Immigrants' Rights

As deportations have ramped up in Nevada, there have been lingering questions about the tactics Homeland Security has deployed in its immigration enforcement.

The ACLU of Nevada, UNLV Immigration Clinic and Make the Road Nevada, all members of the Nevada Immigrant Coalition, addressed the interim Committee on Government Affairs last week about ways state lawmakers can respond to a rise in deportations and detentions. 

Court says DHS is violating its orders in ACLU of Nevada’s successful class action challenge of DHS’s immigration bond policy

We filed a class action lawsuit, in collaboration with the ACLU and the UNLV Immigration Clinic, against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), challenging a new federal policy that unlawfully denied immigrants their right to a bond hearing. For decades, people who were living in the U.S. and later detained by immigration authorities were entitled to a bond hearing under federal law. The DHS has now reversed this precedent by reclassifying these longtime residents as “applicants for admission,” thereby stripping them of their right to ask a judge for release. Now, under this new policy, anyone who entered the United States without inspection is detained while their immigration case moves forward without the opportunity for a bond hearing, also known as a custody redetermination hearing. This is a direct attack on due process. People who have lived in Nevada for years are now being held for prolonged periods of time in civil detention facilities without knowing when, or if, they’ll ever see a judge. Our class action seeks to reaffirm the right to a bond hearing for immigrants arrested inside of the United States and prevent them from being unlawfully detained without the possibility of release and in violation of their due process rights. UPDATE: On March 26, 2026, a federal court granted partial summary judgment, ruling that the Department of Homeland Security's mandatory detention policies are unlawful, restoring access to bond hearings for undocumented immigrants.

We filed a lawsuit challenging the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s (LVMPD) 287(g) agreement with ICE. That agreement allows ICE to use local law enforcement to assist in carrying out its federal immigration enforcement agenda.

We’re suing the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for violating Nevada’s public records laws by refusing to release records related to their communications with ICE.

The ACLU of Nevada, in collaboration with ACLU and the UNLV Immigration Clinic, filed an emergency lawsuit on behalf of its client Viloria Aviles, a Venezuelan man facing imminent deportation under a Proclamation issued by President Trump. The Proclamation invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime statute historically used only during declared wars with foreign governments, to justify the summary removal of Venezuelan nationals accused of alleged gang ties. Aviles was at risk of being removed without notice or the opportunity to contest his designation. In April 2025, we secured an emergency order from the federal court prohibiting the government from deporting Aviles while his asylum claim proceeds in immigration court. The case is currently stayed until either the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a related Alien Enemies Act case or his asylum proceedings conclude.