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ACLU Welcomes Immigration Detention Medical Treatment Legislation The ACLU applauds Representative Lofgren for introducing H.R. 5950, the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008. This legislation requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop procedures to ensure adequate medical care for all detainees held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The legislation also requires ICE to report detainee deaths to the DHS and Department of Justice Offices of Inspector General. More >> LEARN MORE > Medical Care in Immigrant Detention ACLU Applauds Repeal of Anti-Immigrant Ordinance in Riverside, N.J. The ACLU praised the Riverside, N.J., township council for voting to repeal an unlawful ordinance that would have punished landlords and employers for renting to or employing individuals it classified as "illegal" immigrants. > ACLU Applauds Repeal of Anti-Immigrant Ordinance in Riverside, N.J. > Learn more about the ordinance in Riverside, N.J. Landmark Settlement Reached in Lawsuit Challenging Conditions at Hutto Detention Center On August 27, the ACLU announced a landmark settlement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that greatly improves conditions for immigrant children and their families in the T. Don Hutto detention center in Taylor, Texas. Learn More >> > Landmark Settlement Announced in Federal Lawsuit Challenging Conditions at Immigrant Detention Center in Texas (8/27/2007) VICTORY! Federal Court Strikes Down Hazleton's Anti-Immigrant Ordinance On July 26, 2007, in the first trial decision of its kind, a federal court has declared unconstitutional a local ordinance that sought to punish landlords and employers for doing business with undocumented immigrants. The landmark decision in the closely-watched challenge to Hazleton's anti-immigrant ordinance held that the ordinance cannot be enforced. Learn more >> > Federal Court Strikes Down Discriminatory Anti-Immigrant Law in Hazleton, Pennsylvania (7/26/2007) > EN ESPAÑOL: Tribunal Federal Rechaza Ley Anti-Inmigrante Discriminatoria, de Hazleton, Pennsylvania (7/26/2007) ACLU Calls on Congress to Improve and Codify Immigration Detention Standards Nearly 300,000 men, women, and children are detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) each year, the majority of whom have no criminal history whatsoever. Thousands arrived on our shores fleeing persecution and torture, only to be locked up like criminals in one of over 400 detention facilities around the country. Congress must ensure that detained immigrants receive treatment that reflects America's fundamental values. Learn more >> San Diego Correctional Facility Poor Health Care at Detention Facility Blamed for Deaths On June 13, 2007, the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of immigrant detainees at San Diego Correctional Facility (SDCF), charging that inadequate medical and mental health care have caused unnecessary suffering and, in several cases, avoidable death. Learn more >> Know Your Rights Immigrant Marches / Marchas de los Inmigrantes EN ESPAÑOL Acerca de la Union Americana de Libertades Civiles   MULTIMEDIA ACLU of Tampa board member Carol Mehlman talks about immigrants' rights Air America's Rachel Maddow and MSNBC's Tucker Carlson discuss immigration Every wave of immigration into the United States has faced fear and hostility, especially during times of economic hardship, political turmoil, or war: in 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, one of our nation's first immigration laws, to keep out all people of Chinese origin during the "Red Scare" of the 1920s, thousands of foreign-born people suspected of political radicalism were arrested and brutalized; many were deported without a hearing. in 1942, 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent were interned in camps until the end of World War II. It is true that the Constitution does not give foreigners the right to enter the U.S. But once here, it protects them from discrimination based on race and national origin and from arbitrary treatment by the government. Immigrants work and pay taxes; legal immigrants are subject to the military draft. Many immigrants have lived in this country for decades, married U.S. citizens, and raised their U.S.-citizen children. Laws that punish them violate their fundamental right to fair and equal treatment.

ACLU Sues Government Over Citizenship Delay For Iraq War Hero (7/16/2008)
KANSAS CITY, MO – The American Civil Liberties Union sued the government in a federal court in Kansas for unlawfully delaying the citizen application of Julian Polous Al Matchy, a highly decorated U.S. Army war hero. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court with the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri in cooperation with the McCrummen Immigration Law Group, LLC against Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, FBI Director Robert Mueller and two officers of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Sheriff Arpaio Sued Over Racial Profiling Of Latinos In Maricopa County (7/16/2008)
PHOENIX – Today, five individuals and Somos America, a Latino community-based coalition, sued Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office (MCSO) and Maricopa County, charging that they or their members were unlawfully stopped and mistreated by law enforcement because they are Latino. The class action lawsuit - which builds upon a complaint filed last December - is before the U.S. District Court in Arizona.

ACLU Reacts to DHS OIG Report on ICE Detainee Deaths and Medical Care (7/1/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reacts to the release of the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s report, “ICE Policies Related to Detainee Deaths and the Oversight of Immigration Detention Facilities.” The report examines two of the 33 detainee deaths reported between January 1, 2005 and May 31, 2007 and DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) standards related to detainee deaths and the medical treatment of immigration detainees.

Community Group Launches Know Your Rights Campaign In Response To Growing Repression (7/1/2008)
Members of Volviendo a Vivir, Respect/Respeto, and Unidos en Arizona have teamed up with Copwatch and the ACLU of Arizona to launch the Valley's largest and most wide-reaching "Know Your Rights" effort to date. Event organizers will kick-off the campaign at 10 am on Wednesday, July 2, at Cesar Chavez Plaza in downtown Phoenix.

ACLU In Federal Court Today To Prevent Deportation Of Egyptian To Torture (6/30/2008)
PHILADELPHIA – The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Pennsylvania were in a federal appeals court today challenging the government's efforts to deport an Egyptian torture victim. The government claims to be relying on unreviewable "diplomatic assurances" from Egypt that it will not torture him upon his return. Last January, in the first decision of its kind, a federal district court sided with the ACLU and ordered the government to stop the deportation of Sameh Khouzam based on such secret and unreliable promises and release him under conditions of supervision. However, the Bush administration appealed this ruling, claiming that the executive branch has unfettered authority to deport Khouzam and to detain him indefinitely pending his legal proceedings.