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Settlement Reached in Lawsuit Challenging Unreasonable Delays in Granting Citizenship (08/12/2008)
The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington (ACLU-WA), and the law firms of Stoel Rives and Ropes and Gray today announced that they have reached a preliminary settlement agreement with the federal government in a landmark class action lawsuit.

ACLU Obtains Government "Manual" For Prepackaged Guilty Pleas For Prosecution Of Immigrant Workers In Postville, Iowa (07/31/2008)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union obtained a government "manual" distributed to defense lawyers assigned to represent immigrant workers arrested and prosecuted in last May's Postville, Iowa meatpacking raids. The document – posted on the ACLU Web site today – contains prepackaged scripts for plea and sentencing hearings as well as documents providing for guilty pleas and waivers of rights that were used to push the more than 300 Postville workers through mass criminal proceedings as quickly as possible.

ACLU Sues Government Over Citizenship Delay For Iraq War Hero (07/16/2008)
KANSAS CITY, MO – The American Civil Liberties Union sued the government in a federal court in Kansas for unlawfully delaying the citizen application of Julian Polous Al Matchy, a highly decorated U.S. Army war hero. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court with the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri in cooperation with the McCrummen Immigration Law Group, LLC against Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, FBI Director Robert Mueller and two officers of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

ACLU In Federal Court Today To Prevent Deportation Of Egyptian To Torture (06/30/2008)
PHILADELPHIA – The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Pennsylvania were in a federal appeals court today challenging the government's efforts to deport an Egyptian torture victim. The government claims to be relying on unreviewable "diplomatic assurances" from Egypt that it will not torture him upon his return. Last January, in the first decision of its kind, a federal district court sided with the ACLU and ordered the government to stop the deportation of Sameh Khouzam based on such secret and unreliable promises and release him under conditions of supervision. However, the Bush administration appealed this ruling, claiming that the executive branch has unfettered authority to deport Khouzam and to detain him indefinitely pending his legal proceedings.

ACLU Demands Government Restore Basic Legal Protections To Meatpacking Workers Arrested In Iowa Raids (05/21/2008)
DES MOINES, IA– The American Civil Liberties Union sharply condemns the denial of basic legal protections to immigrant workers arrested in Postville, Iowa meatpacking raids last week and calls on the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to eliminate arbitrary and unreasonable deadlines for mass plea bargains. The U.S. Attorney's Office and DHS have implemented a troubling system that appears to be designed to undermine fairness and due process by criminally prosecuting the over 300 immigrant workers for identity theft and fraud and rushing them through criminal proceedings with insufficient legal representation.

Immigrants' Rights Advocates And ACLU File Lawsuit To End Illegal Delays In Processing Citizenship Applications (04/01/2008)
PHILADELPHIA - Many immigrants who have satisfied the requirements to become U.S. citizens have been illegally left in limbo for years due to the slow processing of FBI "name checks," charged a lawsuit filed today in federal district court in Philadelphia against government officials responsible for the prolonged, system-wide delays. As a result of the lag in "name checks," hundreds or thousands of citizenship applications have been held up well past the 180-day window established by Congress for processing the applications.

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.

Egyptian Torture Victim Released From Immigration Detention (01/15/2008)
SCRANTON, PA - Egyptian national Sameh Khouzam was released from detention today days after a federal judge ruled that the U.S. government cannot rely on secret and unreviewable “assurances” from the Egyptian government that it will not torture him upon his return. Last Thursday, the judge granted Khouzam’s habeas corpus petition and ordered that he be immediately freed from a Pennsylvania prison, where he has been held since May. Khouzam is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Court Rejects Government’s Attempt to Deport Egyptian to Torture (01/10/2008)
SCRANTON, PA – In the first decision of its kind, a federal judge today ordered the government to stop the deportation of Egyptian national Sameh Khouzam based on a secret and unreliable “assurance” from the Egyptian government that it will not torture him upon his return. The judge called for Khouzam’s immediate release from jail under reasonable conditions of supervision and granted his habeas corpus petition. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit on Khouzam’s behalf, applauded the judge’s ruling.

