Immigrants' Rights
Garland v. Gonzalez

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Garland v. Gonzalez
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Heard
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

Learn about Immigrants' Rights
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Featured

Immigrants' Rights
Innovation Law Lab v. Wolf
Status: Filed
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: Filed
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: Vacated and Remanded
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: Decided
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: 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
Nov 18, 2022


Nov 18, 2022
Lawsuit Against ICE for Denying Access to Counsel
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Filed
Each day, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lock up thousands of immigrants across the United States in detention centers as they await adjudication of their civil immigration proceedings. The outcome of those proceedings is often life and death. Yet ICE has implemented policies that make it extremely difficult—and in many cases impossible—for people in immigration detention to access their attorneys.
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Nov 15, 2022


Nov 15, 2022
Huisha-Huisha v. Mayorkas
Immigrants' Rights
Groups that sued the Trump administration over Title 42 expulsions of asylum seekers headed back to court on August 2, 2021, after hitting an impasse in negotiations with the Biden administration to end the policy.
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Jan 20, 2022


Jan 20, 2022
Brooks v. Woods
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Filed
The American Civil Liberties Union, along with the ACLU of Florida, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Zuckerman Spaeder LLP, filed a federal lawsuit on Jan. 20, 2022, on behalf of Neville Brooks, a legal permanent resident from Jamaica who was detained by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) on false suspicion of being in the U.S. unlawfully.
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Jan 20, 2022


Jan 20, 2022
Brooks v. Woods
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Filed
The American Civil Liberties Union, along with the ACLU of Florida, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Zuckerman Spaeder LLP, filed a federal lawsuit on Jan. 20, 2022, on behalf of Neville Brooks, a legal permanent resident from Jamaica who was detained by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) on false suspicion of being in the U.S. unlawfully.
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Dec 07, 2021


Dec 07, 2021
Pham v. Guzman Chavez
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Decided
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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