Our teams provide hundreds of new clients each year with free direct legal representation in cases ranging from fighting wage theft and evictions to protecting immigrant community members from detention and deportation. Through impact litigation, we’re also driving systemic change at the local, state, and national levels, from expanding voting rights and workers’ rights to protecting affordable housing and challenging illegal and unjust policies that racially profile and discriminate against Asian, Pacific Islander, Arab, Middle Eastern, and Muslim communities. Learn more on our Litigation and Direct Services page.
Ger Chong Ze Chang, et. al. v. County of Siskiyou and Jeremiah Larue
Four Asian American community members filed a class action lawsuit in August 2022 against Siskiyou County officials’ systematic campaign of racist hostility and persecution, including restricting Asian Americans’ right to water and executing unlawful traffic stops, search and seizure practices, and property liens that are blatantly aimed at Asian Americans.
Through our investigations with Siskiyou County community members and the ACLU of Northern California, we found that the Sheriff’s Department targets Asian American drivers at a rate 12 times greater than the Asian American driving-age population. As the region faces hotter temperatures and more extreme wildfires, Siskiyou County officials have created a humanitarian crisis that disproportionately deprives Asian American residents of water needed for health and hygiene and to protect themselves and their homes from wildfires.
Our co-counsel are ACLU of Northern California and Covington & Burling LLP.
Community Tenants Association, et. al. v. Valstock Management Company, et. al.
Amid a citywide reckoning with the urgent lack of affordable housing and a growing movement of tenants forced to organize to protect their rights, eight Chinatown tenants and the Community Tenants Association have won an important settlement that asserts their rights to live peacefully in the neighborhood and buildings they call home.
In 2017, more than 100 people rallied outside the apartment building managed by Valstock Management, bringing citywide attention to the corporation’s practices. After a years-long community fight for justice, the tenants will be able to stay in their long-time rent-controlled homes, free of discrimination and harassment by one of San Francisco’s large SRO management companies.
In addition paying the plaintiff’s side $618,000, the defendants will prospectively provide all tenants who have bilingual English and Chinese leases with Chinese translations of all materials notices affecting their tenancy, end their practice of imposing $200 and $50 fines on tenants, ensure at least one Chinese-speaking staff member is available at the property management office during office hours, and ensure that all management and staff attend anti-discrimination and anti-harassment trainings, among other measures.
Along with ALC, the plaintiffs were represented by Legal Assistance to the Elderly and pro bono counsel Ropes & Gray. Over four years, Ropes & Gray spent thousands of hours on this case, exploring every route to achieve justice for our clients.
Xiaoxing Xi v. U.S.
Alongside Advancing Justice - AAJC, we’ve led a national amicus brief supporting Dr. Xiaoxing Xi’s case before the Third Court to hold the U.S. government and Department of Justice accountable for its discriminatory investigation and prosecution of baseless charges that were later dismissed.
Asian, Black, Arab, Middle Eastern, and Muslim communities who have endured the U.S.’s long legacy of targeting people on the basis of their race, national origin, religious identity, or ethnic background under the pretext of national security have come together in solidarity to dismantle these systemic injustices. During oral arguments before the Third Circuit, judges seemed persuaded that Dr. Xi and his family were harmed by “malicious prosecution and fabrication” of evidence and expressed considerable skepticism with the Department of Justice’s arguments attempting to claim immunity from accountability for constitutional violations.
Our co-counsel are Advancing Justice - AAJC and Gibbons P.C.
Brian Bukle v. U.S.
In 2021, Brian Bukle, a Black resident of Riverside County, sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for illegally detaining him for over a month during a COVID-19 outbreak until an immigration attorney intervened. Mr. Bukle has been a U.S. citizen for over 50 years and, despite repeatedly telling CA’s prison system officials that he is a citizen, the CA Department of Corrections chose to report him to ICE. ICE also ignored Mr. Bukle’s pleas and refused to investigate his claim to citizenship. At the time of the lawsuit, Mr. Bukle shared, “CDCR and ICE continually harm Black and immigrant families whether or not we are U.S. citizens.”
Late last year, Mr. Bukle won a settlement with ICE, and as a result ICE will pay him $150,000 for illegally arresting and detaining him for over a month. Across ICE’s operations, Black immigrants are significantly more likely to be targeted for deportation and come in contact with the abusive agency. Black immigrants are also six times more likely to be sent to solitary confinement and Haitian immigrants pay much higher bonds than any other immigrants in detention.
As more and more people join the statewide campaign to end ICE transfers and keep immigrant families together, Mr. Bukle’s case further exposes how the federal immigration agency violates people’s civil and constitutional rights and how CDCR’s entanglement with ICE directly harms Californians.
Our co-counsel are ACLU of Northern California and Sidley Austin LLP