Americans for Immigrant Justice

AIJ was one of 235⁵ organizations to sign America’s Voice’s 2021 Immigration Action Plan,⁶ which labeled Trump Administration immigration policies as a “xenophobic governing agenda […] underpinned by intentional cruelty and racism.” ⁷ AIJ filed an amicus brief in Hawaii v. Trump to oppose President Trump’s executive order preventing immigration from countries with a high risk of terrorism. ⁸ In 2019,

AIJ has co-authored reports with the controversial Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) ⁹ and has received grants from left-wing NextGen Climate Action¹⁰ and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. ¹¹

History and Leadership

Americans for Immigrant Justice, Inc. (AIJ) was founded in 1996 as Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC)¹ due to pending restrictions and funding cuts to the federally funded Legal Services Corporation (LSC). ¹² In 2011, FIAC became AIJ in an effort to reflect the national scope of its work. ¹²

Johanna Rousseaux, of Jones Day, is AI Justice’s president. ¹³ Cheryl Little is one of AIJ’s co-founders and its current executive director. ¹⁴Little has won awards from the International Longshoremen’s Association¹⁵ and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida. ¹⁶ She is a contributor to the left-leaning website HuffPost. ¹⁷

Former chairman of the American Conservative Union Al Cardenas is an honorary board member. ¹⁸

Activities

AIJ provides legal support to immigrants in detention facilities; victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault;² farm workers; illegal immigrants;³ unaccompanied minors; and families facing separation. ¹⁹ AIJ is the only organization authorized to provide legal services to children detained in immigration facilities. ⁴

AIJ’s legal programs include a family defense program,²⁰ domestic violence and human trafficking program,²¹ children’s legal program,²² detention program,²³ and a litigation program. ²⁴

AIJ’s family defense program provides legal defense and works with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to conduct “Know Your Rights” workshops for so-called “DREAMers,” temporary protected status (TPS) recipients, and immigrants, both legal and illegal. ²⁵ AIJ’s detention program represents individuals before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the immigration court. ²³

Legal Activism

In 2021, AIJ co-signed a letter to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) organized by left-of-center illegal immigration advocacy organization United We Dream urging the disapproval of agreements made between DHS and the ICE employees union. ²⁶ AIJ also co-signed a letter by left-of-center Refugees International calling for the re-instatement of TPS for Haitian nationals in the U.S. ²⁷

In 2021, AIJ shared Facebook posts calling for the legalization and citizenship of “DREAMers”²⁸ and touts its role as one of the organizers of the “Trail of Dreams” march of four illegal immigrants from Miami to Washington, D.C., in support of the DREAM Act proposal to grant legal status to certain classes of illegal immigrants. ²⁹

AIJ was one of 235⁵ organizations to sign illegal immigration advocacy group America’s Voice’s 2021 Immigration Action Plan,⁶ which labeled Trump Administration immigration policies as a “xenophobic governing agenda […] underpinned by intentional cruelty and racism.” ⁷

In 2020, AIJ co-signed a letter written by illegal immigration advocacy group Alianza Americas and the left-of-center Hispanic Federation to President-elect Joe Biden urging the incoming administration to grant TPS to individuals from Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala immediately after taking office in 2021³⁰ and co-signed another letter demanding a halt in deportations to Haiti written by Beyond Borders. ³¹

In 2019, AIJ joined a lawsuit to overturn Florida’s ban on “sanctuary cities” for illegal immigrants that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities^{32 33} and co-authored a report with the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2019 calling for the end of immigration detention facilities and cash bond for immigration offenses. ³⁴

That same year, Michael Bloomberg, former New York City Mayor and unsuccessful candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, delivered keynote remarks at AIJ’s 23^rd annual awards dinner. ³⁵ In 2019, AIJ co-signed a letter with 230 activist organizations calling on Congressional leadership to oppose additional funding for ICE detention facilities, CBP detention facilities, funding for border protection as a part of Operation Guardian, funding for ICE counter-smuggling programs, and funding for the Department of Justice’s U.S. Marshals program to prosecute “migration offenses.” ³⁶

In 2017, AIJ filed an amicus brief in Hawaii v. Trump to oppose President Trump’s executive order preventing immigration from countries with a high risk of terrorism. ⁸

In 2014, AIJ co-signed a letter calling for the elimination of appropriations in the Bureau of Prisons in “Criminal Alien Requirement” facilities for immigration violations. ³⁷

Funding

AIJ’s funders and sponsors include American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the Rosenthal Family Foundation, Borealis Philanthropy, the left-progressive Equal Justice Works, liberal expansionist immigration reform advocacy group FWD.us, left-of-center Hispanics in Philanthropy, the International Rescue Committee, left-wing billionaire activist and failed 2020 Democratic Party Presidential Candidate Tom Steyer’s NextGen America, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Vera Institute of Justice (VIJ),³⁸ and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. ^{11 39}

AIJ receives multi-year grants from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)-supported Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative (SIFI), which provides pro bono legal representation to detained immigrants in the southeast. ⁴⁰

In 2019, AIJ received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. ⁴¹

In 2018, AIJ received $5,068,129 in contributions and grants, up from $4,691,472 in 2017. ⁴²

In 2018, AIJ received grants of $250,000 from the failed Democratic Party presidential candidate Tom Steyer’s left-wing NextGen Climate Action,¹⁰ $51,000 from The Miami Foundation,⁴³ $42,914 from the left-of-center Borealis Philanthropy,⁴⁴ $10,000 from the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program,⁴⁵ and a $10,000 grant from the Tom Sullivan Foundation. ⁴⁶

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation made grants of $500,000 in 2017¹¹ and $400,000 in 2016 to AIJ. ³⁹