Notice to Appear

As it poises for further immigration initiatives, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is struggling with festering internal divisions between political appointees and career officials over how to enforce laws and handle detainees facing deportation.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will realign its duties to promote criminal investigations over immigrant deportation, officials have announced. CIR's Andrew Becker reports on ICE's makeover in the Washington Post.

Two mentally disabled Mexican immigrants, facing deportation for criminal assault convictions for which they have already served their time, continue to be held in detention facilities in violation of their constitutional rights, according to separate lawsuits filed in federal court. Two days after this story was published in the Los Angeles Times, the two men were released. Read an update here.

A turf battle between the inspector general's office in the Department of Homeland Security and the agency's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division and the FBI has delayed some investigations and threatens to undermine enforcement actions, records and interviews show. CIR's Andrew Becker reports for The Washington Post.

A steep drop in deportations has caused U.S. immigration officials to implement controversial new quotas to meet an annual goal. Officials have also backed away from an Obama administration pledge to focus enforcement efforts primarily on illegal immigrants who are dangerous or have violent pasts, CIR and the Washington Post report.

Ernesto Gamboa, a native of El Salvador, spent more than a decade as an undercover informant for narcotics police, helping U.S. federal prosecutors secure nearly 100 convictions. Last summer, days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a major bust it made with Gamboa's help, agents moved to deport him.

Confidential informants who don't have legal immigrant status have been led to believe that federal agencies would help them get U.S. residency in exchange for their assistance in undercover investigations, only to have the implied or explicit promises broken. CIR's Andrew Becker reports for the Los Angeles Times.

Retired narcotics agent Tom Padukiewicz worked undercover with confidential informant Ernesto Gamboa for thirteen years—busting drug dealers across Washington State. In separate interviews with the Center for Investigative Reporting, the two describe a meth deal that almost went wrong.

After confidential informant Ernesto Gamboa helped federal prosecutors secure nearly 100 convictions, ICE moved to deport him. In this episode of "The Investigators," CIR reporter Andrew Becker describes the predicament that some foreigners face while working for the U.S. government.

While the nation’s understaffed immigration courts strain under a backlog that has grown to more than 200,000 cases, thousands of new border agents and hundreds of government attorneys have been hired, pushing more cases onto an already overburdened system. As a result, cases often take months if not years to complete. On any given day there are more than 30,000 people in immigration lock-up.

In Mexico's escalating battle against drug traffickers, honest cops fear a harrowing proposal: work for the cartel or die. CIR's Andrew Becker reports for the Los Angeles Times on three police officers faced with the choice. PHOTO BY RODOLFO ANGULO

A pilot program seeks to boost the ranks of language and healthcare specialists by offering citizenship. CIR's Andrew Becker reports for the Los Angeles Times.

Despite the government's stance that it does not detain or deport Americans, U.S. citizens have been caught up in immigration sweeps in recent years. Attorneys report finding more than 700 people who intended to make citizenship claims to fight deportation. CIR's Andrew Becker reports for MotherJones.com.

CIR and the Los Angeles Times report that according to a new Human Rights Watch study nearly three-quarters of immigrants deported after serving a criminal sentence in a 10-year period were nonviolent offenders, with one in five having been legal residents.

Mistaken detentions are drawing increased attention as immigration officials mount workplace roundups and jailhouse sweeps in search of undocumented immigrants. CIR's Andrew Becker reports for the Los Angeles Times. Photo: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

The escalating war near America's southern border is driving embattled Mexicans to seek safety in the United States. What if the tide of violence follows them? CIR's Andrew Becker reports from San Diego and El Paso for The Nation.

As a drug war rages in Mexico between gangs and the country’s military, a new group has begun to appear at the nation’s borders: asylum seekers fleeing the violence. CIR and the Los Angeles Times report from El Paso, where last year more Mexicans arrived at crossing points to ask for protection than anywhere else along the Southwest border.

Starting nearly a decade ago, a spike in the number of asylum seekers from Colombia coincided with a U.S.-backed plan to eradicate drug production in the region. Could the nation see a similar wave of Mexicans seeking safe haven?