CGRS

Join us on Wednesday for this critical and urgent conversation with @cristosal.bsky.social on challenges to human rights and democracy in El Salvador. 🇸🇻👇

Photo of mother and child holding sign that reads, "Ya Basta de Deportaciones." Overlay text reads, "Justice Department Launches Attack on Refugee Women"

Quote from CGRS Legal Director Blaine Bookey reads, "With the stroke of a pen, the administration is attempting to erase decades of progress and drag us back to an era where the persecution of women and girls was seen as inevitable and irrelevant to our refugee protection system. But Trump’s Justice Department cannot distort the law to achieve its political ends. We will continue to fight for our client and for all women and girls who turn to the United States for refuge, who have a legal right to seek asylum and have their claims considered fairly under our laws."

BREAKING: Today the Justice Department issued a decision declaring that refugees fleeing gender-based violence may no longer qualify for asylum.

Its clear intent is to give judges a basis to reject women’s cases without considering them fairly.

Our statement: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/trump-l...

📢 New: Our latest analysis unpacks the Inter-American Court’s Advisory Opinion on the climate emergency. It highlights key takeaways on cross-border displacement and State obligations.

🌎 🔍 A must-read for advocates, scholars, and policymakers.

📄 Read here: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/our-work/pub...

Photo of demonstrator holding sign that says, "Asilo Ya." Overlay text reads, "Court Strikes Down Trump Shutdown of Asylum at the Border"

Quote from CGRS Senior Staff Attorney Edith Sangüeza reads, "Under our laws, any person seeking safety at our southern border has a legal right to apply for asylum. The government cannot wield racist, baseless claims of an ‘invasion’ to demonize refugees and unilaterally strip them of that right. For over six months, the illegal border proclamation has wrought nothing but suffering and chaos, forcing people fleeing persecution back to peril and leaving others stuck in detention, struggling to navigate a made-up process. The administration should now comply with the court’s order and immediately reinstate a fair asylum process at the southern border."

BREAKING: Today a federal court struck down the Trump admin's shutdown of asylum at the southern border.

Statement w/@aclu.org @immigrantjustice.bsky.social @txcivilrights.bsky.social @raicestexas.bsky.social @lasamericasiac.bsky.social @florenceproject.bsky.social: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/federal...

Photo of women waving Haitian flags. Overlay text reads, "CGRS Decries Termination of TPS for Haiti"

Quote from CGRS Legal Director Blaine Bookey reads, "In its announcement, DHS absurdly declares that the ‘situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home.’ Having worked with partners on the ground in Haiti for the last 20 years, I can say with certainty this is a bald-faced lie. If deported, many Haitians currently residing in the United States will have no home to which they can return at all. Mass deportations will only create more instability in Haiti, exacerbating the country’s mounting displacement crisis and undermining the efforts of partners working to restore peace, at grave risk to their own safety. And those sent back will be particularly vulnerable to harm, in a country where deportees are routinely preyed upon by gangs and threatened by the authorities. The decision to terminate TPS for Haiti was clearly motivated not by reality, but by the deep-seated anti-Black racism that the president and his allies have for years wielded in despicable attacks on Haitian immigrants and refugees."

Today the Trump admin terminated #TPS for Haiti 🇭🇹 - putting half a million people at risk of deportation to a country mired in deadly violence.

The decision "amounts to a death sentence for many of our Haitian neighbors,” our Legal Director Blaine Bookey says: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/cgrs-de...

Analyzing the Supreme Court’s Dangerous Decision in Trump v. CASA Today, the Supreme Court decided the case of Trump v. CASA, a challenge to Executive Order 14160, which seeks to end the right to birthright citizenship for individuals born in the United States whose...

The Supreme Court's ruling on nationwide injunctions and birthright citizenship in Trump v. CASA raises more questions than answers.

Here's what we know so far: www.nilc.org/articles/ana...

This #FathersDay, the families of those disappeared to El Salvador’s CECOT prison are missing their dads, sons, and partners, unsure if they will see them again.

#FamiliesBelongTogether and free.

Take action with @nilc.org to demand their safe return: bit.ly/cecotaction #BringThemBack

🚨TRIGGER WARNING🚨 Our clients were reporting for a routine ISAP appt, following govt protocol. But when they arrived, father was taken away from his daughter and wife. Today, the daughter is still in pain as the rest of the country prepares to celebrate Father’s Day. t.co/iONtuwbUZg

This is absolutely outrageous. This is a US Senator — full stop. To treat him like this is beyond the pale and the mark of an authoritarian regime.

