No one is illegal is a loosely connected international network of antiracist groups and religious asylum initiatives, that represents non-resident immigrants who have lost their immigration documents or are otherwise at risk of deportation. The network has started a campaign and held rallies, to bring wider attention to the situation of refugees.
The campaign initially began in Germany as No Person Is Illegal (German: Kein mensch ist illegal or kmii) and has spread to other countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada.
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No Person Is Illegal was founded at the 1997 "documenta X" art exhibition in Kassel. In a matter of weeks, 200 groups and organizations and thousands of individuals joined in an appeal to "help immigrants begin- and continue- their journeys towards obtaining work and documentation, medical care, education and training, and to assure accommodation and physical survival" regardless of their immigration status.
No Person Is Illegal started after the death of deportee Aamir Ageeb at the hands of the German Federal Police. In the wake of the Ageeb's death, the "Deportation-Class" campaign set its crosshairs on airlines that took part in deportations. The campaign culminated in a 2001 online demonstration in conjunction with Libertad! Today, No Person Is Illegal continues to work on problems of work and immigration, focusing on the connections between economics and racism.
No Person Is Illegal and "Deportation-Class" have drawn the attention of Germany's annual "Constitutional Protection Report" due to purported connections with "left-wing extremism".[1]
A NOII collective of organizations has been established in a number of Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, Ottawa, and Montreal.