Author: Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

A Second Child Died in Border Patrol Custody. Why Is the Government Doubling Down on Deterrence?

In early December, seven-year-old Guatemalan Jakelin Caal died within hours after coming into the custody of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Her tragic death brought renewed attention to the systemic problems of medical care in CBP’s “iceboxes,” where not even children are screened for medical problems after being detained. Tragically, a second child, eight-year-old Felipe […]

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2018 Closes On a Week Filled With Immigration Victories and New Challenges

2018 proved that the only thing you can predict about the Trump administration’s immigration policy is it’s unpredictable. On Wednesday, two separate court decisions dealt blows to the Trump administration’s efforts to deter asylum seekers. On Thursday, the administration announced an unprecedented new plan to force asylum seekers to remain in Mexico, overturning current practices […]

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As 2018 Draws to a Close, Immigration Court Backlogs Reach Record Levels

In the first two years of the Trump administration, immigration hardliners made repeated attempts to reduce immigration court backlogs, from hiring nearly100 new immigration judges to limiting judges’ abilities to manage their dockets. However, a new report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) shows that despite the administration’s efforts, the backlogs continue to grow […]

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How to Prevent More Deaths in Border Patrol Custody

In a year marked by the Trump administration’s cruel attempts to deter asylum-seeking families from coming to the United States, the news that a child had died in immigration custody appears to be a tragic low. While the circumstances of the death of 7-year-old Jakelin Caal is still being investigated, this tragedy came as no surprise […]

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Proposed ‘Public Charge’ Regulation Draws Hundreds of Thousands of Comments

On Monday night, the 60–day comment period for the Trump administration’s proposed public charge regulation drew to a close. More than 210,000 comments were submitted, with the majority of publicly available comments opposing the rule. Comments on the proposed regulation, which has the potential to drastically slash legal immigration, will now be reviewed before any […]

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