Rapid Interventions
On the ground running to defend immigrant & refugee rights
Mass violations of asylum and immigration rights can happen at any time. Illegal ICE raids can devastate a community. People fleeing persecution can be subjected to rapid removals and remote detention.
Innovation Law Lab has prepared to respond using our highly scalable model of massive collaborative resistance. We leverage technology to engage remote lawyers and activists and quickly move trained leaders to ground–at the site of the unconstitutional conduct; Core to our success is that we never go it alone. All of our rapid intervention work is collaborative. We closely partner with allied organizations to achieve change.
Innovation Law Lab successful interventions have changed outcomes. They’ve meant the difference between winning asylum or facing danger. Gaining freedom from detention or being deported in secret.
Our rapid interventions at the Sheridan Federal Detention Center organized hundreds of volunteers, numerous organizations, and direct representation to more than one hundred asylum-seekers whom the Trump administration locked away for expedited deportation. Through our intervention, we won 100% of the asylum threshold interviews and gained the release of 97%. [link to Sheridan blog post or Sheridan report]
When the Obama administration sought to cage women and children in a secret detention facility and rapidly deport them, our intervention stopped that. Lawyers were on the ground, remote teams were engaged, and in the end we won the release of 97% of the women and children and 98% of their asylum claims. [link to artesia report]
Within a few short days of the Trump administration’s assault on asylum-seekers under the Remain in Mexico policy, where vulnerable people are left on the streets of dangerous cities in inhumane conditions, we had technology deployed, lawyers and activists on the ground, and began a lawsuit to end the unlawful project. [link to blog]