Just Future Law’s Key Accomplishments
WHY NOW AND WHY US?
We know that militarized surveillance continues to grow more powerful and less accountable – from the use of facial recognition by police to robot dogs in the tech border wall. It is vital we push back against the harvesting of information and the data mining of our personal, sensitive information for profit, deportations, and criminalization with creative lawyering.
First of its Kind Fellowship
We organized and developed a first of its kind, Take Back Tech Fellowship program, convening, and curriculum for researchers, lawyers, organizers, technologists, and lawstudents against intrusive technology surveillance programs.
We created a curriculum and convened 12 fellows on 10 innovative projects, with 500 registrants for the Take Back Tech convening.
Fighting Back to Protect Immigrants’ Data Rights
When we learned about Equifax turning over utility data to ICE through the databroker, Thomson Reuters, we organized with advocates to demand they halt this collaboration immediately. Thanks to our advocacy pressure, a US Senator intervened and resulted in Equifax ending this practice.
Our latest lawsuit, filed at the end of 2022, goes after ICE and private money transfer companies that handed over sensitive customer information to ICE without letting their clients know.
Held Private Companies and Government Accountable
In 2021, we worked with organizers to sue Clearview AI and stop them from collecting face scans that lead to surveillance and retaliation. We successfully sued federal agencies for access to records that expose the surveillance machine and the state and corporate actors behind it. And In August 2022, we sued another tech giant, LexisNexis, for their practices of collecting and selling personal sensitive data of Cook County residents.
These lawsuits are the first of its kind against data brokers LexisNexis and Clearview over their practices of data sharing with law enforcement agencies and has sparked other groups around the country to consider filing similar suits.
Leading Advocacy to Dismantle ICE Digital Prisons
We’re leading the novel research into the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) and the next generation of intrusive surveillance technologies (e.g SmartLINK) deployed as alternatives to detention.
In 2022, we sued ICE over access to the data collection under ATD and we worked with organizations to release a report focused on uplifting the stories of individuals directly impacted by e-carceration.
Advancing Partnerships to End Criminalization of Immigrants
We helped introduce the New Way Forward Act, a federal bill done as part of our ongoing support of the Immigrant Justice Network, a leading national advocacy coalition against the criminalization of immigrants in the U.S. which staff helped start.
Freed Detained Community Members
We have been on the frontlines with on-the-ground groups to provide legal assistance and policy support on cases of migrants criminalized by our immigration system. We’ve worked to provide technical assistance for community members trapped under programs like Operation Lone Star and ISAP Program that keep them in physical or digital detention.
Our work led to the release of several detained individuals who are now fighting their case outside of cages.
Fighting Border Militarization
We worked on the release of the report, “Deadly Digital Border Wall” with border groups to highlight the dangers of the digital border wall. In 2022, we worked on federal advocacy to reduce the FY23 DHS Appropriations Budget and brought attention to increasing government spending on the Border Tech Wall. We successfully assisted in helping advocate for a reduction in the budget with a congressional letter spearheaded by Rep. Escobar and are continuously working to hold expose the government spending on the deportation dragnet.
Defending and Building the Movement
Across the country, we’re working with activists and groups to fight activist retaliation, violations of sanctuary laws, surveillance, and support local organizing against attacks on Black and Brown communities and the carceral system. When the Biden Administration released the immigration enforcement prosecutorial discretion memo, we worked with many other community groups to successfully include a provision that addressed DHS retaliation against organizing for immigrants’ rights.
Our work is rooted in supporting a strong movement nationwide. Here are some of the local areas we are actively supporting:
