Silva v. U.S. Attorney General
In January 2022, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the National Immigration Project (NIPNLG), and Foley & Lardner LLP filed a petition for review with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the deportation of Kelvin Silva and asserting that the exclusion of unwed U.S.-citizen fathers from the former derivative naturalization statute violates Equal Protection.
Status: Ongoing • Issues: Derivative Citizenship, Equal Protection, Fifth Amendment
In January 2022, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta and partners filed a petition for review with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Kelvin Silva, challenging a sexist and racist former law that excluded naturalized U.S.-citizen fathers like Mr. Silva’s from passing their citizenship status to immigrant children who were born “out of wedlock.”
Although the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA) changed this more than 20 years ago, it did not do so retroactively for children who had already turned 18 years old when the CCA took effect on Feb. 27, 2001, excluding thousands like Mr. Silva who immigrated to the U.S. as children decades ago to live with their custodial U.S.-citizen fathers.
The prior law’s limitation on father-to-child citizenship transmission was based on Guyer v. Smith, an 1864 Maryland court opinion holding that the children of a white American father and a Black mother from St. Barthelemy had no claim to U.S. citizenship because they were born “out of wedlock.”
Congress later codified the Guyer Rule in the Nationality Act of 1940 and recodified it in the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), adding a provision to the derivative naturalization statute that allowed naturalized mothers to transfer citizenship to nonmarital children. Naturalized fathers, however, had no ability under the statute to transfer citizenship to their nonmarital children - even if the child was in the father’s full custody. This exclusion had a disproportionate impact on Black immigrants.
Mr. Silva’s petition for review challenges the exclusion of unwed fathers from the former statute for violating Equal Protection and was filed by Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the National Immigration Project (NIPNLG), and Foley & Lardner LLP.
Filed
January 28, 2022
Status
Ongoing
Issues
Derivative Citizenship, Equal Protection, Fifth Amendment
News & Press Releases
NC man argues outdated, discriminatory law led to deportation
AAAJ-ATL, NIPNLG, SPLC Issue Statement Upon Filing Brief With the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
Former permanent resident deported after more than 30 months in ICE custody
Decades After Being Overturned, Discriminatory Guyer Rule Leads to Deportation of Kevin Silva
The Year in Review: Events that Shaped 2021
Former permanent resident who hoped Biden would be his 'miracle' to be deported
Charlotte father thought he was U.S. citizen. Now, he’s facing deportation.
Charlotte Man in Deportation Limbo Due to Obsolete Immigration Law
Charlotte Man Faces Deportation by Obscure, Racist Immigration Law
Permanent resident facing deportation hoping for Biden's help: 'Need a miracle'
Asian Americans Advancing Justice–Atlanta v. Raffensperger
Advancing Justice-Atlanta and several Asian American voters are challenging new and discriminatory state law restrictions on absentee-by-mail voting after AAPI voters relied heavily on voting by mail in 2020 and 2021.
Status: Ongoing • Issues: Federal Voting Rights Act, Intentional Discrimination, Undue Burden on the Right to Vote, First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, Fifteenth Amendment, Voting by Mail
Advancing Justice-Atlanta and several Asian American voters are challenging Senate Bill 202 ("SB 202"), which the Georgia legislature passed in March 2021. SB 202 significantly restricts absentee voting by mail, the method of voting used by AAPI voters at higher rates than any other racial group in Georgia. Specifically, SB 202 dramatically reduces the time to request and return absentee ballots, eliminates absentee ballot drop-off locations, prohibits local and state officials from proactively mailing absentee applications, imposes burdensome new voter identification requirements, and criminalizes certain handling and return of completed absentee ballot applications.
Advancing Justice-Atlanta's lawsuit argues that SB 202's restrictions on absentee voting disproportionately harm and intentionally disriminate against AAPI voters in Georgia in violation of both the federal Voting Rights Act and the Constitution.
Filed
April 2021
Status
Ongoing
Issues
Federal Voting Rights Act, Intentional Discrimination, Undue Burden on the Right to Vote, First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, Fifteenth Amendment, Voting by Mail
GALEO v. Gwinnett County Board of Elections
Advancing Justice-Atlanta and several other local voting rights organizations are challenging Gwinnett County’s and the Secretary of State’s persistent failures to provide all election materials to Gwinnett County voters bilingually in English and Spanish.
