Immigrants' Rights
Garland v. Gonzalez

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Garland v. Gonzalez
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Ongoing
Whether the Immigration and Nationality Act requires a bond hearing for immigrants subject to prolonged detention while seeking protection in the U.S. from persecution or torture.
What's at stake

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Featured

Immigrants' Rights
Innovation Law Lab v. Wolf
Status: Ongoing
The American Civil Liberties Union, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Center for Gender & Refugee Studies filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s new policy forcing asylum seekers to return to Mexico and remain there while their cases are considered.
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Immigrants' Rights
Sierra Club v. Trump — Challenge to Trump’s National Emergency Declaration to Construct a Border Wall
Status: Ongoing
In February 2019, the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s emergency powers declaration to secure funds to build a wall along the southern border. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition. The lawsuit argues that the president is usurping Congress’s appropriations power and threatening the clearly defined separation of powers inscribed in the Constitution. On January 20, 2021, President Biden halted further border wall construction. Litigation in this and subsequent related challenges has been paused or deadlines extended while the ACLU’s clients and the Biden administration determine next steps.
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Immigrants' Rights
New York Immigration Coalition v. Trump
Status: Ongoing
The American Civil Liberties Union, New York Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, and Arnold & Porter filed a federal lawsuit July 24, 2020, on behalf of immigrants’ rights groups challenging President Trump’s order seeking to block people who are undocumented from being counted in the U.S. census.
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Immigrants' Rights
International Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump
Status: Closed (Judgment)
The American Civil Liberties Union and other partner organizations filed a federal lawsuit challenging President Trump’s Muslim ban executive order, charging it violates the Constitution — including the First Amendment’s prohibition of government establishment of religion and the Fifth Amendment’s guarantees of equal treatment under the law — and federal laws.
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Immigrants' Rights
Colotl v. Kelly
Status: Closed (Settled)
UPDATE 5/25/18: The Department of Homeland Security has agreed to renew Jessica Colotl’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and work permit to resolve a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Georgia, and Kuck Baxter Immigration in May 2017 against DHS for arbitrarily terminating Jessica’s DACA and rejecting her renewal application.
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Immigrants' Rights
Exodus Refugee Immigration, Inc. v. Mike Pence, et al
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Indiana, on behalf of Exodus Refugee Immigration, filed suit against Governor Mike Pence and the secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to stop attempts to suspend resettlement of Syrian refugees, claiming the governor’s actions violate the United States Constitution and federal law.
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All Cases
December 7, 2021


December 7, 2021
Pham v. Guzman Chavez
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Closed (Judgment)
Whether the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) requires a bond hearing for noncitizens who are detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) while they seek protection from persecution or torture.
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December 7, 2021


December 7, 2021
Sanchez v. Mayorkas
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Closed (Judgment)
Whether the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes all noncitizens who are granted Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) to obtain a green card.
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November 29, 2021

November 29, 2021
Inland Empire – Immigrant Youth Collective v. McAleenan
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Closed (Judgment)
The ACLU and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California won a nationwide preliminary injunction on behalf of a class of young immigrants challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful revocations of their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status.
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August 25, 2021


August 25, 2021
Biden v. Texas
Immigrants' Rights
The so-called “Migrant Protection Protocols” were a program under the Trump administration that sent asylum seekers back to Mexico to wait for an asylum hearing. The ACLU sued to stop this illegal program, including filing amicus briefs at every level up to the Supreme Court to defend the termination of this cruel and misguided program.
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March 11, 2021

March 11, 2021
Ms. L v. ICE
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Ongoing
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit seeking to reunite an asylum-seeking mother and her 7-year-old daughter fleeing violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, only to be forcibly torn from each other in the U.S. and detained separately 2,000 miles apart.
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