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
Read MoreCommunity Alert: Traveling on “advance parole” now triggers 3- and 10-year bars
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...
NILC Statement on ICE’s Plan to Buy Electric Shock Gloves
Published Aug 12, 2026 Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement in response to reports that ICE is planning to spend up to $20 million on electric shock...
Community Alert: Immigration Arrests at Airports
Updated Jul 29, 2026 This resource provides travel safety tips and other resources for immigrants traveling through U.S. airports.
Alerta Comunitaria: Detenciones de Inmigrantes en Aeropuertos
Updated Jul 29, 2026 Esta alerta comunitaria ofrece consejos de seguridad para viajar y otros recursos para que usted y su familia puedan comprender los riesgos y prepararse.