Category: - American Civil Liberties Union

"The Fourth Amendment Doesn't Apply Here" — U.S. Border Guards Arrest Arizona Immigrant Rights Volunteer

5/9/2019

"The Fourth Amendment Doesn't Apply Here" — U.S. Border Guards Arrest Arizona Immigrant Rights Volunteer
The Intercept, Ryan Devereaux, May 9 2019, 1:32 p.m.

AN IMMIGRANT RIGHTS advocate on the U.S.-Mexico border was arrested and accused of “illegal alien smuggling” as she accompanied an asylum-seeker to a port of entry in southern Arizona. Ana Adlerstein, a volunteer at Casa del Migrantes, a migrant shelter in the Mexican town of Sonoyta, said U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials told her that “the Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply here” and “the border’s different,” as she was taken into custody Sunday.

Adlerstein was detained for more than four hours, and though she was not charged, she said CBP officials specifically told her that she was being placed under arrest, cited U.S. law prohibiting human smuggling, denied her access to an attorney, and informed her that investigators with the Department of Homeland Security would be following up with her as part of an “ongoing investigation.”

The arrest marks the latest in a series of aggressive actions the Trump administration’s frontline immigration enforcement agencies have taken against individuals and organizations working with migrants, which has included the arrest of nine humanitarian aid providers in Arizona, and sweeping surveillance, interrogation, and travel restrictions leveled against activists, journalists, and immigration attorneys in the San Diego-Tijuana area."

Activists, American Civil Liberties Union, Civil Liberties, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security, Fourth Amendment, Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mexican Border, Secondary Security Screening Selection, The Intercept, Trump Administration

Coalition Letter on Reauthorization of Patriot Act's Section 215

4/15/2019

Letter from ACLU and 40 other groups requesting that Congress review Section 215 of the Patriot Act

March 18, 2019

The Honorable Jerrold Nadler
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. House of Representatives
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Doug Collins
Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. House of Representatives
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Nadler and Ranking Member Collins:

The undersigned organizations, which are dedicated to preserving privacy, civil liberties, and advancing transparency and accountability, write to request that you hold hearings and make public information critical to permit an informed debate over the reauthorization of Section 215 and other provisions of the Patriot Act, which are set to expire December 15, 2019. . . .

Access Now, ADC American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Civil Liberties Union, American Library Association, Americans for Prosperity, Arab American Institute, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, Call Detail Records, Carpenter v. United States 138 S.Ct. 2206, Cell Phones, Center for Democracy & Technology, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Color Of Change, Committee on the Judiciary, Consumer Action, Council on American-Islamic Relations, CREDO Action, Committee on Oversight and Reform, Defending Rights & Dissent, Demand Progress, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Fight for the Future, First Amendment, FISA Amendments Act, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Free Press Action, FreedomWorks, Government Accountability Project, Government Information Watch, Government Transparency, Human Rights Watch, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Indivisible, Liberty Coalition, Million Hoodies Movement for Justice, Muslim Justice League, Muslim Public Affairs Council, NAACP, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Immigration Law Center, National Security, National Security Agency, New America's Open Technology Institute, Open the Government, Patriot Act, PEN America, Privacy, Project on Government Oversight, Restore The Fourth Inc., Section 215 of the Patriot Act, Section 702 of FISA Amendments Act, TechFreedom, Telephones, Transparency International, “Unique Identifiers", USA Freedom Act, US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

Two HPD officers indicted after allegedly making a homeless man lick a toilet: HPD officers John Rabago and Reginald Ramones were said to deprive an individual of his constitutional right to be free from an unreasonable seizure by a law . . .

4/5/2019

KITV4 Friday, April 5th 2019, 5:25 PM HST
Nicole Tam

HONOLULU - Two Honolulu Police officers were arrested and charged Friday for allegedly violating a man's civil rights. They're accused of forcing a homeless man to lick a urinal last year.

Myles Breiner is the attorney that represents Sam Ingall.

"As you often hear, people have said justice delayed is justice denied. This happened over a year ago," Breiner said.

Breiner says the incident happened last January in a private apartment building on Keeaumoku Street and a security guard on duty let his client in. Police got involved because Ingall was wanted for violating probation regarding a separate drug case.

