Immigrant Rights News

ACLU, Human Rights Group Petition Commission to Act to End Deadly Policies

LOS ANGELES – Immigrants who waited for years for their citizenship applications to be processed due to extraordinary backlogs will finally have the chance to become Americans and enjoy the privileges of citizenship, under the terms of a settlement announced today between the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the National Immigration Law Center, the ACLU of Southern California, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center and the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Measure Will Foster Trust and Cooperation

15 Months in Detention Causing Severe Psychological Deterioration, Government Must Prove Need to Continue Detention, Says ACLU

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CONTACT: media@aclu.org

SAN DIEGO – The government’s prolonged detention without a hearing of a Somali man who was a victim of torture is unconstitutional, the San Diego ACLU said in a habeas corpus petition filed this week.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today announced new Section 287(g) Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) with 67 state and local law enforcement agencies. These agreements expand the existing 287(g) program, which delegates some federal immigration enforcement authority to certain state and local agencies. The American Civil Liberties Union has long called for an end to the 287(g) program and continues to strongly oppose ICE’s use of the agreements, which have led to increased racial profiling and due process violations across the country.

Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) will join with other House Democrats this afternoon to outline priorities for comprehensive immigration reform legislation. The American Civil Liberties Union applauds Congress’s efforts to overhaul the broken immigration system and urges leaders in Washington to work for legislation that does not sacrifice civil liberties and personal privacy.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today formally issued a final rule rescinding the Social Security “no match” rule. The “no match” rule, which was never implemented, would have forced employers to fire workers based on discrepancies in their Social Security records. DHS first announced its plan to rescind the rule in July, and with today's publication of a final rule in the Federal Register, the rescission will go into effect in 30 days.

PHOENIX – News reports indicate that a proposed new agreement under the controversial 287(g) program would strip the Maricopa County Sherriff's Office (MCSO) of authority to enforce federal immigration law on the street but would continue the program for deputies working in county jails. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has stated that he intends to continue street-level immigration enforcement despite the change in the agreement. The federal 287(g) program allows certain state and local law enforcement agencies to engage in federal immigration enforcement activities.

WASHINGTON – Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced plans to improve the nation's immigration detention system. According to today's announcement, DHS would consolidate many detainees in facilities with conditions that reflect their status as non-criminals, provide sound medical care in the facilities and establish more centralized oversight of detention centers.

SAN DIEGO - Funcionarios estadounidenses, mexicanos e internacionales deben reconocer que las muertes de migrantes durante los cruces fronterizos no autorizados entre México y Estados Unidos son una crisis humanitaria internacional y deben responder con reformas que den prioridad a la vida humana, según un nuevo informe difundido el día de hoy por la Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles, o ACLU, por sus siglas en inglés, de los condados de San Diego e Imperial, conjuntamente con la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, o CNDH, de México. El informe, titulado "Crisis humanitaria: muertes de migrantes en la frontera México-Estados Unidos", concluye que las muertes en la frontera se han incrementado a pesar de la baja en cruces fronterizos no autorizados a causa de la desaceleración económica.