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From the bridge, migrants are taken to a nearby office where Customs and Border Protection officers ask their names, check databases for any criminal or terrorist history, and interview them to learn more about their fear of returning to their countries. Although the numbers of asylum-seekers were down in 2017 from the previous year, the office is always busy. Two women from Cuba told officers why they did not want to go back to the communist nation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Kirsten Luce for The Marshall Project
Closing Argument
The Feds Are Offering Migrants Cash to Self-Deport. Lawyers Call These Incentives Misleading.
The government’s offer to pay a stipend, waive fees, and let people return legally to the U.S. go against current law and court practices, immigration lawyers say.
A photograph with an aerial view shows a group of eight people walking on a road as they follow several immigration officers.
A large group of protesters stand with signs in the lower half of the photo, facing green military-grade vehicles.
Analysis June 9
What History Tells Us to Expect From Trump’s Escalation in Los Angeles Protests
Since the 1960s, studies have shown that heavy-handed policing and militarized responses tend to make protests more volatile — not less.
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Two detainees in blue uniforms, whose faces are not showing in the photograph, sit in privacy booths talking to their attorneys or asylum officers.
News May 19
They’re Facing Deportation with Severe Mental Illness — And Now Without a Lawyer
The Trump administration recently ended a legal aid program, leaving immigrants who have mental health disorders on their own.
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A Black SUV with the words “Sheriff Ozark County” on the driver’s door is parked in front of a gray brick building with a sign that reads “Ozark County Law Enforcement Center.”
St. Louis May 19
Rural Missouri Jails See Windfall in Trump’s Mass Deportation Effort
As cash-strapped jails rush in for ICE contracts, one man’s death shows the complexity and risk of detaining immigrants.
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The CoreCivic corporate headquarters in Brentwood, Tennessee, in 2023. The private prison operator is proposing to run an immigration detention center in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Closing Argument April 26
Not In Our Backyard: Some Pro-Trump Towns Push Against Detention Centers
Opposition to an immigration detention center in Leavenworth, Kansas, illustrates a tension playing out across the country.
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Boston University police officers conferred while students protested outside of the office of the dean of students on April 3, demanding that the university pledge to protect students from the federal government regardless of their immigration status.
Closing Argument April 5
Trump Is Targeting International Students Over Pro-Palestinian Protests. But Is It Legal?
After the administration revoked 300 students’ visas, the courts will have to decide if the Constitution protects the free speech of noncitizens.
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President Donald Trump, a White man in a black suit and blue tie, stands by a door. A group of reporters holding cameras and microphones surround him in front of the door.
Closing Argument March 22
Trump vs. The Courts: Presidential Attacks Open New Front in Long Battle
Both parties have tried to undermine the courts at times in the past. But Trump’s attacks are in some ways unprecedented.
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A large crowd held signs at a protest in New York City, some of which read: "Release Mahmoud Khalil" and "Billionaires are the real enemy, not immigrants".
Closing Argument March 15
How Trump’s Targeting of Immigrants With Legal Status Departs From the Norm
Mahmoud Khalil is just one of many people with legal or protected status detained and facing deportation.
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An officer in a navy uniform holds a walkie talkie while walking through a hall. There is an open gate in the foreground. Two people in orange uniforms with towels are walking in the background.
Closing Argument February 15
How Trump Is Trying to Expand the Already Colossal U.S. Prison System
The administration’s efforts — from mass deportation to harsher punishments for some crimes — rely on access to more prison and jail cells.
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Three U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, wearing black guard vests, green long sleeve shirts and black ski masks, stand in front of a green door.
Closing Argument February 8
How Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Blurs the Lines Between Reality, Rumor and Theater
ICE arrests, including “collateral arrests,” are up — and often in front of cameras. But experts say the data is incomplete — and hoaxes abound.
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