Immigration

July 20, 2026

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security is imprisoning hundreds of immigrant children at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, for well over the legal limit of 20 days, including some for as many as 323 days, according to a new legal brief.

The brief also offers more firsthand accounts of the abuse guards are inflicting on children in Dilley, run by private prison company CoreCivic, adding to the pile of evidence that Trump’s mass deportation campaign is systematically traumatizing children as young as infants, in some cases causing them to regress developmentally. Testimonies included in the brief include instances of guards denying children medical care, providing inadequate education, constantly screaming at them when they attempt to play, and in some cases, attacking their physical well-being, like tearing up their drawings and then shoving them when they object and repeatedly startling them awake during the night.  Read More

July 8, 2026

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship ruling, some Texas Republicans are turning their attention to commercial surrogacy and “birth tourism,” arguing both can be pathways to U.S. citizenship.

During a Senate hearing Wednesday, lawmakers examined whether foreign nationals are exploiting Texas’ fertility industry to obtain U.S. citizenship for children born through surrogacy. They also examined concerns over surrogate safety and child welfare.

Last month, the Texas GOP established, among its legislative priorities, the desire to “protect life” by eliminating “destructive practices, such as IVF and commercial surrogacy.”

The Senate Committee on Health & Human Services hearing met after Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick issued an interim charge directing the committee to address the ramifications of commercial surrogacy.  Read More

July 2, 2026

The Supreme Court’s decision striking down President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship is a vital victory for the children and communities that would have been hurt. But let’s be clear: While Trump v. Barbara was a weighty case, it shouldn’t have been a hard one. And the decision does not make the court some guardian of multiracial democracy. This court has been taking a sledgehammer to it throughout this term.

In Barbara, the court faced this choice: Rewrite the Constitution, revive one of its most embarrassing precedents, overturn 130 years of its own decisions, disown the collective understandings of generations of presidents and federal lawmakers and endorse an overhaul of citizenship that would endanger hundreds of thousands of children. Or just follow the law.

Ultimately, the court chose to follow the law.  Read More

July 2, 2026

Thanks to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, Team USA has made it to the Round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup. Team USA’s leading scorer, Folarin Balogun, was born in July 2001 to a Nigerian British mother who happened to be visiting New York City when she gave birth (after the airline denied her boarding on a return flight to London because of her advanced pregnancy). Folarin Balogun grew up in the United Kingdom. But the happenstance of his birth on U.S. soil allowed him to play for Team USA. If the Supreme Court had agreed with the Trump administration in its birthright citizenship decision this week, a future Balogun would not be considered a U.S. citizen. Fortunately, the Supreme Court on June 30 struck down the Trump birthright citizenship order, preserving — for now — the guarantee of citizenship enshrined in Constitution. Read More

June 30, 2026

Immigration enforcement hurts many aspects of public life, and public schools have not been spared. ICE enforcement campaigns in cities like Washington and Minneapolis have turned public schools into staging grounds for raids: ICE agents are arresting parents and students who are suspected to be undocumented, and spreading fear among immigrant children and their families and school officials. Additionally, anti-immigration advocates are making a play to overturn a landmark Supreme court ruling, Plyler v. Doe, which ruled that states cannot deny students a free public education based on their immigration status.

In the last two years, Republicans in Tennessee have attempted to push legislation that would violate Plyler to set the stage to challenge the court decision (although neither proposal passed). Read More

June 30, 2026

The Supreme Court today struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order attacking birthright citizenship.

President Trump attempted to rewrite the Constitution, and we stopped him. This decision is a major victory for immigrant families across the country and a clear rejection of President Trump’s attempt to redefine who is a citizen in the United States.

“With a 6-3 judgment from the U.S. Supreme Court, President Trump suffered a stunning loss on a signature order he signed on day one of his presidency,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. “This was one of the most important constitutional cases of the past 100 years. The president bet his legacy trying to secure this policy win — even attending the argument in person — and he lost. It was especially gratifying that the majority opinion was authored by Chief Justice Roberts, and that Trump appointees Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett agreed with the decision to strike down the order.” Read More

June 22, 2026

A Democratic push is underway in Harrisburg to redefine how immigration enforcement operates in Pennsylvania, though it is facing significant opposition.

“It’s called the ‘ICE Out’ package,” Democratic state Sen. Lindsey Williams said. “It is designed to look at our community spaces that are vulnerable.”

Eight Democratic state senators believe schools, hospitals and polling places should be off limits.

