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Racial Discrimination
Racial discrimination runs counter to fundamental U.S. and international human rights values of fairness and equality under the law. But it continues in the U.S. criminal and immigration systems through discriminatory arrests, deportations, incarceration and detention, and law enforcement harassment and violence.
Guided by principles in the U.S. Constitution and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, we work to end racial discrimination in the U.S. criminal and immigration systems.
Litigate
We go to court with human rights defenders pursuing systemic change.
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RFK Human Rights v. Department of Homeland Security: Exposing coercion of unaccompanied children
This case under the Freedom of Information Act seeks to expose the U.S. government’s practice of depriving unaccompanied immigrant children of legal protections from deportation and imprisonment in adult detention centers by destroying their birth certificates, coercing false confessions of adulthood, and falsifying age records through racially biased, pseudo-scientific forensic tests.
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Monroe v. United States: Dismantling barriers to accountability for police brutality
This case seeks to protect the human right to a remedy and reparation for survivors and victims of U.S. police brutality. It asks the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to instruct the United States to reform civil laws to ensure access to civil remedies for people subjected to police brutality.
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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.
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J.K.A. v. United States of America: Stopping retaliation for protesting detention center abuses
This case seeks accountability for torture and other cruel and degrading treatment the government inflicted on individuals it held in immigration detention in Louisiana and during and after their deportation flights to Cameroon.
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Haitian Bridge Alliance v. DHS: Exposing anti-Black discrimination at the border
This case under the Freedom of Information Act seeks documents explaining why the US engaged military-grade force for the mass detention and expulsion of more than 15,000 people at the southern border in Del Rio, Texas in September 2021. The majority of those expelled were Haitian and other Black immigrants.
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Pigott v. Gintz: Defending children against race-motivated excessive force
This case seeks accountability for a Louisiana police officer’s use of race-motivated excessive force during a police seizure.
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
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Atlas of Blackness
Atlas of Blackness (AOB) is a grassroots multimedia artistic research-based organization that mentors Black foster youth by providing them with resources to document their untold stories to produce authentic narratives rooted in their truth. Their work includes mutual aid support, Documenting MN community journalism program, child welfare & prison research, and resource sharing, including legal support.
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California Mandela Campaign
Solitary confinement is one of the most severe and destructive practices used in detention facilities. The World Health Organization, United Nations, and other international bodies have recognized solitary confinement as greatly harmful and potentially fatal. People with disabilities, pregnant people, youth, and the elderly are all at heightened risk from the harm caused by solitary…
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The #HALTsolitary Campaign
The New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement (NYCAIC), the coalition behind the #HALTsolitary Campaign, works to end solitary confinement for all people, promote alternatives proven to better protect people’s health and safety, and build on these changes to dismantle the racial injustices and punishment paradigm that underpin the entire incarceration system.
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Haitian Bridge Alliance
The Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) also known as “The BRIDGE” is a 501(c)(3) grassroots nonprofit community organization that advocates for fair and humane immigration policies and provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, legal, and social services, with a particular focus on Black people, the Haitian community, women and girls, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and survivors of torture…
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The Unlock the Box Campaign
Unlock the Box is a national advocacy campaign aimed at ending solitary confinement in all U.S. prisons, jails, detention facilities, and juvenile facilities, and bringing the United States into full compliance with the UN’s Mandela Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners within 10 years.
Read the Latest
Human Rights Organizations Urge International Commission to Review Louisiana Police Violence Case
US police use lethal, military-grade force against Black people and civic space activists: report to UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
RFK Human Rights Submits Evidence to UN Special Rapporteur of Disproportionate, Deadly Policing in the U.S.
Ending solitary confinement in immigration detention: a guide to litigation and advocacy strategies
RFK Human Rights v. Department of Homeland Security: Exposing coercion of unaccompanied children
Monroe v. United States: Dismantling barriers to accountability for police brutality
Human Rights Groups Urge United Nations Racial Justice Body to Address Legal Barriers for Victims of Police Violence
Associated Press: Civil rights groups sue to restore jobs at Homeland Security oversight offices that were gutted
US imposes barriers to accountability for police brutality: report to UN International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement
Help us protect human rights
Please give now. Your contribution will make a difference in the critical effort to achieve equal rights for all.