老澳门开奖结果 and Civil Rights Coalition Ask Court to Block Alabama鈥檚 Anti-Immigrant Law
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
MONTGOMERY, Ala. 鈥� The 老澳门开奖结果 and a coalition of other civil rights groups filed a motion today asking a federal judge to block Alabama鈥檚 anti-immigrant law from taking effect Sept. 1.
The motion for preliminary injunction, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, follows a federal lawsuit the groups filed earlier this month that charged the law is unconstitutional on multiple grounds. Alabama鈥檚 law, which affects myriad aspects of daily life for countless Alabamians, is even more restrictive than Arizona鈥檚 infamous SB 1070, which has been blocked by the courts.
鈥淲e have already stopped even less oppressive laws in Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia,鈥� said Andre Segura, staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果 Immigrants鈥� Rights Project. 鈥淣ot only is Alabama鈥檚 law blatantly unconstitutional, it flies in the face of American values by authorizing racial profiling, deterring children from going to school, and criminalizing those who lend a hand to individuals deemed by the state of Alabama to be 鈥榠llegal.鈥欌��
The Alabama law was signed into law in June by Gov. Robert Bentley and is the harshest of the Arizona copycat state laws.
鈥淭his law is not only anti-immigrant, it is anti-American,鈥� said Olivia Turner, executive director of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Alabama. 鈥淚t will criminalize Alabamians for everyday interactions with people who are here without documents, such as driving someone to the grocery store or to church, and law enforcement officers will be required to violate the constitutional rights of citizens and non-citizens alike.鈥�
The lawsuit charges that HB 56:
鈥� Chills children鈥檚 access to public schools by requiring school officials to verify the immigration status of children and their parents.
鈥� Authorizes police to demand 鈥減apers鈥� demonstrating citizenship or immigration status during traffic stops; and criminalizes Alabamians for ordinary interactions with undocumented individuals.
鈥� Unconstitutionally interferes with federal authority over immigration matters 鈥� a violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. It also subjects Alabamians 鈥� including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents 鈥� to unlawful search and seizure, a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
Alabama is one of six states that have enacted a law emulating Arizona鈥檚 controversial SB 1070. Federal courts have been unanimous in blocking similar provisions in Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia. The coalition has also vowed to challenge South Carolina鈥檚 anti-immigrant law.
鈥淭his law flies in the face of the core rights and liberties our Constitution was designed to preserve,鈥� said Linton Joaquin, general counsel of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC). 鈥淎labamians, like all Americans, deserve better than to saddle local teachers, law enforcement officers, and business people with the additional responsibility of asking children, customers, and community members for their 鈥榩apers.鈥� We are hopeful that the court will block this discriminatory and unconstitutional law before it takes effect and causes irreparable harms for countless Alabamians.鈥�
Sin Yen Ling, senior staff attorney with the Asian Law Caucus, said: 鈥淗B 56 seeks to drive all immigrants out of Alabama. The courts need to send a strong message that it is not permissible under the law.鈥�
Mary Bauer, legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), said: 鈥淭his law so undermines our core American values of fairness and equality that it is essential this be weighed before the law is allowed to go into affect,鈥� said 鈥淲hen the Speaker of the House, who championed this law and guided it to passage, is acknowledging it has problems, it is clear we have a serious issue.鈥�
Erin Oshiro, senior staff attorney at the Asian American Justice Center, a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, said: 鈥淏y creating this law, which impacts not just undocumented immigrants but citizens and legal immigrants who might look 鈥渇oreign鈥� or speak with an accent, Alabama makes all communities less safe. It's sad that Alabama, the site of many historic civil rights struggles for equality and justice, would enact a law that encourages racial and ethnic profiling. This unconstitutional measure will impact more than 46,000 Asian American immigrants, likely damage Alabama's reputation and economy and do nothing to fix our broken immigration system. We urge Congress to do its job and fix our immigration laws.鈥�
