Immigration Rapid Response Grants
Funding lawsuits to protect the rights of immigrant communities.
Rapid Response Grants Up to $20,000
We provide expedited funding for impact litigation brought on behalf of the immigrant community and their allies.
Our funding supports legal challenges to unlawful or unconstitutional acts, practices, or policies, including the following:
DHS/ICE misconduct
Unlawful or unconstitutional DHS/ICE responses to lawful protest
Unlawful or unconstitutional federal immigration policies and practices
Unlawful or unconstitutional federal immigration-related operations and acts
Unlawful or unconstitutional detention center conditions
Related unlawful or unconstitutional policies, practices, and acts by other state and federal actors.
Grant applications must be submitted by May 30, 2026.
Why Is the Impact Fund Providing Rapid Response Funding for Immigration Cases?
Communities across the country are facing escalating immigration enforcement that is increasingly unlawful and harmful.
In response, we have created rapid response grants specifically designed to provide litigators with additional resources to bring urgent high-impact challenges that protect individuals, families, and communities from unlawful civil rights violations.
The Impact Fund stands with the immigrant community.
What Types of Immigration Cases are Eligible for Funding?
We provide funding for impact litigation in connection with federal immigration enforcement nationwide. The lawsuits we support aim to benefit a large number of people or change the system. Eligible cases include habeas cases proceeding as class actions, as well as challenges to unlawful or unconstitutional:
(a) ICE, DHS, or police misconduct;
(b) detention center conditions; and
(c) state and federal immigration policies and agency actions.
Who Is Eligible for an Immigration Rapid Response Grant?
Immigration Rapid Response Grants provide support to case counsel, including:
Firms: Small public interest law firms and solo practitioners
Nonprofits: Legal services nonprofits
More About the Rapid Response Grants
For more information on eligibility requirements and how to apply, see the Immigration Rapid Response Guidelines.
ABOUT THE IMPACT FUND’S GRANT PROGRAM
To date, we have made more than 800 grants totaling more than $10 million. We award grants four times per year, most within the range of $10,000 to $50,000, with applications evaluated by a Grant Advisory Committee made up of civil rights attorneys and legal experts. More information on our quarterly grant cycle is available here.
We also operate a rapid response grant program for urgent litigation needs with an expedited review process. More information on our general rapid response program is available here.
We make recoverable grants that are repaid if the grantee receives a fee or cost recovery, a pay-it-forward approach that allows us to continue to support civil rights impact litigation for years to come.
ABOUT THE IMPACT FUND
The Impact Fund was founded in 1992 to provide grants to support impact litigation, cases that affect large numbers of people and aim to change a larger system or lead to significant legal reform.
Over the past 30 years, we have also built an active docket of impact civil rights cases that we litigate directly and a full calendar of trainings for public interest practitioners on a wide range of issues relating to public interest litigation.