Amid declining public support for mass deportation, the American Immigration Council has proposed a new framework aimed at reforming the U.S. immigration enforcement system to enhance credibility and humanity.
Washington, D.C., May 12 – The American Immigration Council has unveiled a comprehensive framework calling for a significant overhaul of the United States’ immigration enforcement system. This proposal argues that the current approach is fundamentally disconnected from public safety and has confined the immigration debate to a false dichotomy: either mass deportation or no enforcement at all.
Titled “Restoring Credibility and Humanity: A New Framework for Immigration Enforcement,” the document outlines a roadmap designed to replace indiscriminate mass deportation with a system that emphasizes compliance with the law. The framework prioritizes addressing public safety threats, implementing proportionate consequences, and ensuring meaningful accountability for government misconduct.
The proposal comes in response to increasing backlash against the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, which has affected long-term residents, families, business owners, and individuals actively seeking lawful status.
“Mass deportation has eroded public trust in the federal government by treating every immigrant as a violent criminal,” said Nayna Gupta, national policy director and co-author of the report. “A credible system should provide a pathway for those who want to follow the rules and impose consequences that are proportionate to the actual violation. The Trump administration has weaponized outdated laws that use detention and deportation as a one-size-fits-all punishment, even for individuals with long-standing ties who pose no public safety threat.”
The framework proposes major reforms across four key pillars:
First, it suggests creating a new process for long-term undocumented residents to attain lawful permanent status through fines, community service, and probation-like systems, rather than facing deportation.
Second, it calls for revising outdated laws to focus enforcement efforts on individuals convicted of violent or particularly serious recent crimes, while also professionalizing enforcement practices.
Third, the framework advocates for legislating new, proportionate consequences for violations of immigration law, moving away from the current practice of subjecting every violator to detention and deportation.
Finally, it emphasizes the need for independent oversight and enhanced court authority to hold immigration agencies and agents accountable for any abuses of power.
The framework posits that immigration enforcement should not be measured by the number of deportations executed, but rather by the consistency, fairness, and humanity with which laws are enforced.
“The whole goal when all this immigration stuff started ramping up about a year and a half ago was to get violent offenders off the street. And no one has any problem with that,” said Joseph Kennedy, sheriff of Dubuque County, Iowa. “The issue is you have people who are here and they are following the rules—people who are reporting to their regular check-ins and being taken into custody at those check-ins. Things like that really erode trust and make it more dangerous for everyone when law enforcement can’t be trusted.”
The framework also emphasizes the necessity of sweeping accountability reforms, asserting that public confidence in immigration enforcement cannot be restored without meaningful oversight and consequences for abuses of power. This includes measures to rein in or remove agencies and agents that misuse their authority. Among other recommendations, the proposal calls for expanding judicial authority to review unlawful enforcement actions, establishing an independent immigration accountability commission, strengthening internal oversight offices within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and enabling victims of civil rights violations to pursue legal action.
“Building a credible and humane immigration enforcement system depends on establishing that enforcement agencies are accountable both to the public and other branches of government,” stated Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow and co-author of the report. “No law enforcement agency can maintain legitimacy if abuses of power carry no consequences. A credible enforcement system must empower courts and Congress with stronger authority to intervene when federal agencies and officers overstep their bounds.”
The framework warns that the U.S. has reached a critical juncture after decades of immigration policymaking that has been overly punitive rather than focused on long-term compliance and public safety. According to the report, continuing down the path of indiscriminate enforcement risks entrenching the country in a permanent system of mass detention and social disruption.
“We are facing a choice between indiscriminate enforcement that destabilizes communities and diverts resources from genuine public safety threats, versus credible enforcement that is targeted, proportional, and genuinely capable of delivering public safety,” Gupta added. “The question is not whether immigration laws should be enforced. The question is whether enforcement will be smart, focused, and humane, or driven by fear, quotas, and political theater.”
The full framework is available for review on the American Immigration Council’s website.
According to American Immigration Council, the proposed reforms aim to restore humanity and credibility to the immigration enforcement system.