Featured Entries

SCSJ Opposes Anti-Immigrant HB 786

The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is gravely concerned about North Carolina House Bill 786. This proposal would offer a limited driving permit to unauthorized…

Immigration Charges Officially Dropped for Buen Pastor Families

Late last week 22 members of the Buen Pastor Church received final confirmation that the Department of Homeland Security is no longer seeking to have them deported. They had been stopped and detained by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) in Lake Charles, Louisiana on April 15, 2010, on their return home from Holy Week festivities in Houston, Texas. The church members were awaiting their deportation when they received the news that their cases had been closed. They were subjected to civil rights and due process violations throughout their interaction with CBP including racial profiling, threats to place their children in foster care and mockery for their religious dress. Five of those involved in the proceedings were under 18.

Statement by Rebecca Fontaine, Immigrants’ Rights Organizer, on SB1070 Supreme Court Ruling

North Carolinians Called to Stand For Immigrant Justice after Supreme Court Ruling on Arizona’s SB1070 While policy and advocacy groups are rightfully celebrating that three provisions of SB 1070 were struck down and that the ruling leaves open the possibility to overturn section 2B with pending litigation from civil rights organizations, the ruling is not as celebrated by those most directly impacted by these laws. The many consequences of unjust immigration enforcement are raw for those who continue to live in fear of being separated from family members and their communities. They know firsthand the impact of racial, ethnic and religious profiling, which they expect section 2b to amplify, and its resultant deportations. To read full statement click below https://southerncoalition.org/node/595

National Call-in day for Iglesia Buen Pastor!

Today we are asking people to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ask that they drop the charges against 22 members of the Buen Pastor congregation. We are doing this in partnership with the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. If you haven't signed the petition, do so here.

Dial (800) 394-5855 and tell them:

Hello, I am calling from ______________________ to urge John Morton to drop the charges against all the families involved in the Buen Pastor congregation case in which 22 men, women, and children are facing deportation. Over 800 individuals have signed a petition asking for him to drop the deportation proceedings for this case but have not received a response.

- John Morton has the power to take action today to drop charges.


- Members of Buen Pastor are exactly the kind of individuals who should benefit from President Obama’s August 18th announcement that DHS should use discretion to close cases of individuals who are positive influences on our communities, and who furthermore, are victims of civil rights abuses.


- The church members have filed a complaint and now have an open investigation with the DHS office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties for rights violations including racial profiling, denied access to interpreters, denied access to legal counsel, and threats to take away their children.

SCSJ joins amicus brief on Alabama anti-immigrant law

SCSJ joined a civil rights amicus brief filed in the case over Alabama’s HB56, a law considered by many civil rights groups to be the worst of the Arizona SB1070 copycat legislation that has moved through several statehouses in the past year. ACLU Immigrant Rights Project, ACLU of Alabama, Latino Justice PRLDEF, the National Immigration Law Center, and the Southern Poverty Law Center are seeking a preliminary injunction to enjoin HB 56 from taking effect next month. The Alabama law goes beyond Arizona’s SB1070 by making it unlawful even to provide shelter to undocumented immigrants. It also bans undocumented youth from pursuing an education in community colleges or four-year universities. It attempts to discourage parents from enrolling their undocumented children in public education by permitting school officials to report children to the Department of Homeland Security whom they suspect to be in the country illegally. In May, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice send a strongly worded letter reminding school systems of their obligations to educate children irrespective of their immigration status. Aside from federal civil rights law, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld these children's right to an education in Plyler v. Doe (1982). Other than SCSJ, 27 Amici organizations have joined the brief. The others are the Alabama State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), The Alabama Council on Human Relations (ACHR), Alabama New South Coalition (ANSC), Alabama NOW (part of the National Organization for Women), Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Birmingham Peace Project, Dominican American National Roundtable (DANR)/National Dominican American Council (NDAC), Equality Alabama, Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, Hispanic Federation, Immigration Equality, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), National Council of La Raza (NCLR), National Employment Law Project (NELP), National Guestworker Alliance (NGA), National Immigration Law Project of the National Lawyers Guild (National Immigration Project), New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice (Workers’Center), Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI). Read the amicus brief here.

Rethink lingering law

From SCSJ staff attorney Chris Brook argues against Carrboro’s anti-loitering ordinance. Many Carrboro residents believe this ordinance is in opposition to the progressive reputation of…

Es su Esquina

From Reportaje sobre la ordenanza en Carrboro que les prohíbe quedarse en la esquina de jornaleros después de las 11:00 de la mañana. Chris Brook,…

Carrboro to revisit anti-lingering

From The Carrboro Citizen covers the anti-loitering ordinance. A letter sent by SCSJ and several other organizations criticizes the ordinance for its unconstitutionality. The Carrboro…