Home : Immigrants' Rights

Senate Budget Resolution a Setback for Minorities in the Workplace (03/14/2008)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union expressed its disappointment with yesterday’s Senate adoption of Senator Lamar Alexander’s (R-TN) amendment to the budget resolution. The amendment rolls back federal civil rights enforcement authority created in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Alexander amendment cuts funds allocated to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to prosecute workplace discrimination based on national origin, and redirects the funds to the Department of Education for English language training. Yesterday the Senate also passed an amendment offered by Sen. Kennedy to increase funding for English language training by $1 million.

Time Has Come for Real Oversight to End ICE Incompetence, ACLU Says (03/11/2008)
Washington, DC – In light of a hearing examining Department of Homeland Security law enforcement operations, the American Civil Liberties Union called once again for the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security to conduct true oversight over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), one of the worst violators of civil liberties among federal agencies. ICE has conducted dragnet-style raids of homes and businesses to sweep for immigrants; separated parents from their children and held them without due process in immigration detention facilities; and been responsible for numerous deaths due to squalid conditions.

ACLU Calls for True Oversight of DHS Failures (03/05/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today responded to the House Judiciary Committee’s questioning of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff with a question of its own: After five years of mistakes, why is an agency that consistently overlooks civil liberties and privacy concerns be still allowed to violate the law?

ACLU Urges Senate: Ask FBI the Tough Questions (03/05/2008)
Washington, DC – As the Senate Judiciary Committee was set to question FBI Director Robert Mueller III today, the American Civil Liberties Union urged the committee to ask Director Mueller the tough questions about the bureau’s civil liberties record.

Civil Rights Coalition Continues To Fight Arizona Employer Sanctions Law (02/28/2008)
PHOENIX – The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Arizona, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) will continue to challenge the so-called Legal Arizona Workers Act in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The appellate court issued a decision today denying the coalition’s request to delay the law going into effect while the court considers the appeal. The court’s order did not express any view on the statute’s constitutionality and ordered the appeal to be expedited.

Nevada School District Agrees To Allow Students To Speak Spanish On Bus (02/15/2008)
LAS VEGAS – After receiving a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Esmeralda County School District has agreed to make it clear that students are allowed to speak Spanish while they ride the school bus and will send a letter to parents - in both Spanish and English - explaining the district’s language policy. The new policy rescinds a ban on speaking Spanish on the bus that was approved by the Esmeralda County School Board in October 2007.

Civil Rights Groups File Lawsuit Over Van Nuys Workplace Raid After ICE Bars Attorneys From Immigration Interviews (02/14/2008)
LOS ANGELES — The ACLU of Southern California, National Lawyers Guild, and National Immigration Law Center asked a federal judge today to order U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow attorneys for workers arrested in last Thursday’s raid in Van Nuys to represent their clients at their immigration interviews. Over the past few days, ICE officials barred attorneys from accompanying their clients to the hearings, where workers were interviewed and then charged with immigration violations.

ACLU Demands ICE End Illegal Deportation of U.S. Citizens (02/13/2008)
Washington, DC – The story of Pedro Guzman, a U.S. citizen born and raised in California, was invoked today throughout a hearing examining Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s illegal deportation of United States citizens. James Brosnahan, of Morrison & Foerster, who is representing Guzman alongside the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, testified about the plight of the 30-year-old cognitively impaired American citizen illegally deported to Mexico after he was arrested on misdemeanor charges and sent to Los Angeles County jail.

Federal Court Ends County Official's Policy Of Denying Marriage Licenses Based On Immigration Status (02/12/2008)
SCRANTON, PA – A federal court in Pennsylvania yesterday approved a consent order ending a Luzerne County official's policy of denying marriage licenses based upon applicants’ immigration status. The order, issued in the case of Buck v. Stankovic, makes permanent a previous court ruling holding that the Luzerne County Register of Wills violated the constitutional rights of marriage license applicants by requiring that they show a green card or current visa in order to obtain a license.