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ACLU Applauds Introduction of Civil Liberties Restoration Act; Measure Restores Freedom, Protects Security (06/16/2004)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights organizations today welcomed the introduction in Congress of the "Civil Liberties Restoration Act of 2004," a bill that would restore basic freedoms and protections that have been compromised since 9/11, without compromising national security.

ACLU Defends Immigrant Imprisoned for Three Years While Awaiting Deportation (06/14/2004)
PROVIDENCE, RI -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today appeared in federal court on behalf of an Ethiopian immigrant who has been imprisoned for the past three years solely because he overstayed his visa.

ACLU Says Homeland Security Department Move to Cut Legal Ties On Detention With Ashcroft an "Important First Step" (04/13/2004)
WASHINGTON - In response to an internal Justice Department report citing various physical and legal abuses of immigrants held in secret after 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security today released new guidelines requiring independent review of other agencies' legal representations and case-by-case review of closed hearings and bond recommendations and decisions.

ACLU Urges Supreme Court to Order Trial for U.S. Citizen Held as "Enemy Combatant" (02/23/2004)
NEW YORK--In a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court today, the American Civil Liberties Union urged the Justices to reject the government's argument that it may detain U.S. citizen Yaser Esam Hamdi in a military jail without charges or trial and without meaningful access to a lawyer.

ACLU Files Complaint with United Nations in Geneva Seeking Justice for Immigrants Detained and Deported after 9/11 (01/27/2004)
GENEVA/NEW YORK- In its first-ever official submission to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the American Civil Liberties Union today presented an official complaint to the United Nations on behalf of immigrants imprisoned and deported from the United States after 9/11.

As Immigrant Registration Deadlines Loom Once Again, ACLU Sees Trap for Arabs and Muslims (10/30/2003)
NEW YORK - With a new annual deadline looming under the government's ""special registration"" program for certain immigrants, the American Civil Liberties Union today asked the Department of Homeland Security to explain why it had failed to give adequate information to immigrants who are required to ""re-register"" beginning next month.

ACLU of Connecticut Wins Release Of Illegally Detained Immigrants (07/14/2003)
HARTFORD, CT-The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut today welcomed the release of two immigrant men who were being held here by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE, formerly the INS) for extensive periods of time. The ACLU said it will file additional petitions challenging the government's detention of others.

Immigrants Targeted for Deportation After Participating in INS Special Registration Program Speak Out (07/01/2003)
SAN FRANCISCO -Two young brothers came forward today to describe how they were detained and arrested after voluntarily participating in the Immigration and Naturalization Service's controversial Special Registration Program, at a news conference convened by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the American Muslim Voice and the Pakistani-American Alliance.

ACLU Applauds Congressional Examination of Internal Report Critical of Justice Department's Handling of Post 9/11 Detainees (06/25/2003)
WASHINGTON - While calling for further Congressional investigation into an internal Justice Department report critical of the agency's abuse of the hundreds of domestic detainees held in the months after 9/11, the American Civil Liberties Union today praised lawmakers for holding the first Capitol Hill hearing into the detainee findings.

ACLU Criticizes High Court Detention Ruling, Calls on Congress to Repeal Irrational and Unjust Law (04/29/2003)
NEW YORK -- Responding to the Supreme Court's decision today that upheld a 1996 mandatory immigration detention statute, the American Civil Liberties Union called the decision a blow to fundamental fairness and called on Congress to repeal the law.

Federal Appeals Court Rules That Government Cannot Indefinitely Hold Immigrants (03/05/2003)
NEW YORK--A federal appeals court today ruled that the government is not permitted to indefinitely detain immigrants who are physically present in the United States and who cannot be deported, the American Civil Liberties Union today announced.

Newspapers Ask High Court to Resolve Conflict Over Access to Secret Immigration Hearings (03/03/2003)
NEW YORK - Acting on behalf of a group of New Jersey newspapers, the American Civil Liberties Union today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling upholding a government policy that blocks media and public access to immigration hearings of people detained after September 11.

Supreme Court to Review Mandatory Detention of Immigrants (01/14/2003)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union will urge the Supreme Court tomorrow to reject a law that requires the government to automatically detain legal immigrants after they have completed their sentences for certain low-level crimes.

ACLU and Coalition of Immigrants' Rights Groups "Register Discontent" with Government's Immigrant Registration Program (01/10/2003)
NEW YORK-The American Civil Liberties Union today joins with other immigrants' rights organizations across the nation to "register our discontent" with the government's latest attack on immigrant groups.

ACLU Urges Congress to Fully Investigate Ill-Conceived Immigration Registration and Detention Program (01/10/2003)
WASHINGTON - Responding to today's second deadline in a controversial immigrant tracking program that has resulted in hundreds of unwarranted detentions, the American Civil Liberties Union today called for a full Congressional investigation into the program and urged all affected non-citizens to seek legal counsel.

ACLU Calls Immigrant Registration Program Pretext for Mass Detentions (12/19/2002)
WASHINGTON - In a development that confirms the American Civil Liberties Union's initial fears about a controversial immigrant fingerprinting and registration program, the Immigration and Naturalization Service is apparently using the program as a pretext for the mass detention of hundreds of Middle Eastern and Muslim men and boys.

ACLU Asks Appeals Court to Reconsider Ruling Upholding Closed Hearings in Sept. 11 Immigration Cases (11/22/2002)
NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union today asked a federal appeals court to reconsider a ruling that immigration hearings involving people detained after Sept. 11 may be unilaterally closed by the government without the input of a court.

Government Cannot Use Material Witness Statute to Detain People, ACLU Tells Appeals Court (11/22/2002)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today urged a federal appeals court to uphold a ruling that the government unlawfully used the material witness statute to detain a Jordanian-born college student for 20 days.

ACLU Files Brief on Behalf of American-Born Taliban Indefinitely Incarcerated without Counsel or Access to Courts (10/25/2002)
RICHMOND, VA -- The national American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Yaser Hamdi, an American citizen who was captured in Afghanistan last November and who has been held incommunicado in a military brig in Norfolk for the last six months. Labeled an "enemy combatant" by the Department of Justice, he is being indefinitely jailed in isolation and without any access to counsel.

Appeals Court Hears Arguments Today in Second ACLU Challenge to Secret Immigration Hearings (09/17/2002)
PHILADELPHIA-A federal appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments today in the American Civil Liberties Union's second challenge to a government policy blocking media and public access to immigration hearings of people detained after Sept. 11.