E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
Border Security

Border Security

Border Enforcement
Smuggling & Trafficking
Technology & Infrastructure
CBPagent mexborder

In an era when countries are increasingly exposed to the opportunities and risks associated with the rising global movement of people, policymakers are rethinking approaches to border controls and border management. These policies and programs run the gamut—from facilitating legitimate mobility of people and trade to thwarting unauthorized movements, the latter a significant preoccupation in the post-9/11 era and as publics have become ever less accepting of unauthorized immigration. The research offered here examines the management of borders, enforcement policies and initiatives, and border security technologies.

Recent Activity

SKoreanRemoval ICE
Commentaries
November 2016
Unauthorized Immigrants with Criminal Convictions: Who Might Be a Priority for Removal?
By  Muzaffar Chishti and Michelle Mittelstadt
Event PH 2016.10.27 Kate Hooper and Kathleen Newland
Multimedia
October 27, 2016
Taming the Seas: Safety, Protection, and Attempts to Create Order in Maritime Migration Corridors
HaitiansRoad MarionDoss Flickr
Articles
October 26, 2016
United States Abandons its Harder Line on Haitian Migrants in the Face of Latest Natural Disaster
By Muzaffar Chishti and Sarah Pierce
coverthumb tcmbenton
Reports
October 2016
Digital Humanitarianism: How Tech Entrepreneurs Are Supporting Refugee Integration
By  Meghan Benton and Alex Glennie
coverthumb allatsea
Books
October 2016
All at Sea: The Policy Challenges of Rescue, Interception, and Long-Term Response to Maritime Migration
By  Kathleen Newland, Elizabeth Collett, Kate Hooper and Sarah Flamm
BorderWall BBCWorldService Flickr
Articles
October 5, 2016
Borders and Walls: Do Barriers Deter Unauthorized Migration?
By Reece Jones
BoatMigrants ARodriguez UNHCR
Multimedia
September 16, 2016
The Mediterranean Dimension of the Refugee Crisis: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities for Cooperation
13th Annual Immigration Law Policy keynotes
Multimedia
September 28, 2016
13th Annual Immigration Law & Policy Conference

Pages

Recent Activity

Commentaries
March 2023

Revamping Asylum at the U.S.-Mexico Border: A Workable Rescue?

The border asylum proposed rule the Biden administration unveiled in February represents a bid to save the U.S. asylum system, not shut it down, as some contend. Whether it can succeed, however, depends on how it is implemented and on other steps that are beyond the bounds of the proposed rule, as this commentary explains.

Articles
February 23, 2023

Imminent End of Formal U.S. Pandemic Emergencies Marks New Era in Immigration Realm

Pandemic-related U.S. policies have led to more than 2.6 million migrant expulsions at the U.S.-Mexico border, expanded public benefits to cover millions more U.S. residents, and offered free COVID-19 vaccines and treatment. Many of these policies are now likely to end as the Biden administration in May 2023 formally declares the pandemic to be over, although what comes next remains unclear.

Articles
January 26, 2023

Biden at the Two-Year Mark: Significant Immigration Actions Eclipsed by Record Border Numbers

At his term's midpoint, President Joe Biden has relied on executive action to advance his immigration agenda more than his predecessors, including Donald Trump. Yet many of the changes to interior enforcement, humanitarian protection, and other areas have been overshadowed by the record pace of arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border, which has presented the administration with major policy and operational challenges.

Reports
January 2023

Using Risk Analysis to Shape Border Management: A Review of Approaches during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Although nearly all countries adopted travel measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, national approaches have varied considerably and often been controversial. In many cases, decisionmakers failed to clearly communicate the rationale for using certain measures. This report looks at how governments and international organizations approached travel-related risk analysis, and what it would take to do this more strategically in future public-health emergencies.

Articles
December 20, 2022

‘Recalcitrant’ and ‘Uncooperative’: Why Some Countries Refuse to Accept Return of Their Deportees

Every year, thousands of migrants ordered deported from EU Member States, the United States, and elsewhere are not returned to their origin countries. Why? One reason is the multiple nations that refuse to cooperate on readmitting their nationals abroad. This article explores the motivations behind countries’ lack of cooperation and how deporting states have responded.

Expert Q&A, Audio
December 15, 2022

A Century of Climate Migration Upheaval? An Audacious Prediction for the Future

As the planet’s temperature warms, award-winning environmental journalist Gaia Vince thinks humanity is facing a chaotic century of mass migration spurred by climate change? In this episode of Changing Climate, Changing Migration, she contemplates a future in which hundreds of millions of people move from one part of the globe to another.

Articles
October 27, 2022

Amid Record Venezuelan Arrivals, Biden Administration Embraces Border Expulsions Policy

The Biden administration’s policy to expel some Venezuelan border arrivals to Mexico marks a significant reversal. For the first time, the U.S. government is invoking the controversial Title 42 expulsions policy not on public-health grounds but as an explicit immigration enforcement measure. The expulsions are being paired with a new humanitarian parole program for up to 24,000 Venezuelans. This article assesses the policy and the uneven treatment of humanitarian migrants by nationality.

Reports
October 2022

Rebooting the Asylum System? The Role of Digital Tools in International Protection

There has been a flurry of digital activity in the asylum field since the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily halted protection operations, and it has led officials to rethink how everything from registration to case adjudication happens. But what does this increasing use of technology mean for the people and processes involved? This report explores this question, as well as the challenges of balancing technology’s potential benefits with measures to mitigate its risks.

Pages