A FUNCTIONING BORDER NEEDS A FUNCTIONING COUNTRY BEHIND IT.

JUSTICE · POLITICAL JUSTICE

Published by Langhorne P. Breedlove

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2026 · 1:02 AM ET

Reading time: 9 minutes

Tags: Immigration · Asylum · Due Process · Citizenship · Border Administration · Detention

A person entering the American immigration system may meet a border officer, a visa clerk, a caseworker, an immigration judge, an interpreter, and a detention contractor. The federal government calls this a process. The person may be forgiven for wondering whether any two of them have met.

American Proletariat's proposal is a humane and functional immigration system: lawful and workable entry routes, timely and fair decisions, credible screening, accountable enforcement, fewer avoidable detention harms, and an intelligible path from eligibility to citizenship. Humane does not mean that every application must be approved. Functional does not mean that a mistake can be cured by making an applicant disappear into an administrative maze.

THE MANDATE

AP proposes modernized family, employment, humanitarian, and other immigration pathways; clear application processing standards; sufficient adjudication capacity; enforceable due-process protections; independent detention oversight; lawful removal where warranted; and reliable public reporting. Congress must define eligibility, ceilings and remedies, while agencies must administer those rules without arbitrary delay or discriminatory treatment.

This policy concerns the entire system, not a single enforcement agency. AP's separate proposal addressing ICE and DHS institutional restructuring requires its own statutory analysis. Ending a particular agency name would not automatically repeal immigration law, decide an asylum case, or eliminate the federal government's responsibility for border operations.

ROOTS · RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Modern immigration pathways are divided among family-based visas, employment-based categories, diversity visas, and special immigrant classifications, with distinct petitions, numerical limits, requirements, and agency responsibilities (Source 01). USCIS generally handles petitions and immigration benefits; the State Department handles consular visa processes; DHS performs several border and enforcement functions; and the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review adjudicates many removal cases (Sources 01, 02).

Under 8 U.S.C. §1158, eligible people physically present in or arriving in the United States may apply for asylum, subject to statutory exceptions and procedural restrictions. Asylum protection concerns persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on specified grounds, not simply a desire for higher wages (Source 03). The precise screening and adjudication mechanisms have changed over time and are contested in litigation.

In ordinary immigration-court removal proceedings, statute provides an opportunity to examine evidence, present a case and be represented by authorized counsel at no government expense (Source 04). That is not an existing general right to taxpayer-funded counsel. AP's proposal may choose to fund representation for specified vulnerable groups or broader populations, but Congress would have to authorize the program and its cost.

TODAY · THE COURTS ARE CARRYING YEARS OF CASES

At the end of September 2026, Syracuse University's TRAC immigration-court data recorded approximately 3.04 million pending active cases; more than 2.25 million people in that pending population had filed formal asylum applications (Source 05). The Justice Department separately reported nearly 974,000 immigration-court case completions during fiscal year 2026 and said the pending caseload had declined since January 2025 (Source 06). Differences in extraction dates, case definitions and revisions mean these figures should not be treated as interchangeable counts.

A September 2026 Bureau of Justice Statistics study covering earlier cases found that pending Notice-to-Appear proceedings grew from 186,104 at the end of fiscal year 2008 to 2,459,798 at the end of fiscal year 2023 (Source 07). That is a historical trend, not a prediction of any applicant's outcome. Cases awaiting adjudication involve people with different legal histories, applications, circumstances and potential forms of relief.

The policy question is not whether every person awaiting a hearing should win. It is whether an adjudication system can issue accurate and timely decisions while treating people as individuals and maintaining meaningful review. Speed without due process can produce preventable errors; indefinite delay without resolution creates its own harms.

ONE IMMIGRATION SYSTEM, SEVERAL PATHS

FAMILY AND EMPLOYMENT

Improve petition and visa processing, publish realistic queue information, reduce duplicate paperwork, and modernize categories only through legislation when required. Examine numerical limits, country-specific waits, worker protections, fraud prevention, and regional labor demand together. An employer's need for labor does not negate the worker's right to decent wages or freedom from coercion.

ASYLUM AND HUMANITARIAN PROTECTION

Provide fair screening with interpreters, reliable notice, evidence access and appropriate review. A protection claim must be assessed against applicable law and country conditions rather than stereotypes about nationality. Those denied relief after lawful process may be removable, subject to other forms of protection and judicial orders. Public reporting should distinguish approvals, denials, administrative closures and other outcomes.

CITIZENSHIP

Naturalization already has defined eligibility requirements. Many adult lawful permanent residents generally qualify to apply after five years, while some spouses of U.S. citizens may qualify after three; other requirements and exceptions apply (Source 08). AP would examine application access, language instruction, test accommodations, service reliability and fees while preserving legislative authority over who qualifies.

DETENTION AND ENFORCEMENT

A November 5, 2026 Government Accountability Office report found that ICE detention facilities and the detained population increased after fiscal year 2024 while some inspection frequencies decreased and reliance on facility self-inspection grew. GAO concluded that ICE had not determined how inspection changes affected oversight (Source 09). That finding warrants concrete attention to medical care, food, staffing, complaints and independent inspection; it is not proof that every facility violated every standard.

AP would require individualized custody decisions where law allows them, prompt review, verified reporting of detention conditions, access to counsel and interpreters, and an enforceable mechanism for addressing misconduct. Alternative-to-detention programs should be evaluated against appearance rates, flight risk, safety, costs, privacy effects and wrongful restrictions. Where detention is legally mandatory, changing the practice requires statutory reform or controlling judicial authority.

Effective border screening and humane treatment are not contradictory concepts. Government must identify individuals, enforce applicable entry laws and respond to genuine threats, while avoiding collective punishment and unreviewable error. The standard is lawful, proportionate administration rather than either indiscriminate admission or indiscriminate confinement.

