Immigrants’ Rights

Regardless of your immigration status, you have guaranteed rights.

As federal immigration enforcement has intensified in D.C., immigrant communities and their allies are organizing, supporting one another, and fighting back. In this episode of A More Perfect District, Andrea Ramos speaks with Madhvi Bahl from the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network and ACLU-D.C. Staff Attorney Aditi Shah about what is happening on D.C.’s streets and in the courts, what immigrants should know about their rights, and how community solidarity can help protect our neighbors.

No one should be above the law, including federal law enforcement. Yet when federal agents violate people’s constitutional rights, holding them accountable can be extraordinarily difficult. In this episode of A More Perfect District, ACLU-DC Paralegal & Intake Coordinator Ameerah Adetoro talks with Legal Director Scott Michelman about the barriers that can make it difficult to hold federal officers accountable, why accountability matters for protecting all of our rights, and what we can do to push for change.

Mais vos droits ne changent PAS lorsque vous franchissez ces frontières.

Among other things, ACLU-D.C. urges the Council to put pressure on MPD to implement all recommendations from the Office of the D.C. Auditor (Auditor) and Office of Police Complaints (OPC); pass legislation prohibiting all District government entities, including all entities designated as law enforcement, from collaborating with any federal agency for the purpose of carrying out immigration enforcement; and taking a more compassionate approach to concerns about youth misbehavior, by investing in proven crime prevention strategies, rather than punitive ones, like the youth curfew.

The current occupation of D.C. and overzealous policing we are witnessing from federal law enforcement agencies alongside officers of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD, the Department) are not new for some communities. Black, immigrant, and other marginalized people, who have long been over policed and used as scapegoats for policy failures or political fodder, have always been the canaries in the coal mine. And they have also been at the forefront of movements fighting to make this society one that truly protects and keeps all of us safe.

The ACLU-DC testified in strong support of the bill, which limits the District’s involvement in federal immigration enforcement by prohibiting cooperation between District government agencies and federal immigration authorities such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The ACLU supports the UDC DREAM Amendment Act of 2015, as a matter of fairness for all those high-achieving students who graduated from District high schools and successfully gained admission to the University of the District of Columbia, often against remarkable odds.