April, 25 2012, 12:18pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Vesna Jaksic (212) 284-7347 or 549-2666; media@aclu.org
Sandhya Bathija (202) 675-2312; media@dcaclu.org
ACLU Attorneys React to Argument at Supreme Court on Arizona's Anti-Immigrant Law
Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project who attended this morning's arguments at the Supreme Court stressed the need to stop SB 1070-type laws because they encourage racial profiling, harm public safety and lead to civil rights abuses.
WASHINGTON
Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project who attended this morning's arguments at the Supreme Court stressed the need to stop SB 1070-type laws because they encourage racial profiling, harm public safety and lead to civil rights abuses.
"The justices heard compelling arguments for why they should strike down a law that lays waste to some of our most cherished American values - freedom from unnecessary police intrusion and equality for all people, regardless of how they look or sound," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU. "Misguided laws like this one that encourage racial profiling, compromise the safety of our communities and put everyone's fundamental civil rights at great risk should not be allowed to remain on the books."
Cecillia Wang, director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, said: "The Supreme Court heard strong arguments today for rejecting Arizona's radical attempt to turn local police into immigration agents. SB 1070 flies in the face of Congress's decision to put immigration enforcement in federal hands. These state anti-immigrant laws take aim at immigrants, but result in racial profiling and illegal police intrusions. Our nation must stand up against such flawed policies."
En Espanol:
Andre Segura, abogado del Proyecto de los Derechos de los Inmigrantes de la Union Americana de Libertades Civiles, dijo: "Hoy el Tribunal Supremo escucho argumentos en contra de la SB 1070-una ley que busca castigar a los inmigrantes en la forma que le conviene al estado de Arizona. Esta ley anti-americana obliga a los oficiales a usar perfiles raciales para determinar si alguien es indocumentado. Estos procedimientos inevitablemente alienan a las comunidades servidas por los oficiales, y consecuentemente afectan la seguridad publica. Desafortunadamente, nuestra nacion ya fue testigo de la crisis humanitaria y de derechos civiles resultantes de la puesta en vigor de ciertas disposiciones de la ley de Alabama. El Tribunal Supremo debe terminar con este experimento fallido."
The ACLU, along with its affiliates and coalition partners, has filed lawsuits against SB 1070 as well as all the other states that have passed copycat laws - Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah.
To read Frequently Asked Questions about the Arizona case, go to: www.aclu.org/files/assets/sb1070factsheet.pdf
To access the online pressroom on SB 1070, go to: www.aclu.org/pressroom/sb1070
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
(212) 549-2666LATEST NEWS
Amid Spying Fight, House Passes Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act
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While applauding the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan passage of a bill to ensure that "law enforcement and intelligence agencies can't do an end-run around the Constitution by buying information from data brokers" on Wednesday, privacy advocates highlighted that Congress is trying to extend and expand a long-abused government spying program.
The House voted 219-199 for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which won support from 96 Democrats and 123 Republicans, including the lead sponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Named for the constitutional amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, H.R. 4639 would close what campaigners call the data broker loophole.
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Wednesday's vote followed the House sending the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act to the Senate. H.R. 7888 would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for warrantless spying on noncitizens abroad but also sweeps up Americans' data.
The House notably included an amendment forcing a wide range of individuals and businesses to cooperate with government spying operations but rejected an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to the bill, which the Senate could vote on as soon as Thursday.
Noting those decisions on the FISA reauthorization legislation, Ruddock stressed that "today's vote is a victory but follows a recent loss and ongoing threat as that Section 702 bill moves to the Senate this week too."
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Jeramie Scott, senior counsel and director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Project on Surveillance Oversight, also praised the House's FANFSA passage on Wednesday.
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Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU, similarly said Wednesday that "the bipartisan passage of this bill is a flashing warning sign to the government that if it wants our data, it must get a warrant."
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Leaked cables obtained by The Intercept show U.S. pressure on Security Council members including Malta—which currently presides over the body—and Ecuador.
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As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Daniel Boguslaw noted:
Since 2011, the U.N. Security Council has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request for full member status. On April 2, the Palestinian Observer Mission to the U.N. requested that the council once again take up consideration of its membership application. According to the first State Department cable, U.N. meetings since the beginning of April suggest that Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russia, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, and Malta support granting Palestine full membership to the U.N. It also says that France, Japan, and Korea are undecided, while the United Kingdom will likely abstain from a vote.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who has also claimed to support a so-called "two-state solution"—has alternately boasted about thwarting Palestinian statehood.
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