The latest news, analysis and debates on immigration reform and policy.
By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times
An Oregon anti-sanctuary initiative has qualified for the November ballot, raising the real possibility that one of the nation's bluest states could become the first to repeal sanctuary status for illegal immigrants. Published July 17, 2018
Hungary has been referred to the European Union's highest court for perceived failings to comply with the bloc's asylum rules and is facing censure for legislation criminalizing the support of asylum-seekers by civic groups.
President Trump said Thursday that Democrats' call to "Abolish ICE" is a "death wish" that could cost them during the midterms.
The White House on Wednesday backed a House spending bill that includes $5 billion to build a border wall, saying it will pay for another 200 miles of physical barrier on the border with Mexico.
The House's Homeland Security funding bill for next year includes $5 billion for border security efforts, including new "barrier construction" along the U.S.-Mexico border -- easily outpacing the Senate's version, which sets aside $1.6 billion for fencing along the southern border.
Rejection of the House Republicans' "compromise" immigration proposal late last month (June 27) by a lopsided 121-301 margin was seen as a fatal blow to current reform efforts. To the contrary, it may be exactly what was needed to end the decades-long gridlock on immigration reform, if members of Congress learn the right lesson from the failure.
Several migrants told New Mexico lawmakers Monday that they were denied medication and adequate treatment while detained inside two different federal immigration facilities in the state.
The federal health department said Friday there are 2,551 more children who may need to be reunited with their parents by July 26, laying out the parameters of the gargantuan task ahead of them.
The government pays for thousands of detention beds for illegal immigrant families, but nearly 40 percent of them were sitting unused in late June, even as the Department of Homeland Security was rushing to release parents and children into communities.
President Trump will be happy with the border wall funding Republicans are including in their next Homeland Security spending bill, the lawmaker writing the bill told The Washington Times.
President Trump in Britain Friday refused to back down from provocative remarks he made about an immigration surge threatening Europe's culture and security.
Kate Steinle was shot and killed on a San Francisco pier three years ago this month. Her death came at the hands of an illegal alien who had been previously deported five times and was a convicted felon. It also ignited a national discussion about sanctuary city policies that is still going. Unfortunately, Democrats' new proposal to abolish the department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is moving the immigration debate in an unhealthy direction.
Republican senators called Thursday for the Senate to approve a resolution putting the chamber on record in support of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying the government's top deportation agency does critical work in keeping the country safe.
A handful of congressional Democrats on Thursday introduced the first bill to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, putting on paper the details of getting rid of the agency responsible for everything from deportations to stopping counterfeiters to nabbing online child sex predators.
Administration officials told a judge Thursday they had to cut corners and turned very young children over to adults without fully confirming they were related in the rush to meet this week's court-ordered deadline to reunite with family 103 juveniles separated by President Trump's zero-tolerance border policy.
Abdel showed up at his local Pennsylvania motor vehicle office to take his driver's license test -- and walked out having registered to vote, even though he is not a citizen.
The Stop Oregon Sanctuaries campaign submitted roughly 110,000 signatures last week to qualify an anti-sanctuary measure for the November ballot, more than the 88,000 required, stunning liberal activists and laying the groundwork for a landmark ballot battle.
The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday flexed the power of the federal purse to tackle the ongoing issue of migrant children getting separated from their parents at the border, passing a series of provisions to prod more information from the Trump administration on the matter.
The calls to do away with ICE could be gaining steam among Democrats, according to a new survey released Wednesday that found nearly half of liberal voters would be more likely to support a candidate that wants to scrap the agency.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stands accused by U.S. Customs and Border Protection of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, according to an Associated Press report released Wednesday.
The federal government has caught at least five adults whose claims to be parents of illegal immigrant children were disproven with DNA tests. Eight more had serious criminal records, including murder and kidnapping charges, that made them unfit to take back their own children, the government said Tuesday.
A federal judge has dismissed the federal government's claim that U.S. law trumps two California laws intended to protect immigrants who are in the country illegally.
Mexico's president-elect has complained about President Trump's immigration policies, but he's looking to adopt some them for his country, a top aide said.
The government will miss Tuesday's deadline for reuniting dozens of young illegal immigrant children with their parents, a Justice Department lawyer said Monday -- though the judge who put himself in charge of overseeing the process said that still marks solid "progress."
The government will miss Tuesday's deadline for reuniting dozens of young immigrant children with their parents, a Justice Department lawyer said Monday -- though the judge who put himself in charge of overseeing the process said there was still solid "progress."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal said Monday that immigrant parents were given the wrong list of children by the Trump administration.
