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
collage featuring hands reaching for each other, courthouse columns, and a US passport

Know Your Rights Guides For Immigrants

The fundamental constitutional protections of due process and equal protection embodied in our Constitution and Bill of Rights apply to every person, regardless of immigration status. Explore our collection of Know Your Rights guides for immigrants.

Know Your Rights

The Latest

Press Release
supreme court with crowd

SCOTUS Gives Trump Administration Carte Blanche to Strip More Than a Million People of their Legal Status With No Oversight

Court greenlights Trump administration's termination of TPS for Syria and Haiti and eliminated most judicial review of TPS decision-making
Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights, Racial Justice
Court Cases: Mullin v. Dahlia Doe
Press Release
collage with courthouse columns, protestors with signs saying "ICE get out of court buildings" and "Due process for everyone"

Federal Court Strikes Down Courthouse Arrests Nationwide

The ruling, a major blow to the Trump administration deportation agenda, also restores protections against inhumane detention
Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights
Court Cases: Pablo Sequen, et al. v. Albarran, et al.
News & Commentary
Image of a court house

Petición de Hábeas Corpus Presentada por Derecho Propio para Determinadas Personas Detenidas por ICE en Golden State Annex, Mesa Verde, California City o Central Valley Annex

Las personas detenidas por el Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de los Estados Unidos que no tienen a un abogado pueden presentar una petición de habeas corpus para impugnar su detención.
News & Commentary
Image of a court house

Guide to File a Pro Se Habeas Petition for People Detained by ICE in Golden State Annex, Mesa Verde, California City, or Central Valley Annex Detention Facilities

Individuals detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who do not have a lawyer may file a habeas petition to challenge their detention.
Campaign
Mar 2024

The Campaign to End California's Prison to Deportation Pipeline

Learn about the campaign to stop the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from funneling people into the federal deportation machine.
Campaign
Dec 2025

The California Immigration Detention Database

The California Immigration Detention Database tracks formal complaints, also known as grievances, that people detained in California's immigration detention facilities have filed to seek redress against the inhumane conditions of their confinement. Through the interactive chart below, this database aims to document patterns of abuse that people in detention have raised to detention facility staff and to act as a spotlight on staff responses to their grievances (or lack thereof). It is a resource for people in detention, their families, advocates, organizations, and anyone else who is interested in documenting the ongoing harms of immigration detention. For more information, read our report, Resistance, Retaliation, Repression: Two Years in California Immigrant Detention.