The latest news, analysis and debates on immigration reform and policy.
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times
The Supreme Court announced Friday it will grant an expedited hearing on the Trump administration's request to add a question concerning citizenship to the 2020 census. Published November 16, 2018
Seattle University has suspended a law school externship program with Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid student pressure over the agency's treatment of immigrants under the Trump administration.
Sen. Kamala Harris compared ICE, the federal deportation agency, to the Ku Klux Klan Thursday, drawing a fierce retort from the agency's acting director who said there is no equivalence between patriotic officers enforcing the law, and a racist mob bent on violence and intimidation.
The Trump administration's once-lonely opposition to an ambitious U.N. pact on the treatment of migrants worldwide is picking up allies, as the Czech Republic on Wednesday became the latest European country to reverse course and say it will not join the compact.
Ronald D. Vitiello, President Trump's pick to head ICE, lacks the spark to be the "change agent" embattled agency needs -- and appears to have once posted a tweet comparing Mr. Trump to Dennis the Menace, agency labor union leaders said Wednesday.
Hours after images of migrants climbing a border wall in San Diego went viral, the Homeland Security Department deployed razor wire Wednesday to prevent a repeat.
Defense Secretary James Mattis will travel down to the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday, to meet with U.S. commanders and troops carrying out the White House-mandated border security operation.
Leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said Monday they won't push to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the government's deportation agency, putting distance between themselves and some of the demands of most liberal members and activists.
Even before the high-profile illegal immigrant caravans reach the U.S. in the coming weeks, the numbers have taken a grim turn, setting records and serving as a major annoyance to the Trump administration.
Illegal immigrant families shattered the old records and snuck into the country at record rates in October, according to new numbers released Friday.
The ACLU announced a lawsuit Friday to block President Trump's new asylum crackdown, saying he overstepped his powers and is breaking clear language in the immigration law.
Venus Iraheta, arrested for an MS-13 related murder, was sentenced to 40 years in jail Friday, according to WTOP.
An illegal immigrant released by a "sanctuary city" county in New Jersey was charged last week with a triple homicide halfway across the country in Missouri, authorities said Friday.
President Trump signed a proclamation Friday to block illegal immigrants who jump the southwest border from being able to claim asylum, hoping to deter at least some of the migrant caravans currently streaming north through Mexico.
The administration announced a new policy Thursday giving President Trump power to block asylum claims from the migrant caravan and other illegal immigrants who plan to jump the U.S.-Mexico border.
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that President Trump and his team goofed in trying to cancel the Obama-era DACA deportation amnesty for "Dreamers," saying that while they may have the power to erase the program, they must do it properly.
A team of American lawyers is being deployed to Mexico to help advise members of the new migrant caravan on their options as they try to reach the U.S. and, in many cases, to demand asylum.
The U.S. military downplayed its role in border security Wednesday by saying it would no longer use the term "Operation Faithful Patriot."
The eminent confrontation between U.S. security personnel and migrant caravans headed for our southern border raises national security issues too long avoided. Lacking action by Congress, President Trump has every responsibility to seal the border, deny birthright citizenship to these migrants and force Mexico to deal with the migration crisis its lax policies enable.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement reaffirmed that their agents do not patrol polling stations as fake photos spread fear online as Americans flock to vote on Tuesday.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday that the Pentagon has no plans to actually confront the illegal-immigrant caravan approaching the U.S.
In 2004, nearly 80 percent of Irish voters decided to end birthright citizenship. In its coverage the BBC said, "The government said change was needed because foreign women were travelling to Ireland to give birth in order to get an EU passport for their babies."
President Trump's critics have found something else to rend their garments over: His determination to end so-called "birthright citizenship." Why, they thunder, it's unconstitutional. And even if it could be changed, it can't be by executive order.
The administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to immediately take up cases challenging President Trump's phaseout of the Obama-era DACA deportation amnesty for illegal immigrant "Dreamers," saying it's critical the justices hear the matter this term.
