NYCLU Statement on NYPD Decision to Fire Daniel Pantaleo

BOISE – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Idaho filed a putative class action lawsuit today challenging an immigration raid carried out at a popular family event in Wilder, Idaho. In October 2025, more than 200 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers descended on the La Catedral arena with armored trucks and helicopters, flashbang grenades, and guns drawn, detaining approximately 400 spectators – including U.S. citizens and children – for four hours of detention in inhumane conditions. On October 19, at the height of an otherwise festive and calm day, masked law enforcement stormed La Catedral arena to conduct a dragnet immigration raid. They shoved compliant people to the ground, forcibly dragged people out of their cars, shot rubber bullets, and threw flashbang grenades into cars that had people sitting inside. Parents and children were zip tied at gunpoint, and agents subjected people to hours of violent and degrading treatment. “Our plaintiffs were treated as less than human because ICE and their willing partners think they can disregard fundamental rights if it gets them immigration arrests,” said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director of policing at the ACLU. “From Wilder, to Minneapolis, to Chicago, the Trump administration is trampling our rights using racially biased tactics that make us all less safe. The administration can suggest that this abuse is immune from legal consequences, but it is not, and we intend to prove that in court.” The ACLU’s lawsuit, brought on behalf of three Latino families who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and a putative class, is the first major challenge in the second Trump administration to ICE tactics that discriminate based on ethnicity. Juana Rodriguez and her 3-year-old son are U.S. citizens. Juana was handcuffed in zip ties for several hours. Police instructed Juana’s 3-year-old to hold onto her pocket, which officers turned inside out. He held onto her pocket crying during the several hours they were detained. "On October 19, I took my 3-year-old to a family-friendly event where we could eat, play, and enjoy horse races together,” said Juana Rodriguez. “What happened turned our outing into a nightmare. My toddler was forced to witness an incredible amount of violence against people he loves and hear racial slurs about Latinos, experiences that no child should ever be exposed to. I'll never forget hearing his little voice pleading with me to give him food and water for hours on end. As a parent, nothing is more heartbreaking than hearing your child cry out in fear and being told you cannot hold or comfort them. “I am a proud U.S. citizen, and I didn't do anything wrong. While nothing will ever undo the harm of that day, I joined this lawsuit because I know what happened to me was wrong and because no family should be treated this way again.” The horseraces at La Catedral are a beloved family-friendly event in Wilder and have long been a place for the local Latino community to celebrate Mexican culture. On typical weekends at La Catedral, families with young children and elderly grandparents spend time outside together, enjoying the races, their favorite Mexican foods, and playing games. "In moments like this, we ask ourselves: is this the kind of society we want to be?" said Leo Morales, executive director of the ACLU of Idaho. "Those children and their mothers are traumatized for life. It is heartbreaking that federal, state, and local police turned a family-friendly event into a place of nightmares. While nothing can undo what these families endured, we can hold those in power to account and ensure no one else has to endure this treatment in the future." The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU, ACLU of Idaho, and Wendy J. Olson, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho, and partner at Stoel Rives. The complaint is available here: https://www.aclu.org/documents/rodriguez-et-al-v-porter-et-al-class-action-complaint

The Supreme Court should reject a prosecution that treats possession of a gun as a felony if you use marijuana.

In 2023, public reporting revealed that a group of sheriff’s deputies in Rankin County, Mississippi, had been terrorizing the County’s residents for nearly two decades. The deputies, who called themselves the “Goon Squad,” used torture, violence, and other abusive practices to coerce confessions and extract or manufacture evidence. The Rankin County District Attorney’s Office (RCDAO), in turn, used the Goon Squad to prosecute people. Seeking to understand whether the RCDAO has taken any actions to address the Goon Squad’s misconduct since it became public, the ACLU of Mississippi and the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a public records request with the RCDAO. But the RCDAO refused to produce any documents other than a self-serving press statement. Accordingly, the ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative, along with the ACLU of Mississippi and the Center for Constitutional Rights, filed suit arguing that the RCDAO’s failure to produce responsive records violates the Mississippi Public Records Act.

BRANDON, Miss. – The ACLU of Mississippi and the Center for Constitutional Rights, with support from the American Civil Liberties Union’s State Supreme Court Initiative, today filed a public records lawsuit seeking information about the Rankin County District Attorney’s Office’s handling of criminal legal cases in which sheriff deputies had engaged in a pattern of misconduct and abuse for nearly two decades. In 2023, news reports exposed a years-long pattern of torture, extreme violence, and other abusive practices by deputies in the Sheriff’s Office to coerce confessions and manufacture evidence for criminal prosecutions. These deputies, who called themselves the “Goon Squad,” were responsible for profound suffering by the local community, including numerous wrongful convictions. Following the revelations, the civil rights organizations filed a request under the Mississippi Public Records Act (MPRA) to the Rankin County District Attorney’s Office, which was responsible for criminally prosecuting many of the cases tainted by the Goon Squad. The request sought records relating to any actions the office took in response to the exposed police misconduct. But the District Attorney’s office initially refused to disclose any documents related to its response to the misconduct revelations and later disclosed only one email to a journalist. This is a direct violation of the MPRA. “Given the documented and admitted misconduct of multiple Rankin County officers, which spans the course of two decades, the lack of transparency is deeply troubling, said Ayanna Hill, racial justice staff attorney with the ACLU of Mississippi. “Extraordinary measures should not be required to obtain records that, by law, belong to the public.” The lawsuit alleges that the Rankin County District Attorney’s Office is withholding public records that the state public records law requires it to disclose. It also highlights that the District Attorney’s claim, that there are no records responsive to several of the specific requests, contradicted by the office’s public statements that it conducted an “extensive review” of cases potentially tainted by the Goon Squad. Center for Constitutional Rights Justice Fellow and Attorney Korbin Felder notes that, “In the wake of the largest law enforcement scandal in the county’s history, the District Attorney’s office should have created a transparent process of disclosing records and reviewing all cases involving these officers. Rather than providing the citizens of Rankin County and the victims of law enforcement abuse the transparency and accountability they deserve, the District Attorney’s office continues to insist that the public and the victims are not entitled to such.” The public records lawsuit asks the court to compel the release of several categories of records, including a list of cases with Goon Squad involvement, policies related to disclosing exculpatory evidence, any documented actions taken in response to the revelations, and communications between the District Attorney’s Office and members of the Goon Squad, among others. “The Rankin County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted and convicted people with the Goon Squad’s help. It should be eager to provide the public with information about what it’s doing to address that injustice, but instead it is unlawfully withholding all of its records except one self-serving statement to the press,” said Terry Ding, staff attorney with the ACLU State Supreme Court Initiative. “The public has a right to know how their public officials respond to cases of severe police misconduct.”