A year ago, Ella* found herself walking down the middle of one of New York City’s avenues, tall buildings on either side, surrounded by a crowd of approximately 150,000 people, all of them members of the LGBTQIA+ community or supporters. She held a sign, “Post Soviet and Queer,” and her hair was…
- As someone who works closely with people in immigration detention, I’ve been able to see the ways that the COVID-19 crisis has been completely mismanaged by detention centers and prisons. While the health effects to those incarcerated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot be…
- Alejandra's past issues with addiction meant that her check-in with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was more than just a routine bureaucratic stopover--she could be detained and deported, and separated from her children. Alejandra's community and attorneys rallied around her in support,…
- World Refugee Day marked a somber anniversary this year for the state of human rights in the United States. Three months earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) determined that migrants—including refugees—could be vectors for COVID-19, justifying the unprecedented…
- My name is Yesenia, and I am a DACA recipient and a nurse. As of a few weeks ago, I have been a nurse primarily in the COVID-19 unit at my local hospital in Indiana, where I live. Since COVID-19 began, my world, along with everyone else's, has been flipped upside down. It is hard to express how…
- For many immigrant rights advocates, now is a time for renewed solidarity with the movement to end anti-Black racism. But if the past is prologue, these expressions of solidarity will wither unless we insist on tangible and enduring bridges between our movements. Recognizing those bridges will not…
- Volunteer attorneys are essential to the National Immigrant Justice Center’s mission of ensuring human rights protections and access to justice for immigrants and asylum seekers. Currently, 2,100 pro bono attorneys partner with NIJC in 17 states across the U.S. on a variety of direct representation…
- Two months ago, the Executive Branch sealed the U.S. border and began mass expulsions of over 20,000 migrants, returning countless asylum seekers to the very harm they fled. However, closing the border under the guise of public health was a long-standing project of the Trump administration’s anti-…
- The week of March 9th for Barbara was one full of anxious waiting by the mailbox. On the 11th, after months of waiting, her green card came in--ensuring she could stay and continue the life she had started to build in the United States. On the 13th, she was matched into a pharmaceutical residency,…
- Johannes Favi shared his story on May 13, 2020, with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship during its “Democratic Virtual Roundtable on ICE’s Response to COVID-19.” NIJC represents Mr. Favi in his immigration case and won his…