Immigrants' Rights

Be prepared if you have an interaction with police or federal immigration agents.

Today, the ACLU of Pennsylvania launched Due Something: Inspire Justice, a statewide, multidisciplinary art contest inviting young creatives to explore and reimagine one of the most powerful promises in American democracy: due process.

Mr. Parady La, a 46-year-old Cambodian American father and longtime Philadelphia-area resident, died on January 9, 2026, days after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at FDC Philadelphia. ICE has stated that La was undergoing treatment for drug withdrawal when he was found unresponsive in his cell. His family says significant questions remain unanswered regarding his medical care, treatment, and the circumstances leading to his death. On February 5, 2026, the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on behalf of Mr. La's family, seeking the production of records from ICE and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) related to the detention and death of Mr. La while he was in ICE custody. As part of the request, the ACLU-PA asks for the release of "any and all" records, including: Mr. La's detention file, medical care records, autopsy report, video footage and photos, calls, emails, witness statements, and relevant policies and procedures to help uncover the truth about Mr. La’s treatment in ICE custody.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania joined lawyers from the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) to file a habeas corpus petition on behalf of Dylan Lopez Contreras, a New York City high school student and asylum seeker who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Mr. Lopez Contreras, who is from Venezuela, entered the United States legally in 2024 after receiving humanitarian parole. Despite having no criminal record and a pending application for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, which would have put him on a pathway to a green card, Mr. Lopez Contreras was detained at a courthouse by ICE during a routine immigration hearing on May 21, 2025, after ICE moved to dismiss his asylum case. Mr. Lopez Contreras does not speak English and had no attorney at this hearing. As a result, he did not understand that dismissing his case would allow ICE to place him into expedited removal, a summary deportation process with little judicial review or oversight. Mr. Lopez Contreras also suffers from a severe medical condition that doctors were attempting to diagnose before ICE detained him; in detention, he had no access to the specialized care he needs. The ACLU-PA habeas petition challenged Mr. Lopez Contreras' unlawful detention and sought to prevent him from being moved by ICE to another jurisdiction and to ensure he was given full due process as guaranteed by the 5th and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution. On March 18, 2026, Dylan was released from ICE detention in Pennsylvania after being held for 10 months in captivity.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania and the Community Justice Project have filed a lawsuit on behalf of Make The Road Pennsylvania, NAACP Bucks County, the BuxMont Unitarian Universalists, and an impacted Bucks County resident in the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County challenging a so-called 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the Bucks County Sheriff entered into without authorization of the county’s governing body, the Bucks County Commissioners. ICE uses such agreements to deputize local law enforcement to act as immigration agents. The lawsuit argues that Sheriff Fred Harran illegally entered into the 287(g) because he failed to consult with and get approval from Bucks County Commissioners, the majority of whom oppose the agreement. By entering into this agreement over the County Board of Commissioners’ objection, the Sheriff violated both the Pennsylvania Constitution and the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Cooperation Act. The lawsuit asks the court to issue an injunction that would prevent the agreement from taking effect.

On April 15, 2025, the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the National ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project (“IRP”) sued President Donald Trump and other high-level administration officials to stop the potential deportation of A.S.R., a Venezuelan man who has been living in the United States with his wife, his child, and two step-children since 2023. A.S.R. and his family fled Venezuela when groups associated with the Maduro regime threatened him with extortion. He has petitioned for asylum in the United States. A.S.R. was arrested on February 26, 2025 at his first ICE supervision check-in. ICE told A.S.R. that a neighbor had accused him of being a member of the gang Tren de Aragua, an allegation that A.S.R. adamantly denies. He was taken to ICE detention at Moshannon Valley Processing Center, an immigration detention facility in Philipsburg, PA that is run by the for-profit corporation GEO Group. The ACLU filed its lawsuit on behalf of A.S.R. and a class of similarly situated Venezuelan nationals who are at or may in the future be at Moshannon and are under threat of deportation as a result of Trump’s executive order improperly using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to remove people from the country. The act is intended for use only in wartime, in a declared war against a foreign invasion or government, and has only been used three times in the nation’s history – during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. The government has produced no evidence that A.S.R. is a member of Tren de Aragua. And its use of the Alien Enemies Act to remove him or anyone else from the country, sending them to a notorious prison in El Salvador where people are sent to die, is illegal, immoral, and unethical. On April 15, a federal district court in Western Pennsylvania issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from deporting, and removing from the Western District of Pennsylvania, A.S.R. and similarly situated people detained at Moshannon. Unfortunately, ICE transferred A.S.R. and about ten other Venezuelan men out of the district on April 15, to Bluebonnet Detention Center in Texas, where he remains detained. On April 17, the court extended that order pending further briefing. The ACLU is asking the court to continue its order stopping the deportation of A.S.R and others like him as the litigation proceeds and issuing a writ of habeas corpus, meaning that A.S.R. and others would have the opportunity to challenge their detention and the application of the Alien Enemies Act to him and others like him.