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Press Releases

Federal Court Approves Settlement Providing Protections for Thousands of Asylum Seekers

A federal judge in Seattle issued an order in Padilla v. ICE approving a settlement agreement providing protections for detained asylum seekers who face prolonged delays before being screened to apply for protection from persecution and torture.


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Immigrants’ Rights Organizations Reach Settlement in Case Brought to Protect Medically Vulnerable People Detained by ICE

The settlement provides a number of protections for medically vulnerable class members detained at the facility, including provisions regarding the allocation of COVID-19 testing, therapeutic drugs, vaccines and boosters; screening persons brought to the facility; safeguards on transfers into the facility; and consideration of release for people not subject to mandatory detention during an outbreak at the facility consistent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy.


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Class Action Lawsuit Challenges Immigration Agency’s Denial of the Right to Work to Temporary Protected Status Applicants

Four applicants who qualify for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), filed a national class action against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in federal district court in Seattle, Washington. The lawsuit challenges the agency’s denial of the right to work to TPS applicants while their applications are pending before the agency.


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Federal Court of Appeals Affirms Order Requiring USCIS to Complete Vulnerable Youth Applications within 180-days, Rejecting USCIS Regulation Purporting to Toll or Restart Timeline

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision today affirming a permanent injunction against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that requires the agency to adjudicate Special Immigrant Juvenile visa (SIJ) petitions within 180 days of filing. The lawsuit was originally brought by Northwest Immigrant Rights Project on behalf of three vulnerable youth representing a class of SIJ petitioners from Washington State.


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U.S. Citizen Sues Pierce County for Unlawfully Detaining Him and Violating Constitutional Rights and State Law

Carlos Rios, a United States citizen, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington today against Pierce County and Pierce County Jail deputies, seeking declaratory relief and damages for his unlawful imprisonment and violations of his civil rights under federal and state law.


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Class Action Lawsuit Challenges Immigration Agency’s Unlawful Denials of Green Cards for TPS Holders

Three Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders filed a class action lawsuit challenging U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ decision to rescind a decades-old policy which allowed them to seek lawful permanent resident status (green cards).


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District Court Approves Settlement in Lawsuit Challenging Immigration Agency’s 'Blank Spaces' Policy

Today, a federal district court judge in Oakland, California, approved a final settlement in the case of Vangala v. USCIS, providing relief to over sixty thousand applicants for humanitarian immigration benefits.


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U.S. Citizen Files Lawsuit against Immigration Officers for Unlawfully Detaining Him for 7-Days at the Northwest Detention Center

Today, Carlos Rios, a citizen of the United States since 2000, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seeking compensation for his unlawful imprisonment.


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U.S. Border Patrol Agrees to Two $35,000 Settlements in Racial Profiling, Unlawful Detention Cases

The United States has agreed to pay two men $35,000 each in settlements after they were wrongfully detained and interrogated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in separate incidents at the Intermodal Center, a bus station in Spokane, Washington.


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Court Orders Release of Unlawful Directive to Detain Iranians; New Emails Shed Further Light on Illegal Detentions that Followed

We are making public an official copy of a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) directive that unlawfully directed agency personnel to detain all Iranians at certain U.S. ports of entry along the northern border in January 2020.


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District Court Orders Immigration Agencies to Produce Immigration Case Files in First of Its Kind Class Action

The court found that the agencies’ practice of failing to produce the immigration case files within the deadlines set by Congress under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a systemic problem and requires a comprehensive, permanent remedy.


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Challenging Immigration Agency’s Unlawful Rejection of Thousands of Humanitarian Applications

The class action lawsuit alleges that the agency rolled out the new rule by specifically targeting humanitarian benefits provided by Congress


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Emails Show that CBP Detained Hundreds of Iranians for Hours Pursuant to Unlawful Directive

Following a court order from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington granting summary judgment to the Council on American Islamic Relations­-Washington (CAIR), CAIR and NWIRP are making public hundreds of pages of emails regarding the detention of Iranians at the Blaine, WA Port of Entry in early January 2020.


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Lawsuit: Rule Imposing High Fees on Immigrants Should Be Set Aside

A new U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule will unlawfully force immigrants seeking naturalization, asylum, employment authorization and humanitarian protections to pay high fees.


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Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms Summary Judgment, Denies Qualified Immunity to Montana Sheriff’s Deputy and Judge Who Arrested Immigrant

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a precedent-setting decision ruling that a sheriff’s deputy and a justice of the peace in Billings, Montana, violated the Fourth Amendment when they arrested Miguel Reynaga-Hernandez based on a suspected immigration violation.


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USCIS Naturalizes Over Two Thousand Individuals Prevented From Naturalizing Due to Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 Shutdown

Following a class action lawsuit brought by two lawful permanent residents whose naturalization ceremonies were cancelled or delayed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philadelphia Field Office of U.S. Citizenship and Naturalization Services (USCIS) naturalized the named plaintiffs as well as 2,200 proposed class members.


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Lawsuit Requests Immediate Naturalization for Hundreds Whose Citizenship Oath Was Derailed By COVID-19

Applicants for U.S. citizenship who could not take the oath of allegiance to complete the last step of the citizenship process for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania yesterday.


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Class Action Lawsuit Seeks Release Of People Held at Tacoma Detention Center Who Are at High Risk from COVID-19

The lawsuit asks the court to order the release of four named individuals and all others detained at the Northwest Detention Centerwhose age or medical conditions place them at greater risk of serious illness or death if they are infected with COVID-19.


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Federal District Court Orders Release of Immigrant Detained at Northwest Detention Center Because of COVID-19 Risk

U.S. District Court judge Richard Martinez ordered the federal government to release an immigrant detained at the Northwest Detention Center who is at high risk of serious illness or death if he contracts COVID-19


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Federal Appeals Court Upholds Block on Trump Policy That Arbitrarily Jails Asylum Seekers

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld a ruling blocking a Trump administration policy that categorically denies bond hearings to asylum seekers.


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NWIRP and ACLU Statement on Court Refusal to Release People at High-Risk of COVID-19

We strongly disagree with ICE’s assertion that the harm is not imminent simply because ICE has not yet publicly confirmed any cases of COVID 19 at the NWDC.


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NWIRP and ACLU Sue ICE Seeking Release of Immigrants Especially Vulnerable to COVID-19 from Seattle-Area Detention Center

As people on the ground in what has become the epicenter for coronavirus in the U.S., we have seen firsthand the impact this has on our most vulnerable communities. ICE has the responsibility to protect the safety of all who are in immigration detention


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Complaint Filed Against Border Patrol Officers for Unlawful Detention on Greyhound Bus in Spokane, Washington

The complaint alleges that Mr. Elshieky was detained by Border Patrol officers even after producing valid identification documents demonstrating that he was lawfully present in the United States.


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CAIR-WA and NWIRP File Lawsuit Challenging Customs and Border Protection’s Refusal to Provide Directive Targeting Iranian-Americans

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) is representing CAIR-WA in filing this lawsuit.


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City of Marysville Changes Policy and Agrees to Settle Lawsuit After Unlawfully Detaining Immigrant

According to the terms of the settlement, the City agreed to pay Mr. Ahumada $85,000 for violating his Fourth Amendment rights by unlawfully detaining him pursuant to a detainer issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).


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