Groups Sue to Stop Excessive Citizenship Delays (12/05/2007)
LOS ANGELES - Many immigrants who have satisfied the requirements to become U.S. citizens are left in limbo for months or years due to slow processing of FBI name checks, according to a class-action lawsuit to be filed in federal court. The delays violate time limits in the law that are meant to reduce naturalization backlogs while ensuring national security.

Lawsuit Challenges Unreasonable Delays in Granting Citizenship (10/29/2007)
SEATTLE -- In a class-action lawsuit filed today, four people in the Seattle area are challenging the federal government's unlawful and unreasonable delays in handling their applications to become U.S. citizens. All are legal permanent residents who have waited years for the government to make a decision on their requests to become citizens – far beyond the 120-day deadline specified in federal law.

ACLU Files Religious Discrimination Lawsuit Against Dallas Judge (08/31/2007)
DALLAS -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas filed a lawsuit today in Dallas County District Court on behalf of Amardeep Singh, against the Honorable Albert Cercone, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1, Place 3. Singh charges religious discrimination stemming from a 2006 incident in which he was ordered out of Judge Cercone’s courtroom and threatened with arrest when he refused to remove his turban while defending himself against a traffic citation. Singh has also filed a complaint with the State Commission on Judicial Misconduct about the incident.

ACLU Asks Court to Bar Government From Deporting Egyptian National to Torture (08/30/2007)
SCRANTON, PA - At a hearing today in federal court, the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the U.S. government cannot deport an Egyptian national back to Egypt based on "diplomatic assurances" from the Egyptian government that it will not torture him upon his return. The ACLU also asked that he be immediately released from detention, where he has been held since May.

Government Apologizes for Unlawful Arrest and Detention of Iraqi Refugee (08/23/2007)
SEATTLE -- The American Civil Liberties Union today announced that the United States government has apologized to Abdulameer Yousef Habeeb, an Iraqi refugee whom federal agents unlawfully stopped, interrogated, arrested, imprisoned, and sought to deport. At the request of federal officials and the ACLU, a federal district court judge in Montana vacated a 2006 ruling upholding Habeeb's arrest and detention. The government also provided Habeeb compensation for its mistreatment of him.

Illegally Deported U.S. Citizen Pedro Guzman Found After Nearly Three Months in Mexico (08/07/2007)
LOS ANGELES – Pedro Guzman, the U.S. citizen illegally deported from a Los Angeles County jail on May 11, was reunited with his family today at a Lancaster courthouse after nearly three months lost in Mexico. It ends a harrowing three-month search by the family while the ACLU of Southern California and the law firm of Van Der Hout, Brigagliano and Nightingale sought in vain for assistance from the U.S. government.

Pedro Guzman Still Missing as Family Seeks His Safe Return (06/18/2007)
LOS ANGELES — Pedro Guzman is still missing in Mexico, one week after a lawsuit was filed seeking government help in the search for the 29-year-old mentally impaired man illegally deported May 11. The ACLU of Southern California and law firm Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale have asked that government agents assist in the search and request help from Mexican authorities, two steps the U.S. has so far refused to take.

U.S. Citizen Illegally Deported From Jail Is Missing in Mexico (06/11/2007)

ACLU Calls for State Department and DHS to Stop Deportation to Torture of Coptic Christian to Egypt (06/04/2007)
NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union today condemned the government’s announcement that that it intends to deport Pennsylvania resident Sameh Khouzam to Egypt, a country the State Department reports engages in torture. The United States government claims it has received “diplomatic assurances” from Egypt and moved to deport Khouzam last week, despite a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that he would likely be tortured upon his return.

ACLU Raises Concerns on Senate Immigration Bill; Proposed Legislation Would Harm Privacy, Due Process (05/25/2007)
WASHINGTON, DC - The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed grave concerns about the due process and privacy implications of the Senate immigration bill. The proposed legislation would create a vast federal database to verify the work eligibility of all job applicants in America - including U.S. citizens; expand indefinite detention; and deny effective judicial review of Department of Homeland Security errors denying immigration status.

ACLU of Southern California Learns Immigrants Are Forcibly Drugged for Deportation (05/08/2007)
LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has learned that two immigrants were forcibly sedated by the United States government. Raymond Soeoth and Amadou Diouf, clients in an ACLU of Southern California lawsuit, revealed that they had both been drugged involuntarily during attempts to deport them.