Status: Decided • Issues: Language Access, Voting Rights Act
Advancing Justice-Atlanta and several other local voting rights organizations are challenging Gwinnett County’s and the Secretary of State’s persistent failures to provide all election materials to Gwinnett County voters bilingually in English and Spanish.
Filed
April 2020
Status
Decided
Issues
Language Access, Voting Rights Act
Martinez v. Donahue; Benavides v. Gartland
In April 2020, Advancing Justice-Atlanta, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Kilpatrick Townsend filed a habeas petition and civil rights complaint on behalf of several medically vulnerable immigrants detained at the three Georgia ICE detention centers to seek their release during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Status: Decided • Issues: Immigration Detention, Indefinite Detention
In April 2020, Advancing Justice-Atlanta, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Kilpatrick Townsend filed a habeas petition and civil rights complaint on behalf of several medically vulnerable immigrants detained at the three Georgia ICE detention centers to seek their release during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Filed
April 2020
Status
Decided
Issues
Immigration Detention, Prison Conditions, COVID-19
Legal Filing
Martinez Memorandum In Support of Motion for TRO (04/08/20)
Martinez Order Denying TRO (04/10/20)
Martinez Memorandum In Support of Preliminary Injunction (04/30/20)
Martinez Second Amended Petition for Habeas Corpus and Complaint (05/18/20)
Martinez Order Denying PI (06/03/20)
Benavides Memorandum In Support of Motion for TRO (04/08/20)
Benavides Order Denying TRO (04/18/20)
Benavides Amended Petition for Habeas Corpus and Complaint (05/07/20)
Benavides Memorandum In Support of Preliminary Injunction (05/08/20)
News & Press Releases
Trinh v. Homan
In February 2018, Advancing Justice-Atlanta filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against ICE to challenge the prolonged and indefinite detention of Vietnamese refugees.
Status: Decided • Issues: Immigration Detention, Prolonged Detention, Indefinite Detention
In 2017, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) imprisoned dozens of Vietnamese immigrants across the country, including those who came to the United States before July 12, 1995 (pre-1995 Vietnamese).
ICE has historically been unable to remove pre-1995 Vietnamese immigrants with deportation orders to Vietnam. Consequently, ICE for years released pre-1995 Vietnamese immigrants relatively promptly after their deportation proceedings concluded. But ICE abruptly changed its detention practices in 2017 and began imprisoning pre-1995 Vietnamese immigrants for many months.
In February 2018, Advancing Justice-Atlanta, along with Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus and Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, filed a nationwide class action in the Central District of California to challenge ICE’s indefinite detention of pre-1995 Vietnamese immigrants under Zadvydas v. Davis.
For more information on deportations of Vietnamese immigrants who entered the U.S. before 1995, please visit this resource page developed by our affiliate, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus
Filed
February 28, 2018
Status
Decided
Issues
Immigration Detention, Prolonged Detention, Indefinite Detention
News & Press Releases
Singh v. Sessions
In May 2018, Advancing Justice-Atlanta appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals a federal judge’s decision denying the release of an immigrant whose removal ICE could not effectuate.
Status: Decided • Issues: Immigration Detention, Prolonged Detention, Indefinite Detention
In May 2018, Advancing Justice-Atlanta appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals a federal judge’s decision denying the release of an immigrant whose removal ICE could not effectuate.
Filed
May 2018
Status
Decided
Issues
Immigration Detention, Prolonged Detention, Indefinite Detention
Kwon v. Crittenden
To protect LEP voters in the state-only December 4, 2018 run-off election, Advancing Justice-Atlanta filed a lawsuit in late November 2018 to challenge the law.
Status: Decided • Issues: Language Access, Voting Rights Act
During the November 6, 2018 general election, Advancing Justice-Atlanta recruited and trained volunteer interpreters to assist Limited English Proficient (LEP) voters at the polls.
Some of these LEP voters faced issues at the polls because of a Georgia state law that severely restricted who could be an interpreter in state and local elections. While this law should not have applied in the November general election, which included federal races, the law would have applied to the December runoff election, which included only state races. To protect LEP voters’ right to an interpreter in the state-only runoff election, Advancing Justice-Atlanta filed a lawsuit in late November to challenge the restrictive state law. The lawsuit alleged that the state law violated the federal Voting Rights Act.
