NIJC Commentary

  Congress must stop Trump’s exorbitant spending on new contracts for ICE detention & arrests Advocates condemn windfall for private prison contractors at the expense of vital public services   April 8, 2025: The Trump administration is on a reckless spending spree to build up its…

The Trump administration has ordered the prioritization of federal prosecutions for immigration-related offenses, including for simply entering the United States or reentering after removal without permission. Prosecutions for such offenses are layered on top of the punitive civil immigration…

On March 5, 2025, the House Oversight Committee is holding a hearing targeting Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago’s “Welcoming City Ordinance,” along with mayors of other cities with welcoming laws. Here are 4 things we want to make clear:   1. This hearing is part of a larger set of…

When most law enforcement agencies arrest someone, the Fourth Amendment sets guardrails to protect the impacted person’s constitutional right to liberty. Typically, law enforcement must prove to a neutral reviewer, usually a judge, that there is probable cause to keep this person in jail. That is…

On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued a series of executive orders upon returning to the White House for his second term. Ten of these executive orders resume his administration’s blistering weaponization of the White House authority to order federal agencies to wage an assault on immigrant…

The National Immigrant Justice Center submitted a statement for the record opposing the nomination of Pamela Jo Bondi to be attorney general of the United States. NIJC recommended that senators oppose the nomination based on Ms. Bondi's problematic role as a lobbyist for the country’s largest…

As a paralegal on NIJC's Immigrant Legal Defense Project, I'm part of a team that offers direct representation to the immigrant community and I'm also the coordinator for pro bono legal volunteers. Earlier this year, we held clinics for people who had recently arrived in our communities and had…

Earlier this month in downtown Chicago, the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and five companies partnered to host a clinic offering limited-scope legal representation to dozens of people navigating the U.S. immigration system after they fled their home countries in search of safety.  Group…

A Honduran asylum seeker narrowly escaped death in Honduras. After gangs killed his grandfather and put this man in a coma, he fled to the United States. For two years, he felt safe and was grateful to be alive. Then, in May 2023, he received a call from his sister, who had just fled Honduras as…

Last month, the Biden Administration issued a proposed rule that sought to apply five highly complex bars to the initial screenings of asylum seekers when they are apprehended at the border. Just two years prior, the administration had decided it would not be fair to apply these bars…