U.S. Advocacy and Litigation
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ProPublica—Inside ICE Air: Flight Attendants on Deportation Planes Say Disaster Is “Only a Matter of Time”
Tags Share ProPublica reports on human rights abuses on U.S. deportation flights, including RFK Human Rights’ lawsuit on behalf of African asylum-seekers restrained for hours in the Wrap, a cross between a straitjacket and a sleeping bag that one federal judge has called torture. “Flight attendants were told they would fly rock bands, sports teams…
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American Immigration Council Suing Trump Administration Over Unprecedented Requirement That Immigrants Register with the Government
Tags Share The American Immigration Council and partner organizations filed a lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, DHS Secretary Noem, and other government defendants. The lawsuit challenges a rule published earlier this month by the Trump administration, which requires millions of people to register…
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Case management as a humane, effective, and evidence-backed alternative to ICE detention: FOIA request
On March 31, 2025, RFK Human Rights submitted a Freedom of Information Act Request to the Department of Homeland Security and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to seek information about the CMPP’s effectiveness, scope, and participant demographics.
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Human rights groups publish new guide on legal resources for detained immigrants
Tags Share Washington, D.C., March 25, 2025 – Earlier today, the Acacia Center for Justice (Acacia), Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (RFKHR), and ACLU of Louisiana (ACLU-LA) published a new guide that trains attorneys, advocates, and grassroots organizations how to provide legal services in immigration detention facilities. The guide directs practitioners through the process of…
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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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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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Prisoners’ Legal Services v. Department of Homeland Security: Protecting the First Amendment and Attorney-Client Privilege in ICE Detention
Officials at New York’s Buffalo Federal Detention Facility regularly open, copy, and retain privileged legal documents transmitted to detained people, including documents given in-person by attorneys meeting with clients. This practice chills detained people’ speech, encouraging impunity for ongoing abuses at the detention center.
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Civil Rights Groups and Advocates Call on Vermont to Implement Raise the Age Law
Tags Share MONTPELIER, Vt, March 19- A new coalition of Vermont and national civil rights and criminal justice reform organizations, advocates, and public officials called Treat Youth Like Youth is urging lawmakers to support the implementation of Vermont’s Raise the Age law. Passed in 2018, Raise the Age legislation made Vermont the first state in…
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USA Today: You say you’re American? You’d better be ready to prove it to police, ICE
Tags Share “President Donald Trump, an avowed fan of stop-and-frisk policing, now aims to take those practices national. His executive order requires federal law enforcement to treat a non-citizen’s failure to register or to carry proof of registration as a civil and criminal enforcement priority, punishable anywhere from one to six months in federal prison.” In…
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Human rights organizations urge United Nations to denounce abuse of LGBTQ+ people in immigration detention facilities
Tags Share Washington, D.C., February 18, 2025 – Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Black Diaspora Liberty Initiative, Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project, Immigration Equality, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, Sanctuary New Orleans Abolition Project, and the Transgender Law Center filed a joint submission urging the United Nations to denounce widespread abuse of LGBTQ+ people…
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