(2019-07-17). 'We're doing this for Sandra Bland'. workers.org 
People's Power Assemblies NYC organized its fifth annual rally and march in Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 13 to demand justice for Sandra Bland. The 28-year-old African-American woman was found hanging in a Waller County, Texas, jail cell on the same date in 2015. Bland had been abused and then . . . | Continue reading 'We're doing this for Sandra Bland' at Workers.org
(2019-07-17). Japanese Americans and allies protest the unjust detention of children at Fort Sill. indybay.org Fort Sill | 2999 N.W. Sheridan Road | Lawton, Oklahoma…
(2019-07-16). 2020 Hopeful Julián Castro Vows to Break Up ICE & Calls Trump's New Asylum Rule Unconstitutional. democracynow.org 
As Trump faced national rebuke for his racist comments against four progressive congresswomen, his administration announced a new rule essentially banning most immigrants from seeking refuge in the United States. The rule, which the ACLU has already vowed to challenge in court, would deny asylum to any migrant who failed to apply for protection in another country they passed through on the way to the U.S. border—including children traveling alone. If enacted, the law would effectively block people from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, as well as Haitians, Cubans and many people from African countries, who…
(2019-07-16). Migrants Are Fleeing Something Worse. progressive.org Clearly, if the appalling conditions in detention centers are an improvement from what they are fleeing, these migrants have a sufficient basis for seeking asylum in the United States.
(2019-07-16). 'Somewhere People Just Accepted What's Going On as Normal'. truthdig.com 
The Border Patrol agent, a veteran with 13 years on the job, had been assigned to the agency's detention center in McAllen, Texas, for close to a month when the team of court-appointed lawyers and doctors showed up one day at the end of June. | Taking in the squalor, the stench of unwashed bodies, and the poor health and vacant eyes of the hundreds of children held there, the group members appeared stunned. | Then, their outrage rolled through the facility like a thunderstorm. One lawyer emerged from a conference room clutching her cellphone to her ear, her voice trembling with urgency and frustration. "There's a…
(2019-07-16). Headlines for July 16, 2019. democracynow.org Trump Announces Radical Plan to Bar Almost All Migrants from Seeking Asylum at U.S. Border, Squad Rejects Trump's Racist Attacks & Calls for Impeachment as House Plans Resolution to Condemn, Protesters Call for Exit of Puerto Rican Gov. Rosselló After Leaked Text Messages, El Salvador Rape Survivor Being Retried for Homicide for Having Stillbirth, U.N. Report Accuses Venezuela's Special Forces of 1000s of Extrajudicial Killings, Workers and Activists Protest Amazon, Calling for an End to Labor Abuses, Collaboration with ICE, Washington Activist Protesting Immigrant Detention Shot Dead, Historian and Civil Rights…
(2019-07-16). Julián Castro: Trump's Asylum Ban Is Unconstitutional. truthout.org As Trump faced national rebuke for his racist comments against four progressive congresswomen, his administration announced a new rule essentially banning most immigrants from seeking refuge in the United States. The rule, which the ACLU has already vowed to challenge in court, would deny asylum to any migrant who failed to apply for protection in another country they passed through on the way to the U.S. border — including children traveling alone. If enacted, the law would effectively block people from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, as well as Haitians, Cubans and many people from African countries,…
(2019-07-16). Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Response to Justice Department's Decision to Not Prosecute N.Y.P.D. Officer Responsible for Death of Eric Garner. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2019-07-16). Trump Blocks Clinics From Making Abortion Referrals. truthdig.com 
Federally funded family planning clinics can no longer provide referrals for abortions, according to the Trump administration's " Protect Life Rule," which went into effect Monday. Clinics that continue to do so will lose their funding. | The rule, which could affect many clinics that serve low-income Americans, is considered a particular attack on Planned Parenthood, which stands to lose approximately $60 million in federal funding. | The American Medical Association (AMA) and 21 states have filed lawsuits against the policy. According to the AMA,…
(2019-07-16). No Charges for New York Policeman Who Killed Eric Garner. telesurenglish.net The New York police officer who put Eric Garner in a fatal chokehold during an attempted arrest in 2014, fueling the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, will not face federal criminal charges, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn said Tuesday. | RELATED: | Cop Who Killed Eric Garner Had 'Chronic History of Complaints' | Garner's death on a sidewalk during an arrest for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes, and his gasped final words "I can't breathe" caught on bystander vi…
(2019-07-16). 'Rigged': Film targets the villains behind voter suppression. peoplesworld.org 
(2019-07-16). Artificial Intelligence Is Failing Humans. thenation.com Artificial Intelligence Is Failing Humans…
(2019-07-16). Groups File Federal Lawsuit Challenging New Trump Asylum Restrictions. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2019-07-16). D.C. Court Asked to Dismiss SLAPP Lawsuit Against Academic Boycott of Israel. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2019-07-16). #Resistance fawns over Antifa 'martyr' killed while attempting to set ICE facility on fire. rt.com 
Impassioned tributes for Willem Van Spronsen, the seasoned Antifa activist who was shot dead by police after attacking an ICE detention center in Tacoma on Saturday, have flooded Twitter, praising him as a "hero" and a "martyr."