Homeland Security is preparing to release dozens of immigrant parents from custody this week in order to reunite them with their young children, blaming a judge's deadline for forcing them to reimpose the catch-and-release policy the Trump administration was trying to end.
Migrant families continued to pour across the U.S.-Mexico border in June, according to the latest numbers, a signal that the government's threat to jail parents and separate them from their children didn't stop them from making the attempt.
Every illegal immigrant parent whose child was separated at the border has now been able to at least speak by telephone, the government said in a new court filing Friday.
The Trump administration asked a judge Friday to extend the deadline for reunifying families separated at the border in cases where the government suspects the adults may not really be parents of the children they're claiming.
President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort applied to hire 61 additional foreign workers, according to documents released by the government this week.
Republican Rep. Leonard Lance of New Jersey shared on Friday a lack of confidence in the Trump administration's ability to reunite families separated at the border.
Immigrant enlistees into the Army's active duty and reserve units, promised a path to citizenship in exchange for military service, are being discharged from the service's ranks.
The Trump administration has expanded the government's deportation powers, issuing guidelines urging officers at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services -- the legal immigration agency -- to begin the removal process for people who use fraudulent documents or who illegally took government benefits.
A federal judge upheld the bulk of California's sanctuary laws Thursday, delivering a major victory to immigrant rights advocates and blazing a path for states and localities to consider as they seek ways to resist President Trump's immigration policy.
The Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation -- which typically provides some $255 million in annual grants for for such causes as climate change, community development and other "critical programs" -- plans to provide funds for immigration issues
The Trump administration will renew special humanitarian protections for people from Yemen trapped in the U.S. because of the ongoing conflict in their home country, the government said Thursday.
The federal government will have to cut corners on safety checks in order to meet a federal judge's "extreme" deadlines to reunify families separated at the border, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday.
President Trump called for immediate immigration reform Thursday, as Republicans in Congress struggle to consolidate on a comprehensive fix.
People who refuse to answer the citizenship question on the 2020 census are breaking the law -- but there is little chance they will be fined, much less sent to jail, for their obstinacy.
Liberty Island was evacuated Wednesday as a woman was arrested for trying to scale the iconic Statue of Liberty to protest President Trump.
A rescue ship carrying 60 migrants arrived Wednesday in a Spanish port after being refused entry by Italy and Malta, the second time in a month that a humanitarian group has been forced to travel for days to unload people rescued in the central Mediterranean.
Ben Jealous, a gubernatorial candidate in Maryland, broke with other Democratic nominees Tuesday over the "Abolish ICE" movement.
Apparently the illegal immigrants in Amber Heard's world are the servants of her Hollywood friends. The actress tweeted out a warning early Wednesday warning of immigration checkpoints in the center of the movie world.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department chided members of Congress on Tuesday for all the demands to visit the dorms where illegal immigrant children are staying, saying the hundreds of hours it took to show facilities to lawmakers could have been better spent reuniting parents and children.
A federal judge expressed skepticism Tuesday over the Trump administration's move to add a citizenship question onto the main 2020 census, saying the states have made a good argument that the federal government acted in "bad faith."
The public seems fed up with both President Trump and congressional Democrats when it comes to immigration, according to a new Quinnipiac University Poll Tuesday that shows both sides are seen to be exploiting the issue for political gain.
President Trump accused his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, on Tuesday of awarding citizenship to Iranian officials during the Iran nuclear deal negotiations.
President Trump on Tuesday confirmed he's working on the Supreme Court pick and also took a swing at Democrats over immigration.
A federal judge punched another hole in the Trump administration's get-tough approach to asylum-seekers Monday, ruling that the government must consider granting them parole to be released into the U.S. while their cases are being heard.
Illegal immigration on the southwest border appears to have dropped in June, according to new numbers reported Monday, signaling President Trump's zero-tolerance policy may have been successful in changing the calculations for would-be migrants.
As naturalization applications piled up under President Barack Obama, surging 64 percent in his final year in office, activists held their tongues, saying they were keeping an eye on it but weren't overly concerned.
Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin refused Monday to directly call for the abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as some in the Democratic Party are taking sides on the issue.
Far from settling the family separation issue, President Trump's executive order last month has only solidified the battle lines, with his administration saying it is left with no choice but to keep entire families detained and Democrats and liberal activists saying no illegal immigrants should be detained at all.
Republicans and Democrats alike are brushing aside President Trump's demand for an infusion of cash for his border wall in this year's spending bills, saying the fight is not worth a government shutdown in an election year.
On being designated prime minister of Poland last December, Mateusz Morawiecki made the extraordinary statement that he and his government want to "transform [the European Union], to re-Christianize it."
