“They transferred me to a privately run detention center… There, I experienced the worst days of my life… [T]he barracks resemble a stable for livestock…  small, with metal bunks, worn-out rubber mattresses, wooden floors, bathrooms with the walls covered in green and yellow mold, weeds everywhere…

NIJC Executive Director Mary Meg McCarthy delivered the 2017 commencement address at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. It was an honor for NIJC to be acknowledged in this way as a leader in ensuring justice and due process for all in the United States. Watch the speech below (begins at 43…

  For refugees like George and Grace, finding an attorney can make a difference between a life of freedom and security or return to violence and persecution.   Help NIJC ensure that immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers have an opportunity to seek protection in the United States…

The immigration executive orders on signed by President Trump on January 25 and the implementation memo signed by Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on February 20 will impact American communities in profound ways, some immediately and others long-term. The administration’s…

The rise in xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States has sparked widespread fear and hysteria in immigrant communities as well as an abundance of misinformation. NIJC seeks to keep people informed by providing clear, accurate and up-to-date information.  For those who are…

Rampant violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras has prompted a substantial number of mothers and children to seek refuge in the United States over the past several years. In response, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under President Obama significantly expanded the detention of…

With a month left of the Obama presidency, 153 immigrant rights organizations sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson this week in a final urgent request for the administration to take steps to protect the safety and health of immigrants detained in the custody…

In June of 1999, Astrid Morataya, then a lawful permanent resident, pled guilty to a minor drug distribution offense. The circumstances were questionable – Astrid consistently denies she was involved with drugs and no drugs were ever recovered on her. The guilty plea, in the aftermath of the…

This term the U.S Supreme Court will hear argument in Jennings v. Rodriguez revisiting, for the first time in over a decade, constitutional concerns with mandatory detention of noncitizens facing deportation. The last time the Court considered this issue, in Demore v. Kim, it relied…

Tomorrow, during halftime of the Notre Dame-Stanford game, the university will premiere a video featuring the National Immigrant Justice Center's partnership with the Notre Dame Law School to fight for justice for immigrant families. The video tells the story of a mother and son who fled to the…