News & Commentary

The number of women given the opportunity to direct and tell their stories through film is dismally small, yet last year, Hollywood found a way to make that number even smaller, according to a new study by San Diego State University.

[VIDEO] Watch my conversation with lawyer, activist and Gold Star father Khizr Khan and find out what he has etched on the back page of his pocket Constitution.

This week, California state lawmakers introduced three groundbreaking bills that could prevent thousands of immigrants from being torn from their families, communities, and the lives they built here.

Today, Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) and Senator Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) announced plans to champion legislation to reform California’s seriously unjust and ineffective money bail system. What’s wrong with the current system you might ask?

Fear has always been a fixture in my life. As a transgender woman of color, like so many other trans and nonconforming people around the world, I’ve encountered hate speech, aggression and very real threats of violence on the daily.

Donald Trump's campaign promises and his victory last week have created deep anxiety among immigrants and our allies in California. Within the ACLU of California, many of us feel directly and personally affected by threats to our communities. This is all too real.

Government whistleblower and civil liberties hero Edward Snowden surprised actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, when he presented Gordon-Levitt with a Bill of Rights Award via the "Snowbot," a live telepresence robot, at the 2016 ACLU of Southern California Bill of Rights Dinner on November 13.

The following is the full transcript of the keynote address delivered by ACLU SoCal Executive Director Hector Villagra at the 2016 Bill of Rights Dinner on Sunday, November 13, 2016 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Search online for the phrase “immigration detention” and you’ll notice lots of hits over the past few months – mostly because the federal government now holds a record number of immigrants in detention facilities. That number will soon surpass 45,000 – a mid-sized city of immigrants locked in prison-like conditions. This week, over two hundred organizations, including the ACLU, wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson expressing alarm over record immigration detention rates.