Immigration detainees should get a lawyer paid by taxpayers

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.

Individual freedoms that constrain what the state may do, including speech, assembly, religion, privacy and protection from arbitrary search or detention. Distinct from civil rights, which concern equal treatment, these limit government power rather than extend entitlement, and are usually enforced through the courts.

A Homeland Security inspector general report dated September 14, 2026 found Alligator Alcatraz, a Florida immigration detention center, confined detainees in small metal enclosures staff called calming areas. Because the facility had ceased operations, the inspector general closed its recommendation that the enclosures be removed.