(2019-07-16). 'More Urgency' Needed in AIDS Fight as Funding Fades: UN Report. telesurenglish.net The global fight against AIDS is stalling due to lower investment, marginalized communities missing vital health services, and new HIV infections rising in some areas, the United Nations warned Tuesday. | RELATED: | Nicaragua Steps Up Fight Against HIV, Finds Fewer Overall Cases | More than half of all new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in 2018 were among sex workers, drug users, men who have sex with men, transgender people, prisoners and the sexual partners of…
(2019-07-16). NYPD cop who used chokehold on Eric Garner 'won't be charged' as case times out. rt.com 
The NYPD officer who put an unarmed African-American man Eric Garner in a chokehold, contributing to his death, won't be charged with any crime, an AP report said. Garner's case galvanized the Black Lives Matter protest movement.
(2019-07-16). NYPD Must #FirePantaleo Now, Eric Garner's Family Says After DOJ Announces It Will Not Prosecute Officer Accused of Using Chokehold. commondreams.org Civil rights advocates decried the U.S. Justice Department's announcement on Tuesday that it would not prosecute a New York police officer in the death of Eric Garner as a "gross injustice" and demanded that the officer be fired. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-11558997441.jpg …
(2019-07-15). Hundreds join united action in Palo Alto, Calif., to shut down Palantir Technologies for complicity with ICE. liberationnews.org 
In a great show of unity in action, more than a dozen groups from all over the San Francisco Bay Area joined together July 19 to protest at Palantir Technologies in Palo Alto for the company's provision of software facilitating ICE raids, detentions and deportations.
(2019-07-15). Cruelty Is the Point: Communities Fight Back as Threat of ICE Raids Terrorize Immigrant Families. democracynow.org 
This weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents launched a handful of raids across the country as part of President Trump's push to detain and deport thousands of undocumented migrants in 10 major cities. Agents in Chicago reportedly arrested a mother and her children only to quickly release them. Arrests were also attempted in New York City, in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and Harlem, where immigrants reportedly refused to open their doors to ICE agents because they did not have warrants. Authorities say more raids are planned this week, prompting fear but also generating mass protests on the ground. We speak…
(2019-07-15). How Some Florida Prosecutors Are Pushing Back Against GOP Voter Suppression Efforts. theintercept.com 
The GOP legislature is trying to take the vote away from people with past legal woes — and some prosecutors are looking for ways around a new restriction.
(2019-07-15). Close the concentration camps. mronline.org 
The U.S. government is detaining thousands of migrants, in what can only be described as a system of 21st century concentration camps. Justin Akers Chacón—professor of U.S. History and Chicano Studies in San Diego and author, with Mike Davis, of No One is Illegal—examines the background to this horrific story, suggesting that Trump's detention centres […] | Source
(2019-07-14). Activists in Oshkosh, WI call for closure of Trump's concentration camps. fightbacknews.org Oshkosh, WI – On the evening of July 12, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Students for a Democratic Society (UWO SDS) hosted a Lights for Liberty rally, demanding an end to the Trump administration's detention policy and the closure of the concentration camps, where tens of thousands of immigrants are being held in clear breach of international law. The call to action drew roughly 30 people from Oshkosh and the surrounding Fox Valley area. | The event started with a silent candlelight vigil to help bring awareness to the disastrous conditions in the camps. The action featured 12 different people speaking…
(2019-07-12). In aftermath of Libya airstrike deaths, UN officials call for refugees and migrants to be freed from detention. un.org "As a priority, we ask that 5,600 refugees and migrants currently held in centres across Libya be freed in an orderly manner and their protection guaranteed" the UN refugee and migrants chiefs said in a joint statement, released on Friday.
