NEW YORK—The Open Society Institute U.S. Programs today announced grants to 29 frontline organizations across the country to meet the new challenges to civil rights and liberties that have emerged since September 11. The grants, totaling $2,520,000, focus primarily on civil liberties, immigrant rights and detention issues, and anti-profiling advocacy.
"The detention without charges of thousands of immigrants, the questioning of thousands more, and the plans for military tribunals that suspend traditional due process rights are all troubling measures that demand careful scrutiny and vigorous advocacy,” said Gara LaMarche, OSI's Vice President and Director of U.S. Programs. “It is not popular work, and there are too few who are willing to support it.”
The grants awarded by OSI all promote the safeguarding of rights and liberties, particularly in the most affected communities. The supported organizations are working on detention policy issues, representation of immigrants detained post September 11, monitoring of hate crimes, development of sane national security policy, and advocacy against improper encroachment of government on civil liberties. Due to the impact of September 11 on New York, several of the grants focus specifically on New York City.
- American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Research Institute: $75,000 to produce a report on civil rights and civil liberties violations suffered by Arab Americans in the aftermath of September 11.
- The American Bar Association: $75,000 to support its Immigration Pro-Bono Program, focusing on immigrants affected by post September 11 policies.
- American Civil Liberties Union: $250,000 for advocacy, monitoring and litigation to protect security and civil liberties in the wake of the September 11.
- American Immigration Law Foundation: $50,000 to support advocacy, documentation and public education around the detention of non-citizens post September 11.
- Arab American Institute Foundation: $75,000 to support policy advocacy and a series of workshops for Arab American communities around national security and civil liberties issues post September 11.
- Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund: $50,000 to fund anti-violence work and continue documenting incidents of hate crimes against South Asians and other Asian Americans, provide free legal assistance to victims, and launch an intensive community organizing effort.
- Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.: $60,000 to serve the increased number of immigrants affected by the broad detention policies put into effect post September 11.
- Center for National Security Studies: $50,000 to support the Emergency Project to Defend Civil Liberties and Protect Security in Defense of Freedom at a Time of Crisis.
- Citizens and Immigrants for Equal Justice: $50,000 for advocacy activities on behalf of detained immigrants and their families.
- The Constitution Project: $75,000 for its Liberty and Security Initiative.
- Detention Watch Network: $80,000 to support its monitoring and watchdog activities as well as coordinating work with its member organizations.
- Fiscal Policy Institute: $75,000 to support fiscal analysis activities related to post September 11 issues, particularly around the rebuilding of downtown Manhattan.
- Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, Inc.: $60,000 to support the Project’s work with the Detention Watch Network.
- Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights: $100,000 for work on detention advocacy and policy monitoring.
- Leadership Conference Educational Fund: $100,000 to support the LCEF’s public education campaign to promote sensible policy responses to September 11 as they affect civil rights, civil liberties and immigration issues.
- Legal Aid Society of New York: $75,000 to support representation of immigrants placed in deportation proceedings as a result of post September 11 crackdowns.
- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service: $60,000 to help secure pro-immigrant sentiments and policies post September 11 through grassroots education, media outreach, and advocacy related to immigrants in INS detention with a focus on vulnerable immigrants such as asylum seekers and torture survivors.
- Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund: $50,000 to address the impact of September 11 on Latino communities.
- Midwest Immigrant & Human Rights Center: $50,000 to respond to the needs of immigrants and refugees in the Midwest caught in the wide dragnet cast by new anti-terrorist laws and policies.
- Migration Policy Institute: $150,000 to support policy development work on striking the proper balance between national security concerns and civil liberties/civil rights.
- National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium: $125,000 for monitoring of hate crimes and of federal agency regulations/legislation relating to immigrants and national security post 9/11.
- National Council of La Raza: $50,000 to address the impact of September 11 on Latino communities.
- National Immigration Forum: $50,000 for supporting on-going advocacy for the fair treatment of immigrants and refugees both nationally and locally, particularly focused on the aftermath of September 11.
- National Immigration Law Center: $75,000 to support policy analysis, litigation and advocacy work on civil liberties and privacy issues, as they affect immigrants.
- New York Immigration Coalition: $75,000 to support Coalition activities as the main advocacy voice for immigrants in New York City.
- New York State Defenders Association: $75,000 to address the legal needs of immigrants detained or jailed by the INS or other law enforcement agencies, including the many taken into custody since September 11.
- Tides Foundation: $350,000 for the Tides 9/11 Democracy Fund, for regranting to Arab, Muslim, Sikh and South Asian organizations responding to erosions of civil liberties and rights in the aftermath of September 11.
- Trial Lawyers Care, Inc.: $50,000 to support a pro-bono legal assistance program for victims of the September 11 attacks who are applying to the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund and other relief funds and programs.
- Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children: $60,000 to support the Detention and Asylum Project, with a focus on women, adolescents and children.
The Open Society Institute, a private operating and grantmaking foundation, is part of the network of foundations, created and funded by George Soros, active in more than 50 countries around the world.
OSI's U.S. Programs seek to strengthen democracy in the United States by addressing barriers to opportunity and justice, broadening public discussion about such barriers, and assisting marginalized groups to participate equally in civil society and to make their voices heard. OSI U.S. Programs challenges over-reliance on the market by advocating appropriate government responsibility for human needs and promoting public interest and service values. OSI U.S. Programs supports initiatives in a range of areas including access to justice for low and moderate income people; judicial independence; ending the death penalty; reducing gun violence and over-reliance on incarceration; drug policy reform; inner-city education and youth programs; fair treatment of immigrants; reproductive health and choice; campaign finance reform; and improved care of the dying.