Legal Challenge Seeks to End Harmful ICE Policy Targeting Immigrant Survivors of Domestic Violence, Human Trafficking, and Other Serious Crimes

Press Release

For Immediate Release: October 15, 2025

Media Contacts: 

Karen Hernández, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law: press@centerforhumanrights.org

Maria Amezquita, Public Counsel: maria.amezquita@risestrategygroup.com

Antonio Rodrigeuz, La Raza Centro Legal: antonio@lrcl.org

Jorge Mario Cabrera, CHIRLA: jmcabrera@chirla.org

Jessica Farb, Immigration Center for Women and Children: jess@icwclaw.org

Legal Challenge Seeks to End Harmful ICE Policy Targeting Immigrant Survivors

of Domestic Violence, Human Trafficking, and Other Serious Crimes

Immigration Center for Women and Children v. Noem

Survivors deserve protection, not broken promises.

Los Angeles, California - A group of immigrant survivors – individuals who have endured domestic violence, human trafficking, and other horrendous crimes – and organizations that serve them are suing the U.S. government for breaking its commitment to protect them. In recognition of their bravery in reporting the crimes committed against them and their efforts to hold abusers accountable, the government made a promise: that they would be protected from further harm, including from arrest, imprisonment, and deportation by ICE while they pursue that status. That promise is currently being broken. 

Filed October 14, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the lawsuit challenges a dehumanizing, unjust, and illegal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) policy issued in early 2025 that, for the first time in decades,  enables the widespread jailing and deportation of immigrant survivors. This policy violates the very legal protections, crafted by Congress and passed with bipartisan support, that were designed to shield vulnerable adults and children from harm. 

The lawsuit also challenges two unlawful and ongoing practices that the 2025 policy set in motion with devastating impact:

• ICE routinely imprisons and deports immigrant survivors who have been formally granted the right to remain in the U.S.

• ICE regularly deports survivors of trafficking and other serious crimes without carrying out the required legal review to determine if they are eligible for protections that Congress specifically created to keep survivors safe from deportation.

The lawsuit seeks to restore the guaranteed rights and protections bestowed on survivors by the law, including restoring the necessary relief from the threat of deportation to ensure that survivors can come forward and help improve and maintain public safety. 

The government’s illegal practices are harming vulnerable survivors like Yessenia Ruano, who came to the U.S. seeking safety in 2011. In compliance with the law, she applied for a T Visa, which protects survivors of crimes related to human trafficking. But instead of protection, she was mistreated and  forced back to her home country with her U.S. citizen children: 

“At the first check-in, the agents told me I would be deported. They said that if I didn’t go on my own, they would hunt me down and find me, and that I would be separated from my daughters, detained, and deported….I was in turmoil, because I also could not face being taken away from my kids and imprisoned.”

Another plaintiff, Jackie Merlos, fled to the U.S. decades ago after two close family members were killed. She raised her four U.S. citizen children and built a family business. After being held at gunpoint and reporting her assailant, she applied for a U Visa and was granted permission to remain in the U.S.  In violation of the law, ICE has now jailed her for months. Jackie shared: 

“I felt safe here. I could not have imagined that only a few years later, immigration agents would arrest me while I was at a park with my family. Although I have never committed any crime, they took me and my four children to an immigration prison. As the agent was processing us, as my children were sobbing, he said to us, ‘Do you know why you’re here? Because you are a criminal.’ So many people are afraid to speak up. I’m not going to be quiet. I am not a criminal.” 

To address the systemic fear that prevents immigrant survivors from seeking help due to the threat of deportation, Congress created the U and T visa programs in 2000 through its renewal of the Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”) and the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act - critical protections that empower survivors by offering a pathway to permanent status. The Trump Administration is actively denying and unlawfully dismantling these vital protections, all in the service of illegal enforcement actions that ignore the law.

Several organizations that do the courageous work of counseling and representing survivors of domestic abuse, human trafficking, and crime have also stepped forward as plaintiffs to protect the communities they serve. These include the Immigration Center for Women and Children (ICWC), California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ), the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), and La Raza Centro Legal (LRCL). 

Plaintiffs are represented in this lawsuit by the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL), Public Counsel, La Raza Centro Legal (LRCL), and Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).

Immigrant survivors deserve safety, dignity, and justice, but are now being arrested, jailed, and deported. This is not just a policy failure; it is a human rights and legal crisis. We demand that the Trump administration follow the law and respect these rights. The protections enshrined by Congress in the U visa, T visa, and VAWA legislation were hard-won by advocates and communities that recognized the unique vulnerabilities immigrant survivors face. When federal agencies violate these laws, they not only break the law - they enable ongoing abuse.