“We currently have in law that uniformed and on-duty police officers are not allowed within 100 feet of a polling location,” Williams said. “So what we’re doing is updating that definition to include all state and federal law enforcement.”  Read More

June 17, 2026

Environmental groups will advance their legal case against “Alligator Alcatraz” amid news that the federal government has moved all detainees out of the mass detention center in the heart of the Everglades.

In statements to news media on Tuesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed detainees had been relocated, but Gov. Ron DeSantis left the door open for future operations at the detention center. Meanwhile, the facility continues to threaten the Everglades, with heavy equipment and lights still in operation and hazardous materials moving on and off the property within Big Cypress National Preserve.   Read More

June 10, 2026

A group of Democratic state senators is throwing its support behind a legislative package that would restrict U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities in Pennsylvania.

“Immigrant communities face escalating attacks, growing uncertainty and pervasive fear. That’s why we are here today,” state Sen. Nikil Saval, D-Philadelphia, said at a press conference in Harrisburg on Tuesday. “Our resources should not be going to support attacks on our communities. We want ICE out of our workplaces, ICE out of our neighborhoods and ICE out of Pennsylvania.”

The legislation outlines restrictions of federal immigration enforcement activities that mirror those passed by Philadelphia City Council in April. The bills would:   Read More

April 28, 2026

Democrats in the state House and Senate have introduced a pair of bills that would limit immigration enforcement in K-12 schools across the commonwealth.

The identical proposals introduced in each chamber would require school districts to adopt policies banning staff from allowing federal immigration agents or local law enforcement assisting them from entering the majority of school property without a signed judicial warrant.   Read More

April 27, 2026

Democrats in the state House and Senate have introduced a pair of bills that would limit immigration enforcement in K-12 schools across the commonwealth.

The identical proposals introduced in each chamber would require school districts to adopt policies banning staff from allowing federal immigration agents or local law enforcement assisting them from entering the majority of school property without a signed judicial warrant. 

While agents would be allowed to enter designated public areas of school property like a lobby, staff would be required to refuse further entry, including to parts of the property where students board or exit buses and cars, without a warrant. School staff would also be required to ask any agent requesting entry for their identification and contact information.  Read More

February 23, 2026

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office says it is investigating an incident on Friday where a police officer arrested high school students participating in an ICE protest.

“Our office is conducting an independent investigation into the police response during this incident,” Manuel Gamiz Jr., a spokesperson for Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan, said to the Philadelphia Inquirer.   Read More

February 23, 2026

Thalia Ortiz recalls one incident in recent weeks as she pulled into a Walmart parking lot in West Manchester Township.

Her pulse started racing when she noticed vehicles she believed belonged to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with men inside dressed like officers.

“They were staring at me,” Ortiz said. “I got scared for my life.”

Ortiz is Puerto Rican — which is a U.S. territory — and her husband is Mexican. They are both U.S. citizens, but that status does not make her feel safer.

“If you’re Hispanic, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “At any moment, something can happen.”  Read More

February 15, 2026

Pittsburgh-area school districts are moving to reassure families and protect students as anxiety spreads through local communities over stepped-up federal immigration enforcement.

In recent weeks, several districts have strengthened policies and procedures outlining how staff should respond if approached by federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Aliquippa in Beaver County last week issued guidance to school bus drivers on how to respond if confronted by immigration authorities. Penn Hills is refining new procedures around what to do if law enforcement comes to schools with a warrant. Riverview on Monday passed a new policy directing the superintendent to lead a response if staffers are approached by federal agents.    Read More

February 6, 2026

Students made their voices heard on Friday as they protested the federal government’s immigration enforcement.

At Phoenixville Area High School, Cherry Hill High School East and North Penn High School, students walked out of class on Feb. 6 to protest ICE and show support for immigrants.

North Penns’ principal sent a letter to parents on Thursday saying that while the school recognizes the importance of free speech, any student who took part in the walkout would be subject to the standard consequences for skipping class.

A spokesperson with the Phoenixville Area school shared a statement with NBC10 that read in part:   Read More

January 20, 2026

Students at Reading High School stepped away from the classroom today to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) efforts.

Hundreds of students gathered at the school’s entrance with signs in support of immigrants as they chanted anti-ICE slogans.

They say America is a land of immigrants.

A school district official says the district supports the students and affirms their First Amendment rights.

