Arbitrary Detention

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Arbitrary detention is a violation of due process, the right every person has to be informed of and to contest the reason for their imprisonment. In the United States, arbitrary detention commonly occurs when police stop people without sufficient cause and immigration officials hold people in detention for months on end without the chance to see a judge.

Guided by principles in the U.S. Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights we work to end arbitrary detention in the U.S.

Litigate

We go to court with human rights defenders pursuing systemic change.

June 5, 2025

RFK Human Rights v. Department of State: Ending the U.S. backroom deal to disappear people to a Salvadoran prison

This case challenges a secret and illegal agreement between the U.S. Department of State and the government of El Salvador that allows people deported from the United States—including asylum seekers, longtime U.S. residents, and even U.S. citizens, as threatened by the President—to be indefinitely detained in a notorious Salvadoran mega-prison in brutal conditions.
May 6, 2025

Ceesay v. Kurzdorfer: Defending Due Process at ICE Check-ins

This case challenges the government’s practice of arbitrarily arresting people without notice at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) check-ins after years of reporting without incident under an order of supervision.
October 22, 2024

Nersisian v Harper: Fighting disability discrimination in immigration detention

This case challenges the arbitrary and abusive immigration detention of a 51-year-old woman with severe disabilities.
July 11, 2023

Cenesca v. Feeley: Fighting prolonged solitary confinement in immigration detention

This case challenges the U.S. government’s practice of coercing Black immigrants into accepting deportation by locking them in indefinite immigration detention and prolonged solitary confinement.
May 19, 2023

Hodge v. Brophy: Fighting indefinite civil detention

This case seeks to affirm immigrants’ rights to U.S. constitutional protections against unjustly prolonged civil detention.
June 1, 2022

Davis v. Garland: Fighting indefinite civil detention

This case seeks to affirm immigrants’ rights to U.S. constitutional protections against unjustly prolonged civil detention.

Expose

We uncover wrongdoing in reports, complaints, and public hearings.

Educate

We inform the public and policymakers about systemic human rights abuses and how to stop them.

Our Partners

Center for Constitutional Rights

The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

ccrjustice.org
California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ)

CCIJ utilizes coordination, advocacy, and legal services to fight for the liberation of immigrants in detention in California.

ccijustice.org/
Global Rights Advocacy (GRA)

CCIJ utilizes coordination, advocacy, and legal services to fight for the liberation of immigrants in detention in California.

globalrightsadvocacy.org
Project South

Project South’s work is rooted in the legacy of the Southern Freedom Movement, and our mission of cultivating strong social movements in the South powerful enough to contend with some of the most pressing and complicated social, economic, and political problems we face today.

projectsouth.org
Seattle University School of Law

Seattle University is dedicated to educating the whole person, to professional formation, and to empowering leaders for a just and humane world.

law.seattleu.edu
La Resistencia

La Resistencia is a grassroots organization led by undocumented immigrants and people of color that have been oppressed by the immigration enforcement system.

laresistencianw.org
Gittis Legal Clinics

The Gittis Legal Clinics are Penn Carey Law’s teaching law firm, comprised of nine in-house clinics that offer students unique opportunities to develop essential lawyering skills and professional values.

law.upenn.edu

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