Within a matter of days, the lawsuit resulted in a settlement that permanently enjoined enforcement of the restrictive state law, thus entitling LEP voters to an interpreter of their choice in the December runoff election. This broad access to an interpreter now applies to all elections in Georgia.
Filed
November 27, 2018
Status
Decided
Issues
Voting Rights, Language Access, Voting Rights Act
News & Press Releases
Georgia Muslim Voter Project v. Kemp
In October 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia (ACLU of Georgia) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Georgia Muslim Voter Project and Advancing Justice-Atlanta, to protect Georgia voters who had their absentee ballots or absentee ballot applications rejected due to an alleged “signature mismatch.”
Status: Decided • Issues: Absentee Ballot, Constitutional Due Process
In October 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia (ACLU of Georgia) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Georgia Muslim Voter Project and Advancing Justice-Atlanta to protect Georgia voters who had their absentee ballots or absentee ballot applications rejected due to an alleged “signature mismatch.”
Under Georgia law, county elections officials are required to reject absentee ballots with signatures that do not appear to match the signature the county has on file. The voter was not provided notice before their ballot was rejected or an opportunity to fix the problem.
The lawsuit claimed that rejecting absentee ballots without giving voters an opportunity to fix signature issues is unconstitutional. The lawsuit resulted in a preliminary injunction that ordered election officials to give voters an opportunity to fix a signature mismatch issue before rejecting their absentee ballots in the November 6, 2018 general election.
Filed
October 16, 2018
Status
Decided
Issues
Voting Rights, Absentee Ballot, Signature Mismatch, Procedural Due Process
Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda v. Kemp
In October 2018, Advancing Justice-Atlanta and other civil rights organizations filed a lawsuit to challenge the new “exact match” law.
Status: Ongoing • Issues: Exact Match, Voting Rights Act, Constitutional Due Process
In 2017, former Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed into law House Bill 268, which codified the same faulty “exact match” voter registration verification process previously challenged and temporarily ended in a 2016 lawsuit. Instead of 40 days, House Bill 268 gives applicants 26 months to fix any alleged mismatch before their voter registration is canceled. But the law still puts thousands of eligible voters at risk of disenfranchisement, the vast majority of them people of color.
In October 2018, Advancing Justice-Atlanta and other civil rights organizations filed a lawsuit to challenge the new “exact match” law, which led to increased protections to voters for the November 6, 2018 general election and the December 4, 2018 run-off election in Georgia.
Filed
October 11, 2018
Status
Ongoing
Issues
Voting Rights, Voting Registration, Exact Match, Voting Rights Act, Help America Vote Act
Georgia State Conference of the NAACP v. State of Georgia
In 2017, Advancing Justice-Atlanta joined several other civil rights organizations to challenge a Georgia statutory scheme that requires Georgians to register to vote three months in advance of a federal runoff election in order to cast a ballot.
Status: Decided • Issues: Federal Runoff
In 2017, Advancing Justice-Atlanta joined several other civil rights organizations to challenge a Georgia statute that required Georgians to register to vote three months in advance of a federal runoff election in order to cast a ballot, in violation of the National Voter Registration Act.
As a result of this litigation, a federal judge extended the voter registration deadline for the June 2017 runoff election between Karen Handel and Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District, enabling 8,000 additional voters to participate in this historic election.
Filed
April 25, 2017
Status
Decided
Issues
Voting Rights, Federal Runoff, National Voter Registration Act
Georgia State Conference of the NAACP v. Kemp
In 2016, Advancing Justice-Atlanta and several other civil rights organizations sued the Georgia Secretary of State over Georgia’s voter registration verification process.
Status: Decided • Issues: Exact Match, Constitutional Due Process, Voting Rights Act
In 2016, Advancing Justice-Atlanta and several other civil rights organizations sued the Georgia Secretary of State over Georgia’s “exact match” voter registration verification process. The “exact match” process automatically rejected voter registration applications if an applicant’s information did not exactly match information in other state databases and the applicant failed to correct the mismatch within 40 days. This process led to thousands of eligible voters being denied the right to vote even when their voter registration applicants contained no errors. The majority of impacted applicants were people of color. The lawsuit led to a settlement that allowed thousands of previously disqualified voters to vote in the 2016 presidential election and reformed the voter registration verification process.
Filed
September 13, 2016
Status
Decided
Issues
Voting Rights, Exact Match, Voting Rights Act, Help America Vote Act
Legal Filing