Home : Immigrants' Rights

Attorney General Ends Constitutional Protection For Immigrants From Lawyers' Mistakes (01/08/2009)
NEW YORK – In a radical departure from years of legal precedent, Attorney General Michael Mukasey has ended the practice of allowing immigrants to reopen immigration cases that they lost because of their lawyers' mistakes or incompetence. Mukasey's order, which is effective immediately, may lead to the deportation of innumerable immigrants who have lost their cases due to attorney error.

ACLU report blasts violations of basic rights for hundreds of immigrants detained in Massachusetts (12/10/2008)
BOSTON -- Hundreds of people not accused of committing crimes are being detained for long periods in Massachusetts jails -- in conditions that violate fundamental rights -- and they are subject to retaliation if they complain to authorities, according to a two-year investigation by the ACLU of Massachusetts.

ACLU of Maryland Launches Immigrants Rights Project (12/10/2008)
BALTIMORE – With the filing of Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) requests with local governments across the state to help gather information regarding local laws and policies towards immigrants, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland today announced the creation of our first Immigrants Rights Project. The new initiative will be headed by Skadden Fellow Ajmel Quereshi, who will spend two years in the ACLU of Maryland's office to address a broad range of legal issues affecting the rights of all immigrants in the state.

Lawsuit Challenging Denial Of Bail Rights For Immigrants Can Continue, Says Federal Court (12/10/2008)
PHOENIX – A federal court ruled that a civil rights coalition can continue to challenge an Arizona state law that bars judges from considering bail for criminal defendants suspected of being undocumented immigrants. Defendants, which include Maricopa County, had asked the court to dismiss the case but the ruling permits the litigation to proceed. The court also granted the lawsuit class action status.

Federal Court Rejects Bush Administration's Attempt To Deport Torture Victim Without Due Process (12/05/2008)
PHILADELPHIA – Rebuffing the Bush administration's efforts to deport Egyptian torture victim Sameh Khouzam, a federal appeals court today upheld his right to challenge Egypt's "diplomatic assurances" that it will not torture Khouzam upon his return. This is the latest development in an ongoing American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit on behalf of Khouzam.

ACLU Joins Lawsuit Challenging Trafficking Of Indian Guestworkers (11/17/2008)
NEW ORLEANS - The American Civil Liberties Union today charged that workers brought to the United States from India to work in shipyards after Hurricane Katrina were misleadingly recruited, exploited and mistreated. The ACLU and the law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP joined a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of over 500 guestworkers charging the workers were trafficked into the U.S. through the federal government's H-2B guestworker program with dishonest assurances of becoming lawful permanent U.S. residents and subjected to squalid living conditions, fraudulent payment practices and threats of serious harm upon their arrival.

Problematic E-Verify Program Expanded to Include All Federal Contractors (11/14/2008)
WASHINGTON - Today, President Bush issued a final rule requiring all federal contractors to use E-Verify, a flawed governmental system to check the citizenship status of the workforce, as a condition of doing business with the federal government. This rule would also require re-verification of some current federal contracts. This unprecedented expansion will require the compliance of millions of governmental contractors, for which the systemic infrastructure simply does not exist.

Federal Court Of Appeals Hears Arguments On Hazleton Anti-Immigrant Law (10/30/2008)
PHILADELPHIA – The American Civil Liberties Union argued in an appellate court today that it should uphold the landmark July 2007 ruling by a federal court in Pennsylvania that declared the city of Hazleton's anti-immigrant law unconstitutional. Hazleton's law would punish landlords and employers who are accused of renting to or hiring anyone the city classifies as an "illegal alien."

U.S. Citizen Who Was Illegally Detained and Twice Deported Is Latest Victim of Government's Unconstitutional Immigration Enforcement Policy (10/30/2008)
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A U.S. citizen who was illegally detained and twice deported to Mexico said immigration officials refused to believe his claim of citizenship, even when his mother traveled to the border to show Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents his birth certificate.

Civil Rights Coalition Charges That Finalized "No Match" Rule Will Hurt American Workers And Economy (10/23/2008)
WASHINGTON – The "no match" rule reissued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today will put the livelihoods of authorized workers – including U.S. citizens – at risk, have a devastating impact on the already suffering U.S. economy and lead to widespread discrimination in the workforce, according to a coalition of civil rights organizations.