Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Anti-immigrant policies and practices not only prevent immigrants from being productive members of society, but also tear families apart and make it nearly impossible for asylum-seekers and immigrant victims of crime to seek the protection and justice to which they are entitled. Our immigration system is fraught with backlogged courts, inadequate training and oversight of law enforcement officers, and quotas that ensure subhuman conditions in for-profit detention centers. In addition to these flaws which have long plagued our country's immigration system, the recent prioritization of all immigrants as targets for detention and deportation has left countless lives - including hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizen children - hanging in the balance. AI Justice works tirelessly to combat and prevent the harmful consequences of our country's immigration policies, and to guarantee that immigrants have the opportunity to contribute to the cultural and economic fabric of this country.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Program - Lucha
Working closely with law enforcement officials, Lucha staff represent immigrant victims of human trafficking, sexual assault, and domestic violence. Attorneys successfully represent clients forced into modern slavery in high-profile cases, ranging from sexual slavery to indentured servitude in the fields of South Florida. The Lucha Program addresses the needs of immigrant victims, their children, and the community as a whole. AI Justice makes an impact on the national policies affecting survivors, playing an important role in the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and serving as a founding member of the Freedom Network, an internationally-recognized coalition of anti-trafficking experts committed to fighting human trafficking.
Children's Legal Program
AI Justice has served thousands of unaccompanied children over the years, whether they are in foster care, in local shelters overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), or in the community living with a parent or guardian. Children undertake the perilous journey to the U.S. alone as a last resort because they lack protection in their home country. Once here, they encounter a system that is complex, bewildering and frightening. They need attorneys to navigate the convoluted worlds of State Juvenile and Family Courts, Immigration Courts and the Asylum Office. AI Justice has influenced national policies and laws affecting immigrant children and is widely recognized as an expert in immigrant children’s issues. AI Justice is the lead agency in a partnership that provides holistic services and is recognized as “a model program for care providers throughout the country” by the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Family Defense Program
In the wake of new policies, Executive Orders and increased enforcement, the immigrant community is vulnerable and fearful. Families are terrified that they may be ripped apart and returned to countries where many would face certain death. Through generous support from the community, AI Justice has launched the Family Defense Program. The Program incorporates community education, legal screenings, and direct representation to immigrants in South Florida in a targeted and holistic effort to keep families together. The Family Defense Program advocates for immigrants who are detained or face potential removal from the United States.
Detention Program
AI Justice attorneys advise detainees of their basic rights, assist them in obtaining release, seek relief from deportation, and monitor conditions of detention to bring about systemic change. Detention clients include asylum seekers, survivors of domestic violence and trafficking, and long-term residents. Attorneys document the impact of harmful and misguided enforcement policies and make recommendations for change. AI Justice is waging a campaign against human rights violations in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detention facilities on the border, through legislation, litigation, education and advocacy.
Advocacy and Litigation
• AI Justice advocates for improved immigration policies and practices, through impact litigation that changes state and national laws; groundbreaking reports that document real-life stories and provide evidence of civil liberties violations; and advocacy and education at all levels. We help shape and advance policies that protect our borders while safeguarding the basic civil and constitutional rights of Americans. AI Justice is a major force advocating for DREAMers and it played a pivotal role in the creation of the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. AI Justice lawyers have brought dozens of lawsuits challenging unjust immigration policies and practices; compelling the government to disclose information key to reforming our broken immigration system; and challenging inhumane and unlawful detention conditions for men, women and children held in immigration detention.
