Tag: ACLU

ACLU Sues After ICE Contractors Attack Lawyer Seeking To Aid Migrant Kids Locked In Hotel

The Trump administration has been detaining migrant children as young as a year old in hotels, according to the lawsuit.

A disturbing video released by the Texas Civil Rights Project shows an ugly confrontation between private contractors for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a lawyer trying to help asylum-seeking migrant children locked up in a McAllen, Texas, hotel.

The chilling scene at the Hampton Inn & Suites, which can be seen below, helped trigger a lawsuit late Friday by the Texas group and the American Civil Liberties Union to stop the deportation of the children being detained by the Trump administration in hotels. The suit is also demanding an opportunity for the children to talk to a lawyer.

“The Trump administration is holding children in secret in hotels, refusing to give lawyers access to them so it can expel them back to danger without even a chance for the children to show they warrant asylum,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told CBS News. “Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a series of steps taken by the Trump administration to abuse and terrorize children.” Continue reading.

ACLU demands special counsel probe into Barr over police assault on protesters: ‘The suspect can’t be the investigator’

AlterNet logoThe ACLU is demanding the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate a violent police assault last month on peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrators near the White House—a crackdown reportedly ordered by Attorney General William Barr.

“The suspect can’t be the investigator,” the ACLU the tweeted. “We need a full investigation independent of Barr.”

The group sent a letter (pdf) Tuesday morning urging Barr and other Justice Department officials involved in the law enforcement crackdown to recuse themselves from any investigation into the June 1 incident, which came amid nationwide demonstrations over the police killing of George Floyd. Continue reading.

Civil rights groups sue Trump over assault on peaceful protesters near White House

Protesters were forcefully removed from a park near the White House before Trump walked to a nearby church to take a photo

The American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups are suing Donald Trump, William Barr and other federal officials over the assault on peaceful protesters near the White House on Monday, to allow the president to hold a photo op at a historic church.

According to a release from the ACLU of the District of Columbia, the lawsuit filed on behalf of Black Lives Matter DC and individual protesters accuses Trump and the other officials are accused of “violating their constitutional rights and engaging in an unlawful conspiracy to violate those rights”.

The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the law firm of Arnold & Porter also filed the suit. Continue reading.

ACLU demands congressional investigation into ‘politically-motivated’ attack on peaceful protest outside White House

AlterNet logoThe American Civil Liberties Union is demanding a congressional probe into the deployment of tear gas, rubber bullets, and other “indiscriminate weapons” against nonviolent demonstrators in Lafayette Square outside the White House on Monday evening—a use of force apparently greenlit by President Donald Trump so that he could enjoy a photo opportunity of himself marching through the cleared area on his way to nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church.

As the Washington Post reports:

Hundreds of protesters were pushed away from Lafayette Square, where they were protesting the police killing of George Floyd, by the National Guard, U.S. Park Police and Secret Service. The ambush began half an hour before the city’s newly imposed curfew of 7 p.m. went into effect. When the crowds were cleared, the president walked through the park to visit the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church, which had been set on fire Sunday. Continue reading.

 

 

Plaintiffs ask court to block Trump efforts to add citizenship question to census

The Hill logoPlaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Department of Commerce over the 2020 census are asking a federal court to block the Trump administration from delaying the printing of census forms or changing them to include a citizenship question.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the motion Friday with the state of New York and other groups seeking to block the citizenship question from being added.

The Supreme Court blocked the citizenship question last week, ruling the administration’s argument that the query is necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act was unsatisfactory. However, Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge Friday that the Trump administration is reviewing “all available options” for adding the question.

View the complete July 5 article by Tal Axelrod on The Hill logo here.

Jeff Sessions’s claim that an ACLU settlement with Chicago caused murders to spike

The following article by Salvador Rizzo was posted on the Washington Post website May 14, 2018:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Credit: Gregory Bull/AP

“Paul Cassel and Richard Fowles of the University of Utah analyzed the dramatic surge in Chicago homicides in 2016. Homicides went from 480 in 2015 to 754 in 2016 — a stunning event.

“They asked why. They considered numerous possible causes. They concluded the 58 percent increase was caused by the abrupt decline in ‘stop and frisks’ in 2015. There had been a horrific police shooting, protests and an ACLU lawsuit. The settlement of that lawsuit resulted in a decline in stops from 40,000 per month to 10,000 per month. Arrests fell also. In sum, they conclude that these actions in late 2016, conservatively calculated, resulted in approximately 236 additional victims killed and over 1,100 additional shootings in 2016 alone. The scholars call it the ‘ACLU effect.’ Continue reading “Jeff Sessions’s claim that an ACLU settlement with Chicago caused murders to spike”