Juan Cartagena of LatinoJustice PRLDEF said: 鈥淎labama has declared war on immigrants, primarily Latino immigrants. Every Latino in Alabama, regardless of status, is at risk. By this motion, we hope to save this State from descending into a racial abyss. We are confident that the courts and people of Alabama will stand with us and stop HB 56 from going into effect.鈥�
Attorneys on the case include Cecillia D. Wang, Katherine Desormeau, Kenneth J. Sugarman, Andre Segura, Elora Mukherjee, Omar C. Jadwat, Lee Gelernt, Michael K. T. Tan of the 老澳门开奖结果 and Freddy Rubio of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Alabama; Mary Bauer, Sam Brooke, Andrew Turner, Michelle Lapointe, Dan Werner, and Naomi Tsu of the Southern Poverty Law Center; Joaquin, Karen C. Tumlin, Tanya Broder, Shiu-Ming Cheer, Melissa S. Keaney, and Vivek Mittal of the National Immigration Law Center; Sin Yen Ling of the Asian Law Caucus; Erin E. Oshiro of the Asian American Justice Center; Foster Maer, Ghita Schwarz and Diana Sen of Latino Justice; G. Brian Spears, Ben Bruner, Herman Watson, Jr., Eric J. Artrip and Rebekah Keith McKinney.
The preliminary injunction can be found at:
Smart Justice
Immigrants' Rights
Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama v. Bentley
Smart Justice
Immigrants' Rights
Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama v. Bentley
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NEW YORK 鈥� New documents obtained by the 老澳门开奖结果 reveal that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is actively considering proposals to expand its immigration detention capacity in at least six states across the country, including in California, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington state. The records, obtained as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the 老澳门开奖结果 in September 2024, disclose that private prison corporations, as well as other corporate entities that provide services to build temporary facilities, monitor compliance, and staff facilities submitted proposals for expanded immigration detention in response to ICE鈥檚 contract requests. The discovery comes just weeks after the 老澳门开奖结果 received its first tranche of FOIA documents revealing that ICE is considering expanding detention in three different facilities in New Jersey. 鈥淵ou cannot have mass deportations without a significant expansion of ICE detention capacity in states across the country and that鈥檚 exactly what the incoming Trump administration is preparing to do,鈥� said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 National Prison Project. 鈥淩ather than permanently shutting down abusive detention facilities, the Biden administration is paving the way for President-elect Donald Trump to make good on his cruel and inhumane mass deportation proposals.鈥� The FOIA documents reveal that GEO Group, Inc., CoreCivic, and the Management & Training Corporation (MTC) submitted contract proposals to Requests for Information (RFI) to expand detention capacity and facilities, several of which have a lengthy history of abusive conditions. The proposals for expanded immigration detention facilities include: Midwest Regional Reception Center in Leavenworth, KS 鈥� formerly known as Leavenworth Detention Center 鈥� which has a track record of abusive conditions, which led the federal government to end its contract with the facility in 2021. South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, TX 鈥� a facility where children as young as 19 months have died as a result poor medical care. Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump, NV 鈥� which has been subject to a federal invesitgation for medical negligence, racial discrimination, and verbal abuse of detained people. Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, NM 鈥� which has been the site of numerous deaths in recent years, with incidents of neglect, abuse, and lack of medical care. Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia, NM 鈥� which Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 Office of Inspector General cited in 2022 due to poor conditions. California City Correctional Center in California City, CA 鈥� which was previously used as a California Department of Corrections prison until March 2024. ICE also withheld a number of documents in its FOIA disclosure, obscuring the names of the specific facilities. However, the documents produced indicate that the following detention facilities are likely under consideration by ICE: Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, NM (Proposal by GEO Group, Inc. for the El Paso Field Office) Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, WA (Proposal by GEO Group, Inc. for the Seattle Field Office) Golden State Annex in McFarland, CA (Proposal by GEO Group, Inc. for the San Francisco Field Office) Mesa Verde Detention Center in Bakersfield, CA (Proposal by GEO Group, Inc. for the San Francisco Field Office) MTC facility in South Texas, which may include the Willacy County Jail in Raymondville, TX (Proposal by MTC for the Harlingen Field Office) GEO Group, Inc. facility in IL, IN, WI, MI, KT, or KS (Proposal by GEO Group, Inc. for Chicago Field Office) GEO Group, Inc. facility in South Texas, which may include the Brooks County Detention Center, Falfurrias, TX; Coastal Bend Detention Center, Robstown, TX; or the East Hidalgo Detention Center in LaVilla, TX (Proposal by GEO Group, Inc. For the Harlingen Field Office) Other corporate entities, including Kastel Enterprises, LLC., and Active Deployment Systems, which provide services to build temporary facilities, and Sabot Consulting, which provides compliance monitoring and detention staffing services, also submitted responses to ICE鈥檚 request. As the 老澳门开奖结果 has previously documented, the federal government鈥檚 immigration detention system overwhelmingly relies on private prison corporations. Private prison corporations, like the GEO Group, CoreCivic, LaSalle Corrections, and the Management & Training Corporation have pocketed billions from ICE detention contracts over the past two decades. The FOIA records are available here: /documents/multi-state-detention-facility-support-foia-documents-request-for-information -
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. 鈥� This week, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that the court does not have jurisdiction to decide whether the government can continue to detain Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian national who was brought to the United States against his will for prosecution and was cleared of all charges last year. The ruling means the United States will be able to continue to detain Mr. Trabelsi while it attempts to deport him to Tunisia, where he was born and where, as an immigration judge ruled earlier this year, he will likely face torture. The court also concluded that even if it did have jurisdiction over Mr. Trabelsi鈥檚 case, his claims challenging the government鈥檚 detention of him would fail. 鈥淩eviewing claims that the government is holding someone unlawfully is at the core of the judicial function, and we鈥檙e heartbroken for our client that the court got this so wrong,鈥� said Brett Max Kaufman, senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Center for Democracy. 鈥淭he government鈥檚 arguments in defense of Mr. Trabelsi鈥檚 detention makes a hash of the Constitution, immigration laws, and its own extradition treaty.鈥� In 2013, the United States forcibly extradited Mr. Trabelsi from Belgium to face criminal charges in the United States. In July 2023, after almost 10 years of highly restrictive pretrial detention, a federal jury cleared Mr. Trabelsi of all charges. But instead of releasing Mr. Trabelsi or returning him to Belgium, the U.S. transferred him to immigration detention, wrongly treating him as an applicant for admission and placing him in the deportation process. Over the years, the Belgian government has issued multiple formal diplomatic requests asking the U.S. to facilitate his return, but the U.S. has refused to send him back. Mr. Trabelsi filed a lawsuit challenging the government's authority to detain him. He also sought immediate improvements to his detention conditions. Those claims were not part of the court鈥檚 ruling today, and will continue to be litigated on a separate track. 鈥淢r. Trabelsi only wants to return to Belgium after being illegally extradited to the United States, held for ten years, and then acquitted by a jury of any crimes,鈥� said Nicole Hallett, clinical professor of law and director of the Immigrants鈥� Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. 鈥淗e cannot be held indefinitely and we will continue to fight to make sure that justice ultimately prevails.鈥� Mr. Trabelsi is represented by the 老澳门开奖结果, the University of Chicago Law School鈥檚 Immigrants鈥� Rights Clinic, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Virginia, and Professor Jonathan Hafetz of Seton Hall Law School. The complaint in Trabelsi v. Crawford was filed against Jeffrey Crawford, warden of the Farmville Detention Center where Mr. Trabelsi is being held; Liana Castano, ICE field office director for the Washington Field Office; Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; and Merrick Garland, U.S. attorney general. -
