A detailed analysis of the current immigration enforcement system that was set in motion with passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) in 1986. The report traces the evolution of the system, particularly in the post-9/11 era, in terms of budgets, personnel, enforcement actions and technology. It examines individual programs and results, ranging from Secure Communities and 287(g) to deportations, detention, post-9/11 visa screening and new federal databases, explaining how they have intersected in some ways by deliberate design, in others by happenstance to create a complex, interconnected, cross-agency system.
Citation: Meissner, Doris, Donald Kerwin, Muzzafar Chishti, and Claire Bergeron. Immigration Enforcement in the United States: The Rise of a Formidable Machinery. Rep. Washignton, DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2013. Print.
Program: Democracy