An Economist/YouGov poll has new insight about American attitudes towards the massive Honduran immigrant "caravan" approaches the U.S. southern border. "More than a quarter of Americans think everyone in the caravan should be turned away at the border," reported Kathy Francovic, a YouGov analyst.
The group of illegal migrants continues to cross Mexico toward the United States. President Trump is deploying more than 5,000 troops to the border. The Mexican government has not been able to turn the group around toward their own countries, and they persist in defying multiple laws in their stated efforts to breach the U.S.-Mexico border.
Thousands of wary Central American migrants resumed their push through Mexico on Sunday, a day after arguments over the path ahead saw some travelers splinter away from the main caravan, which is entering a treacherous part of its journey.
Former President Barack Obama criticized President Trump Friday for using U.S. troops as pawns in a "political stunt" to protect the southern border against migrant caravans.
President Trump said Friday that U.S. troops would arrest illegal migrants if they attack authorities at the border, and downplayed the possibility of the military firing upon them.
A third caravan of migrants - this time from El Salvador - waded over the Suchiate River into Mexico on Friday, bringing another 1,000 to 1,500 people who want to reach the U.S. border.
Thousands of Central American migrants resumed their slow trek through southern Mexico on Thursday, as immigration agents and police nibbled at the edges of the two caravans currently in the country.
A combative President Trump returned to the campaign trail Wednesday night for a frenetic final push toward Election Day, warning Florida voters that Democrats will allow the U.S. to be inundated with caravans of migrants from Central America.
President Trump said Wednesday he's still committed to ending birthright citizenship for babies born to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, but would prefer to go through Congress rather than use an executive order.
President Trump lashed out at House Speaker Paul D. Ryan Wednesday over birthright citizenship, telling the GOP leader on Capitol Hill he "knows nothing" about the issue and should butt out.
The U.S. tied its all-time record for new immigration -- both legal and illegal -- in 2016, with 1.75 million arrivals, according to a new study Wednesday.
President Trump blamed Mexico on Wednesday for allowing the migrant caravan to progress toward the U.S.
President Trump plans to use an executive order to circumvent a gridlocked Congress and end birthright citizenship, turning to the same "unconstitutional" method for which he repeatedly criticized President Barack Obama during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Liberals have stonewalled President Trump on immigration reform and encouraged an illegal migrant invasion from the south. This leaves him little choice but to deny green cards or extensions of temporary visas to immigrants that access federal entitlements programs.
It's sad to see the debate over the migrant caravan break down into the usual polarized camps. You're either pro-immigrant and therefore willing to let anyone in, or you're anti-immigrant and you want to slam the door in the face of anyone, right?
The Pentagon announced a massive deployment Monday of military muscle to the U.S.-Mexico border, saying at least 5,200 troops will soon be on the lines helping build fencing, ferry Border Patrol agents to hotspots and provide support as the government braces for the migrant caravan.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Sunday said the migrant caravan marching through Mexico to the U.S. is "not getting in." "There a legal way to get into this country. Those who choose to enter illegally will be stopped," Ms. Nielsen told Fox News Sunday.
The Pentagon said Friday that Defense Secretary James Mattis has signed off on the new troop deployment to the border, paving the way for hundreds of reinforcements to help with administrative tasks and infrastructure improvements.
President Donald Trump is mulling an executive order that would stop the caravan in its tracks and send the thousands and thousands of people trying to cross America's borders back to their homes. That makes perfect sense.
I have never seen people fight for their own demise, to erase their very existence, as I have in recent weeks with Democrats, their left-leaning supporters and the mainstream media outlets. The radical left has reached a pathological level of self-loathing, willing to sacrifice everything to gain a few votes or a couple of seats in Congress, even if it means burning down our nation, founded by the blood, sweat and tears of generations of patriots.
It was maddening and frustrating to watch this past week's coverage of the so-called "caravan" of thousands of Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans plowing through Mexico's southern border and their subsequent march toward the United States.
