The Time Is Now
LitiGATIOn and advocacy
ImmDef launched our Litigation and Advocacy Program in 2019 with the goal of creating systemic change to dismantle the systems that seek to deport our clients and separate our families.
Our project specifically focuses on issues related to access to counsel, detention conditions and ending immigration detention, violation of rights of unaccompanied minors, cruel and inhumane treatment of asylum seekers and systemic violations of due process rights.
Creating Systemic Change
through Groundbreaking Litigation
The Litigation & Advocacy team has developed a robust impact litigation and legal advocacy strategy on select cases in immigration and federal court, both at the initial and appellate level.
These advocacy efforts have grown following the 2016 presidential election as federal government border enforcement efforts intensified. The time is now for California to show the rest of the nation who we are and what values we hold dear:
inclusivity, due process, and justice for all.
IMMDEF'S ADVOCACY
ImmDef has partaken in groundbreaking litigation such as the Innovation Law Lab V McAleenan case, a federal lawsuit that challenged the Trump administration’s policy forcing asylum seekers to return and remain in Mexico while their cases are considered. In Rodriguez Castillo v. Nielsen we partnered with the ACLU taking on the Trump Administration, regarding access to counsel in a detention center in Victorville, CA. In this case hundreds of asylum-seekers detained at Victorville FCI, in the summer of 2018, were being held without access to counsel. ImmDef sued for access and obtained a temporary restraining order requiring the government to allow access to counsel, allowing ImmDef to provide Know Your Rights presentations and legal orientations to the immigrant detainees.
ImmDef’s Director of Litigation and Advocacy was also instrumental in pushing the government to respect the religious rights of the hundreds of Sikh detainees who were held without adequate access to religiously appropriate head coverings, texts, or vegetarian meals.
ImmDef participated in Torres v. McAleenan a lawsuit regarding access to counsel in Adelanto Detention Center, as well as the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project vs. Barr case, an in absentia removal order lawsuit filed in District Court, and the Southern District of New York Second Circuit in which the judge dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
Featured Cases
April 6, 2022
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Federal complaint detailing the abuse of immigrant children in CBP custody.
January 14, 2021
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Suit against the Trump administration for violating the fundamental statutory and constitutional rights of our child clients.
October 28, 2020
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Suite against the Trump Administration to put an end to DHS' implementation of MPP.
April 15, 2020
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Habeas Petition for medically vulnerable person in ICE detention during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
March 26, 2020
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Application for Temporary Restraining Order for medically vulnerable person in ICE detention during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
ImmDef Advocacy: Title 42
ImmDef's Executive Director, Lindsay Toczylowski, speaking about the tremendous danger Title-42 and other inhumane policies pose on people seeking ayslum.