Immigration and Customs Enforcement

also ICE and immigration enforcement

12/13/2012

287(g)

Petitions, Sign-on Letter Sent to Administration Calling for End to Controversial Immigration Program

By Abdi Soltani, ACLU of Northern California & Joanne Lin, Washington Legislative Office at 12:03pm

Communities across the country are saying no to 287(g)...

12/12/2012

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

The Truth about the Current State of Immigration Enforcement

By Shawn Jain, ACLU at 11:08am

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.

You can watch the discussion here.

10/26/2012

Customs and Border Protection

A Cause for Alarm: ACLU Tells UN Panel of Rampant Abuse by Out-of-Control Border Patrol

By Brian Erickson, ACLU of New Mexico at 5:04pm

Yesterday, I provided testimony at the United Nations as part of a U.N. General Assembly side event that examined human Rights violations at international borders, including the U.S.-Mexico border. The side event, which was chaired by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Mexican government’s ambassador to the U.N. and was attended by representatives of numerous nations, forms part of a growing dialogue within the U.N. and international community that began in March during an expert consultation on the matter and looks to continue at the upcoming Global Forum on Migration and Development.

10/27/2011

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Latest Report on Obama Immigration Program Highlights Racial Profiling

By Sandhya Bathija, Washington Legislative Office at 11:39am

Soon after the Obama administration's centerpiece immigration program, Secure Communities, went into effect in West Virginia in 2009, patrons of a popular Latin dance club called Lobos drove into a trap.

One Sunday morning, police stopped three vehicles leaving the club, claiming failure to stop at a stop sign, among other minor traffic infractions. While none of the drivers — all Hispanic — received traffic citations, the eight people traveling in the cars were arrested, the first step toward deportation proceedings that are now pending in six of the cases.

09/16/2011

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Separating Immigration Policy and National Security, Not American Families

By Chris Rickerd, ACLU Washington Legislative Office & Joanne Lin, Washington Legislative Office at 3:22pm

As we remember the victims and heroes of 9/11, we're reminded that people of all colors and creeds died on that horrific day, including more than 100 undocumented immigrants. We also remember the courage of survivors, emergency responders, family members, and soldiers — who, like the victims, reflect the diversity of America. Their sacrifice enabled our country to move forward in a spirit of healing and unity.

04/06/2011

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

The Good Wife Tackles Destructive Immigration Enforcement Policies

By Elizabeth Beresford, ACLU at 5:09pm

In last week’s episode of the television drama The Good Wife, the devastating effects of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Secure Communities program took center stage. Actress America Ferrara guest starred as Natalie Flores, a Latina student whose father, Mr. Flores, is swept up in an overzealous Chicago police officer’s attempt to secure an arrest for a neighborhood burglary. The officer, looking for a “Hispanic burglar with a weapon,” targeted Mr. Flores because of his appearance, pulled him over, and arrested him despite the fact that neither the make or model of Mr. Flores’s car, nor his age and physical appearance, matched that of the burglary suspect.

03/29/2011

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Local Enforcement Tactics Lead to Racial Profiling, Human Rights Abuses

By Sarah Mehta, Fellow, Immigrants' Rights Project, ACLU at 9:57am

Yesterday, military veteran and U.S. citizen Robert Cote spoke to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) about his wife, Rita, who was illegally arrested and detained by Florida police and now faces deportation.

In February 2009, Rita Cote helped her sister, who does not speak English, report a domestic violence incident. She stayed with her sister until the police arrived in order to translate. But rather than attending to Cote's sister, who was visibly injured and anxious to report her assault, the police instead asked Cote to show her passport, based on nothing more than her race and Spanish accent. After targeting her on those bases, police found an administrative removal order issued when she was a minor and of which she had no notice.

04/13/2012

Secure Communities

Whitewashing S-Comm's Immigration Enforcement Failures

By Chris Rickerd, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 2:27pm

Secure Communities, the Obama administration's favored immigration enforcement program, has a track record that includes the unlawful detention of U.S. citizens. Antonio Montejano, for example, was held for four days after an arrest stemming from his children's handling of store merchandise. He remained in custody despite repeatedly proclaiming U.S. citizenship and arrived back home to his worried 8-year-old son, who asked "'Dad, can this happen to me too because I look like you?'"

11/30/2011

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

ICE's Mess in Massachusetts

By Laura Rotolo, ACLU of Massachusetts at 5:42pm

Over the last year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has played out a miniature version of its catastrophic national strategy on Secure Communities in my home state.

04/01/2013

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

VICTORY! Ohio Lets DREAMers Drive

By Michael Tan, Staff Attorney, Immigrants' Rights Project, ACLU at 5:18pm

Last week, Ohio officials confirmed that young immigrants who came to the United States as children—or “DREAMers”—will be eligible for driver’s licenses. The decision impacts an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 young people who stand to benefit from the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Ohio joins the overwhelming chorus of states that have gotten with the DACA program. Generally, states limit driver’s licenses to immigrants who can show they are “authorized" or “legally present” in the United States. Consistent with guidance from the federal government, the overwhelming majority of states like Ohio have rightly acknowledged that immigrants granted DACA are legally authorized to be in the country, and thus eligible to drive.

American Civil Liberties Union