Border & Immigration News
The Daily Signal provides border and immigration news, including reporting, analysis, and commentary on policy, enforcement, and political debates.
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news
Underreported: How Building a Border Wall Changed San Diego
In 1986, the San Diego Border Patrol sector accounted for approximately one-third of all apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border. Today, it accounts for only a small fraction. How did the region go from one of the busiest sectors for illegal border crossings to one of the most secure? In our latest edition of “Underreported,” The… -
news
White House Vows Funding for Border Wall, Just Not Now
Congress plans to pass a final spending bill to keep the government running beyond the next week, but without funding for a border wall. The White House, however, says it will demand money for President Donald Trump’s signature campaign issue in next year’s budget plan. “The president is committed to having a physical border wall…. -
news
Texas House Passes Sanctuary City Ban With Stiff Penalty for Public Officials
The Texas House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that places a statewide ban on sanctuary cities and allows state officials to jail police chiefs and sheriffs who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The measure also lets police officers inquire about the immigration status of anyone they detain or arrest, including the subjects… -
opinion
The History of ‘Extreme Vetting’ of Immigrants
The United States began as a nation of immigrants, and it continues to be so today. The ability to absorb people from around the globe is a hallmark of American exceptionalism. America has succeeded mostly through what The Heritage Foundation’s Mike Gonzalez has called “patriotic assimilation,” in which immigrants have not just been taught how… -
news
What Trump Has Done on Immigration in First 100 Days
President Donald Trump’s dedication to enforcing immigration law is one of his significant accomplishments as he nears his 100th day in office Saturday, experts and lawmakers say. Trump is “taking the handcuffs off of [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and the Border Patrol because the immigration enforcement officers were prohibited from doing their job to a… -
opinion
Why This Judge’s Ruling Won’t Block Federal Action on Sanctuary Cities
Media sources are all breathlessly reporting that the Trump administration’s proposed termination of federal funding to sanctuary cities has been enjoined by a federal judge. But that is misleading, and the media is misinterpreting the injunction order in the same way the federal judge misinterpreted President Donald Trump’s executive order. At issue in the lawsuit… -
news
Trump, Sessions Target MS-13 Gang in Push Against Illegal Immigration
President Donald Trump’s administration has initiated an effort to target MS-13, an international criminal gang founded by El Salvadorian immigrants in Los Angeles. Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly have all recently mentioned the gang by highlighting its dangers and explaining how they will combat the group. In a Tuesday… -
news
Trump Restricts Immigration Program That Took This American’s Job
After years in private business, Kurt Ho had finally found a rewarding information technology job, working for a public hospital in Northern California, ensuring vital systems—such as fetal health monitors—were functioning properly. In October, Ho learned his job at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center was being outsourced to a company in India,… -
news
Sweden Accepted More Migrants Per Capita Than Any Other European Country. Why That’s Changed.
Sweden, the latest European country to fall victim to a terrorist attack, has long been known for its generous immigration policies. In 2015, at the height of the refugee crisis, Sweden took in more migrants per capita than any other European country. That year, more than 162,000 people applied for asylum in Sweden, including 51,000… -
news
Labor Group Declares Itself a ‘Sanctuary Union’ for Illegal Immigrants
A California-based labor union representing more than 11,000 health care workers declared itself a "sanctuary union" for its members and their relatives “at risk of deportation.” “As President Donald Trump was preparing to bar Syrian refugees and bolster his deportation force, the National Union of Healthcare Workers was convening members across California to discuss how best to… -
news
Department of Homeland Security: Courthouse Arrests Are Necessary Because of Sanctuary City Policies
The Department of Homeland Security rejected calls Tuesday for its agents to stop making immigration arrests at courthouses, a tactic that has pitted state judicial officers against the Trump administration in recent weeks. A spokesman for the agency said immigration enforcement agents will continue to have authority to seize illegal immigrants at courthouses, if they believe… -
news
How Illegal Immigrant Suspects in Rockville High Rape Case Were Able to Settle in America
The two teenagers accused of raping a ninth-grader at Maryland’s Rockville High School last month were among more than 150,000 unaccompanied minors who entered the U.S. illegally over the past three years, mostly from Central America. Like most other Central Americans who are under 18 years old and travel alone illegally to the U.S., the… -
opinion
The Left’s Sanctuary Cities Hurt Americans’ Safety
Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement on Monday that the Justice Department will bar all sanctuary cities from receiving any grants or other federal funds from the department should be welcome news to Americans—especially those whose families have been victimized by criminal illegal aliens released by sanctuary cities like San Francisco. As Sessions pointed out, Kate… -
news
How Jeff Sessions Plans to Fight Back Against Sanctuary Cities
The Justice Department will start enforcing federal immigration laws by discontinuing the funding of sanctuary cities, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Monday while speaking at the White House. If carried out, this new policy will result in the loss of federal money for cities that permit residents to be illegal immigrants, as Sessions stated… -
news
14-Year-Old Girl Says She Was Raped by Illegal Immigrants. Here’s How the Community Is Reacting.
Parents and other residents of a Washington, D.C., suburb are struggling to come to terms with reports that a 14-year-old female student was raped in a boys’ bathroom during school hours by two male students who immigrated to this country illegally. Police arrested Henry E. Sanchez, 18, and Jose O. Montano, 17, on Friday, charging them with first-degree… -
opinion
The Consequences of Immigration for America’s Public Schools
It is difficult to overstate the impact that immigration is having on our nation’s schools. In a recent report based on Census Bureau data authored by myself and colleagues Bryan Griffith and Karen Ziegler, we map the profound impact immigration has had on schools across the country. We find that nationally, nearly 1 in 4… -
news
Here’s What the US Can Do When Countries Won’t Take Back Illegal Immigrants
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced there was an “unprecedented decline” in illegal border crossings during President Donald Trump’s first month in office. >>>Find out when and where you can watch “Full Measure” Meanwhile, border hawks are trying to reverse another trend: the refusal by many countries to accept the deportation of their… -
news
House Conservatives Back Trump’s Border Wall Request
Two House conservatives expressed support for the Trump administration’s request for billions of dollars in funding to begin work on a planned border wall, saying the nation needs to do “what’s necessary” to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. “We need to do what’s necessary to protect the United States, and we need to pay for that… -
news
Trump Budget: $1.5 Billion for Border Wall, 28% Slash to State Department
The first payment for President Donald Trump’s long-promised border wall will be $1.5 billion, said Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget. “This is an America first budget,” Mick Mulvaney says. Mulvaney spoke to reporters Wednesday about the Trump administration’s next proposed budget that would slash more than a quarter of…