ACLU Of Texas Sues ICE Officials, Williamson County And CCA For Sexual Assault Of Immigrant Women

Suit Seeks Class Damages On Behalf Of Numerous Victims AUSTIN -- The ACLU of Texas today filed suit in federal district court seeking class action damages on behalf of three immigrant women who were sexually assaulted while in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center in Taylor, along with numerous others who experienced similar trauma. Defendants named in the suit include three ICE officials; Williamson County; Corrections Corp...

When Marriage Equality & Immigration Policy Intersect

Editors' Note: Guest blogger Ruben Gonzales is the Deputy Vice President of Resource Development for the National Council of La Raza. I asked my fiancé to marry me on an Alaskan cruise with my family, at sunset on one of the ship's decks. We had already been together for seven years, but we had resolved not to get married until we could marry legally. It was a long time coming and something that, when we started dating twelve years ago, we thought might never happen. In two weeks, Jo...

LA Times: Border agency’s rapid growth accompanied by rise in corruption

  Since October 2004, 132 U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees have been indicted or convicted on corruption-related charges. Rapid expansion and lack of funds for background checks are blamed. When Luis Alarid was a child, his mother would seat him in the car while she smuggled people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. She was the sweet-talking commuter, he was her cute boy, and the mother-son ploy regularly kept customs inspectors from peeking inside the trunk. ...

Cain Proposes Electric Fence To Kill Immigrants – Includes MSNBC Update

by Jessica P. Dear Republican Presidential candidates. Herman Cain will see your border fence and raise you one. On a campaign tour through Tennessee, Cain elaborated on what will be a central portion of his immigration policy: a big electric fence. Cain’s fence, he announced on Saturday, would be electrified and run the entire course of the US-Mexican border with voltage high enough to kill anyone trying to enter illegally. Cain’s ideal fence would be 20 feet high with barbed ...

CNN: Court blocks part of Alabama immigration enforcement law

A federal appeals court has blocked enforcement of parts of a controversial immigration enforcement law in Alabama. The injunction issued Friday from the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta came after the U.S. Justice Department – supported by a coalition of immigrant rights groups – requested that the legislation known as HB 56 be put on hold until the larger constitutional questions can be addressed, a process that could take months, at least. The Obama administration says th...

New law bars police from impounding vehicles seized during checkpoints

Police will no longer be allowed to impound for 30 days the vehicles of unlicensed drivers caught during checkpoints under a bill signed Sunday by Gov. Jerry Brown. When the new law takes effect in January, it will end a policy dreaded by illegal immigrants. Many illegal immigrants drive without licenses because they are not legally allowed to apply for licenses in California. However, the new law will apply only to vehicles seized during checkpoints. The legislation, Assembly Bill 353,...