Beatriz, an immigrant lawyer fighting for noncitizen kids
In February 2025, a Venezuelan-American lawyer named Beatriz received an order from the Interior Department to the nonprofit where she worked: stop all work. Beatriz represents unaccompanied minors: children who are going through immigration proceedings without their parents. These youngsters can be quite vulnerable. They may be living with family… Read More
Kaelyn, going into debt to keep her partner from deportation to El Salvador
Last summer, Kaelyn was at a Latin club in Wilmington, North Carolina when a handsome stranger asked her to dance. She wasn’t in the mood, but the man was just so charming. “If anyone else had asked, I would’ve said no, but Yapa is so genuine,” she says, using his… Read More
Axel, a DACA recipient trying to protect his community
Since President Trump’s election, Axel Herrera has seen a growing number of local police traffic checkpoints popping up across his North Carolina community. As a DACA recipient, Axel has legal protection from deportation, but some of his friends and family members have already been detained or deported following random traffic… Read More
Ilia, young Russian dissident facing never-ending detention
Ilia is a 24-year-old pro-democracy activist who recently fled a threatening environment in his native Russia. But after escaping, he was taken into custody and put into jail-like detention by the very country he believed would protect him: the United States. “I fled Russia because of increasingly harsh laws, because… Read More
Senate Approves Unprecedented Spending for Mass Deportation, Ignoring What’s Broken in our Immigration System
Washington DC, July 1, 2025 — On July 1, the U.S. Senate passed a budget reconciliation bill that includes an unprecedented allocation of funds for immigration detention and enforcement while simultaneously stripping healthcare from millions of Americans. The bill, passed today with Vice President JD Vance contributing the tie-breaking vote,… Read More
Young Poet Wins 2025 Creative Writing Award, Paying Tribute to Refugees
WASHINGTON, DC, June 24, 2025—The American Immigration Council honored Luu Ly, an 11-year-old attending the Chapin School in New York City, with its 28th annual Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest award, which honors the immigrant experience. Luu’s poem, “American Poem,” narrates her grandparents’ escape from Vietnam during the war,… Read More
Lawsuit Challenges Tennessee “Anti-Harboring” Law that Criminalizes Providing Shelter to People who are Undocumented
WASHINGTON, DC, June 23, 2025 — On June 20, a coalition including a religious organization and two individuals filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a newly enacted Tennessee law that criminalizes providing shelter to people who are undocumented, even when there is no intent to conceal them. The Institute… Read More
District Court Blocks Unlawful Removal of Venezuelan Asylum Seeker Under Alien Enemies Act
In a May 21 decision, a federal district court in Georgia ordered the federal government to refrain from disappearing a Venezuelan man under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA). Read More
Asylum Seekers Challenge Trump’s Asylum Shutdown Policy
People fleeing persecution and torture in their home countries have joined immigrant rights organizations to challenge the Trump administration’s unlawful shutdown of asylum along the U.S.-Mexico border. Read More
Kenyan Immigrant Helps Other Newcomers Settle into Baltimore County
As a student activist in Kenya in the 1980s, Thomas Mwaura spoke out against the authoritarian government—only to be accused of sedition, wrongfully arrested, expelled from his university, and left unable to find work. With the help of the American Embassy, he was able to get a student visa and… Read More
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