Walk with PRIDE! …in solidarity with the Capital PRIDE Parade

JOIN US SATURDAY, JUNE 9TH @ 4:30pm!

ACLU members are proud of our history in working to make real the pledge of "Liberty and Justice for All."

Walk with us June 9th and help make American history again!

The ACLU was founded in1920 when immigrants, socialists and labor leaders were being targeted, harassed, detained and deported—not because most of the ACLU were immigrants (we weren't), but because we were Americans who recognized injustice and cared about protecting our neighbors.

Because you too recognize injustice, please join the ACLU in showing support for our gay neighbors and Walk with Pride during the Capital Gay Pride Parade on Saturday, June 9th, starting at 4:30pm. We will rendezvous at the old ACLU-NCA offices outside 1400 20th Street, NW, off Dupont Circle metro.

Sign up at (202) 457-0800, email Beverly@aclu-nca.org, donate online at www.aclu-nca.org.

Police Secrecy Surrounding High-Tech Data Sources -- Focus of ACLU Testimony

Police are tracking people through their cell phones and capturing data on the travels of tens of thousands of car license tags, yet the public can't learn anything about these high-tech surveillances, according to ACLU testimony. These developments were detailed in the ACLU statement to the D.C. Council Committee on the Judiciary oversight hearing on the Washington Metropolitan Police Department held February 29.

ACLU Cites First Amendment in Letter to D.C. Jail on Book Censorship

"A jail full of prisoners quietly reading," said ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Fritz Mulhauser, "is exactly what every warden should want.  But apparently not in the District."

Based on complaints to the ACLU of the Nation's Capital from numerous inmates, the ACLU on January 19, 2012, asked Thomas Faust, Acting Director of the D.C. Department of Corrections, to investigate arbitrary and inconsistent censorship of ordinary books inmates tried to buy from Amazon during 2011.

Mayor, D.C. Council Take Bold Steps To Secure D.C.'s Immigrant Community

Described as a Hero by those he has helped, Jai Shankar, father of a ten year old, has lived in America for 20 years. His son is a citizen. He is not. When his friend’s camera was stolen, Jai called the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. Instead of seeking out the thief, the Police questioned Jai, determined he was out of status and held him for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). After more than five months of incarceration and two years of wearing an ankle bracelet, a cloud of deportation remains over his head. Last year, America set a new record for deportations, sending 400,000 to uncertain fates; breaking up families; separating children from their parents; making those exposed reluctant to cooperate with the police, even when facing domestic violence at home.

The Department of Homeland Security recently changed course for its failed Secure Communities Program.  After rejections by state and local governments, the Department has unilaterally abandoned its so-called “voluntary” program and declared it a “mandatory” program.  Those powers ordinarily reserved to the states are apparently being taken by the federal government.  When the “voluntary” program was launched, Washington, D.C. was the first in the nation to reject it. Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and others followed.  Under the new “mandatory” program, immigrants, like Jai, who have committed no crime or have committed a minor offense can be held for ICE, without ever having been convicted of anything.

The affects of the mandatory Secure Communities Program was the subject of a Forum held recently at the UDC-David A. Clarke School of Law and co-hosted by the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital. View pictures and learn more »

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