Donations highlight: Support the National Immigration Law Center in its work to defend the rights of immigrants

Note from the CREDO Mobile team: This May, the National Immigration Law Center is among three amazing groups that will receive a share of our monthly grant. Funding from the CREDO Mobile community will support the NILC in its work to ensure that all people who live in the U.S. have the opportunity to achieve their full potential.

 Read this important blog post about the NILC’s critical work, then visit CREDODonations.com and cast your vote to help send funding to the group to assist its efforts—and the efforts of our other outstanding May grantees.

The world is now seeing the highest levels of migration in recorded history, with climate change, poverty and political turmoil driving more and more people to risk their lives and cross dangerous borders in search of peace, safety and freedom.

Here in the U.S., which is home to more migrants than any other country, immigration has always been a politically challenging issue but we’re now in a uniquely fraught era. Anti-immigrant forces have announced plans — if Donald Trump is reelected — to reinstate cruel attacks on immigrant families, including mass deportations, detention camps, asylum bans and an end to birthright citizenship. Even the Biden administration, which initially promised to bring humanity back to the country’s immigration systems and welcome people seeking safety, is now doubling down on harsh immigration enforcement measures.

As we approach the presidential election, hateful and racist narratives about immigrants are a major part of policy platforms and central to election debates. Migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. are being used as pawns in political stunts. And some state and local policymakers who once championed more welcoming immigration policies are now raising alarms about financial strains that state and local governments are facing as they try to meet the needs of newly arrived migrants.

For over four decades, the National Immigration Law Center has defended the rights of low-income immigrants and their loved ones. One factor that sets NILC apart is that we advance immigrant justice using multiple strategies: litigation, advocacy, collective movement-building and narrative/culture change.

Our current program priorities are designed to realize our vision of a future in which everyone in the U.S. — regardless of where we were born or how much money we have — can live with dignity and thrive in the country we call home.

Saving DACA

Since the program’s creation almost 12 years ago, over 800,000 young people who came to the U.S. without legal immigration status have benefited from Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, arguably the most popular immigration program in modern U.S. history.

However, due to a protracted legal battle, the Supreme Court could soon strike down DACA. Our overarching goal is to drive policy reforms to ensure that immigrant youth can work and live in the U.S. without fear of deportation, which the public widely supports.

Preserving education for all 

Over 40 years ago, in the landmark Plyler v. Doe case, the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to discriminate against undocumented children by denying them access to free public education. However, in the wake of the Dobbs decision reversing another longstanding precedent on reproductive healthcare, extremists have publicly declared their intent to get the Supreme Court to reverse Plyler.

Because access to education is an important pathway out of poverty and crucial to a functioning, inclusive democracy, our multifaceted campaign focuses on building a broad and powerful coalition to ensure that all children have access to public K-12 schools, regardless of their immigration status.

Ensuring labor rights for immigrants

For over a decade, the NILC has led the fight to ensure that immigrants can fight for their rights on the job without fear that their employer will report them to immigration authorities in retaliation. We celebrated when the government issued new guidance last January on how immigrants involved in labor disputes may seek “deferred action” or protection from deportation.

However, eligible workers often face hurdles in getting the necessary legal support to file their deferred action requests. We are collaborating with organizers, advocates and union leadership around the country to try to fill that gap and guarantee that as many eligible immigrant workers as possible can get these protections and help improve workplaces for all workers.

Protecting the health of all people

While the Affordable Care Act extended access to affordable healthcare to nearly 40 million people, one segment of the population was excluded from this reform: undocumented immigrants. This has had devastating effects on families across the country and completely changed the makeup of the uninsured population.

Given the NILC’s longstanding goal to ensure that no person is denied access to public health insurance programs because of where they were born or the color of their skin, we are working with allies across the country to fuel creative and community-driven policy solutions to expand immigrants’ access to healthcare.

Working for a more humane immigration system

In addition to playing a leading role in challenging federal legislation and executive actions that would ban or restrict lawful immigration pathways and ramp up deportations, we are also working at the state level to combat rising authoritarianism driven by extremist politicians bent on building border walls and turning back asylum seekers and migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. Apart from this defensive work, we also continue advocating for a 21st century federal immigration system that is fair, just and humane.

To learn more about what we do, visit NILC.org.