Immigrants' Rights:
The ACLU has been one of the nation's leading advocates for the rights of immigrants, refugees and non-citizens, challenging unconstitutional laws and practices, countering the myths upon which many of these laws are based. Learn more about our Immigrants' Rights Project and take action to protect the rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
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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 >>
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> 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.
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> 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 >>
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San Diego Correctional Facility
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.
Bill Ushers in Humane Standards for Immigration Detention Facilities (10/3/2008)
Washington, DC – Today Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) introduced legislation to adopt humane standards for immigration detention facilities that are legally enforceable. The ACLU applauds Rep. Roybal-Allard for her leadership in ensuring that all immigration detainees receive basic minimum protections including access to medical care, phones, legal materials, and law libraries. The bill, H.R. 7255, the Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act, also provides special protections for unaccompanied children, sexual abuse victims, survivors of torture, families with children and other vulnerable populations.
ACLU Agrees to Represent Family of Chinese Detainee Who Died at Wyatt Detention Facility (9/29/2008)
PROVIDENCE, RI - The Rhode Island ACLU today announced that it has agreed to provide legal representation to the family of Hiu Liu ("Jason") Ng, the 34-year-old Chinese detainee who died last month while in the custody of immigration officials at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls. The case will be handled by RI ACLU cooperating attorney John J. McConnell, Jr. of the law firm of Motley Rice, LLC.
Governor Signs Important Disaster Victim Protection Bill (9/29/2008)
A bill requiring public employees who provide evacuees with disaster-related assistance to do so without asking for information or documents not strictly necessary to determine eligibility for the services, AB 2327 (Caballero), was signed into law by the governor yesterday. Civil rights organizations that had provided assistance to victims of last year's California wildfires applauded the bill.
ACLU Applauds Senators Menendez and Kennedy for Bill to Protect US Citizens from Unlawful Detention and Deportation (9/26/2008)
Washington, DC – Last night, Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduced legislation to protect U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents from being unlawfully detained and deported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In the wake of sweeping immigration raids that have devastated communities across the country, the ACLU welcomes this bill, S.3594, The Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act, as the first legislation to require DHS to follow due process standards in executing immigration raids.
Farmers Branch, Texas Anti-Immigrant Ordinance Is Blocked While Challenge Continues (9/22/2008)
DALLAS – City officials in Farmers Branch, Texas today agreed not to fight a request from residents to block the city's latest anti-immigrant ordinance from taking effect while a legal challenge continues. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) filed a request in federal court on the residents' behalf for a preliminary injunction blocking the ordinance. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas is expected to enter the injunction today.
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