Home : Immigrants' Rights : Detention

ACLU Applauds Congressional Examination of Internal Report Critical of Justice Department's Handling of Post 9/11 Detainees (06/25/2003)
WASHINGTON - While calling for further Congressional investigation into an internal Justice Department report critical of the agency's abuse of the hundreds of domestic detainees held in the months after 9/11, the American Civil Liberties Union today praised lawmakers for holding the first Capitol Hill hearing into the detainee findings.

ACLU Criticizes High Court Detention Ruling, Calls on Congress to Repeal Irrational and Unjust Law (04/29/2003)
NEW YORK -- Responding to the Supreme Court's decision today that upheld a 1996 mandatory immigration detention statute, the American Civil Liberties Union called the decision a blow to fundamental fairness and called on Congress to repeal the law.

Federal Appeals Court Rules That Government Cannot Indefinitely Hold Immigrants (03/05/2003)
NEW YORK--A federal appeals court today ruled that the government is not permitted to indefinitely detain immigrants who are physically present in the United States and who cannot be deported, the American Civil Liberties Union today announced.

Newspapers Ask High Court to Resolve Conflict Over Access to Secret Immigration Hearings (03/03/2003)
NEW YORK - Acting on behalf of a group of New Jersey newspapers, the American Civil Liberties Union today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling upholding a government policy that blocks media and public access to immigration hearings of people detained after September 11.

Supreme Court to Review Mandatory Detention of Immigrants (01/14/2003)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union will urge the Supreme Court tomorrow to reject a law that requires the government to automatically detain legal immigrants after they have completed their sentences for certain low-level crimes.

ACLU and Coalition of Immigrants' Rights Groups "Register Discontent" with Government's Immigrant Registration Program (01/10/2003)
NEW YORK-The American Civil Liberties Union today joins with other immigrants' rights organizations across the nation to "register our discontent" with the government's latest attack on immigrant groups.

ACLU Urges Congress to Fully Investigate Ill-Conceived Immigration Registration and Detention Program (01/10/2003)
WASHINGTON - Responding to today's second deadline in a controversial immigrant tracking program that has resulted in hundreds of unwarranted detentions, the American Civil Liberties Union today called for a full Congressional investigation into the program and urged all affected non-citizens to seek legal counsel.

ACLU Calls Immigrant Registration Program Pretext for Mass Detentions (12/19/2002)
WASHINGTON - In a development that confirms the American Civil Liberties Union's initial fears about a controversial immigrant fingerprinting and registration program, the Immigration and Naturalization Service is apparently using the program as a pretext for the mass detention of hundreds of Middle Eastern and Muslim men and boys.

Government Cannot Use Material Witness Statute to Detain People, ACLU Tells Appeals Court (11/22/2002)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today urged a federal appeals court to uphold a ruling that the government unlawfully used the material witness statute to detain a Jordanian-born college student for 20 days.

ACLU Asks Appeals Court to Reconsider Ruling Upholding Closed Hearings in Sept. 11 Immigration Cases (11/22/2002)
NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union today asked a federal appeals court to reconsider a ruling that immigration hearings involving people detained after Sept. 11 may be unilaterally closed by the government without the input of a court.

ACLU Files Brief on Behalf of American-Born Taliban Indefinitely Incarcerated without Counsel or Access to Courts (10/25/2002)
RICHMOND, VA -- The national American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Yaser Hamdi, an American citizen who was captured in Afghanistan last November and who has been held incommunicado in a military brig in Norfolk for the last six months. Labeled an "enemy combatant" by the Department of Justice, he is being indefinitely jailed in isolation and without any access to counsel.

Appeals Court Hears Arguments Today in Second ACLU Challenge to Secret Immigration Hearings (09/17/2002)
PHILADELPHIA-A federal appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments today in the American Civil Liberties Union's second challenge to a government policy blocking media and public access to immigration hearings of people detained after Sept. 11.

ACLU Says Kessler FOIA Decision Repudiation of Government Secrecy (08/02/2002)
WASHINGTON - The following is a quick statement by Lucas Guttentag, Director of the ACLU's Immigrants Rights Project, in response to the ruling today ordering disclosure of information about the persons detained after September 11.

ACLU Challenges Palestinian Professor's Detention, Saying Charges of Terrorist Ties Proved Unfounded (05/14/2002)
MIAMI--The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed a petition in federal court today arguing that the Immigration and Naturalization Service's continued detention of a Palestinian man violates both federal law and the Constitution. 

ACLU of NJ Asks Court to Stop INS from Preventing Departure of Detainees (04/26/2002)
NEWARK, NJ--The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey today filed legal papers asking a state appeals court to stop the federal government from misinterpreting a court ruling to prevent detainees from leaving the country after their immigration cases have been resolved. 

ACLU Blasts Attorney General's Move to Subvert Court Order Opening Records of Immigration Detainees (04/18/2002)
WASHINGTON--Attorney General Ashcroft today issued a regulation forbidding non-federal authorities from releasing information about immigration detainees held in state and local facilities, an act the American Civil Liberties Union said was the latest Justice Department attempt to keep its actions shrouded in secrecy. 

ACLU Applauds CA Police Chiefs for Expressing Strong View That Local Police Should Not Enforce Immigration Laws (04/15/2002)
SAN FRANCISCO--The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California today applauded the California Police Chiefs Association for expressing their strong opinion that local police should not be involved in immigration enforcement. 

Rejecting Government Secrecy, Court Orders Open Immigration Hearings in Post-Sept. 11 Challenge (04/04/2002)
DETROIT--Saying that government secrecy ""only breeds suspicion,"" a federal district judge has ruled that the government violated the constitution when it blocked public access to immigration hearings.  

ACLU of New Jersey Wins Access to Information on Post-September 11 Detainees (03/27/2002)
NEWARK, NJ-- Saying that secret arrests are "odious to a democracy," a state court here has granted the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey access to records of Immigration and Naturalization Service detainees held in jails in Hudson and Passaic counties. 

Advocacy Groups Hold Rights Trainings For Jailed INS Detainees (03/13/2002)
NEWARK -- The American Civil Liberties of New Jersey and coalition organizations today said that they have completed three "Know Your Rights" training sessions in the last week for detainees being held by the Immigration and Nationalization Service in Hudson, Passaic and Middlesex County Jails.