That’s why we’re taking this fight to court: to compel a clear ruling on what should be undeniable: immigrant survivors must not be punished for seeking protection, and the government must be held accountable to the law. We will not stop until survivors receive the justice, safety, and humanity they were promised.

"Donald Trump’s illegal mass deportation campaign is harming survivors of crime and trafficking through arrests, imprisonment, and deportations that are destroying lives and families,” said Erika Cervantes, Staff Attorney at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. “Our lawsuit calls on the government to respect the legal rights and protections of brave people who stepped forward to make our communities safer.” 

“Congress created these protections to keep us all safe and to reaffirm that in the United States, everyone has the right to access the criminal justice system,” said Rebecca Brown, a Supervising Attorney in Public Counsel’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “Now, because of this administration’s unlawful actions, immigrants are not reporting violent crimes, including domestic violence, rape, trafficking, and assault, out of fear of being turned over to the deportation machine. Worse still, survivors are being separated from their families — and in some cases being sent straight back to their abusers.”

“We are proud to join this essential lawsuit to protect particularly vulnerable populations from the brutal and cruel deportation machine unleashed by this Administration,” said Angelica Salas, Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). “In flagrant violation of common decency and the laws passed by the American People’s representatives in Congress, the Department of Homeland Security wants to both detain the trafficked, crime victims and survivors of domestic violence as well as deny them the right to work lawfully to support their families. This harms not just these brave immigrants but also the rule of law and collaborative efforts to enforce justice upon their abusers.”

"The entire purpose of these forms of relief is to provide non-citizen survivors of violence here in the United States a means to feel safe while they seek justice. To arbitrarily and unlawfully strip these protections away is not only cruel, but it cultivates a fear of culture where survivors of violence will be forced to hide from the institutions meant to protect them and subsequently punish those who have already, in good faith, come forward with family separation and the violence found in ICE detention,” said Jordan Weiner, Legal Director of the Immigration Removal Defense Program at La Raza Centro Legal.

“For more than a generation—since Congress first passed the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 and strengthened these protections through repeated reauthorizations—immigrant survivors of violence and trafficking have relied on the promise of safety and justice. At ICWC, we have seen how these safeguards empower survivors to come forward, seek help, and rebuild their lives. The current policies not only break that promise, but also threaten decades of progress and the safety of entire communities. We urge the administration to honor the law and restore the protections that survivors and their families have depended on for over thirty years,” said Jessica Farb, Deputy Director of the Immigration Center for Women and Children.

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The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL) is a legal non-profit committed to protecting and advancing the rights of immigrants through legal action, advocacy, and education. Through impact litigation, we challenge unlawful immigration policies to drive systemic change and establish stronger legal protections for immigrants. At the local, state, and federal levels, we advocate for fair and humane policies that uphold the rights of all immigrants. For more information, please visit https://www.centerforhumanrights.org 

Public Counsel is a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to advancing civil rights and racial and economic justice, as well as to amplifying the power of our clients through comprehensive legal advocacy. Founded on and strengthened by a pro bono legal service model, our staff and volunteers seek justice through direct legal services, promote healthy and resilient communities through education and outreach, and support community-led efforts to transform unjust systems through litigation and policy advocacy in and beyond Los Angeles.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) was founded in 1986 to advance the human and civil rights of immigrants and refugees. CHIRLA became a place for organizations and people who support human rights to work together for policies that advance justice and full inclusion for all immigrants.  CHIRLA has since become one of the largest and most effective advocates for immigrant rights, organizing, educating and defending immigrants and refugees in the streets, in the courts, and in the halls of power.

La Raza Centro Legal (LRCL) is a non-profit legal organization to provide high quality, free legal representation to the Latino community and other low-income immigrant families. We work to advance civil and human rights and ensure access to justice especially for peoples most impacted by historical discrimination and violence both in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. For more information, please visit lrcl.org 

Immigration Center for Women and Children (ICWC) is a non-profit legal organization providing free and affordable immigration services to underrepresented immigrants in California and Nevada. ICWC strives to provide security and stability for children who are abused, abandoned or neglected and for immigrants who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and other violent crimes. For more information, please visit https://www.icwclaw.org/ 

California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ) is a non-profit community organization that uses coordination, advocacy, and legal services to fight for the liberation of detained and incarcerated immigrants in California. For more information, please visit: https://www.ccijustice.org/