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Customs and Border Protection officers tried to communicate with a man from India who came with his wife to the border station in Laredo, with no entry visas, in October 2017. The officers used a mobile phone app to identify his language — Gujarati — and then conducted a basic interview to learn his name and why the couple feared returning to India and wanted to stay in the United States.

Asylum

Kirsten Luce for The Marshall Project
Feature
Migrants Desperate for Jobs Trapped in Asylum Maze
Hundreds of thousands were eligible to apply earlier for work permits, but the government only began alerting them last week.
A medium dark-skinned Venezuelan man leans against a metal pole on a crowded subway, holding a large shopping bag and a pillow, as they rest atop a black, rolling suitcase. The man looks off to the side and downwards.
Two women with medium skin tone, holding onto their belongings, stand in between brown pillars of a wall while waiting in a line. Several people stand in the background.
Closing Argument May 13, 2023
Title 42 is Over. What Comes Next for Asylum-Seekers?
The Biden administration’s new plan has led to confusion along the southern border.
By
Migrant families from Central America are released at the border with orders to appear for future hearings in immigration court, on June 11, 2018 in McAllen, Texas.
News November 23, 2020
Biden Will Try to Unmake Trump’s Immigration Agenda. It Won’t Be Easy.
Restoring asylum claims and judges’ independence will be uphill work.
By
People lined up outside the building that houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the immigration court in Atlanta in June.
Analysis August 28, 2019
Is It Time to Remove Immigration Courts From Presidential Control?
Calls grow to create an independent court system that protects immigration judges from political pressure.
By
Protesters demonstrated in support of immigrants who are in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, in Washington, D.C., in 2017.
News January 14, 2019
Trump's War on Immigrants Leaves a Million Lives in Limbo
Migrants in the U.S. and across the globe face turmoil as lawsuits aim to reverse restrictive policies.
By
People line up in Tijuana, Mexico, to begin the process of applying for asylum in the United States.
Analysis November 7, 2018
The Immigration Crisis Jeff Sessions Leaves Behind
Assessing the ousted attorney general’s legacy on President Trump’s favorite issue.
By
Migrants cross the Rio Grande river on a raft paddled by a “coyote,” a smuggler, shortly before being apprehended by the Border Patrol near McAllen in September. Under zero tolerance, any adult caught crossing illegally, except parents with children, can be sent to federal court for prosecution of the crime of illegal entry.
News September 14, 2018
Zero Tolerance Lives On
And it’s sapping energy from other law enforcement missions
By
Recent undocumented border crossers arrive at a bus station in McAllen, Texas, after they were processed and released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
News July 1, 2018
A Father and Child Disunion
One migrant’s encounter with “zero tolerance."
By
Central American asylum seekers, including a Honduran girl, 2, and her mother, are taken into custody near the U.S.-Mexico border in June in McAllen, Texas.
Q&A June 19, 2018
What You Should Know About Family Separations
Yes, it’s Trump policy. No, it’s not the law.
By
After suffering 10 years of extreme sexual, physical and mental abuse at the hands of her husband, Rody Alvarado fled her native Guatemala in 1995 and applied for asylum in the United States. Her asylum application was granted in 2009.
Analysis June 12, 2018
Is Domestic Violence Private?
It took 20 years for courts to say no. It took Jeff Sessions no time to say yes.
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