The Department of Homeland Security says during the past year it has secured the border to historic levels and made hundreds of thousands of arrests.  Read More

December 14, 2025

The Chambersburg community is demanding answers after local custodian and YMCA employee, Carlos Bonilla-Yanez, was detained and deported to Mexico.

CBS 21 sat down with Bonilla-Yanez’s daughter, Tatiana Bonilla, who said her father is a law-abiding citizen and was scheduled to go to his next immigration check up on Thanksgiving Day.

October 13, 2025

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday signed a bill allowing a broad range of relatives to step in as children’s caregivers if their parents are deported, a measure that had provoked a firestorm of conservative criticism.

Assembly Bill 495 will also bar daycare providers from collecting immigration information about a child or their parents, and allow parents to nominate a temporary legal guardian for their child in family court.

“We are putting on record that we stand by our families and their right to keep their private information safe, maintain parental rights and help families prepare in case of emergencies,” Newsom said in a press release.  Read More

October 13, 2025

Immigration raids continue around the Chicago area as parents, neighbors and community members band together to protect migrants.

Why it matters: As “Operation Midway Blitz” is in full swing, Chicagoans from every corner of the city are impacted.

The big picture: Reports of agents apprehending alleged immigrants at school drop-offs and targeting churches have communities questioning the rules of engagement.

What they’re saying: “They want to break us down,” Democrat U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez (IL-3rd) said recently in front of Funston Elementary in Logan Square. “This city was built by community. Fascism isn’t welcome here today, tomorrow, or ever. We will prevail together.”  Read More

October 5, 2025

A new school year brings an array of feelings: excitement, anticipation, nervousness, homesickness. Maria Caballero Magaña, a K-8 school counselor in Oxnard, knows these feelings well — familiar companions as students return to campus.

This year, however, she and other counselors detected acute emotional reactions: anxiety, sorrow and fear after a summer of intensified immigration raids.

Families in this majority Latino, agriculturally-centered part of Ventura County are still coming to terms with the mental health consequences of immigration enforcement. Children and their parents express worry that they may be ripped apart at any moment. Some already have been.  Read More

July 24, 2025

The information on this page is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. Consult an attorney for legal advice. Produced and distributed as a free public service by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania Foundation, a non-partisan, nonprofit civil rights advocacy group.

You can find more Know Your Rights immigration resources from other organizations and National ACLU here.

A Note About Rights

Even if you know and exercise your constitutional rights, police officers or ICE might not honor them. It is never good to use force or physically resist police officers or ICE, even when you know they are wrong. Challenging misconduct cannot be done in the moment. It can only be done through legal and advocacy efforts afterwards.   Read More

July 22, 2025

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions soared in Pennsylvania in June, newly obtained data shows.

Why it matters: The jump, which mirrors national trends, came shortly after the Trump administration’s decision to hike ICE’s arrest quotas.

State of play: Noncriminal arrests in Pennsylvania made up an average of 51% of daily ICE arrests in early June, up from 27% in early January, per ICE data via UC Berkeley.

• Last month, ICE made 332 noncriminal arrests in the state, up from 70 in January.
• The average number of daily arrests of those with charges or convictions also increased in early June, but not to the same degree.   Read More

June 27, 2025

Holding signs that read “DISAPPEARED BY TRUMP,” “Who is next?” and “Vote NO on $150 billion for ICE,” a diverse group of Hazleton residents and activists took to the streets Thursday evening in a peaceful protest calling attention to the silent disappearance of immigrants across the United States.

Organized by Make the Road Pennsylvania, the event aimed to raise awareness, demand accountability and remind the immigrant community that they are not alone.

The protest unfolded along Church and Broad streets, where demonstrators waved U.S. and LGBTQ+ flags and held posters with the faces of people reportedly detained and vanished under U.S. immigration enforcement policies.  Read More

June 18, 2025

The group chat lit up Jonathan Paz’s phone: Another immigration raid was happening a few blocks away. Paz took off running.

He arrived minutes later on a quiet block of auto body warehouses in Waltham, Massachusetts, where SUVs with tinted windows had surrounded a sedan and apprehended the driver, a man in his late 20s. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in a balaclava and tactical vest stood in the street, talking to a 13-year-old boy who had been in the car. As Paz approached, he realized the agent was going through the boy’s phone and asking about his immigration status.  Read More

April 8, 2025

The University of Pennsylvania said three international students studying in the U.S. on school-sponsored visas had their immigration status terminated by the Department of Homeland Security.