The Trump administration will send about 800 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of the illegal immigrant caravan, a defense official confirmed Thursday, following through on President Trump's pledge.
Is it more than coincidence that thousands of migrants from Central America are seeking to enter the United States illegally just two weeks before the midterm election? Who are these people? Who's paying for their transportation, food and expenses? Why doesn't the media find out? Is this migrant caravan a ploy by Democrats to win sympathy from Hispanic voters so they'll reverse their growing approval of Trump administration policies and vote against their interests?
Separation of illegal immigrant families nabbed at the border began to increase around the start of the Trump administration, the government's chief watchdog reported Wednesday -- meaning it was happening well before the Justice Department's zero-tolerance border policy.
A second migrant caravan is forming in Guatemala and is expected to follow the first to the United States, according to reports surfacing Tuesday night.
President Trump on Monday warned that a soft stance on illegal immigration risked subjecting the United States to the same kind of refugee crisis that is roiling Europe.
Venezuela is funding the illegal immigrant caravan, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday, backing up President Trump's claims that there are bad elements within the thousands of people.
Illegal immigration by families surged this summer after the collapse of President Trump's zero-tolerance border policy, reaching record levels and leaving the Trump administration frustrated over the lack of easy solutions.
Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos confirmed this week that he has asked state Attorney General Ken Paxton to open an investigation into the Democratic Party's attempts to ask non-citizens to sign up to vote.
As I write this, there is a caravan of several thousand people coming north, primarily from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, with the intent of illegally entering into the United States.
President Trump is working hard to make the U.S.-bound migrant caravan into an election issue, but so far it's not resonating broadly with voters or forcing Democrats to play defense.
President Trump lashed out Monday afternoon at Central American countries he said "did nothing" to stop the migrant caravan heading north toward the U.S., saying it was a betrayal of the money the U.S. has sent them.
The Associated Press apologized Monday amid backlash over a tweet calling the migrant caravan moving north through Mexico a "ragtag army of the poor."
Members of the illegal immigrant caravan chanted "si se pudo!" as they made their way north through Mexico Monday, having defied the will of one country and vowing to test the spine of another, the U.S., very soon.
ABC News' George Stephanopoulos blasted President Trump on Sunday for "unfounded" claims linking Democrats to a caravan of Honduran migrants heading for the southern U.S. border.
President Trump announced Monday that the U.S. will cut off "or substantially reducing" foreign aid given to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador because of the approaching migrant caravan.
The combined efforts of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and the U.S. were not enough to deter thousands of migrants who broke through barricades or swam into Mexico over the weekend, defying their home government's calls for them to return and America's warnings that their journey is futile.
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.
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.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi (or somebody)
The Department of Homeland Security late Wednesday asked the Pentagon "to house and care for" up to 12,000 migrants, military officials said, and the request ultimately could lead the Defense Department to build large camps in Texas, Arizona and elsewhere near the U.S.-Mexico border.
President Trump highlighted "American victims of illegal immigration" on Friday, hosting families of people killed by people who immigrated to the U.S. illegally to tell their stories and hitting back at critics of his rescinded policy that separated some children from their parents who crossed the border illegally.
The Trump administration has resettled slightly more than 10,000 refugees as it nears the midpoint of the fiscal year, putting it on pace for by far the lowest total since the modern system was established nearly four decades ago.
A federal judge in New York ruled Tuesday that the government must restart the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals deportation amnesty, adding more weight to the legal case against President Trump's phaseout of the program just as Congress is debating the fate of "Dreamers" on Capitol Hill.
President Trump used his pardon powers sparingly in his first year in office, but one he did issue remains intensely controversial, with some of his political opponents now asking a federal appeals court to rule it invalid.
Homeland Security said Tuesday that at least 130 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border have enough natural barriers that there's no need to build a wall there — leaving most of the 1,954-mile divide as potential ground for a fence.
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.
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.
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.
