Home : Immigrants' Rights

ACLU Asks Esmeralda County To Stop English-Only Rule On School Bus (01/31/2008)
LAS VEGAS – Forbidding Esmeralda County public high school students from speaking Spanish while riding the school bus violates their free speech rights and discriminates against children of Latino backgrounds, charged the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Nevada in a letter sent today to Esmeralda County School District Superintendent Robert Aumaugher. The ACLU requests that the school district rescind the ban on Spanish immediately.

Civil Rights Coalition Condemns Court Decision Upholding Missouri Employer Sanctions Law (01/31/2008)
VALLEY PARK, MO – Today a Missouri federal court upheld the City of Valley Park's so-called "Illegal Immigration Relief Act" that unlawfully punishes business owners and employers who are suspected of hiring undocumented workers.

La ACLU le pide al Distrito Escolar del Condado de Esmeralda que anule la política de prohibirles a los alumnos hablar el español en el autobús escolar (01/31/2008)
LAS VEGAS - El prohibir hablar español a los alumnos de la preparatoria pública, o high school, del Condado de Esmeralda, cuando viajen en el autobús, representa una violación de sus derechos a la libre expresión y discrimina contra los niños de origen latino, acusaron la Unión de Libertades Civiles de los Estados Unidos (American Civil Liberties Union, o ACLU, por sus siglas en inglés) y la ACLU de Nevada, en una carta enviada el día de hoy al Superintendente del Distrito Escolar del Condado de Esmeralda, Robert Aumaugher. La ACLU solicita que el distrito escolar anule de inmediato la prohibición del uso del español.

New York County’s Employment Proposal Is Discriminatory And Unnecessary (01/24/2008)
NEW YORK – A proposal by Suffolk County, New York lawmakers that would require that all 15,000 licensed contractors in the county prove their employees’ working status amounts to political posturing that promotes discrimination, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union.

ACLU Calls Passage of Deaths in Custody Bill a Step in the Right Direction (01/23/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today supported a bill passed by the House that compels officials to report deaths of prisoners and immigration detainees in local and state custody. The Deaths in Custody Reporting Act, introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), demands accountability and transparency from state and local agencies, where most immigration detainees are held, when people die in custody. The bill does not, however, apply to deaths in federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities.

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.

ACLU Argues in Federal Court Today That Prolonged Indefinite Detention of Immigrants Is Illegal (01/07/2008)
PASADENA, CA – In a federal appellate court in California today, the American Civil Liberties Union is arguing that the government is violating the law and the court’s prior rulings by incarcerating immigrants in detention centers for prolonged and indefinite periods of time while they fight their immigration cases.

Civil Rights Coalition Continues to Challenge Arizona Employer Sanctions Law (12/21/2007)
PHOENIX – A Phoenix federal court today declined to issue an order suspending the so-called Legal Arizona Workers Act from going into effect on January 1, 2008. The law would compel businesses to check the work authorization status of employees using the Department of Homeland Security’s Basic Pilot program (recently renamed e-Verify) and would institute new state-based penalties, including the revocation of business licenses without federal authorization.

ACLU Says Mayor Gordon’s Immigration Scheme Will Erode Immigrants' Willingness to Cooperate With Police (12/12/2007)
PHOENIX – In a letter sent today to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona urged the mayor to abandon plans to use local police to enforce complex immigration laws, saying the proposal is a sure-fire way to reduce immigrants' willingness to cooperate with authorities in the fight against crime.

Civil Rights Coalition Files New Lawsuit Challenging Arizona Employer Sanctions Law (12/12/2007)
PHOENIX – A coalition of civil rights groups filed a new lawsuit in a Phoenix federal court today charging that the so-called Legal Arizona Workers Act unlawfully requires businesses to participate in a flawed work authorization verification database, lacks due process protections, improperly threatens businesses with a “business death penalty” that interferes with federal law, and would lead to discrimination against workers who are perceived as being foreign born.