(2019-07-12). Pompeo's New "Human Rights" Commission is Up To No Good. aclu.org The Trump administration appears to be trying to find new moral footing for the president's discriminatory policies. | This week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally announced the creation of a "Commission on Unalienable Rights." Its stated purpose, according to a notice published in the Federal Register in May, is to provide "fresh thinking about human rights discourse where such discourse has departed from our nation's founding principles of natural law and natural rights." | Th…
(2019-07-12). UN Human Rights Council stands firm on LGBTI violence, Syria detainees and Philippines 'war on drugs'. un.org The 41st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council ended on Friday with measures taken to address worrying developments in Eritrea, Syria and the Philippines, along with other issues of global concern, such as violence and discrimination against the LGBTI community.
(2019-07-11). "Unconscionable & Unacceptable": Rep. Barragán Decries Detention of Migrant Children in Prison Cells. democracynow.org 
Yazmin Juárez, the Guatemalan mother whose child died from a lung infection after being held in an ICE detention center, testified before members of a congressional panel Wednesday. She shared the story of her daughter, 19-month-old Mariee, who died last year shortly after being released from the South Texas Family Detention Center in Dilley, Texas. Juárez filed a $60 million lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol and the Department of Health and Human Services. The House subcommittee convened to examine the treatment of refugees in U.S.
(2019-07-11). The U.S. Women's Soccer World Cup Win Was a Victory for Title IX & the Fight for Equal Pay. democracynow.org 
Thousands gathered in Manhattan Wednesday to celebrate the U.S. women's national soccer team's fourth World Cup championship at a ticker tape parade that stretched up Broadway and past Wall Street. Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Rose Lavelle and their teammates rode floats through New York City's Canyon of Heroes, ending their celebrations at a ceremony at City Hall. Supporters chanted "U.S.A.!" and "Equal pay!" The U.S women's World Cup victory came just months after members of the 2015 women's team sued the U.S. Soccer Federation over gender discrimination. Their high-profile fight for pay equity is focusing the s…
(2019-07-11). CBP Can't Detain Domestic Flight Passengers for Refusing Suspicionless ID Checks. aclu.org 
The Constitution protects passengers deplaning domestic flights just as it protects people on the street or in a car. | In February 2017, two U.S. CBP officers stood on a jet bridge at New York's JFK Airport to meet Delta Flight 1583 as it taxied to the gate upon arrival from San Francisco. As passengers prepared to deplane, they were told by flight attendants — at the direction of the two officers — that all passengers would have to show identification documents to the officer…
(2019-07-11). Manuel Duran, journalist who reported on ICE, freed from detention. splcenter.org Manuel Duran, an investigative journalist who was detained after reporting on the collusion between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement in Memphis, Tennessee, was released today from ICE detention and will be reunited with his fiancée.
(2019-07-10). The Inhumane Treatment of Migrants Is Not New. It's a Key Part of a Decades-Old Bipartisan Policy. democracynow.org 
More than a week after lawmakers flocked to the U.S.-Mexico border to observe the horrible treatment of refugee children and families in immigration jails, reports of unsafe and unsanitary conditions for asylum seekers are continuing. In Clint, Texas, the Border Patrol station that garnered international attention for jailing hundreds of migrant children without access to sufficient food, water, beds or medical care now has a spreading outbreak of scabies, shingles and chickenpox, according to border agents. In Yuma, Arizona, NBC reports that jailed migrant children have been subjected to mistreatment and sexual…
(2019-07-10). Headlines for July 10, 2019. democracynow.org Children Recount Mistreatment, Sexual Abuse at Yuma, AZ Migrant Jail, Scabies, Shingles & Chickenpox Spreading Among Children at Clint, TX Migrant Jail, Jewish Activists Arrested After Protesting Migrant Detention on Capitol Hill, Judge Rejects DOJ Move to Replace Legal Team Charged with Census Citizenship Battle, Court Says Trump Cannot Block Critics on Twitter, U.K. Ambassador Resigns After Leaked Cables Scandal, Afghan Peace Talks Close as Deadly Attacks Continue, Appeals Court Hears Arguments on Constitutionality of Affordable Care Act, Megan Rapinoe to Trump: "Your Message Is Excluding People", Calls Grow fo…
(2019-07-08). Georgian protests, military parade, Libya and Turkey. uwidata.com Georgian protests New protests took place this week in Georgia. On July 4, the Georgian Interior Ministry announced the detention of four people accused of assaulting police officers during rallies in central Tbilisi on June 20-21. On Thursday, the Prosecutor General's Office announced that it was investigating a meeting about organizing mass riots and an …
(2019-07-07). 'Horrified at the sights': Coloradans protest ICE facilities and detention profiteers. liberationnews.org 
Human rights abuses are not just restricted to the border.
