News & Commentary written by Katrina Eiland

Katrina Eiland is a deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project (IRP), based in the San Francisco office. Katrina engages in high impact litigation and advocacy to protect the civil rights of immigrant communities. She has litigated numerous cases at IRP, including several suits to preserve access to asylum for people fleeing persecution. She has also successfully challenged the Trump administration’s unlawful termination of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and immigration enforcement abuses by federal and local law enforcement agencies. She is a graduate of Stanford Law School and the University of California, Los Angeles. Katrina was a law clerk to the Honorable Keith P. Ellison of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Prior to joining IRP, Katrina litigated complex wage and hour, employment discrimination, disability access, and voting rights cases, including suits on behalf of DACA recipients unlawfully denied employment.

Katrina has won numerous awards for her public interest legal work. In 2014, she received the ACLU of Southern California’s Voting Rights Award for her work representing Latino residents in the City of Anaheim under the California Voting Rights Act and was the recipient of the 2020 Miles L. Rubin Public Interest Award from Stanford Law School. In 2017, she was selected as a “Rising Star for Northern California” by Super Lawyers.

Ms. Eiland has presented on various topics related to civil rights litigation, including class action mootness and class action waivers in arbitration agreements.

She is a member of the California State Bar and is admitted to the United States District Courts for the Central and Northern Districts of California and to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.