Archive

Last weekend, I was flooded by email and text messages from people contacting me both for legal help for their families stranded at airports and from people contacting me to find out how they can help. Being Iranian-American and working at the ACLU, the incoming messages came from both those worlds that are integral to my life.As we roll up our sleeves for the work ahead, I want to thank the count... Read More

It was 75 years ago that President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 which began the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Tens of thousands of American citizens were declared dangerous to domestic security and forced to go to internment camps in isolated areas across the Western United States.It’s a time that holds special meaning here at the ACLU of Northern Ca... Read More

January 30 is Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, established by the California legislature in 2010 to commemorate the ACLU of Northern California’s client who was interned during World War II. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California is asking that people who have been expecting visitors to arrive at SFO, OAK, SJO, or FAT from one of the seven countries in yesterday’s executive order – Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen – and have not heard from their visitors or have heard that their visitors have arrived and been detained or denied entry to please contact us at one of our two ... Read More

Today, President Trump and his new administration confirmed the institution of draconian, punitive, and discriminatory immigration policies that ignore the lessons of the last 30 years of immigration policy and betray our most basic values as a state and as a nation. These policies not only signal widespread violation of the rights of immigrants and citizens, but will waste resources, drive fear i... Read More

The ACLU of California condemns the anti-immigrant actions taken this week by President Donald Trump. >> Contact us re: SFO, OAK, SJO, FAT airport arrivals affected by Trump's executive order  On behalf of the ACLU of Northern California, I oppose today’s executive order banning entry to the United States from Muslim-majority and Middle Eastern nations in the strongest possibl... Read More

Everyone has a right to safe, clean, affordable drinking water. And the news this week means we’re going to have to shout it from the rooftops. Water is life. Water is a human right.One of Donald Trump’s first actions as president was to issue an executive order to violate the  water rights of the Standing Rock Sioux and advance the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. In the words of ... Read More

When Donald Trump takes the oath of office, he will inherit an unprecedented surveillance state that includes expansive powers and databases filled with information on millions of people. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California stands in support of the Movement for Black Lives. As we prepare to enter the presidency of a man who has called for the adoption of racist policies like Stop-and-Frisk and nominated an opponent of civil rights to run the Department of Justice, it is more important than ever that we actively resist the unrelenting oppression of Black people.We condemn the viole... Read More

Fifty-five years ago this January, the ACLU of Northern California was busy filling orders from across the country for copies of its recently produced film, “Operation Correction.” The film was a response to a piece of Red Scare propaganda, “Operation Abolition,” which was produced by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and depicted civil liberties activists in San Francisco as viole... Read More