Immigrants' Rights

California is home to more immigrants than any other state in the country. The ACLU of Northern California works to defend immigrants’ constitutional rights, end immigration detention, and stop state and local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

Outline of the State of California overlaid with pictures of activists holding signs saying "Keep families together" and "Keep communities whole" and a plane flying over barbed wire
Photo of ICE and Police at the Door

Know Your Rights: If ICE Confronts You

To protect yourself and your family, know your rights if immigration agents show up at your door, pull you over, or stop you on the street.

Know Your Rights

The Latest

Press Release
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Sentencia de un tribunal federal sobre la terminación del TPS para venezolanos entra en vigor; abre el camino para impugnar detenciones y deportaciones

Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights
Court Cases: National TPS Alliance v. Noem
Press Release
collage with courthouse pillars, activists, masked agent

Federal Court Blocks Unlawful ICE Policy of Re-arresting Immigrants Without Legal Justification

The court order provisionally certified the case as a class action
Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights
Court Cases: Garro Pinchi et al. v. Noem
Press Release
Photo of a gavel with a shelf of books in the background

Federal Court Orders ICE to Remedy Inhumane Conditions at San Francisco Holding Facility

Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights
Press Release
A cell phone displaying Know Your Rights materials

DHS Withdraws Subpoena Seeking to Unmask Instagram Users Who Posted About ICE Raids

A Victory for the Public's Right to Document Government Actions Without Retaliation
Issue Areas: Free Speech, Immigrants' Rights, Open Government
Court Case
Oct 11, 2025

Garro Pinchi et al. v. Noem

We filed a class-action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's policy of re-arresting and re-detaining immigrants the government previously had released from custody after concluding they were neither dangerous nor a flight risk.
Court Case
Oct 01, 2025

Pablo Sequen et al. v. Albarran et al.

We filed a class-action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's policy of arresting immigrants when they appear for court in Northern California and holding them in inhumane conditions inside the San Francisco ICE field office.
Court Case
Jul 09, 2025

National TPS Alliance v. Noem (NTPSA II)

National TPS Alliance v. Noem is a legal challenge to the Trump administration's early termination of Temporary Protected Status for Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
Court Case
Mar 05, 2025

National TPS Alliance v. Noem

On February 19, 2025, the National TPS Alliance and seven Venezuelan TPS holders sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to challenge the vacatur of the previously ordered extension of TPS for Venezuela, and the subsequent termination. On March 20, 2025, the plaintiffs amended the complaint to also challenge the vacatur of the full TPS extension for 500,000 Haitians, with four Haitian TPS holders joining as plaintiffs. The plaintiffs are represented by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the ACLU Foundations of Northern California and Southern California, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at UCLA School of Law, and the Haitian Bridge Alliance.