THE LEGAL PATH

Congress has primary responsibility for rewriting visa classifications, admission rules, asylum standards, funding, court structure and detention authority. Executive agencies can improve processes within law, issue regulations through required procedures and administer their appropriations. Courts review disputes within applicable jurisdiction. State and local governments may provide services and cooperate under defined arrangements but cannot create a substitute federal immigration status.

A durable legislative package would identify the division of responsibility among USCIS, CBP, ICE, EOIR, the State Department and any successor institutions; require transparent transfer plans for changed authorities; protect records and benefits during transitions; and prevent service interruptions from becoming a hidden policy of denial.

THE PLAN

PHASE ONE · AUDIT AND STABILIZE

Inventory application backlogs, staffing, detention contracts, adjudication practices, translation gaps, legal-services availability and data quality. Publish transparent processing definitions. Prioritize accurate notices, functioning appointment systems, medical oversight and opportunities to correct administrative mistakes.

PHASE TWO · BUILD CAPACITY

Increase qualified adjudication and support capacity where justified, strengthen case preparation and independent judicial processes, and modernize cross-agency records with privacy and appeal safeguards. Establish procurement controls and tested accessibility standards. Faster processing must not rely on treating the absence of a lawyer or interpreter as proof that a proceeding was fair.

PHASE THREE · IMPLEMENT LEGISLATED PATHWAYS

Phase in newly authorized entry and protection rules, publish consistent eligibility instructions, evaluate labor-market and local-service effects, and fund realistic transition requirements. Test reforms in pilots before broad expansion and maintain independent evaluation of errors, appeals and detention outcomes.

THE TEN-YEAR LEDGER

A ten-fiscal-year model, with an explicit first-year forecast, must estimate adjudication staffing, courts, interpreters, legal representation if authorized, application technology, screening, detention and alternatives, data security, inspections, consular capacity, integration services and transition costs. The baseline should include already-enacted DHS and Justice appropriations, and should avoid counting an existing funded position as a new saving.

GAO reported that a July 2025 law provided $45 billion through fiscal year 2029 for expanded ICE detention capacity, while a June 2026 law appropriated additional funds for immigration enforcement and mission support (Source 09). Those enacted appropriations are not AP's proposed cost. A fiscal forecast must address cancellation or redirection restrictions, contractual commitments, new receipts, fee revenue and indirect economic effects separately.

No national ten-year net-cost estimate is defensible before AP settles eligibility changes, court staffing targets, enforcement boundaries, custody policy and transition dates. Publish low, central and high scenarios with clear denominators, transparent baseline years and independent review. A country cannot balance its immigration budget by pretending detention costs nothing or that every new worker instantly pays for every public service.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Expanded lawful routes may require significant administrative capacity and generate political disagreement over admissions levels, wages, housing, schools and public benefits. Faster case processing can create pressure to sacrifice individualized review. Weak identity checks may undermine public confidence. Poorly supervised detention can harm individuals and expose government to legal risk. Technology modernization can produce new errors, surveillance and vendor dependency.

Those favoring stricter enforcement emphasize border control, removal of people without lawful status and the need to deter irregular entry. Those favoring expanded admissions and humanitarian protections emphasize family unity, lawful opportunity and preventing wrongful removal to danger. A workable proposal must compare evidence on compliance, capacity, labor effects, rights and safety without assuming either concern disappears by calling the other side a name.

MEASURING SUCCESS

Publish adjudication times by case type, pending cases, error and appeal outcomes, legal-access rates, interpreter availability, detention inspection findings, custodial injuries and deaths, visa processing accuracy, lawful compliance, case attendance, naturalization processing and fiscal cost per completed action. Distinguish initial filings from unique people and court completions from grants of relief. Release methodology and protect personal information.

A DECISION SHOULD NOT TAKE A LIFETIME.

A functioning immigration system needs actual rules, actual people to administer them, and actual answers delivered within a reasonable time. A humane one recognizes that the people moving through the system are human beings, even when the government ultimately denies their applications. Neither principle requires the abandonment of the other.

AP's proposal is to write a system whose promises can survive contact with a border office, a courtroom, a family and a budget. Count what works. Investigate what fails. Fix the rules that produce unnecessary harm. The United States can maintain lawful borders without making orderly administration an endurance sport.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

01 · U.S. Department of State — Immigrate; immigrant visa categories and federal agency responsibilities. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate.html

02 · U.S. Department of Justice — Executive Office for Immigration Review, Workload and Adjudication Statistics, updated October 20, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/eoir/workload-and-adjudication-statistics

03 · Office of the Law Revision Counsel — 8 U.S.C. §1158, Asylum, statutory text current through October 2026. https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/119-121/t8/s1158/

04 · Office of the Law Revision Counsel — 8 U.S.C. §1229a, Removal Proceedings; procedural rights. https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/t8/s1229a/

05 · Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University — Immigration Court Quick Facts, September 2026. https://www.tracreports.org/immigration/quickfacts/eoir.html

06 · U.S. Department of Justice, EOIR — Fiscal Year 2026 Significant Accomplishments, October 29, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1469266/dl?inline=

07 · Bureau of Justice Statistics — Immigration Court Statistics, Fiscal Years 2018–2023, September 17, 2026. https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/immigration-court-statistics-fiscal-years-2018-2023-cases-referred

08 · U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — Pathway to U.S. Citizenship, updated 2026. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/guides/M-685.pdf

09 · U.S. Government Accountability Office — Immigration Detention: Changes in Inspections of ICE Facilities Raise Questions About Oversight, GAO-27-109299, November 5, 2026. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-27-109299

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WE ARE ONE.  ·  E PLURIBUS UNUM.