News & Commentary

LOS ANGELES - A Sri Lankan Tamil torture victim was released late Monday night after spending more than four and a half years in a federal detention center despite being granted political asylum by an immigration judge and withholding of removal by a federal appeals court.

LOS ANGELES - The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ordered the immediate release of a Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seeker and torture victim who has been imprisoned by the government for nearly five years.

ORANGE, Calif. - In response to the silencing, arrest and beating of a local resident during a January city council meeting, the ACLU of Southern California and the Law Offices of B. Kwaku Duren filed a lawsuit against the city of Costa Mesa today.

The following statement can be attributed to Catherine Lhamon, Racial Justice Director for the ACLU of Southern California:

LOS ANGELES - La Mirada resident Rob Anders was set to visit his 89-year-old mother in Florida for a family reunion last month.

'The ACLU of Southern California is enormously dismayed that the Police Commission secretly changed its longstanding, and appropriate, policy of releasing names of police officers involved in shootings.

The first concern at the ACLU of Southern California is the safety of inmates and sheriff's deputies in the Los Angeles County jails. For years we have been monitoring the jails and lobbying for improved conditions in the seven facilities throughout the county. And, for years we have been advocating the County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Lee Baca and his department for increased staffing, better access to medical care for inmates, improved conditions for everyone inside the jail and an end to the overcrowding that plagues the jails.

LOS ANGELES - Newly obtained documents reveal that California state officials are concerned that federal legislation called the Real ID Act will require extensive changes to existing practices at the California Department of Motor Vehicles, and will carry heavy expenses that will have to be absorbed by California taxpayers and license applicants.

ORANGE, Calif. - Dozens of concerned community members filled a Santa Ana forum Thursday night in opposition to Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona's proposal to enter into an agreement with the federal government to enforce immigration laws.