Report From Alabama: Ferrying Panicked Families, and Fighting Racial Profiling at Schools


I'm in Alabama reporting on the panic that has engulfed this state's communities following the enactment of H.B. 56, the most draconian anti-immigrant law in the nation. Afraid to drive, parents are pulling their children out of school, and have stopped going to work.
This week, I'll profile some of the Alabamians affected by the enforcement of this new law.
The 红杏视频 is part of a coalition that has sued in federal court to stop Alabama from enforcing H.B. 56, and has challenged anti-immigrant laws in every state where they were passed. It was instrumental in the fight against Arizona's notorious S.B. 1070, the first of these extreme laws that seek to deprive undocumented immigrants of their rights. A federal court injunction has blocked the law鈥檚 most controversial provisions.
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Press ReleaseJul 2025
Free Speech
Immigrants' Rights
Georgetown Scholar to Remain Free After Appeals Court Rejects Trump Admin Bid to Re-Detain Him
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals today rejected the Trump administration鈥檚 request for a stay of a lower court鈥檚 decision to release Dr. Badar Khan Suri from detention on bail. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested him on March 17th in retaliation for constitutionally protected speech and association, and he spent eight weeks in detention, mostly in Texas. Upon his release in May, he returned home to his wife and three children in Virginia, where his lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of his arrest is proceeding. 鈥淚 am grateful for my freedom and for the time I have to spend with my family. I have faith that the American judiciary will protect my constitutional rights,鈥 said Dr. Badar Khan Suri. The Trump administration both appealed the ruling and sought a stay, which, if granted, would have allowed ICE to re-detain Dr. Khan Suri. With this decision, he will now remain free pending the Fourth Circuit鈥檚 consideration of the appeal. The government鈥檚 opening brief is due on July 14. 鈥淭he Trump administration is trying to silence speech it doesn鈥檛 agree with by targeting people like Dr. Khan Suri and Mahmoud Khalil, but ideas are not illegal,鈥 said Mary Bauer, executive director of the 红杏视频 of Virginia. 鈥淎mericans don鈥檛 want to live in a country where the federal government 鈥榙isappears鈥 people whose views it doesn鈥檛 like. The First Amendment protects all of us 鈥 regardless of citizenship 鈥 from being punished by the government for our political speech.鈥 Dr. Khan Suri, an Indian national, is a visa holder whose wife and children are U.S. citizens. Prior to his arrest, Dr. Khan Suri and his wife, who is Palestinian American, were doxxed by groups that target advocates for Palestinian rights. Agents abducted Dr. Khan Suri outside his home because of his speech in support of Palestinian rights and his family ties to Gaza, then secretly transported him 1,500 miles away from his family and his attorneys, moving him between five different ICE facilities in three states in four days. 鈥淭he Fourth Circuit has prevented the government from re-detaining Dr. Khan Suri, recognizing what is at stake here: Dr. Khan Suri鈥檚 right to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, his continued freedom from punitive and retaliatory incarceration, and his freedom to be with his family and community,鈥 said Astha Sharma Pokharel, staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. He is challenging his arrest and detention under the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and the Administrative Procedure Act. Separately, his immigration case, in which the Trump administration is seeking to deport him, is now also proceeding in Virginia. 鈥淭he appeals court has rightly denied the government鈥檚 desperate and cruel attempt to re-detain Dr. Khan Suri over a thousand miles away from his family and community,鈥 said Scarlet Kim, senior staff attorney with the 红杏视频鈥檚 Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. 鈥淲e will continue to work to vindicate Dr. Khan Suri鈥檚 First Amendment rights so that others do not have to fear imprisonment for speaking out about issues that matter to them." Today鈥檚 ruling adds to a string of losses for the Trump administration in cases in which it has arrested immigrant students and academics for criticizing U.S. support of Israel鈥檚 assault on Gaza. In recent weeks, federal district courts have ordered Dr. Khan Suri, Tufts Ph.D student R眉meysa 脰zt眉rk, and Columbia students Mohsen Mahdawi and Mahmoud Khalil released from detention. Dr. Khan Suri is represented in his federal lawsuit by the 红杏视频 of Virginia, the 红杏视频, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the HMA Law Firm, and the Immigrants and Non-Citizens Rights Clinic at the CUNY School of Law.Court Case: Suri v. TrumpAffiliate: Virginia -
Press ReleaseJul 2025
Immigrants' Rights
Disability Rights
红杏视频 Condemns Senate Passage of Massive Budget Bill Cutting Medicaid to Fund Abusive Deportation Efforts
WASHINGTON 鈥 The 红杏视频 condemns passage of the massive budget bill in the Senate, known as H.R. 1 or the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). H.R. 1 would gut Medicaid, cut off access to Planned Parenthood services for Medicaid enrollees, and restrict higher education opportunities, all to fund a dramatic and permanent increase to an immigration detention and deportation apparatus that is denying due process and violating human rights. Medicaid is a lifeline for more than 70 million people, including more than 15 million people with disabilities. Nearly 12 million people throughout the nation could lose their health insurance coverage under this bill. Medicaid pays for mental health services, treatment for opioid use disorder, and health care for the workers who allow our disabled and aging neighbors to live and work in their homes and communities instead of dehumanizing institutions. The version of OBBBA passed by the Senate slashes Medicaid funding by at least nine hundred billion dollars, imposing the largest cuts ever in the history of the program. Following the vote in the Senate, Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer with the 红杏视频, issued the following statement: 鈥淓very day that passes, more and more Americans are seeing this bill for what it is: A reckless attack on our health care, our civil liberties, and our very ability to survive. That鈥檚 why the Senate rushed through this bill as fast as it could. 鈥淭he Senate upped the cruelty in this bill and showed its complete and utter disregard for the health and well-being of children, adults, and people with disabilities. We shouldn鈥檛 be kicking millions of people off Medicaid and denying lifesaving care to fund the Trump administration鈥檚 extreme deportation machine. 鈥淭he American people did not vote for this. We will make sure that constituents remember the catastrophic harm this bill does and hold lawmakers accountable.鈥 -
