The ACLU Foundation of Southern California undertakes litigation when doing so is the most effective way to advance a civil liberties concern. We file lawsuits that will have an impact on people’s rights by setting a legal precedent or affecting the policies and actions of public officials. We both provide direct legal representation to people and file amicus (friend-of-the-court) briefs addressing civil liberties issues in cases initiated by others. All of the ACLU SoCal’s legal work is on a pro bono basis; we never charge for our legal services.
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Mar 20, 2019
Immigrant Defenders v. ICE
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Filed
The ACLU SoCal filed suit against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security for not fulfilling a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, originally filed in September 2018, seeking information on their...
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Feb 13, 2019
Bhattarai v. Nielsen
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Filed
Six adults with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and two U.S. citizen children of TPS holders filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to stop the unlawful termination of TPS for over 100,000 TPS holders from...
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Dec 17, 2018
Torres v. DHS
Immigrants' Rights
Status: Filed
For immigrants facing deportation, assistance from attorneys can make a profound difference in the outcome of their cases — immigrants with lawyers have an overwhelmingly better chance of being able to stay...
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Sep 5, 2018
Sea v. Nielsen
Immigrants' Rights
Yea Ji Sea, 29, who has lived in the U.S. since she was a child, was so highly respected by her supervisors in the U.S. Army that one of them wrote she "volunteers for deployments willing to die for a...
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Jul 9, 2018
Kuang, et al. v. U.S. Dept. of Defense
Immigrants' Rights
The ACLU Foundations of Southern and Northern California and law firm Latham & Watkins LLP filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on behalf of all lawful permanent...
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Jul 2, 2018
Sigma Beta Xi v. County of Riverside
Education Equity
Status: Filed
The Youth Accountability Team (YAT) program was created in 2001 in Riverside County to target at-risk youths for intervention. But YAT treats children who have not been convicted of crimes like hardened...