BAHN MISSION
To challenge unlawful immigration arrests through rapid, coordinated habeas litigation so individuals can return home to their families and communities.
WHO WE ARE
BAHN is a coalition that includes – Immigration Institute of the Bay Area; La Raza Centro Legal; Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area; VIDAS; UC Law SF Immigrants’ Rights Clinic; Justice & Diversity Center, Bar Association of SF; and Centro Legal de La Raza (Oakland).
BAHN challenges unlawful Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests through filing petitions for writ of habeas corpus in federal court. BAHN’s goal is to file a habeas petition for every person unlawfully arrested by ICE in the Bay Area.
Operating with a single on-call attorney each weekday, the Network has filed 19 emergency habeas petitions and brought all nineteen people home, one of them through a bond hearing the petition secured.
BAHN serves residents in all nine Bay Area counties, including those without rapid response.
HOW BAHN WORKS
1
A community member calls a local rapid response hotline to report an ICE arrest.
2
The dispatcher alerts the on-call rapid response attorney and the Network's on-call habeas filer.
3
The rapid response attorney and the habeas filer conduct a case assessment with the arrested person.
4
The Network attorney evaluates for the filing of a same-day habeas petition in federal court.
5
The Network litigates for release, fights for bond, and pursues every path home.
Why Your Support Matters
Your support helps protect families from being separated. Every donation makes it possible for attorneys to respond within hours of an unlawful ICE arrest, file emergency petitions, and fight to bring people home before they are transferred far from their loved ones.