Immigration Detention

10/05/2012

U.S. Citizen Wrongfully Deported to Mexico, Settles His Case Against the Federal Government

By Esha Bhandari, Equal Justice Works Fellow, ACLU at 12:15pm

Mark Lyttle, an American citizen with mental disabilities who was wrongfully detained and deported to Mexico and forced to live on the streets and in prisons for months, settled his case against the federal government this week.

Lyttle will receive $175,000 for the suffering he endured after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who deported him despite ample evidence that he was a U.S. citizen. The settlement comes after a federal district court in Georgia ruled in Lyttle’s favor in March, holding that the bulk of his claims against the federal defendants should not be dismissed.

01/18/2013

Anti-Immigrant Laws

Curtailing Immigration Prison System Can Reduce Spending Without Hurting Public Safety

By Michael Tan, Staff Attorney, Immigrants' Rights Project, ACLU & Joanne Lin, Washington Legislative Office at 11:17am

Today, Roll Call published an op-ed we wrote on how curtailing immigration prisons is an easy way for Congress to begin to reduce the deficit, cut government spending, and reform our flawed immigration system.

In addition, there are several steps the Obama Administration can and should take now, without waiting for Congress, to reduce its unnecessary and expensive reliance on immigration prisons. Here are four:

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.

03/14/2013

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Which Would You Prefer – Spending $164 or $15?

By Michael Tan, Staff Attorney, Immigrants' Rights Project, ACLU at 10:18am

This week and next, the House and Senate will hold hearings (including this one today) to address the reported release of between several hundred and several thousand immigration detainees from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") custody. Although complete information about the releases is not yet available, ICE's justification that it had determined these individuals could be "placed on an appropriate, more cost-effective form of supervised release" raises a fundamental question, posed among others by Secretary Janet Napolitano herself: why were these individuals detained in the first place?

01/25/2013

Anti-Immigrant Laws

Border Communities’ Needs in Federal Immigration Reform Legislation

By Vicki B. Gaubeca, ACLU of New Mexico at 1:40pm

While the ACLU is encouraged that there is renewed interest in immigration reform, we urge the Obama Administration to develop and champion proposals that are grounded in Americans’ fundamental values of equality and justice for all. One area of particular concern is the conventional wisdom in some circles about a purported need for additional resources dedicated to border enforcement. Those of us who live in border communities can attest that what is truly needed is more accountability by border enforcement agencies and reducing, not expanding, an already-bloated border enforcement system. This week, the ACLU of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights submitted a letter to President Obama that makes this case based on values and empirical evidence.

01/15/2013

Immigration Detention

Mr. President, What Will Be Your Civil Rights Legacy?

By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:44am

Watching President Obama take the Oath of Office four years ago was a historic moment I will never forget. I remember meeting him when he was an Illinois state senator...

06/18/2012

Private Prisons

A Tale of Two Communities . . . and Zero Private Prisons

By David Shapiro, ACLU National Prison Project at 11:21am

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the world’s largest for-profit prison company, planned to contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to build a new private detention center. Resistance by the local community gained momentum. Then the plan unraveled.

These sentences describe two entirely different stories—stories that unfolded last week in communities 1300 miles apart.

04/25/2013

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Yes, the U.S. Wrongfully Deports Its Own Citizens

By Esha Bhandari, Equal Justice Works Fellow, ACLU at 11:48am

This week's New Yorker features the harrowing ordeal of Mark Lyttle, a U.S. citizen with mental disabilities who was deported to Mexico. Lyttle was born in North Carolina and has psychiatric and cognitive disabilities. He was inexplicably referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2008 after being misidentified as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico even though he had never been to Mexico, shared no Mexican heritage, and did not speak any Spanish. As the New Yorker article notes, "Lyttle is brown-skinned," and "the vagaries of race and ethnicity obviously played a part" in causing him to be singled out for immigration enforcement.

03/27/2013

Anti-Immigrant Laws

Georgia: Don’t Allow Extremism to Highjack Good Fixes to Immigration Bill

By Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia at 4:39pm

Two years ago, Georgia passed one of the most stringent immigration laws in the country, House Bill 87. Both supporters and opponents of the bill now agree that it has a major flaw which needs to be fixed quickly. As written, the law subjects U.S. citizens renewing a professional license to months of delay, costing many of them their jobs and livelihood.

Legislators from both sides of the aisle wisely pledged to work together to do away with this unacceptable consequence. Straightforward, fix-it bills were introduced in the state House and Senate. Unfortunately, a few legislators have pushed for last-minute changes to the bills, sending them in a completely different direction. The changes threaten to embroil Georgia into another protracted and rancorous debate.

01/23/2013

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

ICE's New Policy Doesn't Fix the Constitutional Problems with Detainers

By Kate Desormeau, ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project at 2:07pm

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claims that its recently announced new policy on immigration detainers is a major step toward “smarter immigration enforcement,” and it seems to have convinced some editorial boards that that’s true. But serious problems remain.

American Civil Liberties Union