IRA’s prime targets is to deepen nativist sentiments among Americans.

  • Border SecurityInnovative Air Domain Awareness Technology

    DHS S&T is evaluating an innovative air domain awareness technologies to help protect the airspace along our northern border with Canada.

  • DronesAn App for Safe Handling of Drones

    Nearly every day, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents come across drones that may have been used to facilitate the movement of illicit drugs or people across the southern border. These drones usually carry smuggled narcotics and often contain surveillance cameras; however, they could easily be modified to carry other threats or hazards.

  • MigrationBiden Administration Struggling for Coherent Message on U.S.-Mexico Border: Critics

    By Rob Garver

    The president and his advisers have offered sometimes contradictory assessments of the seriousness of a surge of migrants overwhelming border officials, and have sent mixed messages to the migrants themselves about what would happen if they reached the United States.

  • MigrationMigration Is Rising, but So Do Border Barriers

    By Gianna-Carina Grün

    The global population grew by a quarter over the past 20 years, but the numbers of refugees and asylum-seekers doubled in the same time frame. Today, one in 97 people is forcibly displaced. In 2015, it was one in 175. The trend of rising migration parallels another trend that attempts to halt or at least manage the first, as more and more countries are building, or announcing, various border wall complexes.

  • ImmigrationDemocrats Wand to Use Budget Proposal to Legalize Undocumented Immigrants

    By Aline Barros

    Democrats will try to use the budget proposal – and the reconciliation process — to provide a direct pathway to legal status for millions of undocumented immigrants in America. The details of the measure have not yet been released, and passage is far from certain, as there are many political and procedural hurdles to overcome.

  • ImmigrationCitizenship and Bank Access for Immigrants Would Add “Enormous Amount of Money” to U.S. Economy

    Immigrants living in the U.S. illegally have been an “unrecognized driver of the economy for decades,” writes an immigration researcher. By limiting immigrants’ economic options, the U.S. is missing out on additional growth in its own economy — especially with an aging American population, he argues.

  • Border securityEvaluating Border Security Technologies on the Plains (and in the Skies) of North Dakota

    Safeguarding and securing the northern border against threats and illegal activities, such as human trafficking and smuggling of illicit drugs, presents unique challenges because of its various distinct landscapes and multiple points of entry into the country.