Suazo-Muller v. Noem: Ensuring access to attorneys for immigrants detained at Guantánamo

IRAP and partner organizations filed a lawsuit demanding that immigrants detained at Guantánamo Bay be allowed access to attorneys, challenging the government’s attempt to cut them off from legal assistance. For the first time in history, the government has transferred immigrants detained inside the United States to the military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a facility long associated with human rights abuses. Hundreds of immigrants have been transferred to the military base since February 2025, barred from accessing lawyers, family, and information about their legal rights.

Our clients

The plaintiffs in this case include three family members of immigrants who were transferred to Guantánamo and held incommunicado, as well as four nonprofit legal services organizations—Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), American Gateways, and Americans for Immigrant Justice—that provide critical pro bono legal assistance to detained immigrants. The families have lost contact with their loved ones, and our organizational plaintiffs are being prevented from carrying out their mission and providing legal aid to the immigrants detained at Guantánamo because the government refused to provide any process for attorney access or even identify who is being held at the base.

Impact

This case aims to require the government to allow urgently-needed, confidential attorney-client communications for all immigrants being held at Guantánamo. After we filed this case, the government began setting up a system for limited attorney access at Guantánamo.

Case status

• February 12, 2025: Case is filed. Plaintiffs file a motion for a temporary restraining order requiring the government to provide confidential attorney access to immigrants detained at Guantánamo.
• March 14, 2025: The court denies the motion for a temporary restraining order.
• April 26, 2025: Plaintiffs file an amended complaint and move for class certification.
• June 10, 2025: Defendants file their opposition to Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification.
• June 16, 2025: Defendants file a motion to dismiss.
• June 18, 2025: Plaintiffs file a reply supporting their motion for class certification
• June 30, 2025: Plaintiffs file their opposition to the government’s motion to dismiss.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights are co-counsel in this case.