Arbitrary Detention
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Ending solitary confinement in immigration detention: a guide to litigation and advocacy strategies
Tags Share Egregious abuse of solitary confinement is found throughout the U.S. immigration detention system. From 2017 to 2021, the United States imprisoned immigrants in solitary confinement over 14,500 times. In 2017, the average duration of placement was 33 days; in 2022, the average was 22 days, with a high duration of 242 days. The…
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RFK Human Rights publishes resource guide for victims of arbitrary detention
Tags Share Washington, D.C., May 28, 2025 – Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights today published a new guide that outlines best practices for engaging with the United States government on arbitrary and wrongful detention cases. The guide was created as a practical resource for family members of individuals who are arbitrarily detained overseas. It is…
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Quarterly Investor Risk Briefs for Private Prison Companies Geo Group and CoreCivic
Our quarterly investor risk briefs highlight timely risks for shareholders in GEO Group and CoreCivic.
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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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Guide on Engaging the United States Government on Arbitrary or Wrongful Detention Cases
Tags Share Addressing arbitrary and wrongful detention through advocacy and litigation is an area of extensive expertise and experience for RFK Human Rights. In the last decade, we have worked with families of arbitrarily and wrongfully detained individuals, including US persons, to facilitate their release and return home. A central reflection from our engagements with…
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CNN: Trump appointee grilled in court about shuttering Homeland Security offices tasked with civil rights oversight
Tags Share A federal judge said that she had concerns about being “hoodwinked” by plans put forward in her courtroom Monday by a Trump appointee to rebuild three offices focused on civil rights oversight within the Department of Homeland Security that were eviscerated with mass layoffs set to take effect this week. US District Judge…
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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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NBC Boston: Rumeysa Ozturk shares concern for hundreds of women still in ICE custody in Louisiana
Tags Share After 45 days in federal custody, Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk has returned to Massachusetts following a judge’s order for her release from a Louisiana ICE detention facility. Her case has drawn national attention to the harsh conditions in privately run immigration centers. Ozturk has since spoken out on behalf of the 900…
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WIRED: Computer Ban Gave the Government Unfair Advantage in Anti-War Activist’s Case, Lawyer Says
Tags Share In a high-stakes deportation case involving Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, civil rights advocates are raising the alarm over an unfair government advantage in court. WIRED recently reported on an incident in which Khalil’s ACLU attorney was barred from using her laptop during a pivotal immigration hearing, all the while government lawyers were granted…
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The New York Times: El Salvador Put Trump Deportees Behind Bars. Now Their Families Are Suing.
Tags Share Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, alongside a coalition of migrant rights advocates, has filed a lawsuit with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of families whose loved ones were deported by the U.S. and imprisoned without due process in El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. According to the New York Times, the…
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The Associated Press: Rights groups sue to free Venezuelans deported from the US and held in El Salvador
Tags Share Earlier today, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and three other human rights organizations filed an emergency petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, urging the release of over 200 Venezuelan migrants deported by the U.S. and imprisoned without due process in El Salvador. Filed on behalf of the families of 18 detained…
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HuffPost: Human Rights Groups File Emergency Petition Over Trump Expulsions To Salvadoran Mega-Prison
Tags Share Working alongside three other human rights organizations, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights today filed an emergency petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of over a dozen families. The filing calls for the immediate release of hundreds of migrants, including Venezuelan and Salvadoran asylum seekers, who were deported by the…
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