Immigrants' Rights

When the government has the power to deny legal rights and due process to one vulnerable group, everyone’s rights are at risk. Our work is dedicated to expanding and enforcing the civil liberties and civil rights of immigrants and to combating public and private discrimination against them.

Using targeted impact litigation, advocacy, and public outreach, the ACLU protects the rights and liberties of immigrants. For more than 25 years, the ACLU has been at the forefront of almost every major legal struggle on behalf of immigrants’ rights, focusing on challenging laws that deny immigrants access to the courts, impose indefinite and mandatory detention, and discriminate on the basis of nationality. In addition, we have challenged constitutional abuses that arise from immigration enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels, including anti-immigrant “show me your papers” laws at the state level and unconstitutional enforcement tactics by the federal government and local agencies.