News & Commentary

By: Eunice Lee, ACLU, Immigrants' Rights Project

By: Sandra Hernandez Listen to ACLU SoCal's interview with journalist, filmmaker and advocate Jose Antonio Vargas

Santa Ana’s City Council recently adopted a five-year strategic plan that, if properly implemented, promises to hold city leaders accountable to ensure they address community concerns.

As I set down my papers on the living room table for our interview, Yeni Gomez apologized while she cleared the space. 

When is a promise not a promise? That's what Luciano Sandoval is asking after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) broke its pledge to stop arresting individuals at Kern County, California courthouses.

When Gurvinder Singh and Kuldeet Kaur went to the Kern County Courthouse in 2012 to get married they believed it would mark the beginning of a new chapter in their lives.

Was our government involved in the overseas abduction and torture of an American citizen? Do we have the right to know the answer to that question? That is the issue the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals must decide in an appeal filed last week by Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles and the ACLU of Southern California.

Sergio Villatoro was waiting to pay a traffic ticket at the Kern County courthouse in Lamont, California, when the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid began. ICE agents blocked all of the exits. Although ICE agents made no attempt to establish Mr. Villatoro’s identity – much less his immigration status – they placed him under arrest, along with five others waiting to pay tickets, all Latino. Agents told them they were being arrested for “being in the country illegally.”

Tarek Hamdi has lived in the United States for decades. His wife was born here. He raised four daughters here. He works here. He pays taxes here.