In a statement, the Philadelphia college said the students had Penn-sponsored visas and received a notification from DHS that their immigration status was deactivated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS.

Penn said it doesn’t appear that the terminations are connected to on-campus protests in 2024 but are related to what it called “immigrations status violations.”  Read More

February 24, 2025

In the weeks since President Donald Trump took office, advocates say some Pennsylvania children have been tucking identification documents into their backpacks, just in case someone questions their immigration status while at school.

Parents are scared of picking their kids up or dropping them off. Some have been keeping their children home from classes entirely, said Monica Ruiz, executive director at Casa San José, a nonprofit resource center for Latinos in Pittsburgh.

“You’ve got the sense of fear,” Ruiz said. “How do you learn in that environment?”  Read More

March 28, 2025

The Trump administration on Friday sent a notification to more than a hundred groups across the country, including several in Pennsylvania, that the legal services they provide to unaccompanied minors would no longer be funded.

This decision could leave hundreds of children, whose lives may be at risk if they are deported, without adequate legal representation. The nonprofits that have been supporting these children are now scrambling to find funding to continue their work. Read More

March 6, 2025

In the first hours of his second term, Donald Trump issued numerous executive orders to restrict immigration in the U.S. and target non-citizens for detention and deportation.

His policies, including the attempt to end birthright citizenship, have inspired fear and outrage even in sanctuary cities like Philadelphia – especially as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents have raided businesses. Earlier this winter, officers arrested and detained seven undocumented immigrants at a car wash in Juniata Park and three at a tire shop in Kennett Square, Chester County.  Read More

February 24, 2025

In the weeks since President Donald Trump took office, advocates say some Pennsylvania children have been tucking identification documents into their backpacks, just in case someone questions their immigration status while at school.

Parents are scared of picking their kids up or dropping them off. Some have been keeping their children home from classes entirely, said Monica Ruiz, executive director at Casa San José, a nonprofit resource center for Latinos in Pittsburgh.

“You’ve got the sense of fear,” Ruiz said. “How do you learn in that environment?”  Read More

February 28, 2025

Emotions ran high as members of the public packed in to attend the School District of Philadelphia’s Board of Education meeting Thursday. Before the board voted on charter school applications —ultimately denying both proposals — and discussed additional items, dozens of students and community members submitted or delivered testimony urging the district to do more to support migrant students and families. Several also spoke in support of reinstating a former teacher who was suspended after the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia accused her of antisemitism.  Read More

February 22, 2025

There are heightened fears among undocumented families following an operation by federal agents in Chester County.

ICE took several people into custody on Friday, Action News learned.

Video from the Facebook group ¿Qué Pasa, Kennett Square? shows federal agents outside of a tire shop on Baltimore Pike taking people away in handcuffs.

Word quickly spread on social media that ICE was making rounds in Kennett Square.

“There was a lot of concern. News travels fast, it’s a small close-knit community,” said State Representative Christina Sappey. Read More

February 20, 2025

An 11-year-old girl’s death, ruled a suicide, is under further investigation in North Texas after her mother said her daughter was bullied at school over the family’s immigration status.

On Wednesday, hundreds attended the funeral for Jocelynn Rojo Carranza of Gainesville, about an hour north of Fort Worth.

The girl’s mother, Marbelle Carranza, said in an interview with CBS News Texas that after her daughter died, the Gainesville Independent School District told her the 11-year-old had spoken to counselors about being bullied.  Read More

Feb 13, 2025

It’s long been a policy of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to avoid targeting “sensitive locations” like schools, churches, or hospitals for immigration enforcement actions. Less than 24 hours after his inauguration, President Trump reversed this policy.

But just because ICE can now show up at a school for an enforcement action, teachers and school administrators still have the right and responsibility to protect their students under the U.S. Constitution and federal and state law.

Here’s what every school needs to know if ICE comes knocking at their door.  Read More

February 20, 2025

After the November election, there was a lot of attention given to Timothy Snyder’s first lesson in his book On Tyranny: Do not obey in advance.

But now that we’re several weeks into a new administration, and the president has already issued executive orders that attempt to erase the identity of trans and nonbinary people and has rescinded the sensitive locations guidelines for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that prevented immigration raids at schools, hospitals, and churches, it’s time to turn to Snyder’s second lesson: Defend institutions.  Read More

February 10, 2025

The Cheltenham School District released a statement on Monday, February 10 regarding the district’s response to the change in immigration enforcement that once made schools off-limits.

