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AFL-CIO, ACLU and National Immigration Law Center Challenge New Homeland Security Rule
The ACLU joined the AFL-CIO, National Immigration Law Center and the Central Labor Council of Alameda County in a lawsuit charging that a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule will threaten jobs of U.S. citizens and other legally authorized workers simply because of errors in the government's inaccurate social security earnings databases. Under the new rule, many U.S. citizens and legally authorized workers could be required to be terminated if their erroneous SSA records are not fixed within 90 days of an SSA "no-match" letter being sent to an employer. The rule violates workers' rights and imposes burdensome obligations on employers who receive Social Security Administration (SSA) "no-match" letters that inform an employer of alleged discrepancies between employee records and the SSA database. Learn more >>

ACLU Joins Lawsuit Challenging Trafficking Of Indian Guestworkers (11/17/2008)
NEW ORLEANS - The American Civil Liberties Union today charged that workers brought to the United States from India to work in shipyards after Hurricane Katrina were misleadingly recruited, exploited and mistreated. The ACLU and the law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP joined a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of over 500 guestworkers charging the workers were trafficked into the U.S. through the federal government's H-2B guestworker program with dishonest assurances of becoming lawful permanent U.S. residents and subjected to squalid living conditions, fraudulent payment practices and threats of serious harm upon their arrival.

Problematic E-Verify Program Expanded to Include All Federal Contractors (11/14/2008)
WASHINGTON - Today, President Bush issued a final rule requiring all federal contractors to use E-Verify, a flawed governmental system to check the citizenship status of the workforce, as a condition of doing business with the federal government. This rule would also require re-verification of some current federal contracts. This unprecedented expansion will require the compliance of millions of governmental contractors, for which the systemic infrastructure simply does not exist.

Civil Rights Coalition Charges That Finalized "No Match" Rule Will Hurt American Workers And Economy (10/23/2008)
WASHINGTON – The "no match" rule reissued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today will put the livelihoods of authorized workers – including U.S. citizens – at risk, have a devastating impact on the already suffering U.S. economy and lead to widespread discrimination in the workforce, according to a coalition of civil rights organizations.

ACLU Applauds Senators Menendez and Kennedy for Bill to Protect U.S. Citizens from Unlawful Detention and Deportation (09/26/2008)
Washington, DC – Last night, Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduced legislation to protect U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents from being unlawfully detained and deported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In the wake of sweeping immigration raids that have devastated communities across the country, the ACLU welcomes this bill, S.3594, The Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act, as the first legislation to require DHS to follow due process standards in executing immigration raids.

Appellate Court Declines to Overturn Arizona Employer Sanctions Law (09/17/2008)

Department of Homeland Security Republished No Match Rule (10/23/2008)

Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc. et al. v. Napolitano et al. - Opinion (09/17/2008)

Complaint in Lopez, et al vs. Town of Cave Creek, et. al. (03/25/2008)

Chicanos por la Causa v. Napolitano and Valle del Sol vs. Goddard - Order (02/28/2008)

Valle del Sol v. Goddard - Application for Temporary Restraining Order (12/12/2007)

ACLU Testimony before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law (06/10/2008)
Chairwoman Lofgren, Ranking Member King and Subcommittee Members, on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”), America’s oldest and largest civil liberties organization, and its more than half a million members and 53 affiliates across the country, we are pleased to submit this testimony. The ACLU writes to oppose any legislative proposal that would impose a mandatory, electronic employment eligibility verification pre-screening system on America’s workforce. Under any name, the original Basic Pilot Employment Verification System (also known as E-Verify, hereinafter “Basic Pilot”) or another mandatory employment eligibility prescreening system would impose unacceptable burdens on America’s workers, businesses and society at large without resolving America’s undocumented immigration dilemma. The costs associated with this program cannot be denied and cannot be overstated; any benefits are speculative, at best.

ACLU and ACLU-NC Comments on Proposed No-Match Rule (04/24/2008)

ACLU Backgrounder on English Only Policies in Congress (12/10/2007)
In 2006 the Senate took up an amendment to make English the national language in connection with the Comprehensive Immigration Reform (“CIR”) Act. The amendment, offered by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), passed the Senate by a vote of 62 to 35. This amendment was substantially diluted by the subsequent passage of an alternative amendment by Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) which declared English as the “common and unifying language of the United States.” Both amendments, largely symbolic in nature, died when the Senate failed to pass CIR. Similar amendments were introduced and passed in the 2007 version of the CIR, which also failed to become law. Nonetheless, the fact that nearly two-thirds of the Senate voted to make English the national language illustrates the intense, and unfortunately misguided, fervor surrounding the English-only debate.

Coalition Sign-On Letter to the Senate Urging Opposition of Expansion of the Basic Pilot Employment Verification System (03/27/2006)

Government "manual" distributed to Iowa defense lawyers (07/31/2008)
Government "manual" distributed to defense lawyers assigned to represent immigrant workers arrested and prosecuted in the May 2008 Postville, Iowa meat packing raids.

National and Regional Organizations Opposed to the No-Match Rule (04/25/2008)

AFL-CIO v. Chertoff - Safe-Harbor Procedures for Employers Who Receive a No-Match Letter: (03/21/2008)

Plaintiffs in AFL-CIO v. Chertoff (09/28/2007)

Employee Verification Talking Points (06/20/2008)
Forces citizens and legal residents to get permission slip to work Expanding E-Verify would require every employer in the United States to verify the eligibility to work of every current and prospective employee using a flawed system that is riddled with errors. This will guarantee that millions of Americans will be barred from working.

Employee Verification Leave Behind (06/20/2008)
Proposals are making their way through Congress that would dramatically expand the government’s flawed “E-Verify” program – ensuring that millions of Americans will be barred from working. If passed, every employer in the United States will be required to verify the eligibility to work of every current and prospective employee, including U.S. citizens.

Employee Verification Background (06/20/2008)
Proposals are making their way through Congress, including the SAVE Act (H.R. 4088), that would dramatically expand the government’s flawed “E-Verify” program – ensuring that millions of Americans will be barred from working. If passed, every employer in the United States will be required to verify the eligibility to work of every current and prospective employee, including U.S. citizens.

AFL-CIO v. Chertoff (08/29/2007)
AFL-CIO, ACLU and National Immigration Law Center Challenge New Homeland Security Rule