On October 30, 2018, the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, ACLU National Prison Project, ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, Futures Without Violence, Just Detention International, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Tahirih Justice Center, and the Women’s Law Project submitted an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit supporting an immigrant detainee, E.D., who was fleeing domestic violence and sexual assault in Honduras with her son.

In December of 2018, ACLU Women’s Rights Project and the ACLU of Massachusetts filed an amicus brief at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court supporting a domestic violence survivor who asserted the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as a defense to her eviction for nonpayment of rent that directly resulted from physical, emotional, and economic abuse. VAWA prohibits covered housing providers, like Boston Housing Authority, from evicting or otherwise discriminating against survivors of domestic violence for reasons caused by their abuse.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, the ACLU of Texas, and the ACLU of D.C. filed a federal lawsuit in August 2018 challenging the Trump administration’s gutting of asylum protections for immigrants fleeing domestic violence and gang brutality.

In January 2018, WRP and the ACLU of Iowa filed an amicus brief with the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the National Housing Law Project, National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, National Network to End Domestic Violence, and Shriver Center addressing the proper application of Iowa’s Right to Assistance Law. The law protects people who summon emergency assistance from eviction or other landlord- or city-imposed penalties and preempts local crime nuisance ordinances. It was enacted with the advocacy of the ACLU, Iowa Coalition, and others.