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Immigrant Rights

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Immigrant Rights

The Constitution guarantees basic rights and freedoms to all people in America, not just U.S. citizens. Advocating fair treatment for non-citizens has been an important part of the ACLU’s work since its founding in 1920, when it opposed the summary arrest and deportation of Eastern European immigrants during the Palmer Raids.

Hirabayashi

Standing Up Against Injustice: We Honor the Courage of Gordon Hirabayashi

Summer Robinson, ACLU-WA Communications and Events Coordinator
Thursday, January 5th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Gordon Hirabayashi was a senior at University of Washington when bombs fell at Pearl Harbor. Like 112,000 of his fellow Japanese Americans, he would be placed under curfew, ordered into internment, and finally jailed for defying those orders. Forty years later, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated his conviction. On Monday, Hirabayashi died at the age of 93. We here at the ACLU of Washington honor his memory. Read More »
 
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Help stop racial profiling by the Border Patrol

The U.S. Border Patrol is supposed to secure our borders. But far from the border in Washington state, Border Patrol agents have been stopping individuals based on their appearance and accent — without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Tell your members of Congress to stop this illegal racial profiling. Read More »
 
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Civil Rights Organizations Urge Action on Concerns about Border Patrol Activities

Leaders of 21 civil rights, labor, and community-based organizations, including the ACLU, have written to members of our congressional delegation urging them to act on concerns about discriminatory actions by the U.S. Border Patrol in Western Washington. Read More »
 

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Deportations

Bill: HB 1547
Position: oppose
Status: Passed legislature, but Gov. Gregoire vetoed due process protections
Under this legislation, immigrants convicted of qualifying crimes will be turned over to immigration enforcement authorities early in order to save money on their incarceration costs.  The civil liberties concern was that many of those individuals – including some citizens and lawful permanent residents – would be pressuring into agreeing to deportation without fully understanding their right to contest it, or the possibility that they might avoid deportation altogether.  

With strong support from the caucus of color, strong due process protections were included in the bill that passed the legislature. Regrettably, Gov. Gregoire used a section veto to strip out those protections, so the final measure included no due process protections at all. Read More »

 
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Misdemeanor Sentences

Bill: SB 5168
Position: support
Status: Passed.
Under current federal immigration law, many immigrants who commit minor crimes are deported if their conviction carries a sentence of 365 days or more, even if the sentence is suspended. This results in deportations of longtime permanent residents with U.S. citizen families, a consequence far disproportionate to the underlying crime. The ACLU-WA, along with defense attorneys’ and immigrant rights organizations, gained passage of a bill that changes state sentencing law to mandate 364-day sentences in such misdemeanor cases. This follows up on successful advocacy with the Seattle City Attorney’s office to seek sentences of 364 days in these cases. Read More »
 
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Know Your Rights When Stopped by Police, Immigration or the FBI

We rely on the police to keep us safe and treat us all fairly, regardless of race, ethnicity,
national origin or religion. This guide provides tips for interacting with police and
understanding your rights. Note: some state laws may vary. Separate rules apply at
checkpoints and when entering the U.S. (including at airports). Read More »
 
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Immigration Reform Starts with Hope

Maly Oudommahavanh
Friday, February 18th, 2011 at 9:57 am
I am a proud, naturalized American citizen who believes firmly that immigration reform needs to begin from a positive starting point, not a negative one rooted in criminalization and stripping immigrants of basic civil rights. I arrived in California as a refugee when I was five years old and gained my citizenship as a teenager. This process was spurred on by my mother, who had heard rumors that the US would be deporting all non-citizen immigrants including those with legal status. My family couldn’t afford to all apply for citizenship at once so my mother and father, being the typical self-sacrificing immigrant parents, started my paperwork first, even with the false specter of deportation over their own heads. Read More »
 
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Restricting Rights of Immigrants

Bill: SB 5407
Position: oppose
Status: Senate rejected an effort to bring it to the floor for a vote.
The proposal would have changed Washington’s law to require proof of U.S. citizenship or legal presence in order to obtain a state-issued driver's license. The bill would have wrongly allowed discrimination against individuals based on their country of origin and status, rather than affirming their authority and ability to drive safely – which is the purpose of the driver’s license. It would have made our roads and highways less safe, as individuals who need to drive to get to jobs would likely continue to do so, but without passing government safety exams. Read More »
 
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A Broken System -- In More Ways than One

Rose Spidell
Friday, July 30th, 2010 at 8:45 am
This week the ACLU and Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a joint report on people with mental disabilities in the US immigration system. Highlighting another tragic failing of our nation’s system for dealing with immigration, the report found that “people with mental disabilities, including US citizens and others with claims to remain in the US, receive unfair hearings and are at risk of erroneous deportation in the absence of courtroom safeguards.”

Read more Read More »

 

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