Archive

The American Civil Liberties Union along with Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS), created “We Have Rights,” a national immigrant empowerment campaign to inform immigrant communities of what to do when interacting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The campaign centers around four animated videos available in seven languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, Haitian Creole... Read More

MADERA — The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a complaint Wednesday with Madera County for illegally re-detaining and transferring former resident Ivan Santos Cuevas to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which then deported him to Mexico. The Madera County Jail deputies’ actions were a flagrant violation of the California Values Act. Santos Cuevas’ case is just the latest exa... Read More

On December 28, 2018, the Madera County Jail re-imprisoned Ivan Santos Cuevas and unlawfully transferred him into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Santos Cuevas had been arrested the previous night, and was scheduled for release in the early morning. However, at the time of his release, Madera County Jail re-detained him, and held him until ICE agents arrived. On June 26, 2019,... Read More

On February 27, 2018, at 4:54 p.m., a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent typed a query into a database of driver locations collected by automated license plate readers across the United States. The license plate database returned nine results. As an explanation for why ICE was searching the database, the agent gave the following reason: "ADMINISTRATIVE SPOUSE OF TARGET" This was ... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO — The ACLU Foundation of Northern California and Goodwin Procter LLP today filed a lawsuit against ICE transportation contractor G4S Secure Solutions on behalf of four women in ICE custody who were shackled by their hands and feet, then forced to ride in a boiling, windowless van for hours with no food, water, medication or toilet access. The suit is seeking damages for the women’... Read More

In July 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit demanding records related to the treatment of immigrants detained by ICE, particularly transportation by contractor G4S Secure Solutions. In regions throughout the country, ICE subcontracts with G4S to transport immigrants in its custody. The private contractor ha... Read More

Approximately 34,000 immigrants are held in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s (ICE) facilities on a daily basis, with roughly 500 to 600 of these immigrants held in northern California detention facilities. These detainees are not serving criminal sentences. They are being held in civil detention as they try to obtain legal counsel or represent themselves, fighting to stay in t... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO — Today, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration's attempt to suspend the California law SB 54 that limits local and state law enforcement from acting as deportation agents. The ACLU of California, which supported the law — also known as the California Values Act — applauds the court's decision. Please attribute the following quote to Maria Romani, I... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO – Today the ACLU Foundation of Northern California (ACLU-NC) filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on behalf of Andreas Gal who, on November 29, 2018, was subjected to interrogation and retaliation by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for questioning the unwarranted search of his electronic devices. T... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO — The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California today released records revealing that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has gained access to an expansive surveillance database to target immigrants. The documents also reveal that local law enforcement agencies are aiding ICE in the surveillance efforts by sharing residents’ location information with ICE agents, some... Read More