undocumented migrants

Every day, about 32,000 illegal immigrant detainees -- including women and children -- are kept in conditions criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union as overcrowded, inhumane and unsafe.

Now, the Department of Homeland Security is reforming its illegal immigrant detention policies for nonviolent detainees awaiting their day in court -- such as those who just arrived, seeking asylum from their home countries' conflicts and persecution. 

In addition to centralizing its scattered, fractured oversight, the U.S.

Conservative law professor Kris Kobach has his fingers in cases against illegal immigration across the country, winning rulings that will incrementally make it harder for businesses to employ undocumented workers in Arizona and for undocumented students to pay in-state tuition in California.

Julia Preston of The New York Times chronicles how Kobach is taking center stage in the local governments' fight to enforce immigration restrictions that were once the sole purview of the federal government.