Home : Immigrants' Rights : General

ACLU Welcomes Detainee Basic Medical Care Act (05/13/2008)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union applauds Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) for introducing 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.

Disability Backlogs Violate Due Process Rights (05/08/2008)
WASHINGTON, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union was encouraged by today’s Senate Finance Committee hearing on service delivery problems with the Social Security Administration (SSA) field offices. The SSA has struggled in processing disability claims in reasonable timeframes and the ACLU has concerns that a mandatory employment verification system would capsize the already overburdened agency.

FBI Practices Need Strict Oversight, ACLU Says (04/23/2008)
Washington, DC – As FBI Director Robert Mueller appeared before Congress today, the American Civil Liberties Union urged the House Judiciary Committee to ask him the “hard questions.”

E-Verify Would Cost $40 Billion, CBO Says (04/08/2008)
WASHINGTON – The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released the estimated cost to implement H.R. 4088, the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act of 2007, and found that the proposed legislation would cost taxpayers more than $40 billion over 10 years. H.R. 4088, introduced by Representatives Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Tom Tancredo (R-CO), would implement a national employer verification system and mandate it for all new hires. It is currently under consideration for a “discharge petition” that would allow the bill to bypass the traditional committee markup process and instead go directly to the House floor.

Immigrants' Rights Advocates And ACLU File Lawsuit To End Illegal Delays In Processing Citizenship Applications (04/01/2008)
PHILADELPHIA - Many immigrants who have satisfied the requirements to become U.S. citizens have been illegally left in limbo for years due to the slow processing of FBI "name checks," charged a lawsuit filed today in federal district court in Philadelphia against government officials responsible for the prolonged, system-wide delays. As a result of the lag in "name checks," hundreds or thousands of citizenship applications have been held up well past the 180-day window established by Congress for processing the applications.

The Rights of Immigrants -ACLU Position Paper (09/08/2000)

Ignatyev v. Chertoff - Complaint (04/01/2008)

Order in Chicanos por la Causa v. Napolitano and Valle del Sol vs. Goddard (02/28/2008)

Khouzam v Hogan Stay (05/31/2007)
Khouzam v Hogan Stay

Khouzam v Hogan Emergency Petition (05/30/2007)
Khouzam v Hogan Emergency Petition

Buck v. Stankovic - Complaint (04/18/2007)

ACLU Written Statement Submitted to the Senate Finance Committee (05/08/2008)

Written Statement of Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, Submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee on Social Security Claim Delays for Disability (04/23/2008)

ACLU Statement for Senate Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing on Department of Homeland Security (04/02/2008)

ACLU Backgrounder on English Only Policies in Congress (12/10/2007)
In 2006 the Senate took up an amendment to make English the national language in connection with the Comprehensive Immigration Reform (“CIR”) Act. The amendment, offered by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), passed the Senate by a vote of 62 to 35. This amendment was substantially diluted by the subsequent passage of an alternative amendment by Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) which declared English as the “common and unifying language of the United States.” Both amendments, largely symbolic in nature, died when the Senate failed to pass CIR. Similar amendments were introduced and passed in the 2007 version of the CIR, which also failed to become law. Nonetheless, the fact that nearly two-thirds of the Senate voted to make English the national language illustrates the intense, and unfortunately misguided, fervor surrounding the English-only debate.

Testimony of Dr. Allen Keller for the House Immigration Subcommittee Hearing Detention and Removal: Immigration Detainee Medical Care (10/04/2007)

Oral statement by Jennifer Turner on behalf of the ACLU to the Human Rights Council 7th Session (03/07/2008)

Report of the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Dr. Jorge Bustamante (03/07/2008)

Letter from Esmeralda County School District Superintendent Robert Aumaugher Regarding the Speaking of Spanish on School Busses (02/12/2008)

Biography of Eunice Lee (10/15/2007)

El Experto Independiente en Derechos de los Migrantes de la ONU Empieza su Misión de Indagación de hechos en Estados Unidos (04/30/2007)
SAN DIEGO – La Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles hoy le da la bienvenida a los Estados Unidos al Relator Especial de las Naciones Unidas sobre la Derechos Humanos de los Migrantes en su visita oficial de indagación de hechos. La Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles está dentro de los grupos escogidos que se reunirán con el Relator Especial en las siguientes dos semanas para proporcionar datos sobre las condiciones de los inmigrantes y migrantes que viven en los Estados Unidos.

Lopez v. Gonzales and Toledo-Flores v. United States (09/14/2006)
Whether a state conviction for drug possession that would be a misdemeanor under federal law can nonetheless be treated as an "aggravated felony" for immigration purposes, which leads to serious adverse consequences, including ineligibilitiy for political asylum and cancellation of removal. DECIDED

Lopez v. Gonzales and Toledo-Flores v. United States (06/21/2006)
Whether a state conviction for drug possession that would be a misdemeanor under federal law can nonetheless be treated as an "aggravated felony" for immigration purposes, which leads to serious adverse consequences, including ineligibilitiy for political asylum and cancellation of removal. DECIDED