The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
CHRCL's Mission
Our mission is to further and protect the civil, constitutional, and human rights of immigrants, refugees, children, incarcerated individuals, & low income and unhoused community members.
Since its incorporation in 1980, the Center has provided a wide range of legal services to vulnerable low-income victims of human and civil rights violations and technical support and training to hundreds of legal aid attorneys and paralegals in the areas of immigration law, constitutional law, and complex and class action litigation.
The Center has achieved major victories in numerous class action cases in the courts of the United States and before international bodies that have benefited hundreds of thousands of immigrant children, asylum seekers, immigrant workers, and other vulnerable populations.
Major Litigation
The Center is a legal services support center with recognized expertise in complex litigation, constitutional law, and laws targeting vulnerable populations including immigrants, refugees, at-risk children, survivors of domestic violence, prisoners in solitary confinement, and members of LGBT communities.
A partial list of the Center's major litigation includes the following cases:
1978
Munoz v. Bell
CHRCL President Peter Schey served as lead counsel in the major federal case resulting in a court-ordered nation-wide settlement requiring the federal government to advise all persons in deportation proceedings of free legal services available to indigent immigrants
1997
CHRCL's Peter Schey and Carlos Holguin served as lead counsel in a class action resulting in a nation wide settlement setting the conditions of detention for immigrant children and requiring their prompt release to relatives in the US.
CHRCL's Peter Schey served as lead counsel in a California class action blocking the implementation of proposition 187 that denied healthcare, social services, and education for suspected undocumented children and adults.
CHRCL's Peter Schey served as lead counsel in a human rights petition addressed to the inter'american commission on human rights of the Organization of American States resulting in a decision that the U.S. Haitian interdiction program violated the "right to life" pursuant to the American Declaration Of The Rights and Duties of Man.
1999
Lopez v. INS
CHRCL served as lead counsel in a nation-wide class action that protects the right of immigrants arrested by federal authorities to obtain counsel. The federal government is now required to provide an arrested immigrant with a written advisal of their legal rights and a period of time to consult with attorneys before they are interrogated.
2002
CHRCL served as lead council in a nation wide class action settlement granting 250,000 immigrants their right to apply for legalization under the 1986 amnesty law.
CHRCL, Inc. opened a one of a kind homeless shelter located in a DTLA historic mansion for the purpose of housing and providing social services to unaccompanied immigrant children once their release had been secured from federal detention centers.
2017
CHRCL won a federal court order requiring that DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) house accompanied minors detained with their parents in safe and sanitary conditions, provide class members with a list of legal services and Notice of Right of Judicial Review, make and record continuous efforts at the release of minors or place them in non-secure, licensed facilities, and limit the length of detention. Flores v. Sessions, 394 F. Supp. 3d 1041 (C.D. Cal 2017)
1982
Peter Schey served as lead counsel in a State-wide class action case that successfully challenged a Texas statute prohibiting over 200,000 undocumented children from attending public schools.
CHRCL General Counsel Carlos Holguin served as lead counsel in a nation wide class action that blocked the deportation of tens of thousands of Salvadoran asylum seekers fleeing the civil war in El Salvador.
Peter Schey served as lead counsel in a class action that blocked the deportation of over 5,000 Haitians seeking political asylum in the United States.
1998
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, et al., v. Anti-Defamation League of the B'Nai B'rith, et al.
CHRCL served as lead counsel in a class action case and settlement that terminated a practice of the Anti-Defamation League involving spying on Palestinian political activists and required the destruction of records gathered in the course of the surveillance operation.
2000
In 2000 CHRCL Executive Director Peter Schey was recruited by leaders in Congress to draft the LIFE Act extending the right to apply for lawful resident status to over 200,000 immigrants denied amnesty in 1987 because they had briefly traveled abroad during the amnesty law's required four-year residency requirement. Those permitted to apply were thousands of class members residing throughout the country who were registered in class action cases initiated by CHRCL on behalf of all immigrants denied amnesty because of their brief trips abroad.
2012
CHRCL's Carlos Holguin served as league counsel in a class action case decided by the US Supreme Court that blocked Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 that granted state and local enforcement agencies with the power to enforce federal immigration laws.
2022
CHRCL's Carlos Holguin served as lead counsel in a nation wide class action case resulting in an injunction requiring that detained immigrant unaccompanied minors be provided a due process hearing if not released within 30 days.
CHRCL's Peter Schey served as. lead counsel with pro bono counsel Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, achieving a major settlement with the DHS's Customs and Border Patrol creating an independent medical monitor and mandating new and specific custodial conditions and procedures for hundreds of immigrant children in Border Patrol custody including family unity, age-appropriate meals, bedding, and clothing, and a multilayered medical system for children and families in custody.
2022 Summary Report
Litigation
Projects
Whistleblower Project
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CHRCL is campaigning for more robust protections for undocumented, guest workers, and other vulnerable immigrant workers. We are advocating for expansion of the DHS grant of immigration relief, including deferred action status (DAS), work permits (employment authorization documents or EADs), and parole to workers engaged in labor disputes, including those who report labor law violations or cooperate in the investigation or prosecution of such laws. Protections for Haitians
Protections for Haitians
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CHRCL is advocating for deferred enforced departure for all Haitians, the permanent end of interdiction, fair and equal access to the asylum process for all immigrants, and other protections for Haitians in light of the terrible humanitarian crisis in Haiti.
Advance Parole
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CHRCL is advocating for deferred enforced departure for all Haitians, the permanent end of interdiction, fair and equal access to the asylum process for all immigrants, and other protections for Haitians in light of the terrible humanitarian crisis in Haiti.
Trainings, Advisories, and Support
Trainings
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In 2022, CHRCL provided thirteen webinars on topics ranging from class action litigation to undocumented workers’ rights. The webinars had attendance of over five-hundred advocates and lawyers.
Advisories
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In 2022, CHRCL published six practice advisories and drafted four additional advisories which will be available in early 2023.
