News & Commentary

The ACLU of Southern California and the national ACLU filed an emergency request to prevent a woman, who is a lawful permanent resident, and her U.S. citizen child from being denied entry into the United States.

LOS ANGELES — A coalition of civil rights groups has agreed to dismiss its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against federal immigration officials, after securing the release of more than 2500 pages of documents relating to the federal government’s unlawful treatment of workers detained during a huge workplace raid in Los Angeles in 2008.

It’s hard to beat a town like LA – between the glam and the grunge, beaches and deserts, if it exists on earth you can probably find it in LA (or at least a good knock off).

In a major decision, a U.S. district court has ruled that federal officials must provide representation for two men with severe mental disabilities while they fight their deportation cases.

In the latest episode in one of the more bizarre story arcs of America’s death penalty, on Monday the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation revealed (under court order) that the source of their mysterious supply of lethal injection drugs was Archimedes Pharma, the same British firm that supplied the drugs Arizona used to execute Jeffrey Landrigan.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California strongly urges Congress to take action and vote to pass the DREAM Act.

The ACLU of Southern California is deeply concerned by federal agents’ abrupt decision to detain and initiate deportation proceedings against an immigrant worker who filed a federal class action lawsuit against a Fullerton-based firm in August for labor and civil rights violations.

Sandra Hernandez is communications director for the ACLU of Southern California.

With the election less than a week away, I keep finding myself in discussions about the ACLU's support for Proposition 19--a proposition on California's November ballot that would, among other things, decriminalize personal use and possession of marijuana. When I explain that one of the primary reasons we support Prop 19 derives from our aim to end the disparate impact marijuana laws have on African-Americans and Latinos, people suggest that the recent passage of S.B. 1449 in California - which reduced simple possession of marijuana from a misdemeanor to an infraction - should quelch our concerns about the impact the failed War on Drugs has had on communities of color. As a result, time and again I'm asked whether S.B. 1449 makes Prop. 19 unnecessary.