"This really is unfortunate for so many police officers who put themselves at risk every single day to have two officers abuse their authority and create disrespect in the community for the police in general," Breiner said.

The Hawaii American Civil Liberties Union calls this a step in the right direction.

"These are just allegations. These officers are innocent until proven guilty but we're glad that action is being taken to defend the civil rights of the person who is violated," Josh Wisch, ACLU Hawaii executive director, said. "That's one of the things that's a real takeaway here is there's been this dehumanizing of the people who are house less across this state."

18 U.S. Code § 242 Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law, American Civil Liberties Union, Hawaii, Homeless People, Honolulu, Justice Department, United States Criminal Code

The Government Had to Approve This Op-Ed: Prepublication review of the writings of current and former federal employees violates their First Amendment rights.

4/2/2019

The New York Times April 2, 2019
By Mark Fallon
Mr. Fallon worked for the federal government for 31 years.

Between the time I wrote these words and the time that you are reading them, a team of government censors decided how much of what I wrote you would get to see. Fortunately, it was cleared without redactions. But I haven’t always been so fortunate.

There are millions of others like me who face this scrutiny as present and former employees of the armed services and a dozen other government agencies, from the C.I.A. and F.B.I. to the State and Energy Departments. We have faithfully carried out our duties and upheld our oaths of allegiance to the Constitution. Many of us earned the highest trust of our country, serving in roles that brought us in contact with government secrets and classified material. We have honored and repaid that trust, guarding sensitive information and fulfilling the obligations associated with our security clearances. . . .

9/11 Terrorist Attacks, American Civil Liberties Union, Censorship, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Federal, Federal Employees, First Amendment, Government, Government Transparency, Knight First Amendment Institute, Lawsuits, Prisoners, State Department, Torture

Alarm over leaked US database targeting journalists and immigration activists: Secret database listed 59 advocates and journalists tied to the migrant caravan, according to leaked documents

3/20/2019

The Guardian Wed 20 Mar 2019 03.00 EDT
Amanda Holpuch and Lauren Aratani

Photojournalist Ariana Drehsler was stopped for a secondary screening three separate times in one week while crossing the US-Mexico border to cover the migrant caravan in Tijuana this winter – unaware that the journey she had taken countless times before was suddenly more complicated because her name was logged in a secret government database.

That database, part of something called Operation Secure Line, listed 59 advocates and journalists tied to the migrant caravan, according to leaked documents obtained by local news station NBC 7. . . .

Activists, American Civil Liberties Union, Congressional Inquiry, Customs and Border Protection, First Amendment, Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Immigration, "Instigators", Journalists, Lawyers, Mexican Border, Migrant Workers, Operation Secure Line, Organizers, Secondary Security Screening Selection, Watchlisting

ACLU Statement on Report of Government Tracking Journalists and Immigration Advocates at Border

3/6/2019

ACLU MARCH 6, 2019

NEW YORK — The U.S. government is reportedly targeting journalists, activists, and lawyers reporting on, aiding, or representing migrants at the southern border by sending them to secondary screening, monitoring their social media accounts, or creating dossiers on them. . . .

Activists, American Civil Liberties Union, Customs and Border Protection, Immigration, Journalists, Lawyers, Mexican Border, Privacy, Secondary Security Screening Selection, Surveillance, Watchlisting

Report: Government Kept Database On Journalists, ‘Instigators’A San Diego TV station accessed leaked documents, revealing the operation.

3/6/2019

HUFFINGTON POST 03/06/2019 11:14 pm ET

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The U.S. government ran an operation to screen journalists, activists and others while investigating last year’s migrant caravan from Mexico, a San Diego TV station reported Wednesday, citing leaked documents.

Dossiers that included photos from their passports or social media accounts, date of birth and other details were kept in a database and some freelance journalists had alerts placed on their passports and were flagged for secondary screenings at customs points, the station KNSD-TV said. . . .

