Representing migrants in court, NILA's lawyer Trina Realmuto contributed to a successful lawsuit that obtained a nationwide temporary restraining order against the Trump administration's fast-tracking of deportations, thereby ensuring due process for affected individuals.

On January 2, 2025, NCLA's legal challenge contributed to the U.S. State Department shuttering its Global Engagement Center, which had financed censorship technology that blacklisted domestic news organizations. NCLA hailed the move as a positive step in safeguarding free press and defending First Amendment rights.

The organization released a 10-step proposal urging the Biden administration to undertake executive actions to improve immigration processes, prioritize humanitarian initiatives, and dismantle punitive measures such as mass detention and harsh enforcement. The proposal emphasizes reclaiming the immigration narrative and shifting policy away from extremism and fear-based strategies.

On December 6, 2023, NCLA filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas challenging the U.S. State Department's funding of censorship technologies that target conservative media outlets. The legal action, which includes the participation of The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and the State of Texas, argues that this funding violates First Amendment protections by suppressing free speech.

On July 20, 2021, a federal district court in Oakland approved a final settlement in Vangala v. USCIS, a case brought by NILA alongside NWIRP and the Van Der Hout law firm. The settlement mandates USCIS to accept over 60,000 humanitarian applications that were previously rejected under a Trump-era policy, thereby preventing a practice seen as a pretext to deny benefits to vulnerable applicants.

In September 2019, the National Immigration Litigation Alliance (NILA), in collaboration with several immigrant rights organizations, filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against USCIS, ICE, and DHS. The lawsuit challenges the prolonged delays in releasing A-Files, government records critical for immigrants to defend themselves in deportation proceedings, thereby affirming the rights of marginalized immigrant communities.