News

San Francisco – The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) announced a settlement today with the Sonoma County Sheriff and County of Sonoma that will limit collaboration between Sonoma County and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)."Innovative changes to the Sheriff's policies adopted under this agreement will, we believe, increase public safety and reduce ineff... Read More

In a letter to sheriffs, the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) called on sheriffs across California to cease costly and harmful practices that target immigrant communities. The call accompanies a report highlighting personal stories, cost data and proposals to protect public safety while reducing the fiscal and human costs of local enforcement practices that target immigrants. Read More

The California Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that students who attend at least three years of high school in California and who graduate from a California high school are eligible for in-state tuition rates at California public colleges and universities, regardless of their immigration status. The Court found that federal law did not bar California from offering tuition equality to students.... Read More

Through an interim policy released to the ACLU of Northern California on August 11, 2010, the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") has weighed in on a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Northern California against the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department and the federal immigration agency concerning the County's participation in immigration enforcement. Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California will join thirty one other ACLU affiliates around the country today in asking the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to make public the details of a new FBI program created to collect and "map" information about racial and ethnic demographics, "behaviors," cultural traditions, and "life style characteristics" in local communities with co... Read More

In response to civil liberties threats caused by the recent passage of Arizona's racial profiling law, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC), along with the ACLU of Southern California and the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, issued a travel alert today informing California residents of their rights when stopped by law enforcement when traveling in Arizona. Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit on behalf of 10 U.S. citizens and lawful residents who are prohibited from flying to or from the United States or over U.S. airspace because they are on the government's "No Fly List." None of the individuals in the lawsuit, including a disabled U.S. Marine Corps veteran stranded in Egypt and a U.S. Army veteran stuck in Co... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in San Francisco issued an order Friday that an American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) lawsuit charging unlawful collaboration between the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to unlawfully target, arrest, and detain Latinos in Sonoma County can move forward. ... Read More

This morning, the San Francisco Superior Court dismissed a lawsuit challenging San Francisco's Municipal ID Ordinance, which establishes a program to ensure that members of the San Francisco community are not denied access to police protection and other essential City services because they lack government-issued identification. Read More

A bill requiring public employees who provide evacuees with disaster-related assistance to do so without asking for information or documents not strictly necessary to determine eligibility for the services, AB 2327 (Caballero), was signed into law by the governor yesterday. Civil rights organizations that had provided assistance to victims of last year's California wildfires applauded the bill. Read More

San Francisco – For the past three years, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department has collaborated with the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its officers to stop and search people who appear to be Latino, interrogate them about their immigration status based on their perceived race, and detain them in the County jail without lawful authority. The Sheriff’s Department and... Read More

ACLU of Northern California and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR) of the San Francisco Bay Area filed alawsuit on June 2, 2008, to compel U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to comply with a request for documents under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The FOIA request stems from concerns over alleged violations of law and due process during immi... Read More