Policy And Research

The U.S. government spends over three billion a year on the largest immigration detention apparatus in the world to detain and deport people who have lived in the U.S. for decades or who arrived recently seeking safety or a better life. People in detention experience inhumane conditions and rights…

For 40 years, the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) has provided expert immigration legal services to vulnerable immigrants. Since 2017 through the Legal Protection Fund, NIJC’s dedicated staff of attorneys and experienced legal professionals have provided expert immigration legal…

Legal service providers and border organizations report rampant due process and human rights violations and inconsistent and confusing application of new rule   Image   On June 4, 2024, the Biden administration took its latest step toward fully…

Image Asylum in the United States is a lifesaving necessity for LGBTQ and HIV-positive people. For decades, many have fled to the United States to seek refuge from persecution and torture. However, the United States subjects hundreds of thousands of…

Since 1997, the Flores settlement agreement has set basic standards of care for the custody, care, and release of all children in federal immigration custody, including unaccompanied immigrant children. The Trump administration tried and failed to eviscerate this settlement, by replacing it with…

In August 2019, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out massive workplace raids on chicken processing plants across Central Mississippi, arresting 680 Indigenous, Latino, and immigrant poultry workers. The 2019 Mississippi workplace raids were among the largest such raids in U.S…

January 2024  Asylum adjudications are complex and the stakes are life-and-death, yet far too often fairness is sacrificed for speed. Expedited removal is a form of processing created in 1996 that allows the U.S. government to quickly and summarily deport people arriving at the United States…

The U.S. immigration detention system has grown under the Biden administration at an alarming rate. Despite promises to review the overall detention apparatus and close out the worst facilities, the administration has renewed contracts for facilities with records of abuse and is now requesting that…

Image In its seventh year, the Chicago Legal Protection Fund (LPF) continues to provide immigrants with access to education, system navigation, and free legal screenings and representation. Through LPF, the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) helps…

Upon taking office, President Biden encountered a fork in the road regarding his approach to asylum and border policy: continuing the failed practices of his predecessors, or advancing policies that protect the rights of asylum seekers to fair and humane processing. In large part, Biden opted to…