If you find yourself looking for immigrant persons’ rights support groups, there are three which could be of great help. They are the North Carolina Chapter of the National Organization for Women, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Ford Foundation. I will describe these groups and also tell you about immigrant persons’ housing rights in the United States.
NC Now, or North Carolina National Organization for Women, declares that their fight to ensure women’s rights and gender equality is inherently connected to the rights of immigrant women, their children, and families. They argue that policies and actions that marginalize immigrant women and threaten their security is a violation of their human rights and destructive to our communities. NC Now supports fair immigration reform legislation. This includes a legalization program that will allow undocumented immigrants living in the United States to apply for residency. It also includes keeping families together so that parents, children, or families are not separated by deportation or detention. NC Now supports access to adequate health care, access to reproductive health coverage, ending law enforcement and federal immigration contracts that give incentives for the criminalization of undocumented immigrants, and the right to access housing that is safe, sanitary, and affordable (NC Now, 1).
The second immigrant persons’ rights support group is the American Civil Liberties Union group. The ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project is dedicated to expanding and enforcing the civil liberties and civil rights of non-citizens and to combating public and private discrimination against immigrants. “Upholding the rights of immigrants is important to us all. When the government has the power to deny legal rights and due process to one vulnerable group, everyone’s rights are at risk. Non-citizens are often the first and most vulnerable targets of government abuse” (Aclu.org, 2).
The last immigrant persons’ rights support group is the Ford Foundation. “The goal of this work is to help national, state, and local organizations secure and protect migrant rights and integrate them into a broader social justice agenda.” (Ford Foundation, 3). The Ford Foundation supports organizations at national, state, and local levels that are engaged in immigrant rights advocacy, including efforts to secure comprehensive immigration reform that addresses the realities of migration in both sending and receiving countries. They also support institutions that are crucial to building an effective and lasting movement to protect immigrants’ rights (Ford Foundation, 3).
Immigrant persons’ rights to fair housing are protected by the Federal Fair Housing Act. This Act prohibits the denial of housing to a person based on the person’s membership in one or more of the classes protected under the Act. The protected classes are race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and disability. False denial of availability, refusal to deal, discriminatory terms, conditions, and provision of services or facilities, discriminatory advertising, and financial discrimination are all prohibited (fairhousingnc.org, 5). The Fair Housing Project of Legal Aid of North Carolina is a project that works to educate North Carolina residents about their rights under federal, state, and local fair housing laws through seminar, trainings, and conferences (fairhousingnc.org, 5).
Finally, the United States Department of Housing and Urban development has an Immigration Status and Housing Discrimination frequently asked questions page on www.hud.gov given by the Assistant Secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity. You will find here the address of the office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity in Washington, DC. If necessary, you can write a letter to report an incident of housing discrimination to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.