U.S. Customs and Border Protection Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

More Than 170,000 Migrants Taken Into Custody At Southwest Border In March, Highest In 15 Years

By NPR News April 2, 2021

A group of migrants from El Salvador arrives in Roma, Texas, after crossing the Rio Grande on March 30, 2021 in Roma, Texas. CREDIT: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

More than 170,000 migrants were taken into custody at the Southwest border in March, the highest monthly total since at least 2006, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials who have been briefed on the preliminary numbers but are not authorized to speak publicly.Read More

President Biden Says ‘Nothing Has Changed’ But Child Migrants Crossing Border At Higher Pace

By NPR News March 28, 2021

Graphic of unaccompanied minors crossing US-Mexico border - today and through 2014

It is true, as Biden states, that numbers often rise during the early months of the year when temperatures begin to warm. But the number of children arriving today without their parents is considerably higher than at the same time in 2019 and 2020. In fact, the number of unaccompanied children being apprehended by the Border Patrol were higher in February than they've been Read More

Children Spend Days In Crude Facilities As U.S. Border Resources Overwhelmed Again

By NPR News March 12, 2021

A U.S. Border Patrol station in Texas is seen in 2019. Customs and Border Protection is now holding a record number of minors in warehouse-like facilities as the Biden administration struggles with an illegal migration surge. CREDIT: Mario Tama/Getty Images

BY FRANCO ORDOÑEZ & JOHN BURNETT A record number of migrant children and teenagers are being held in warehouse-like detention facilities run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection near the […]Read More

Oregon Sues Federal Agencies Over Protest Enforcement, Civil Rights Abuses As Clashes Continue

By NWPB News July 19, 2020

Federal officers deployed tear gas and fired less-lethal rounds into a crowd of protesters late Thursday, July 16, 2020. The actions came just hours after the head of the Department of Homeland Security called the protesters “violent anarchists.” CREDIT: Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP

The federal lawsuit names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Marshals Service, the United States Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Protective Service, agencies that have had a role in stepped-up force used against protesters since early July. The state filed the lawsuit late Friday night.Read More

He Texts His Wife: ‘I Was Just Stopped By Immigration.’ Then Reality Rippled Through The Methow Valley

By Enrique Pérez de la Rosa March 19, 2020

Brenda Lopez ran out of her office to meet her husband Francisco Morales by the roadside where he was pulled over by ICE agents after he dropped off his son at school in February 2020. Since then, she’s been fighting to bring him home to Twisp with the help of her community. CREDIT: Enrique Pérez de la Rosa/NWPB

In February, immigration agents arrested a man the federal government says is a danger to his community of Twisp in Washington’s Methow Valley. That same community fought to get their neighbor back. Read More

Pullman To Portland Via Spokane On Greyhound: Why A Libyan Comic Is Suing The Border Patrol

By NWPB News February 14, 2020

File photo. The Spokane Intermodal Center, owned by the city, houses a Greyhound bus station where comic Mohanad Elshieky says he was detained by Border Patrol agents in 2019. CREDIT: HIKKI NAGASAKI / PUBLIC DOMAIN

Mohanad Elshieky says Border Patrol agents racially profiled him and held him without cause. The comic, who was granted U.S. asylum in 2018, was on his way home to Portland after a gig in Pullman when the officers confronted him in Spokane.Read More

In Central Washington, Immigrants Fear Going To Courthouses Over Chance Of Federal Entanglement

By Enrique Pérez de la Rosa January 15, 2020

The Grant County Courthouse in Ephrata, pictured in November 2019, where federal immigration authorities have been spotted arresting undocumented people going to court since 2017. In front of the courthouse steps, Brenda Rodriguez with the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network takes a phone call while a volunteer hands out “Know Your Rights” pamphlets. CREDIT: Enrique Pérez de la Rosa/NWPB

Nicolas was afraid of setting foot in the Grant County District Court. Members of the community, immigrant advocates and public defenders say they have spotted federal immigration officers arresting undocumented people at the court regularly. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, immigration officers do make arrests in courthouses but only against targeted Read More

‘We Won’t Build It’: Northwest Tech Workers Struggle With Company Ties To Immigration Enforcement

By Esmy Jimenez January 14, 2020

Notecards handwritten by Tableau employees from a recent rally at Gas Works Park reveal what personally motivated them to 'draw a line', are shown on Wednesday, December 4, 2019, in Seattle.

The Southern border may be far from Washington state, but software used by immigration officials is built in Seattle. Now tech workers are grappling with their responsibility as the creators of that technology. Some have become unlikely activists.Read More

American-Iranians Say They Were Detained At U.S.-Canada Border. Federal Officials Deny It

By Esmy Jimenez January 7, 2020

The Peace Arch memorial monument in Blaine, Washington connects the U.S. and Canada as a port of entry. CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons

Sixty Iranian-Americans say they were detained at the American border with Canada this weekend, according to CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations. Two other attorneys at the border, unrelated to CAIR, made similar observations. Customs and Border Protection denies those reports.Read More

Washington Attorney General Sues To Stop Federal Immigration Arrests At County Courthouses

By Esmy Jimenez December 18, 2019

Jesus Zepeda Salas marches in Ellensburg Sunday, Sept. 29, holding a sign challenging Kittitas County Sheriff Gene Dana’s legacy as the longest-serving sheriff in Washington State. Immigration rights advocates called on Dana to cancel a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement before his retirement in October. CREDIT: Enrique Pérez de la Rosa/NWPB

The suit filed in U.S. Western District of Washington targets the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, and Customs & Border Protection. The Attorney General's Office said the arrests were made while immigrants entered a courthouse to pay for non-violent, seemingly mundane things; think parking tickets, vehicle tabs, or to file restraining order.Read More

Acting Head Of Customs and Border Protection Says New Asylum Rule In ‘Pilot’ Phase

By NPR News July 18, 2019

Acting Chief of Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan says he doesn't expect the asylum rule announced this week to be in place for very long. Shuran Huang/NPR

"Although the new federal regulation allows us to apply that all 2,000 miles along the Southwest border, we're not going to do that," Mark Morgan told NPR.Read More

Under Siege And Largely Secret: Businesses That Serve Immigration Detention

By NPR News June 30, 2019

The U.S. Immigration and Enforcement processing center in Adelanto, Calif., is one of the detention facilities operated by GEO Group Inc. Richard Vogel/AP

As more businesses face public and political scrutiny for making money off of the Trump administration's detention of migrants, many activists say the firms involved try to remain veiled in secrecy.Read More

U.S. Citizens Detained After Speaking Spanish In Montana Sue U.S. Border Agency

By NPR News February 18, 2019

Martha Hernandez (left) and Ana Suda say they were interrupted and detained because they spoke Spanish while shopping at a convenience store in Havre, Mont. They've now filed a lawsuit. CREDIT: Brooke Swaney/ACLU of Montana via AP

Two women who were detained and asked to show identification after speaking Spanish in a convenience store in Montana are suing U.S. Customs and Border Protection, saying the CBP agent violated their constitutional rights when he detained them and asked to see their identification.Read More

U.S. Border Agents Spray Tear Gas At Migrants, Briefly Close Tijuana Entry

By NPR News November 25, 2018

U.S. military and border agents secure the United States-Mexico border at the San Ysidro border crossing south of San Diego, Calif. on Nov. 25. CREDIT: Sandy Huffaker/AFP/Getty Images

Many migrants have come to seek asylum in the U.S. — but the process for approval is slow, and resources in a makeshift shelter in Tijuana are running low. Read More