If they can do this to a sitting Senator, just think about what they can do to you. Absolutely no one should be treated this way.

Quote from CGRS Director Karen Musalo reads: "​​Today’s assault on Senator Padilla is totally unacceptable. Senator Padilla attended a public press conference seeking answers on behalf of the millions of Californians he represents, including constituents who have been grievously harmed in the administration’s escalating attacks on immigrant communities and protestors exercising their First Amendment rights. Rather than answer the senator’s questions, the Trump administration used violent force to silence him. The treatment of Senator Padilla is consistent with this administration’s pattern of using force and intimidation against elected officials and judges exercising their responsibilities under the Constitution. We urge every member of Congress and elected officials at all levels of government to condemn this shocking assault on Senator Padilla.”

​​“Sen. Padilla @padilla.senate.gov attended a public press conference seeking answers on behalf of the millions of Californians he represents," CGRS Director @karenmusalo.bsky.social said today. "The Trump admin used violent force to silence him."

Our response: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/cgrs-co...

If this is how this administration responds to a Senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farmworkers, to cooks, and to day laborers throughout California and across the country.

We will hold this administration accountable.

Image of border fence. Overlay text reads, "Asylum Seekers Challenge Trump's Asylum Shutdown Policy." Includes logos for Al Otro Lado, Haitian Bridge Alliance, CGRS, American Immigration Council, Democracy Forward, Center for Constitutional Rights

Quote from CGRS Litigation Director Melissa Crow reads, "The asylum shutdown policy imperils the lives of people seeking safety at the southern border and flouts our immigration laws. Under the shutdown policy, families, children, and adults fleeing persecution have been left stranded in Mexico, where they risk grave harm, with no legal recourse. Our plaintiffs include asylum seekers who, while awaiting a chance to request asylum at ports of entry, have been kidnapped, tortured, and threatened by cartels that prey on migrants. The court must step in to vacate the shutdown policy and restore access to a fair asylum process at the U.S.-Mexico border."

BREAKING: We just filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump admin's unlawful asylum shutdown policy, with partners at @alotrolado-org.bsky.social, @haitianbridge.bsky.social, @immcouncil.org, @democracyforward.org, and @ccrjustice.org.

Our joint statement: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/asylum-...

Trump disappeared them to El Salvador. Now, they're being erased by immigration courts. At least 14 cases of Venezuelans sent to a Salvadoran mega prison have been dismissed by US immigration judges.

NEW: Frizgeralth de Jesús Cornejo Pulgar was among the 238 Venezuelans removed to El Salvador without due process in mid-March. He has no criminal history or a final order of deportation.

On Friday, a US immigration judge terminated his asylum case, effectively ejecting him from the legal system.

Contributor: The U.S. failed refugees during the Holocaust. Trump's Libya plan would too The administration has proposed sending asylum seekers to Libya and Rwanda, both notoriously unsafe for refugees.

The Trump administration's proposals to send migrants from the U.S. to Libya, Rwanda, and other third countries "make a mockery of the post-World War II refugee protection framework," CGRS Director @karenmusalo.bsky.social writes in @latimes.com.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor... @uclawsf.bsky.social

YouTube video by Immigrant Defenders Law Center New Community Resource Page!

We’ve launched a new community resources page for our immigrant community and families facing deportation or increased ICE activity.

Get trusted, up-to-date info to protect yourself and your loved ones.

📲 Visit www.ImmDef.org/resources
youtube.com/shorts/_T5Tu...

Afghans in Danger of Taliban Persecution: Urgent Recommendations to Save Lives, Uphold International Law, and Advance U.S. Interests - Human Rights First Executive Summary Afghans who previously fled their country are in danger of forced return to Taliban persecution due to the Government of Pakistan’s mass expulsions and the Trump administration’s ref...

NEW: Afghans face alarming danger of return to Taliban persecution, our latest analysis warns.

As the U.S. ends TPS for Afghans & Pakistan escalates deportations, lives are on the line. Read more:

humanrightsfirst.org/library/afgh...

Photo of protest against disappearances to El Salvador. Overlay text reads: "BREAKING: IN AN EMERGENCY FILING AGAINST EL SALVADOR, WE ARE SEEKING RELEASE FROM INCOMMUNICADO DETENTION OF PEOPLE FORCIBLY DISAPPEARED FROM THE U.S."

