Departments

Rights and Justice

Rights and Justice works to combat systemic inequality through policies ensuring that everyone can exercise their rights and has an equal opportunity to thrive.

A protester holds up placards during a demonstration, June 2020. (Getty/Maranie R Staab/AFP)

What We're Doing

Closing the racial wealth gap

The racial wealth gap between white households and Black and brown households continues to grow wider. CAP is pursuing targeted policies that are necessary to reverse this deepening divide. A recent issue brief highlights the pandemic’s impact on the Black-white wealth gap.

Creating a pathway to citizenship

CAP is fighting for a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, Deferred Enforced Departure (DED)-eligible individuals, and essential workers. Citizenship for undocumented immigrants is a crucial step toward a fair, humane, and workable immigration system.

Reducing overreliance on police

In October 2020, CAP partnered with the Law Enforcement Action Partnership on a report detailing the need to reduce reliance on law enforcement for all calls for service and instead create civilian community responder programs to respond to many categories of calls.

Advancing LGBTQ equality

In January, CAP published a report providing recommendations for how the Biden-Harris administration could advance LGBTQ equality. The report has since informed dozens of actions from the White House, including a day 1 executive order implementing protections for LGBTQ workers.

InProgress is a weekly newsletter that keeps you up to date on key policies and empowers you to advocate for change.

This field is hidden when viewing the form

Default Opt Ins

This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form

Variable Opt Ins

This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form

Featured Experts

Recent work

Latest

Compact View

The Cruelty and Recklessness Must End: We Need Better Immigration Policies for a Stronger America Upcoming Event
People embrace as they pay their respects during a candlelight vigil for a Mexican immigrant who was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, July 8, 2026, in Houston. (Getty/Brandon Bell)

The Cruelty and Recklessness Must End: We Need Better Immigration Policies for a Stronger America

Please join the Center for American Progress and America’s Voice to hear from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and a panel of experts on the Trump administration’s cruel and reckless anti-immigration and mass deportation agenda as well as the urgent need for accountability and commonsense policies that are consistent with our values and economic needs.

Center for American Progress & Online - 1333 H St. NW Washington DC 20005

‘Take Me Home’: A Reel Progress Screening Past Event
Film poster for

‘Take Me Home’: A Reel Progress Screening

Join the Center for American Progress for the Washington, D.C., prerelease screening of “Take Me Home.”

Center for American Progress

Here’s How to Actually Secure the Border In the News

Here’s How to Actually Secure the Border

In an op-ed for InsideSources, Debu Gandhi outlines what real immigration reform could look like for the country's broken asylum system.

InsideSources

Debu Gandhi

Public Health Is About to Get Sicker In the News

Public Health Is About to Get Sicker

In an op-ed for The Contrarian, Mariam Rashid argues that a federal rule stripping nursing, public health, and social work degrees of their “professional” status effectively guts America’s disease defense systems.

The Contrarian

Mariam Rashid, Dr. Perry N. Halikitis

Alondra: A DACA Nurse Providing Care Despite Barriers Video
An image of Alondra, a DACA recipient and nurse

Alondra: A DACA Nurse Providing Care Despite Barriers

This video highlights the experience of Alondra, an emergency department registered nurse and DACA recipient who has to cross state lines to work as a nurse because of state licensing barriers. Her story illustrates both the obstacles facing DACA nurses and the vital role they play in strengthening America's nursing workforce.

America Is Running Out of Nurses, and DACA Recipients Are Helping Provide Critical Care to Communities Despite Threats of Deportation From the Trump Administration Report
Demonstrators, one with back to camera wearing yellow butterfly wings that read

America Is Running Out of Nurses, and DACA Recipients Are Helping Provide Critical Care to Communities Despite Threats of Deportation From the Trump Administration

Through in-depth interviews with three registered nurses who have DACA, this report examines the vital contributions of DACA nurses to the health care workforce amid a growing national nursing shortage.

Rosa Barrientos-Ferrer

How Federal Attacks on Diversity and Inclusion Policies Have Dismantled Public Health Infrastructure and Threaten National Health Security Report
The U.S. Capitol is seen in Washington, D.C., May 21, 2026.

How Federal Attacks on Diversity and Inclusion Policies Have Dismantled Public Health Infrastructure and Threaten National Health Security

Federal executive orders targeting initiatives that seek to ensure diversity and equity for all are systematically dismantling America's public health infrastructure—cutting research, surveillance systems, and workforce programs while raising costs and putting national health security at risk.

Mariam Rashid, Perry N. Halkitis

Load More

This field is hidden when viewing the form

Default Opt Ins

This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form

Variable Opt Ins

This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.