A Broken System: Confidential Reports Reveal Failures in U.S. Immigrant Detention Centers

This report presents the first-ever system-wide look at the federal government’s compliance with its own standards regulating immigrant detention facilities, a view based on previously unreleased first-hand reports of monitoring inspections.

Published Jul 6, 2009

This report presents the first-ever system-wide look at the federal government’s compliance with its own standards regulating immigrant detention facilities, a view based on previously unreleased first-hand reports of monitoring inspections. The results reveal substantial and pervasive violations of the government’s minimum standards for conditions at such facilities it uses to detain immigrants across 43 states and two territories.

As a result, over 320,000 immigrants locked up each year not only face tremendous obstacles to challenging wrongful detention or winning their immigration cases, but the conditions in which these civil detainees are held often are as bad as or worse than those faced by imprisoned criminals

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CLINIC v. Rubio

CLINIC v. Rubio

This lawsuit challenges the Trump administration’s sweeping suspension of immigrant visa processing for people from 75 countries.

Last update: Aug 26, 2026

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Amid Reports of Mass Visa ‘Pause,’ Groups File Emergency Motion to Enforce Court Order Striking Down 75-Country Visa Ban

Published Aug 26, 2026 Immigrant families, workers, and legal assistance groups harmed by the Trump administration’s 75-country ban on immigrant visas filed an emergency motion to enforce Friday’s court order and judgment in CLINIC v....

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Published Aug 21, 2026 In a major victory for families, fairness, and the rule of law, a federal court in New York struck down the Trump administration’s blanket, nationality-based “public charge” ban on immigrant visa processing for people from 75...

Community Alert: Traveling on “advance parole” now triggers 3- and 10-year bars

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Published Aug 17, 2026 The Board of Immigration Appeals has changed the consequences of traveling on “advance parole.” If you are thinking about traveling outside the U.S. on “advance parole” and you have been in the U.S. without permission for 180+ days, now...