Where we work
Accreditations
Board of Immigration Appeals - Accreditation 1998
External reviews

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Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of community events or trainings held and attendance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
AI Justice is committed to protecting and promoting the basic human rights of immigrants. Through a unique combination of free direct services, impact litigation, policy reform, and public education at local, state, and national levels, we aim to bring about an American society where immigrants are not subjected to abuse or injustice; are not afraid to seek help; have a fair opportunity to make their case in the system that governs them; and have their contributions valued and encouraged.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
AI Justice works to ensure that the most vulnerable immigrants in our community have a voice and access to crucial services. AI Justice achieves outstanding results both systemically and for individual clients by employing a unique combination of free legal services, impact litigation, policy reform, and public education. Grounded in real-world, real-people experience, AI Justice's direct services work with immigrant clients informs its policy work. Recognizing that assistance must be comprehensive to have a lasting impact, staff assist clients in a holistic manner in which partnerships and collaborations are crucial. AI Justice proactively makes services available by being present in immigration court for those who may show up to their first appearance without an attorney, going to domestic violence shelters and having a regular presence at local detention facilities. AI Justice also provides extensive consultation and technical assistance to other organizations both locally and nationally, and regularly provides Know Your Rights presentations which inform and empower community members.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
AI Justice has more than two decades of experience serving clients, advocating for policy reform, and educating and training community members and organizations. Our vast experience and team of highly qualified, multilingual and multicultural staff, allow AI Justice to respond quickly and strategically to the increasing challenges that immigrants in the United States face. Since we opened our doors in 1996, AI Justice has served over 120,000 immigrants, and our holistic model of action combined with our long-standing partnerships and cross-sector relationships ensure lasting change for not just our clients, but for the community as a whole.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
AI Justice has transformed the lives of many individuals and families, and successfully challenged unfair or illegal immigration policies and practices throughout the years. Staff created the model for obtaining the release from detention of DREAMers, and in 2010 represented the four DREAMers who walked 1500 miles, from Miami to Washington, D.C., to call attention to the need for immigration reform. AI Justice's Executive Director, Cheryl Little, published a groundbreaking report on DREAMers which was distributed widely to members of Congress, NGOs and the media, and worked closely with former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz to convince the Obama Administration to grant Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), meeting with White House staff three weeks before DACA was announced. Staff continue working on behalf of DREAMers, providing regular Know Your Rights presentations on college campuses and hosting legal screening clinics throughout Florida. For years our Children's Legal Program has been the lead agency in a partnership providing holistic services to unaccompanied minors that was recognized as “a model program for care providers throughout the country" by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). With AI Justice's representation, many of them have gone on to graduate high school, attend college, and contribute to our economy. Our Lucha Program is internationally recognized for successfully representing clients forced into modern slavery in high-profile, precedent-setting cases ranging from sexual slavery to indentured servitude in the fields of South Florida. AI Justice worked closely with the FBI and US attorney's office on a human trafficking case that spanned a decade and became a model for Department of Justice officials. AI Justice also played an important role in the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), without which countless survivors would have been denied the opportunity to rebuild their lives here. Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, AI Justice played a key role in ensuring that Haitians nationwide obtained Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and that those in Miami eligible for relief received free legal help. Since the subsequent termination of Haitian TPS, AI Justice has redoubled efforts to reach the Haitian-American community with Know Your Rights presentations, free legal screening clinics, and direct representation. In 2013 AI Justice took the lead in successful campaign to end Miami-Dade County's cooperation with ICE's Secure Communities Enforcement Program, which was supposed to target hardened criminals but lead to the deportation of countless residents with no criminal history or with minor traffic violations only, tearing innocent families apart.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
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AMERICANS FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE
Board of directorsas of 2/3/2022
Johanna Rousseaux
Kimberly Green
Green Family Foundation
Tanya Dawkins
Global-Local Links Project
Connie Hicks
Communications Dept., Barry University
Janet McAliley
Miami-Dade County Public School Board
Peter Upton
Private Law Firm
Ilaria Pezatini
Northern Trust
Jose Sepulveda
Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson
Paulina Askins
Markenzy Lapointe
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Khalid Mirza
Palmetto Subacute Care Center
Priscilla Whitehead
United Church of Christ minister
Johanna Rousseaux
Jones Day
Sharon Kegerreis
Berger Singerman
Carl Goldfarb
Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP
Ana (Ani) Buraglia
Fernandez Pave the Way Foundation
Ian Ross
Stumphauzer Foslid Sloman Ross & Kolaya, PLLC
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
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Gender identity
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Sexual orientation
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Disability
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