Blog of Rights
Araceli
Martinez-Olguin

Araceli Martínez-Olguín is a Staff Attorney in the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project (IRP). Prior to joining IRP, Araceli was a Staff Attorney in the National Origin, Immigration, and Language Rights Program of the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center, where she worked to vindicate and expand the workplace rights of recent immigrants to the United States, particularly those who faced exploitation on account of their immigrant status. Araceli previously served as a Fellow and then as a Staff Attorney in the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, and as a law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge David Briones. Araceli received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley’s Law School (Boalt Hall) in 2004 and earned her undergraduate degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Araceli has also served as a lecturer at Berkeley Law (Spring 2012 & 2013: Spanish for Lawyers), and is the 2010 recipient of the Hon. Thelton E. Henderson Social Justice Prize (which is awarded by Berkeley Law). Before law school, Araceli taught bilingual kindergarten through Teach for America in Oakland, California.

06/17/2009

Chipping Away at Diplomatic Immunity as a Defense Against Trafficking Claims

By Araceli Martinez-Olguin, Women's Rights Project at 6:01pm

For years advocates have been trying to vindicate the rights of domestic workers who have been enslaved by foreign diplomats in the U.S. Virtually every time a domestic worker has brought charges of abuse and exploitation against her diplomat employer, the courts have ruled that the diplomat could not be held accountable for his actions because of diplomatic immunity. But not yesterday. Yesterday a court denied a former Philippine ambassador to the U.N. the ability to duck responsibility for violating his domestic worker's human, civil, and labor rights simply by asserting that he was a diplomat at the time. Marichu Baoanan, who was held captive and forced to work as a domestic worker for the ambassador, and is represented by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, can proceed with her case against her former employer. Few women in her situation can say the same.

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07/02/2009

Preventing Abuse, Exploitation and Trafficking: Arming Workers with Information

By Araceli Martinez-Olguin, Women's Rights Project at 4:15pm

The State Department has published a pamphlet that will inform vulnerable workers who come to the United States on temporary visas, including domestic workers and guest workers, of their legal rights and the resources available to them.

The publication of this document comes after years of advocacy on behalf of workers who are vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation (see here, here, and here). The pamphlet is the product of a collaboration between the federal government and numerous advocates and nongovernmental organizations, including the ACLU, CASA of Maryland, Global Workers Justice Alliance, Jenner & Block, Legal Momentum, Southern Poverty Law Center, National Employment Law Project, Farmworker Justice, National Immigration Justice Center, Farmworker Legal Services of New York, Solidarity Center, Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc., AFL-CIO and Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking.

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