ICE's detention of relatives of active-duty US military personnel reveals systemic failures in federal immigration oversight

Defence of a state against external and internal threats, spanning intelligence services, military operations, counterterrorism and the classification of information. Covers the tension between secrecy and oversight, and the agencies whose work is largely conducted beyond public view.

United States immigration policy and enforcement, and the people it reaches: visa and asylum rules, deportation, border operations and the status of those already living in the country. Legislated rarely and governed largely by executive action and litigation rather than statute.

Policing, prosecution and the agencies that carry them out, from patrol and arrest through detention and the courts. Covers oversight, accountability and the conduct of officers as much as crime itself, and the legal limits placed on the use of state force.

Policing of United States borders, covering patrols, inspections, detention, deportation coordination and the use of barriers and surveillance technology. Carried out mainly by Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose tactics are a recurring subject of litigation.

Federal immigration policy is facing dual controversies over a $20 million plan to equip officers with electric-shock gloves, alongside mounting public backlash after ICE detained the father of a U.S. Navy sailor while his son was deployed overseas.