The Immigrants' Rights Project (IRP) of the American Civil Liberties Union works to defend the civil and constitutional rights of immigrants through a comprehensive program of impact litigation and public education. The IRP files constitutional and class action lawsuits protecting the historic guarantee to judicial review, enforcing fair employment practices and maintaining constitutional safeguards against detention practices and biased asylum adjudication. For ten years, the IRP has been at the forefront of every major legal struggle securing immigrants' rights; this role has become particularly crucial since the passage of two 1996 congressional acts implementing the most radical and draconian cutbacks to immigrants' rights ever.

The Immigrants' Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation was established in 1987 to expand and enforce the civil rights and civil liberties of non-citizens and to combat public and private discrimination against immigrants. From offices in New York and California, Immigrants' Rights Project attorneys litigate cases in federal courts throughout the country and provide legal support to advocacy organizations and community groups nationwide.

Defending the rights of immigrants was one of the founding principles of the ACLU; the Project carries on that historic commitment. The need to protect immigrants' rights has increased as immigrants have become scapegoats for myriad social and economic woes. In 1996, at the apogee of a level of virulent anti-immigrant hostility not seen since the turn of the century, Congress enacted new punitive, discriminatory and, at minimum, constitutionally flawed legislation that targeted the civil liberties and civil rights of newcomers and longtime legal resident immigrants alike. The Immigrants' Rights Project currently targets the following priority areas: unconstitutional restrictions on the right to judicial review; indefinite and mandatory detention of immigrants; post-9/11 policies and practices; local anti-immigrant ordinances; and public and private discriminatory practices targeting immigrants and immigrant workers. The IRP also supports ACLU affiliates' work to protect immigrants' rights and conducts a program of public education and advocacy.

Immigrants' Rights Project Staff

Lucas Guttentag — Director, California and New York
Judy Rabinovitz — Deputy Project Director, New York
Lee Gelernt — Deputy Project Director, New York
Cecillia Wang — Managing Attorney, California
Robin Goldfaden — Senior Staff Attorney, California
Mariana Bustamante — Education Coordinator, California
Vivek Malhotra — State Strategist, California
Omar Jadwat — Staff Counsel, New York
Amrit Singh — Staff Counsel, New York
Jennifer Chang Newell — Staff Counsel, California
Mónica M. Ramírez — Staff Counsel, California
Eunice Lee — Equal Justice Works Fellow, New York
Caroline Cincotta — Soros Justice Advocacy Fellow, California
Harini Raghupathi — Skadden Fellow, California
Michael Tan — Arthur Liman Fellow, New York
Farrin Anello — Skadden Fellow, New York

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Katie Traverso — Paralegal, New York
Ben Chandler — Paralegal, California
Jessica Paz-Cedillos — Paralegal, California
Konny Huh — Legal Assistant, New York

Contact Information

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS PROJECT

New York Office
125 Broad Street
New York, NY 10004-2400
Tel: 212-549-2660
Fax: 212-549-2654

California Office
39 Drumm Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
Tel: 415-343-0770
Fax: 415-395-0950

e-mail: immrights@aclu.org