The change came as a result of an Executive Order issued by President Donald Trump last month.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Education Law Center sent a letter of legal guidance to Pennsylvania’s public school superintendents and charter school CEOs regarding interacting with ICE. The letter explained the differences between a judicial and administrative warrant. According to the letter, ICE often uses administrative warrants, which do not legally require that its officers be given access to a location. Read More

February 7, 2025

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania is asking school leaders in the state to resist federal immigration enforcement agency actions on school grounds after the Trump administration rescinded guidance preventing enforcement efforts near schools.

While While President Donald Trump’s directives would allow ICE agents to enter school property, there have been no reported cases of them doing so to date.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania requested school superintendents, CEOS and directors in a letter this week to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents from entering schools, accessing information or having contact with students or staff. Read More

February 6, 2025

President Donald Trump is fulfilling his campaign promise to conduct mass deportations by opening the door to targeting immigrants at schools, hospitals, and churches. These places were previously considered “sensitive spaces,” where officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had been prevented from carrying out raids since 2011 and 2013, respectively.

Since Trump took office, ICE agents have been conducting raids across the United States, and have detained and questioned U.S. citizens—including Native Americans and Puerto Ricans—in the process, leading to claims of racial profiling. At one such raid in Chicago, ICE officials were joined by daytime television host Dr. Phil, who livestreamed the event. Read More

February 1, 2025

When Bucks County School Districts Actually Need to Allow ICE Agents Inside Schools

Editor Cyril Mychalejko wrote in his January 26th article Central Bucks Community Grapples with the Specter of ICE Raids at Local Schools, “The school district, if it wants to follow federal law, no matter how unjust and immoral, has their hands tied…”

Presidential Executive Orders and Memos do not legally and constitutionally countermand laws that already protect undocumented students in Pennsylvania. The federal law Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 prohibits disclosure of a student’s personally identifiable information without parental consent to anyone with very few exceptions including ICE agents, unless a judicial order or a lawfully issued subpoena is presented to school officials.  Read More

January 28, 2025

A coalition of Quaker groups, including one in Philadelphia, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking to block immigration authorities from raiding houses of worship in search of criminal migrants.

The Quaker groups allege that the policy change harms their congregations by deterring immigrants from worshipping in person, violating their First Amendment rights to freely associate and exercise religion.

“Allowing armed government agents wearing ICE-emblazoned jackets to park outside a religious service and monitor who enters or to interrupt the service and drag a congregant out during the middle of worship is anathema to Quaker religious exercise,” the federal lawsuit filed in Maryland said. “The very threat of that enforcement deters congregants from attending services, especially members of immigrant communities.” Read More

January 7, 2025

Immigration authorities can now enter schools, healthcare facilities and places of worship to conduct arrests, according to a new policy from the Department of Homeland Security.

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”

The directive, which covers agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, rescinds guidance from the Biden administration that created “protected areas” that primarily consisted of places where “children gather, disaster or emergency relief sites, and social services establishments.”  Read More

January 7, 2025

If immigration agents arrive on the doorstep of a New York City public school, principals have been told what to do. Ask the officers to wait outside, and call a school district lawyer.

The school system has enrolled about 40,000 recent immigrant students since 2022. Now, as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to take office with promises to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, the district has shared with school staff a protocol to try to shield students who have a tenuous legal status.

In a December letter to principals, Emma Vadehra, the district’s chief operating officer, wrote, “We hope using this protocol will never be necessary.”

Still, New York and some other school districts across the country are readying educators and immigrant families for a potential wave of deportations.  Read More

December 30, 2024

Local education advocates and policy experts say the incoming president is unlikely to fulfill his pledge to demolish the Department of Education, but schools across the country could still be impacted.
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Among his many promises, President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, cut federal funding for any school “pushing” critical race theory, abolish teacher tenure and expand school choice.

As the nation is preparing for a new administration in January, education stakeholders around Pittsburgh are gearing up for big changes.  Read More

December 27, 2024

But President-elect Donald Trump likely will rescind that policy soon after his return to the White House, according to recent reporting from NBC News.

That could open the door for immigration agents to more frequently stop parents as they drop their kids off at school, or for interactions with school police to lead to students and their parents being detained.

Educators and advocates for immigrant children worry that would create an environment of fear that could deter families from bringing their children to school or participating in school events. That could, in turn, interrupt kids’ learning and make it harder for educators to build trusting relationships with immigrant families.  Read More