Activists, American Civil Liberties Union, Civil Rights, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security, First Amendment, "Instigators", Journalists, Lawyers, Mexican Border, Operation Secure Line, Organizers, Secondary Security Screening Selection, Surveillance, Watchlisting

Federal appeals court revives mosque surveillance claim

3/1/2019

Jurist MARCH 1, 2019 04:21:01 PM
Thomas DeLorenzo

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unanimously ruled Thursday that a federal district court improperly limited the scope of a lawsuit alleging that the FBI had illegally targeted mosques and Islamic individuals for surveillance on a basis of religion.

The suit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California on behalf of an Imam and two Muslim parishioners, charged that the FBI had illegally and unconstitutionally conducted espionage of their mosque based solely on their religion, violating due process and First Amendment protections. The FBI countered that their activities were protected by state secret privileges and that to defend against the allegations in court would threaten national security by exposing the FBI’s anti-terrorism activities to public scrutiny. The district judge agreed with the FBI’s defense and dismissed the majority of the claims in 2012. . . .

American Civil Liberties Union, Civil Rights, Federal Bureau of Investigation, First Amendment, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Law Enforcement, Muslims, National Security, State Secret Privileges, Surveillance, Terrorism

Spies in the Skies: See Maps Showing Where FBI Planes Are Watching From Above

4/6/2016

BuzzFeed News April 6, 2016, at 2:46 p.m. ET
Peter Aldhous, Charles Seife

Each weekday, dozens of U.S. government aircraft take to the skies and slowly circle over American cities. Piloted by agents of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the planes are fitted with high-resolution video cameras, often working with “augmented reality” software that can superimpose onto the video images everything from street and business names to the owners of individual homes. At least a few planes have carried devices that can track the cell phones of people below. Most of the aircraft are small, flying a mile or so above ground, and many use exhaust mufflers to mute their engines — making them hard to detect by the people they’re spying on.

The government’s airborne surveillance has received little public scrutiny — until now. BuzzFeed News has assembled an unprecedented picture of the operation’s scale and sweep by analyzing aircraft location data collected by the flight-tracking website Flightradar24 from mid-August to the end of December last year, iden, tifying about 200 federal aircraft. Day after day, dozens of these planes circled above cities across the nation. . . .

American Civil Liberties Union, Augmented Reality, Border Security, Cell-Site Simulators, Cell Phones, Department of Homeland Security, Drug Smuggling, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Flightradar24, Human Trafficking, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Law Enforcement, Muslims, Planes, Privacy, Stingrays, Surveillance, Warrants, Video Cameras

L.A. to Use Laser Heat Ray Gun on Prisoners

8/27/2010

CBS News AUGUST 27, 2010 / 11:24

Due to CBS News copyright restrictions we are unable to quote the material but it tells of planned use of a non-lethal laser weapons on prisoners in Los Angeles County.

American Civil Liberties Union, Assault Intervention Device, California, Department of Justice, Directed Energy Weapons, Electromagnetic Weapons, Infrared Cameras, Joysticks, Laser Heat Ray Guns, Lasers, Los Angeles County, Non-Lethal Weapons, Prisoners, Raytheon Missile Systems, Sheriff, Torture

IN THE NEWS

"The Fourth Amendment Doesn't Apply Here" — U.S. Border Guards Arrest Arizona Immigrant Rights Volunteer

Coalition Letter on Reauthorization of Patriot Act's Section 215

Two HPD officers indicted after allegedly making a homeless man lick a toilet: HPD officers John Rabago and Reginald Ramones were said to deprive an individual of his constitutional right to be free from an unreasonable seizure by a law . . .

The Government Had to Approve This Op-Ed: Prepublication review of the writings of current and former federal employees violates their First Amendment rights.

Alarm over leaked US database targeting journalists and immigration activists: Secret database listed 59 advocates and journalists tied to the migrant caravan, according to leaked documents

ACLU Statement on Report of Government Tracking Journalists and Immigration Advocates at Border

Report: Government Kept Database On Journalists, ‘Instigators’A San Diego TV station accessed leaked documents, revealing the operation.

Federal appeals court revives mosque surveillance claim

Spies in the Skies: See Maps Showing Where FBI Planes Are Watching From Above

L.A. to Use Laser Heat Ray Gun on Prisoners

NEWS and publications

Archives

Categories

Disclaimer: Targeted America is not a law firm. The information contained in this website is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any matter.

This website is best viewed on a computer or laptop.