Quote from CGRS Staff Attorney Julie Bourdoiseau reads: "Those disappeared to CECOT have been ripped from their homes and families, imprisoned in deplorable conditions, with no due process and no recourse. These include people who came to the United States seeking refuge from persecution and state repression, only to suffer further abuses at the hands of the Trump and Bukele administrations. Our governments must not be allowed to operate above the law. This illegal scheme must end."

This week CGRS, with @rfkhumanrights.bsky.social and other partners, filed a request with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, seeking emergency precautionary measures to halt enforced disappearances to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison.

Learn more: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/groups-...

After hours of detainment, Newark Mayor Baraka has been released.

This arrest is shameful. @maketheroadnj.bsky.social has been at Delaney Hall demanding accountability since day one and we will continue to fight back against any attempts to make New Jersey a mass deportation zone.

Photo of family at border fence. Overlay text reads, "Court Strikes Down Biden-Era Asylum Restrictions"

Quote from Melissa Crow, CGRS Director of Litigation, reads: "Today's decision recognizes the Biden-era border rule was yet another unlawful attempt to deprive people fleeing persecution of eligibility for asylum. As evidenced by our plaintiffs' experiences, the rule emboldened border officers to ignore explicit expressions of fear and to intimidate or mislead asylum seekers into giving up their claims for protection. Many people seeking safety were summarily deported to danger, and family members were separated despite having identical claims. This decision affirms that no president can rewrite our asylum laws by executive fiat."

⚖️Victory! Today a federal court struck down key parts of a Biden admin rule severely restricting asylum.

We're proud to represent @lasamericasiac.bsky.social @raicestexas.bsky.social w/co-counsel @aclu.org @immigrantjustice.bsky.social @txcivilrights.bsky.social.

cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/distric...

“The US should not be in the business of disappearing anyone to torture."

Yesterday, members of #WelcomeWithDignity, advocates, & attorneys from @fwd.us, @immcouncil.org, @cristosal.bsky.social & more, held a press call to discuss the Trump admin’s forced disappearances to El Salvador. Learn more ⬇️

We’re in a constitutional crisis We are in the midst of a full-blown constitutional crisis.

With Trump defying the Supreme Court to keep Kilmar Abrego Garcia (along with hundreds of others) imprisoned in El Salvador, we find ourselves in a moral and constitutional crisis. Calls and emails to Congress aren’t sufficient to end these crises, but they are necessary.

We are in a constitutional crisis.

I’m in El Salvador to shine a light on Kilmar’s story and keep the pressure on Donald Trump to secure his safe return home.

House Dems travel to El Salvador to secure Maryland man's return More Democrats are making the trip abroad to raise awareness for what they call a “constitutional crisis” surrounding Kilmar Abrego Garcia's deportation.

We have arrived in El Salvador.

Trump is illegally arresting, jailing, & deporting people with no due process. We must hold the Administration accountable for these illegal acts and demand Kilmar’s release. Today it’s him, tomorrow it could be anyone else.

www.politico.com/news/2025/04...

The Dallas ICE office is involved in a mass removal effort targeting nearly 200 people — many without removal orders — scheduled to be deported to El Salvador today.

This is not just cruel – it is lawless. I refuse to stay quiet while families are being torn apart, and lives are being put at risk.

There are reports that ICE may disappear around 177 people at Bluebonnet Detention Center in TX to #ElSalvador today. This is completely lawless. Please call (202) 224-3121 & urge your reps to try to STOP the plane. @democrats.senate.gov @housedemocrats.bsky.social

SCOTUS ruled that Trump had to give people adequate notice before deporting them.

Yet today, there are reports that he's deporting 177 immigrants with under 24 hours' notice—not enough time to assert due process. We cannot stand by as this admin continues to disappear people.

The Trump Admin is trying to disappear almost 200 more people to El Salvador.

This is a violation of due process.

If we let Trump get away with disappearing immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act, there is nothing stopping him from disappearing U.S. citizens next. (1/2)

🚨There are reports that ICE may disappear around 177 people at Bluebonnet Detention Center in TX to #ElSalvador today.

When we say we need this type of leadership - we mean, NOW.

Call (202) 224-3121 & urge your reps to try to STOP the plane. @democrats.senate.gov @housedemocrats.bsky.social

VICTORY: A federal court just BLOCKED the Trump admin’s attempt to bring back the cruel Remain in Mexico policy. The Court agreed with @immdef.bsky.social: it endangers asylum seekers + violates their right to legal counsel.
📣 Full statement: tinyurl.com/apr17-2025