Today is International Migrants Day, a day to reflect on the human rights of immigrants and migrant communities. As the ACLU blogged last week, despite accomplishments on some key human rights issues, the U.S. still has a long way to go to fulfill its promises to vulnerable members of our society such as immigrants and racial and ethnic minorities.
Last Monday, the ACLU brought these concerns to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, a body of independent experts that next year will examine the United States’ report on its compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a fundamental human rights treaty the U.S. ratified in 1992. Our submission suggests critical questions the committee should pose to the U.S. during its review next October.
By Amshula Jayaram, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:07am
Last week, nearly four years after President Obama closed the CIA’s Detention, Interrogation and Rendition Program, the American public is one step closer to learning the truth about a program that sanctioned the torture of terrorism suspects. To date, it has remained shrouded in secrecy, tarnishing our international reputation and severely damaging our nation’s security. Under the leadership of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has voted to adopt a 6000-plus page report, based on an analysis of more than six million pages of CIA records, detailing the findings of the committee’s three-year investigation into the program. We urge the committee to publicly release the document with as few redactions as possible.
On Monday, “Hardball with Chris Matthews” on MSNBC featured an interview with former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, and the discussion turned to immigration. Matthews asked Crist about his views on immigration enforcement and said that part of being a Democrat (Crist’s new political party) is being weak on enforcement.
For the first time, California Attorney General Kamala Harris publicly weighed in on the hotly-contested federal immigration program, Secure Communities (S-Comm).
By Dulce Matuz, Chairwoman, Arizona Dream Act Coalition at 11:49am
Change in our communities takes courage. Many times, that courage does not come from the politicians, but from ordinary people standing up for what is right.
DREAMers continue to stand up for human and civil rights every day. We are standing up against anti-immigrant policies. We are standing up for education & integration. We are standing up for equality. Let the voices of our oppressed youth be heard in the courts, which is exactly what will be taking place. DREAMers have collaborated with the ACLU and a civil rights coalition to file a lawsuit against Brewer’s executive order denying driver’s license to deferred action applicants. But this is much more than a legal battle; the fight we fight today is a moral fight.
A few months ago, the ACLU called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to end its 287(g) program, which delegates immigration enforcement authority to participating law enforcement agencies across the country. Civil rights and faith organizations joined the ACLU in calling for an end to the program, which has been the subject of severe criticism for promoting racial profiling and harassment of Latinos. The ACLU of Maryland is among the groups that have called for an end to the program in Frederick County, which is the only jurisdiction in Maryland with a 287(g) agreement with ICE.
By Tyler Ray, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:07am
The post-election immigration policy focus has rightly been on the pressing need to establish a path for aspiring Americans to become full members of their communities.
However, one of the most dire aspects of the immigration system is the ongoing crisis in mass immigration detention. Detained immigrants face widespread abuse and denial of basic rights, at enormous taxpayers’ expense. The number of detainees is unnecessarily high and must be drastically reduced.
As part of Detention Watch Network’s Expose and Close campaign calling for the immediate closure of the10 worst Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, the ACLU and its allies have sent a letter to President Obama urging him to take these vital first steps toward reforming a detention system where immigrants suffer in deplorable conditions.
In the last 15 years, we've witnessed a dramatic expansion in the jailing of immigrants, from about 70,000 people detained annually to about 400,000. In the mid-1990’s, during the height of an anti-immigrant backlash, Congress passed a series of harsh measures that led to a vast increase in unnecessary detention. This trend has been exacerbated by the private prison industry and county jails looking to exploit immigrant detention for profit.
