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ORANGE, Calif. - The ACLU of Southern California sent a letter today to Assembly Republicans expressing concerns about Orange County hearings about the impact of undocumented immigrants on California that do not include an opportunity for public testimony.

Undocumented immigrants are a pillar of the U.S. economy, not a drag on productivity and services. That's the message of a letter our Orange County office sent to Assembly Republican holding hearings this month about the impact of undocumented immigration on California. The hearings, billed as "town hall forums," do not include an opportunity for public testimony.

LOS ANGELES - On behalf of four immigrant detainees who are being held indefinitely in Southern California, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, and the Stanford Law School Immigrants' Rights Clinic announced today it has asked a federal judge to put an immediate end to their illegal detention.

The ACLU/SC asked a judge to immediately release four immigrant detainees who are being held indefinitely in Southern California. Some have been held as long as four years without a hearing, a practice the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional for immigrants six years ago. The request marks a dramatic step in a class action lawsuit the ACLU/SC and other immigrants' rights groups filed September 25 on behalf of people who have been held arbitrarily for years while fighting their immigration cases.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (right), banned Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, and ACLU members from across the country are coming together Oct. 15-17 in Washington, D.C. Hobnob with politicos, activists, authors, and former government officials from both sides of the aisle.

LOS ANGELES — Air Force veteran Mustafa Aziz's two-year naturalization odyssey ended Wednesday, along with those of six other plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit, Aziz v. Gonzales, filed by the ACLU of Southern California, the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project and the Council on American-Islamic Relations in August against the federal government.

SAN FRANCISCO — In a 2-1 decision that will be appealed to the California Supreme Court, a divided panel of the California Court of Appeal ruled today that California may continue to bar same-sex couples from marriage.