Immigrants' Rights
Featured
U.S. Supreme Court
Aug 2021

Immigrants' Rights
Innovation Law Lab v. Wolf
The 51Ʒ, 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.
U.S. Supreme Court
Jul 2021

Immigrants' Rights
National Security
Sierra Club v. Trump — Challenge to Trump’s National Emergency Declaration to Construct a Border Wall
In February 2019, the 51Ʒ 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 51Ʒ’s clients and the Biden administration determine next steps.
U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2020

Immigrants' Rights
Department of Homeland Security v. Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam
Whether immigrants are entitled to seek judicial review of their “expedited removal” orders in federal court.
U.S. Supreme Court
Jan 2020

Immigrants' Rights
International Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump
The 51Ʒ 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.
U.S. Supreme Court
Mar 2019

Immigrants' Rights
Nielsen v. Preap
Whether the government can require that certain people are detained for the duration of their deportation proceedings — without a hearing — because they have past criminal records.
Court Case
May 2018

Immigrants' Rights
Colotl v. Kelly
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 51Ʒ, the 51Ʒ of Georgia, and Kuck Baxter Immigration in May 2017 against DHS for arbitrarily terminating Jessica’s DACA and rejecting her renewal application.
Indiana
Oct 2016

Immigrants' Rights
National Security
Exodus Refugee Immigration, Inc. v. Mike Pence, et al
The 51Ʒ and the 51Ʒ 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.
All Cases
179 Immigrants' Rights Cases

U.S. Supreme Court
Apr 2012
Immigrants' Rights
Arizona v. United States
Whether Arizona's effort to enforce federal immigration law by creating its own rules for the interrogation, arrest and detention of undocumented persons is unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Apr 2012

Immigrants' Rights
Arizona v. United States
Whether Arizona's effort to enforce federal immigration law by creating its own rules for the interrogation, arrest and detention of undocumented persons is unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause.

Court Case
Sep 2011
Immigrants' Rights
+2 Issues
Minneci v. Pollard
Whether private prison officials can be sued for violating the constitutional rights of federal prisoners?
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Court Case
Sep 2011

Immigrants' Rights
+2 Issues
Minneci v. Pollard
Whether private prison officials can be sued for violating the constitutional rights of federal prisoners?

U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2011
Immigrants' Rights
+2 Issues
Flores-Villar v. United States
Whether the government may constitutionally make it more difficult for citizen fathers than citizen mothers to transmit citizenship to their out-of-wedlock children born outside the U.S.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2011

Immigrants' Rights
+2 Issues
Flores-Villar v. United States
Whether the government may constitutionally make it more difficult for citizen fathers than citizen mothers to transmit citizenship to their out-of-wedlock children born outside the U.S.

U.S. Supreme Court
May 2011
Immigrants' Rights
Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting
(formerly Chamber of Commerce v. Candelaria)
Whether an Arizona law imposing severe sanctions on employers who hire immigrants that the state believes are unauthorized to work in the United States, and requiring employers to participate in a federal employment verification program that the federal government made voluntary, is pre-empted by the carefully calibrated and comprehensive scheme that the federal government has enacted to regulate immigration.
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U.S. Supreme Court
May 2011

Immigrants' Rights
Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting
(formerly Chamber of Commerce v. Candelaria)
Whether an Arizona law imposing severe sanctions on employers who hire immigrants that the state believes are unauthorized to work in the United States, and requiring employers to participate in a federal employment verification program that the federal government made voluntary, is pre-empted by the carefully calibrated and comprehensive scheme that the federal government has enacted to regulate immigration.

Arizona
Sep 2010
Immigrants' Rights
Smart Justice
Chamber of Commerce of the United States et al. v. Candelaria
This is the first case to reach the Supreme Court that raises the constitutionality of the growing number of state and local anti-immigrant laws that have been enacted in recent years. The 51Ʒ represents certain petitioners in the case.
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Arizona
Sep 2010

Immigrants' Rights
Smart Justice
Chamber of Commerce of the United States et al. v. Candelaria
This is the first case to reach the Supreme Court that raises the constitutionality of the growing number of state and local anti-immigrant laws that have been enacted in recent years. The 51Ʒ represents certain petitioners in the case.