Immigration and Immigrant Rights
Civil Rights, Immigration Services Groups Seek Emergency Relief To Halt Unlawful DHS Grant Freeze
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Washington, DC— Today, a coalition of civil rights and immigration services organizations filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to immediately block the Trump-Vance administration’s unlawful freeze on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant funding. The motion, filed in the U.S.
Civil Rights, Immigration Organizations Sue Trump Administration Over Funding Freeze That is Putting People at Risk
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Washington, DC — Today, a coalition of civil rights and immigration service organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s unlawful freeze on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant funding. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, argues that DHS’s broad and arbitrary decision to suspend all grants that “touch in any way on immigration” is unlawful, unconstitutional, and is causing ongoing harm to communities across the country.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Denounces President Trump’s Attempt to Invoke the Archaic Alien Enemies Act of 1798
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Asian Americans Advancing Justice, a network of four independent Asian American civil rights organizations, applauds the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for temporarily blocking President Trump's attempt to invoke the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), an archaic and discriminatory law incompatible with our nation's foundational principles of liberty, equality, and justice for all.
Advancing Justice – AAJC Calls Out Detention of Green Card Holder and Raises Concerns Over Lack of Due Process
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Washington, D.C. — Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC responds to the unfolding situation of the detention and deportation of green card holder, Mahmoud Khalil, and the current threats to legal protections in this country.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC Calls Out President Trump’s Attacks on Communities of Color in Remarks in Joint Session to Congress
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last night, President Trump delivered his first remarks to a joint session of Congress since taking office six weeks ago. In his speech, the President addressed what he and his administration consider “progress” and outlined his racist and xenophobic vision for America’s future. The President’s speech, which was full of baseless claims, downplayed the harm his administration has already caused to marginalized communities, including Asian Americans, and painted a chilling picture of what is to come.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC and Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs File Lawsuit on Behalf of OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates Over Unconstitutional Executive Order Ending Birthright Citizenship
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WASHINGTON, DC – Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC (Advancing Justice – AAJC) Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC), and OCA -Asian Pacific American Advocates (OCA) announced today a new lawsuit challenging President Trump’s authority to unilaterally strip citizenship from babies born in the U.S. to parents who are here on temporary visas or are undocumented. The lawsuit was filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
On his first day in office, Defendant President Trump moved to unilaterally end birthright citizenship by edict, eviscerating the rights of children and more than a century of settled law. His Executive Order entitled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” (the “Order”) directs every department and agency of the United States to refuse to recognize as an American citizen any child born on American soil whose mother is “unlawfully present” or temporarily present and whose father who is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (hereinafter, “Targeted Children”).
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC Denounces Confirmation of Kristi Noem as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Saturday, January 25, the Senate confirmed South Dakota governor Kristi Noem to the position of Secretary of Homeland Security. Noem has supported policies that target immigrant communities, refugees and asylum-seekers, and separate families.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Condemns Bill Mandating Detention
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Asian Americans Advancing Justice denounces the passage of S.5, also known as the Laken Riley Act. This passage threatens immigrant communities and allows anti-immigrant state officials to dictate federal immigration policy and international relations. The bill requires individuals who are arrested for lower-level offenses and who lack immigration status to be detained without possibility of bond and without a judge’s assessment of public safety or flight risk.
On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump issued more than a dozen Executive Orders (EOs) that seek to sow fear in immigrant communities. These orders seek to militarize our borders and immigration enforcement more broadly, massively expand the existing deportation and detention machinery, punish organizations that care for immigrants as well as local governments that prioritize protecting their residents, and misinterpret the U.S. Constitution and immigration laws.