Home : Immigrants' Rights

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.

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.

ACLU Responds to Chertoff’s Attack on “No Match” Rule (12/05/2007)
NEW YORK -- During the Thanksgiving holiday, the federal government announced that it would abandon its proposed Department of Homeland Security "no match" rule which would use error-prone social security records as a tool for immigration enforcement. This came after a federal court found that the rule could cause citizens and other authorized workers to lose their jobs. The government first said that it would put forward a new rule it claims would be in accordance with the court’s decision. But yesterday, in a seemingly inconsistent maneuver, the government announced that it would simultaneously appeal the federal court’s decision blocking the original rule.

Government Abandons Current "No Match" Rule Harmful to Legal Workers (11/24/2007)
SAN FRANCISCO – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) abandoned its attempt to enforce its proposed "no match" rule that would improperly use social security records for immigration enforcement. In a late Friday afternoon court filing the day after Thanksgiving in federal court in San Francisco, DHS requested that a lawsuit challenging the rule be put on hold until March 2008. The government plans to publish a revised rule in December 2007 that it claims will pass legal muster.

Civil Rights Coalition to Argue in Court Today that Arizona Employer Sanctions Law is Illegal (11/14/2007)
PHOENIX –Today in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, a coalition of civil rights groups argued that the so-called Legal Arizona Workers Act illegally punishes businesses by improperly requiring their participation in a flawed work authorization verification database and would lead to discrimination against workers who are perceived as being foreign born.

Amendment to Legislation Will Require Government Transparency and Accountability Regarding Immigrant Deaths in Custody (11/07/2007)
Washington, DC – An amendment that requires officials to report deaths of detainees in local and state custody was passed today by the House Judiciary Committee. The amendment, offered by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and attached to H.R. 3971, the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2007, mandates transparency and accountability by state and local agencies of all immigration detainees who die in their custody. Since most Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees are held in state and local facilities, most of the deaths of immigrants in detention would have to be reported to the attorney general.

Report Surveys the Damage of San Diego Fires to Basic Rights (11/02/2007)
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – As the smoke cleared after twelve days of ravaging fires, the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, Immigrant Rights Consortium, and Justice Overcoming Boundaries released a report today revealing patterns of neglect and instances of abuse of some of the area's most vulnerable populations--especially Latino immigrants and the indigent--in the rescue and relief efforts.

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 Answers Congress’ Question ‘Can SBI Succeed?’: No (10/24/2007)
Washington, DC – Congress asked today in a committee hearing appropriately called "The Future of Border Security: Can SBINet succeed?" and the American Civil Liberties Union has a definitive answer: No. Even Department of Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff himself has admitted the program has problems, calling it "unsatisfactory."

Families Sue Otero County Sheriffs Over Illegal Immigration Raids (10/17/2007)
LAS CRUCES, NM—Civil rights groups sued the Otero County Sheriff’s Department today for civil rights violations committed during immigration sweeps last September in the southern New Mexico town of Chaparral. On behalf of five Latino families, the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico charged sheriff’s deputies with raiding homes without search warrants, interrogating families without evidence of criminal activity, and targeting households on the basis of race and ethnicity. The groups seek monetary damages and guarantees that the sheriff’s department will refrain from such raids in the future.