Settlement Reached In Landmark COVID-19 Class Action Case Against Bristol County House of Correction →

Please scroll below for the settlement agreement in Savino v Souza, the landmark class action lawsuit challenging unsafe conditions at the Bristol County House of Correction (BCHOC) in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Settlement Reached In Landmark COVID-19 Class Action Case Against Bristol County House of Correction The parties in Savino v...

Welcome Letter to Mayor Janey with Racial Justice Blueprint →

AFTER DECADES OF INSUFFICIENT MUNICIPAL ACTION, LAWYERS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS GIVES MAYOR JANEY BLUEPRINT FOR RACIAL JUSTICE AND IMMIGRATION REFORMLawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) congratulates and applauds Mayor Kim Janey for her historic leadership as Boston's first Black woman Mayor. For many years, LCR has tirelessly advocated for the City...

Key Immigration Updates | Actualizaciones clave de inmigración →

Español abajo The Biden-Harris Administration has proposed and implemented several changes in federal immigration policy. Below are key updates as of March 12, 2021. Check back here for further information. El gobierno de Biden-Harris ha propuesto e implementado varios cambios en la política federal de inmigración. A continuación se muestran...

Immigrants Improperly Excluded from Unemployment Benefits →

Lawyers for Civil Rights has identified repeated instances of immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) who are being improperly denied unemployment benefits by the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA). The immigrants, including TPS recipients from Haiti, Honduras and El Salvador, are all legally permitted to receive unemployment benefits, particularly...

Sheriffs’ Entanglement With Immigration Officials Illegal, Taxpayer Lawsuit Says →

Sheriffs’ Entanglement With Federal Immigration Officials Illegal, Taxpayer Lawsuit Says  28 Taxpayers Ask Massachusetts’ Highest Court To Declare 287(g) Agreements Unlawful Taxpayers filed a petition directly in Massachusetts’ highest court seeking to invalidate entanglement agreements between county sheriffs and federal immigration officials. The case, Cofield v. McDonald, was filed by Lawyers...

Statement on Attorney General Investigation Against Bristol County →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) applauds the investigation by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, which led to today's finding that Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson's "institutional failures and poor decisions . . . culminated in a calculated—that is, planned and deliberate—use of force against . . . detainees that was...

2020 Annual Report →

We are excited to share our 2020 annual report. The report is available here. Please click here to download the report.

Immigrants to Census Bureau: We’re Here and We Count →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) and Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP filed a friend-of-the-court (amicus curiae) brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of national organizations and Boston-based immigrants' rights and faith-based groups in Trump v. New York, the case that will determine whether undocumented immigrants may be considered in the apportionment...

Open Letter to Biden/Harris Transition Team →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) sent an open letter to the Biden-Harris Transition team identifying urgent legal and policy issues that are currently affecting people of color and immigrants across the country. The letter identifies seven critical areas for immediate executive action, and urges the new Administration to prioritize the...

The Repair Work Begins Now →

STATEMENT FROM NOVEMBER 7, 2020 Lawyers for Civil Rights has played a critical role over the last four years securing major legal relief, including nation-wide injunctions, against executive actions that would harm people of color and immigrants.  We've also stopped the dismantlement of long-standing federal programs designed to protect people of color and...

Lawsuit Against USCIS For “Public Charge” Records →

Civil Rights Organization Sues USCIS For Failure to Produce Public Charge Records Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a federal lawsuit against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for their failure to produce records responsive to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by the racial justice organization over a year...

Statement on First Circuit Opinion in Courthouse Arrest Case →

Statement Regarding First Circuit Opinion in Courthouse Arrest Case (Ryan v. ICE) Although we are disappointed in today's ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Ryan v. ICE, it is only a preliminary decision that sends the case back to the District Court in Boston for...

Keeping Courthouses Safe For All →

Civil Rights Groups Fight to Keep Courthouses Safe for All  Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR), the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), and Goodwin LLP presented oral argument in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to preserve a groundbreaking preliminary injunction blocking immigration officials from arresting people...

Undocumented Immigrants to Trump: We Are People and We Count →

CIVIL RIGHTS AND IMMIGRANT JUSTICE GROUPS ANNOUNCE FEDERAL COURT CHALLENGE TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S EXCLUSION OF UNDOCUMENTED INDIVIDUALS FROM CENSUS COUNT Undocumented Immigrants to Trump: We Are People and We Count In response to the Trump Administration’s racist memorandum excluding undocumented immigrants from the Census 2020 count, Lawyers for Civil Rights has filed...

Student Advocacy Groups Sue BPS and BPD for Records on Information Sharing With ICE →

Student Advocacy Groups Sue Boston Schools, Police Department to Uncover Records Showing Student Information-Sharing With ICE As police reform takes center stage at the national, state, and local levels, the Center for Law and Education, Inc. (CLE), Multicultural Education, Training, and Advocacy, Inc. (META), and Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR)...

Victory! U.S. Supreme Court Keeps DACA Alive →

Statement in Response to Supreme Court's DACA Decision Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) applauds the ruling today from the U.S. Supreme Court halting the rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The Trump Administration, as part of its ongoing campaign to dismantle humanitarian immigration protections, has long-sought to end...

Coronavirus Pandemic Response →

Intake The demand for our free legal services has increased exponentially since the start of the public health and economic crisis.  Since March, we have received over 350 requests for legal assistance (intakes). The estimated demographic breakdown is as follows: 55% Black; 25% Latinx; 10% Asian American; and 10% other....

Blocking ICE Arrests in Courthouses →

Lawyers for Civil Rights' landmark case blocking immigration arrests in and around Massachusetts courthouses, Ryan v. ICE, is the first case of its kind in the country. The case was filed in partnership with Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins, Committee for Public Counsel...