CENTER FOR

IMMIGRANT JUSTICE

The Center for Immigrant Justice (CIJ)

The Center for Immigrant Justice (CIJ) at Rutgers University explores contemporary and historical immigration and citizenship laws to better understand the complex ways that law and society determine who belongs in the United States. Through interdisciplinary scholarship, legal, policy and advocacy-based initiatives and public engagement, the CILPJ explores and supports the adoption of equitable and more inclusive laws, regulations, policies, and practices for all people – citizens and non-citizens alike.

Research

The CIJ engages in legal and policy research to examine ways that immigration and citizenship laws define rights and privileges of immigrants and their families. It also highlights the scholarships of CILPJ faculty that explore questions of immigration and citizenship laws and policies.

Recent News

ICE has broad power to detain and arrest noncitizens – but is still bound by constitutional limits

News reports of noncitizens unexpectedly being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, have dominated headlines in recent weeks. Those being detained include noncitizens who hold lawful permanent residency status. One story concerns the March 8, 2025, arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident and recent Columbia University graduate, who was initially detained in New Jersey and transported to Louisiana. He remains there while he challenges his detention and the immigration judge’s April 11 decision that he can be deported And on March 25, ICE agents arrested Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University, while she was walking […]

“Immigrant Vocational Licensing” Fellows Program

      Students should submit their resume, list of references, and a brief writing sample as one pdf document to Jason Hernandez at Jason.c.hernandez@rutgers.edu by May 5, 2023. Finalists will be interviewed the week of May 15, 2023, and we anticipate making final selection by May 22, 2023.

NJ ‘Iimmigrant trust’ directive affects number of deportations

NEWARK – The state directive limiting cooperation by New Jersey police agencies with federal enforcement of civil immigration violations slightly reduced the number of people going from jails to federal custody and deportation though isn’t being followed consistently, says a new report out of Rutgers Law School. A study released at a Tuesday symposium said the number of removals of unauthorized immigrants through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was down slightly in 2020 for people with the most serious convictions and basically level for people without them. There was a notable decline in removals through the Secure Communities fingerprint and […]