Republicans are right to call for tough measures to deter illegal immigration — which means building the wall, ending the "catch and release" policy and challenging the harboring strategy of sanctuary cities.
Organizers gave a final count Friday, saying 630 protesters were arrested during a massive anti-Trump demonstration that took over the public area of one of the Capitol's buildings on Thursday.
Rep. Jeff Denham previewed upcoming attempts on immigration reform Friday, after Republicans failed to pass their comprehensive "compromise" bill earlier this week.
The Justice Department broadened its effort to rein in sanctuary cities Thursday, announcing new conditions on four grant programs designed to pressure localities to provide information and access to federal immigration authorities.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement whistleblower James Schwab claims the government is trying to intimidate him after federal agents interrupted his interview, according to a CBS News report released Thursday.
A jury of 10 women and two men in Tarrant County, Texas, found Rosa Ortega guilty of voting illegally and sentenced her to eight years in jail.
Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, and this is often lost on conservatives. That might be about to change. In battles over protecting voting rights, conservatives are usually put on the defensive by lawyers of the litigious left as they seek sympathetic liberal judges to strike down common-sense ballot-integrity measures enacted by the states.
News good and bad travels quickly. Donald Trump pledged to secure the southern border, and thousands of prospective illegal immigrants began reconsidering their travel plans. Even before President Trump has had time to roll up the welcome mat put out by his predecessor, the number of illegals crossing into the United States has fallen dramatically.
Germans proving they're not sheeple are rejecting their mass-immigration-promoting ruling party in elections. The U.S. immigration system, in chaos, "mistakenly" gives citizenship to 800 immigrants ordered deported. Two foreign-born Islamists go on terror rampages in the United States.
Looks like Pope Francis needs to go to confession. At the very least, the pontiff should seek an audience with real estate mogul Donald J. Trump to ask for forgiveness over slandering him and denouncing his Christian faith.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi (or somebody)
Immigration arrests surged 38 percent during the first 100 days of President Trump's tenure, authorities said Wednesday, adding that agents have been freed from the tight restrictions of the Obama era and are now able to target a far broader universe of illegal immigrants for deportation.
Illegal immigration across the southwestern border is down a stunning 76 percent since President Trump was elected, with the flow of children and families dropping even faster as analysts say the administration's commitment to enforcing the law has changed the reality along the border.
President Trump appears to be backing off his demand that funding for his Southern border wall be included in a bill to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the week.
President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to begin reining in the H-1B visa program that critics say for decades has allowed lower-wage foreign workers to take jobs from Americans.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared "a new era" in immigration enforcement on Tuesday, saying his prosecutors will try to bring stiffer criminal charges against repeat illegal immigrants and smugglers as part of President Trump's crackdown.
Illegal immigration across the southwest border is down more than 60 percent so far under President Trump, officials revealed Tuesday, even before the first new agent is hired or the first mile of his promised border wall is constructed.
The government flagged more than 1.6 million foreign visitors for overstaying their visas from 2013 to 2015, but deportation agents said they fell too low on President Obama's list of priorities to bother targeting for removal, according to a watchdog report released Monday.
The wrong type of border wall could actually make Border Patrol agents less safe, according to a new report Thursday from the government's chief watchdog, which said walls that block lines of sight can become ambush sites for attackers looking to get the drop on agents.
If President Trump's border wall stopped just 10 percent of new illegal immigrants it would pay for itself by saving American taxpayers from spending money on services for those migrants over their lifetimes, according to a new report from the Center for Immigration Studies.
A large number of non-citizen Hispanics, as many as 2 million, were illegally registered to vote in the U.S., according to a nationwide poll.
President Trump on Monday fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover, after she "betrayed the Department of Justice" by refusing to defend his executive order for extreme vetting, according to the White House.
With a couple strokes of his pen, President Trump wiped out almost all of President Obama's immigration policies Wednesday, laying the groundwork for his own border wall, unleashing immigration agents to enforce the law and punishing sanctuary cities who try to thwart his deportation surge.
Kate's Law has been introduced in Congress, giving lawmakers another run at legislation to impose a mandatory minimum five-year prison term on foreigners who re-enter the U.S. after being deported.
The Border Patrol nabbed more than 15,000 illegal immigrants traveling as families on the southwest border in November -- a massive increase that marks the worst November on record and the second worst overall, according to statistics released Thursday.
The federal agency that handles deportations spent more than $100 million of its money over the last few years to ferry illegal immigrant children around the U.S., according to calculations by a watchdog group that says the cash could have been better spent on enforcement.
