Learn about the main issues in immigration and racial justice. For a quick overview of each along with our recommendations for solutions, please visit our “About The Issues” page.

Racial profiling is a pervasive problem that affects many communities across the country. Learn more: racial profiling.

The current immigration system denies due process to hundreds of thousands of immigration facing detention and deportation. Learn more: fair day in court, detention and enforcement.

Racial Profiling

Racial Profiling Face the Truth Campaign
The Racial Profiling: Face the Truth campaign builds alliances amongst directly-affected communities, coordinates advocacy efforts and field activities, and educates and mobilizes broad support for legislative and policy reforms.

Immigration – Fair Day in Court

Assembly Line Injustice: A Call for Immigration Courts Reform from Appleseed (June 2009)
This report highlights problems with the current Immigration Court system and offers solutions to improve the system.

Forced Apart (By the Numbers): Non-Citizens Deported Mostly for Nonviolent Offenses from Human Rights Watch (April 2009)
This report evaluates the negative effects of sweeping deportation laws passed in 1996 through an analysis of who is getting deported and why.

Immigration Detention

A Broken System: Confidential Reports Reveal Failures in U.S. Immigrant Detention Centers from National Immigration Law Center, ACLU of Southern California, and Holland & Knight, LLP (July 2009)
Based on previously confidential reviews of detention centers, this report shows how immigration detainee rights are systematically violated.

Jailed without Justice: Immigration Detention in the USA from Amnesty International (March 2009)
This report exposes the immigration detention system as broken and unnecessarily costly.

Dying for Decent Care: Bad Medicine in Immigration Custody from the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (March 2009)
This study finds significant shortcomings in provision of health care to immigration detainees.

Detained and Dismissed: Women’s Struggles to Obtain Health Care in United States Immigration Detention from Human Rights Watch (March 2009)
This study focuses on the failures of women’s health care in immigration detention.

Halfway Home: Unaccompanied Children in Immigration Custody from the Women’s Refugee Commission (February 2009)
This study examines difficult conditions of confinement for unaccompanied immigrant children.

DHS: Organizational Structure and Resources for Providing Health Care to Immigration Detainees from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (February 2009)
This government report addresses the structure and resources for providing health care to immigration detainees.

Immigration Detention from The New York Times (ongoing)
News about immigration detention, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Careless Detention from The Washington Post (May 2008)
This investigative series of articles exposes the system of neglect in detention centers across the country, with detainees often paying a heavy cost, including with their lives.

Detention Map from Detention Watch Network
This interactive map allows users to find immigration detention centers, immigration offices, community organizations, and immigration courts across the United States.

Testing Community Supervision for the INS: An Evaluation of the Appearance Assistance Program, Volume I, Final Report to the Immigration and Naturalization Service from Vera Institute of Justice (August 2000)
This report on alternatives to detention shows a 91% appearance rate in a three year test of community supervision for people in immigration removal proceedings.

Immigration Enforcement

Constitution on ICE: A Report on Immigration Home Raid Operations from Cardozo Immigration Justice Clinic (July 2009)
This report analyzes immigration arrest records from home raids, finding far-reaching patterns of misconduct.

The Role of Local Police: Striking a Balance Between Immigration Enforcement and Civil Liberties from the Police Foundation (April 2009)
This report from the Police Foundation discusses the concerns of state and local police enforcing federal immigration laws through one particular program – 287(g).

Severing a Lifeline: The Neglect of Citizen Children in America’s Immigration Enforcement Policy from Dorsey & Whitney LLP to the Urban Institute (March 2009)
This report focuses on U.S. citizen children negatively impacted by immigration enforcement and detention measures.

NSEERS: The Consequences of America’s Efforts to Secure its Borders from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and Penn State University’s Dickinson School of Law (March 2009)
This report discusses the failures of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) program, a counterterrorism tool launched in the wake of 9/11.

Local Democracy on ICE: Why State and Local Governments Have No Business in Federal Immigration Law Enforcement from Justice Strategies (February 2009)
This report examines the negative impact of state and local police enforcing federal immigration laws through one particular program – 287(g).

Collateral Damage: An Examination of ICE’s Fugitive Operations Program from Migration Policy Institute (February 2009)
This report finds that an immigration program often focused on home raids, the National Fugitive Operations Program, has failed its purpose by going after easy targets.

Immigration Enforcement: Better Controls Needed over Program Authorizing State and Local Enforcement of Federal Immigration Laws from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (January 2009)
This government report states the need for accountability and oversight in state and local police enforcing federal immigration laws through one particular program – 287(g).

Defending Human Rights & Due Process from the National Immigrant Justice Center on behalf of the DHS Enforcement Working Group (Fall 2008)
This brief analyzes large scale immigration raids at an Agriprocessors factory in Postville, Iowa which denied due process to many.

Equal Treatment Denied: United States Immigration Enforcement Polices by Rights Working Group (January 2008)
This report to the United Nations outlines human rights violations resulting from various immigration enforcement measures.

M.C.C. Immigration Committee Recommendations for Enforcement of Immigration Laws by Local Police Agencies adopted by Major Cities Chiefs (June 2006)
This position statement evaluates and addresses the potentially negative impacts and potential consequences of local enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Immigration Reform

U.S. Immigration Policy Independent Task Force Report No.63 from Council on Foreign Relations (July 2009)
This report urges Congress and the Obama administration to invest in a working immigration system through immigration reform.

Principles of Immigration Reform from Reform Immigration for America (2009)
This document reflects the principles of the Campaign to Reform Immigration for America’s national effort to create support for comprehensive immigration reform.

Immigration – Compilation Reports

Summaries of Recent Immigration Enforcement Reports from National Immigration Forum (August 2009)
This document summarizes reports by non profits and government watchdog organizations documenting problems with various immigration enforcement programs.

Summaries of Recent Reports on Immigration Detention 2007-2009 from National Immigration Forum (August 2009)
This document summarizes reports by non profits and government watchdog organizations documenting difficult conditions in immigration detention.

Immigration Enforcement & Local Law Enforcement: The ABC’s of State and Local Coordination Programs from National Immigration Forum (August 2009)
This fact sheet gives basic explanations of aspects and effects of immigration programs that coordinate with local law enforcement.