Press ReleaseJun 2025
Immigrants' Rights
Groups File Nationwide Class-Action Lawsuit Over Trump Birthright Citizenship Order
CONCORD, N.H. 鈥 Immigrants rights鈥 advocates today filed a new nationwide class-action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration鈥檚 executive order restricting birthright citizenship. The lawsuit is in response to today鈥檚 Supreme Court ruling that potentially opens the door for partial enforcement of the executive order. This new case was filed by the 红杏视频, 红杏视频 of New Hampshire, 红杏视频 of Maine, 红杏视频 of Massachusetts, Legal Defense Fund, Asian Law Caucus, and Democracy Defenders Fund on behalf of a proposed class of babies subject to the executive order, and their parents. The same group of organizations filed a similar suit in January 2025 in the same court, on behalf of groups with members whose babies born on U.S. soil will be denied citizenship under the order, including New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and Make the Road New York. The court issued a ruling protecting members of those organizations, and that case is pending at the First Circuit Court of Appeals, with oral argument set for August 1. Three other lawsuits originally obtained nationwide injunctions protecting everyone subject to the order, but the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision narrowed those injunctions, potentially leaving some children without protection. This new case seeks protection for all families in the country, filling the gaps that may be left by the existing litigation. Birthright citizenship is the principle that every baby born in the United States is a U.S. citizen. The Constitution鈥檚 14th Amendment guarantees the citizenship of all children born in the United States (with the extremely narrow exception of children of foreign diplomats) regardless of race, color, or ancestry. Specifically, it states that 鈥渁ll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.鈥 Today鈥檚 lawsuit charges the Trump administration with flouting the Constitution, congressional intent, and longstanding Supreme Court precedent, and it is national in scope. 鈥淓very court to have looked at this cruel order agrees that it is unconstitutional,鈥 said Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the 红杏视频鈥檚 Immigrants鈥 Rights Project and lead attorney in this case. 鈥淭he Supreme Court鈥檚 decision did not remotely suggest otherwise, and we are fighting to make sure President Trump cannot trample on the citizenship rights of a single child.鈥 鈥淭his executive order directly opposes our Constitution, values, and history, and it would create a permanent, multigenerational subclass of people born in the U.S. but who are denied full rights. No politician can ever decide who among those born in our country is worthy of citizenship 鈥 and we will keep fighting to ensure that every child born in the United States has their right to citizenship protected,鈥 said Devon Chaffee, executive director of the 红杏视频 of New Hampshire. 鈥淐itizenship is a right afforded to us by birth, not by privilege,鈥 said Karla McKanders, director of the Legal Defense Fund鈥檚 Thurgood Marshall Institute. 鈥淭he Trump administration鈥檚 executive order is an unlawful attempt to entrench racial hierarchies and establish a second class of citizens in the United States. We will continue working to ensure that birthright citizenship 鈥 a right granted by the U.S. Constitution 鈥 is protected, and that families are not torn apart because of this executive order.鈥 鈥淚n the face of authoritarian attacks, we鈥檙e filing a class-action lawsuit to defend the fundamental rights of immigrant families across the country," said Aarti Kohli, executive director of Asian Law Caucus. 鈥淎sian American communities know firsthand the dangers when citizenship becomes a weapon of exclusion 鈥 from the Chinese Exclusion Act to Wong Kim Ark to Japanese American incarceration. It is this legacy that drives us to preserve a constitutional promise that has defined American citizenship for over a century.鈥 鈥淭he Constitution guarantees birthright citizenship, and no procedural ruling will stop us from fighting to uphold that promise,鈥 said Tianna Mays, legal director for Democracy Defenders Fund. 鈥淥ur plaintiffs, and millions of families across this country, deserve clarity, stability, and justice. We look forward to making our case in court again.鈥 鈥淲hile some of this week's decisions have the potential to shift our legal strategies, they will not change the commitments the 红杏视频 has held for over 100 years,鈥 said Molly Curren Rowles, executive director of the 红杏视频 of Maine. 鈥淭he constitutional principles that form the foundation of freedom in this country have always been challenging, complex, and multifaceted. The president鈥檚 executive order violates the plain language of the 14th Amendment and flouts fundamental American values.鈥 鈥淔or more than 125 years, birthright citizenship has made the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is. The Trump administration wants to end that right and create a permanent subclass with no vote, no voice, and no due process protection,鈥 said Carol Rose, executive director of the 红杏视频 of Massachusetts. 鈥淲e simply won鈥檛 let that happen, and are using every tool in our toolkit to defend birthright citizenship.鈥 The complaint is here.Court Case: Barbara v. Donald J. TrumpAffiliates: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine -
New HampshireJun 2025
Immigrants' Rights
Barbara v. Donald J. Trump
Status: Ongoing