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NEW YORK 鈥� New documents obtained by the 老澳门开奖结果 reveal that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is actively considering proposals to expand its immigration detention capacity across the state of New Jersey. The records, obtained as a result of a FOIA lawsuit filed by the 老澳门开奖结果 in September 2024, disclose that ICE capacity could increase by approximately 600 beds in at least two facilities in New Jersey. The discovery comes as President-elect Donald Trump continues to double down on his campaign promise to implement the largest mass deportation and detention program in the nation鈥檚 history. For months, the 老澳门开奖结果 of New Jersey and advocates have raised concerns with the Biden administration鈥檚 plans to expand detention in New Jersey, as well as in potentially sixteen other states identified by ICE. 鈥淚nstead of closing abusive detention facilities once and for all, the Biden administration is simply paving the way for the incoming Trump administration to conduct mass detention and deportation of immigrant communities nationwide,鈥� said Eunice Cho, Senior Staff Attorney at the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 National Prison Project. 鈥淭he Biden administration must instead work to close these facilities now.鈥� These facilities under consideration include the Elizabeth Detention Center, located in Elizabeth, New Jersey and owned and operated by CoreCivic, Inc., and the Albert M. 鈥淏o鈥� Robinson Center (ARC) in Trenton, New Jersey, which was formerly owned by the GEO Group, Inc. Both facilities have significant records of poor conditions. Investigations of conditions at ARC exposed abusive conditions including 鈥渞obbery, sexual assault, [and] menacing of the weak.鈥� Meanwhile, the Elizabeth Detention Center has also come under fire for consistent medical neglect, cramped and unsanitary living quarters, and abusive treatment from guards. The 老澳门开奖结果 obtained these documents as a result of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation, which sought in part records responsive to a contract solicitation for additional ICE detention space in the Newark, New Jersey area. The solicitation, originally issued on June 26, 2024, sought 鈥渃omprehensive detention services for adult male and female noncitizens鈥� to 鈥減rovide for general population, intake, segregated housing, and medical beds at a contractor-owned/contractor-operated detention facility or facilities.鈥� The documents provided by ICE provide a limited glimpse of the detention proposals, as the production appears to include only the environmental impact statement portions of the proposals submitted by CoreCivic, Inc. and GEO Group, Inc. to ICE. It is unclear from the documents whether there are additional New Jersey facilities that responded to ICE鈥檚 solicitation, or how much it would cost taxpayers. For example, the GEO Group, Inc. claimed in litigation earlier this year that it has readied the Delaney Hall Facility, located in Newark, New Jersey, to conform with ICE operating requirements. 鈥淣ew Jersey has already taken steps to oppose immigrant detention by phasing out ICE contracts and closing county-run ICE jails. But as federal plans to expand detention in New Jersey continue, the need for protections grows by the day. That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 imperative that the Biden administration immediately halt any efforts to expand this abusive detention machine,鈥� said 老澳门开奖结果-NJ campaign strategist Ami Kachalia. 鈥淲e also urge the New Jersey Legislature to quickly pass the Immigrant Trust Act so that New Jersey is not complicit in separating families or depriving our residents of due process.鈥� State officials and members of New Jersey鈥檚 congressional delegation have opposed the expansion of ICE detention in the state. Earlier this year, eight Representatives and Senator Cory Booker raised concern regarding the development of additional private ICE detention facilities in the state. Prior to that, the New Jersey state legislature passed AB 5207 in 2021, which prohibited state and local entities and private detention facilities from entering, renewing, or expanding immigration detention contracts. Both CoreCivic, Inc., and GEO Group, Inc. filed suit to stop enforcement of the law, which has been enjoined pending appeal. The 老澳门开奖结果 of New Jersey filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of 28 community organizations in support of New Jersey's anti-detention law. The FOIA records are available here: /documents/foia-documents-re-nj-ice-detention-rfi