Today, Muslims for Just Futures (MJF) and The Internationalist Law Center (ILC) issued a joint statement condemning the signing of HB 1471 and HB 1473 , warning that these laws represent a sweeping expansion of state authoritarian power that threatens free speech, criminalizes dissent, and creates one of the most repressive environments for advocacy in the country. Both organizations warn that this sets a dangerous precedent that could spur similar repressive legislation across the country. 

March 2, 2026

During the sacred month of Ramadan, Muslims for Just Futures, CLEAR, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) uplift the life and memory of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a 56-year-old legally blind Rohingya refugee. After being taken into custody, Border Patrol agents abandoned him at a Tim Hortons in Buffalo, five miles from his home, in the dead of winter. He was missing for five days before his body was discovered. His family is now grieving an unimaginable loss. 

Muslims for Just Futures (MJF) is deeply concerned about the impact of the joint U.S.- Israeli military strikes against Iran given it risks plunging the broader Gulf, Middle East, and Arab region into a deeper, more protracted conflict. This action  raises profound moral and practical concerns about the targeting of Iranian people and all civilians across the region. The Red Crescent has reported that at least 201 people have been killed across 24 provinces, including children at a girls school. The Iranian state has retaliated by targeting strikes against Israel and US assets in Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

This Ramadan, Muslims for Just Futures is issuing a clear and urgent call to invest your dollars and purchasing power in local community businesses, especially Muslim and immigrant owned establishments. These businesses are financially struggling due to the escalating impact of federal and local immigration enforcement across the country.  Immigration enforcement and federal policies have economically devastated critical immigrant and refugee-owned businesses. These businesses serve a vital role in building local community infrastructure from creating jobs, developing brick and mortar neighborhoods, and cultivating a sense of belonging. Unfortunately, economic corridors led by immigrant and refugee communities are facing catastrophic losses. 

Muslims for Just Futures condemns the killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis. This is the second public killing of a legal observer in recent days.

Alex was killed the morning after more than 75,000 Minnesotans marched demanding that ICE leave the state. He was a registered ICU nurse who cared for veterans at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and a union member of AFGE Local 3669 within the AFL-CIO. He was acting as a legal observer and protecting another observer when he was pepper sprayed, tackled, surrounded, and killed by federal agents.

We join the AFL-CIO in mourning Alex’s death and hold his loved ones, union siblings, and the people of Minneapolis in our hearts.

Muslims for Just Futures (MJF) condemns the extrajudicial killing of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agents. She is a victim of escalating ICE and state terror, as families are kidnapped and Somali communities are disproportionately targeted in Minnesota. In recent months across the country from Chicago to DC and beyond, community rapid responders fighting ICE’s terror have been surveilled, targeted, and arrested, including a woman who survived being shot multiple times by ICE in Chicago.

Muslims for Just Futures condemns the ongoing acts of violence, harassment, and intimidation carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and federal agents throughout Chicago. Today, ICE operations once again brought fear and disruption to our communities—this time in the Lakeview neighborhood and the broader North Side—where at least nine individuals were detained, and federal agents deployed tear gas in a residential area.

Muslims for Just Futures’ Statement on Designations and its Implication on Movement Infrastructure

We condemn in the strongest terms the U.S. government’s expansion of sanctions against Palestinian human rights organizations. These politically motivated designations are a direct attack on movement infrastructure and the vital work of organizations committed to justice and human rights. By cutting off access to the global financial system, these sanctions choke nonprofits’ ability to operate, dragging countless groups into a punitive dragnet and threatening the survival of Palestinian-led organizing.

Where the Levees Broke and the Bombs Fell by Senior Organizing Fellow, Assata Dela Cruz

I was twelve years old when the War on Terror began, sitting in my seventh grade classroom having a snack as planes crashing continued to play on our little TV screen until an announcement came over the school intercom to turn it off and continue with our lessons.  I didn’t fully understand what was happening… how could I really?  But I could feel the shift in the air.  On September 12th, I watched my sisters and aunties remove their hijabs with trembling hands and tearful eyes.  At the time, I had been preparing to wear hijab myself with so much pride in stepping into a deeper expression of my faith and identity.  But that excitement was replaced by fear and the sound of glass shattering as the storefront my chosen family poured their labor and love into was vandalized with Islamophobic slurs that same week.  It was then that I realized not only was our family business a target, so were we.  To be visibly Muslims was to be marked and not even being a child could protect me from being perceived as a threat.

We remain in solidarity with K20 and frontline communities. Militarism, fossil fuel extraction, racism, colonialism, and ecocide converge to destroy ecosystems and frontline communities, turning disasters into opportunities for profiteering and control. From Katrina in the Gulf South to the Global South, we see how war, militarism, racism, and ecocide are destroying frontline communities, and why our solidarity, faith, and movements must build another future.

As we mark the first 100 days of the second Trump Administration—a period already marked by heightened repression and systemic targeting of student movements—MJF is releasing a new resource: “A Primer for Student Organizers on Building a Legal Support Network.” In recent weeks, student organizers and faculty across the country have reached out to highlight that the existing legal infrastructure is stretched thin, and in some cases, absent entirely. In response, MJF’s Legal Network has developed this guide to help student organizers build legal infrastructure.  We recognize the critical need for tools that not only address current threats but also build long-term infrastructure.

This guide breaks down Material Support for Terrorism (MST) laws, Executive Order 14157 and includes their impact on social movement groups. It includes key terminology, legal analysis, case studies, and recommendations to help activists, organizers, and lawyers navigate these threats.

This page will focus on tracking MJF’s advocacy, movement-building, and organizing efforts to protect Sanctuary status. We will offer guidance on new policies and MJF’s efforts to protect Sanctuary.

Chicago’s sanctuary city protection (Welcoming City Ordinance) is under attack.Alders Lopez and Tabares have invoked Rule 41 in order to push an ordinance that undermines Chicago’s sanctuary status. Their proposed Ordinance O2023-0004222 would permit city officials and agencies to cooperate with federal immigration officers, targeting individuals based on their arrests or convictions.This proposal blatantly aligns with the Trump Administration's anti-immigrant agenda and fulfills the incoming border czar's promise to make Chicago a central hub for mass deportations.

KYR | Immigration Resources

Everyone has rights under the U.S. constitution regardless of immigration status. Many community members have protected themselves and their families from immigration enforcement because they were prepared, they knew what their rights were, and knew how to react when their rights were under threat. Below are some resources for you to know your rights in case of a raid or other encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Understanding the National Strategy on Countering Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate:  A Guide for Groups and Leaders

This guide analyzes the inaugural U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate (Strategy) by examining how the Strategy reinforces harmful national security frameworks, lifting up components of the strategy that align with community recommendations, and offering guidance for groups to engage with the Strategy moving forward.