(2019-07-05). Over 1000 union educators protest Houston Detention Center. fightbacknews.org Houston, TX – July 4 saw union educators push for freedom for refugees and undocumented families. After a daylong meeting of the annual National Education Association's annual Representative Assembly, a massive group of educators demonstrated their anger at Trump's concentration camps for children and families. | Rank-and-file education workers organized the protest within less than 48 hours of arriving at the convention. The group marched around a detention center located in downtown Houston, holding signs reading "Free the children!" and "Close the camps!" As they marched, they chanted "Up up with education! Do…
(2019-07-03). Japanese Internment Camp Survivor: 'Never Again Is NOW!'. progressive.org A filmmaker and therapist tells of her family's internment in a maximum security camp during World War II, and her views on the current imprisonment of people from south of the border.
(2019-07-03). I Spent 16 Months in Solitary Confinement and Now I'm Fighting to End It. aclu.org A new report proves that the degrading conditions in solitary confinement continue to harm people and communities. | I was just 17 years old when I was sent to solitary confinement in "Camp J," one of the most severe lockdown units at one of America's most brutal prisons, the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. I languished in solitary for 16 months. | Back then I didn't know that Louisiana was the solitary confinement capital of the world. All I knew was that I'd been convicted of a crime I didn't commit, and I had to maintain my humanity in one of the most dehumanizing places on earth. | It's called "23 and…
(2019-07-03). Thousands of Voices Are Telling the Supreme Court: Don't Roll Back LGBTQ Rights. aclu.org Businesses, women CEOs, civil rights organizations, Republicans tell the Supreme Court to protect LGBTQ employees like Aimee Stephens and Don Zarda. | President Trump has told the Supreme Court it should be legal to fire someone just because they're LGBTQ. The President may be a bully, but he's just one voice. Today, more than 2,000 voices from across the country joined together to tell the Supreme Court: Don't roll back our rights. | The message came in the form of friend-of-the-court briefs—nearly 50 in all—filed in a…
(2019-07-02). SPLC sues Florida officials to keep citizens from losing right to vote again. splcenter.org After completing her prison sentence and probation time, Rosemary McCoy had her voting rights restored and cast a ballot in the Jacksonville, Florida, runoff city council election earlier this year.
(2019-06-29). Smart Ass Cripple: Happy Birthday Olmstead. progressive.org Twenty years ago, a civil rights victory helped disabled people escape institutional life.
(2019-06-28). Georgia Tried to Ban Abortion, So We Sued. aclu.org Abortion bans place people in danger, and Georgia's is no exception. | Alabama. Arkansas. Kentucky. Ohio. And today, Georgia. That's the list of states where the ACLU has had to go to court over the last few months to challenge laws banning abortion. | The Georgia law bans abortion at six weeks of pregnancy and is in clear violation of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. In fact, that is the whole point of the law. Georgia politicians, including Governor Brian Kemp, emboldened by President Trump's appointment of two new justices to the Supreme Court, think this is their chance to get the court to take aw…
(2019-06-28). How to Help Families at the Border Right Now. aclu.org We know that a better future is possible, and we at the ACLU, along with our supporters and allies, are daring to create it. | The images of Oscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his daughter Valeria, who lost their lives trying to seek refuge in the United States, have left us haunted. They serve as an ever-important reminder of the urgency of the fight for immigrant justice on our southern border and the need to stand up to the Trump administration's policies denying humanitarian protection and basic due process to families fleeing for their lives. | We remain at the frontlines of the family separation fight…
(2019-06-28). Working in Prison, I Witnessed the Inhumane Conditions of Solitary for Incarcerated Women. aclu.org Solitary confinement can amount to torture. One practitioner witnessed this first hand, and shares her story and her journey to action. | At the first checkpoint at Tennessee Prison for Women, there was a large, scrolling television screen behind the desk displaying the image of two pairs of hands — one pair with a key and one pair in handcuffs. The message read, "You can either be one of us or one of them." I had been working in the facility for less than a year, but this message exemplified an uneasiness I had long felt without articulating: The prison's faàßade of "rehabilitation" masked a system s…
(2019-06-28). Why the ACLU Is Suing Florida For Its New Poll Tax. aclu.org The law forces returning citizens with criminal records to pay for the right to vote. | On November 6, 2018, nearly 65 percent of Florida voters—more than 5 million people—resoundingly approved Amendment 4, restoring voting rights to over a million of their fellow citizens. By passing Amendment 4, Floridians successfully ushered in the largest expansion of the electorate in nearly 50 years. The people of Florida did it on their own, using a constitutional ballot initiative, to finally achieve change where Florida politicians had failed. | Instead of celebrating this progress, Florida politicians are t…
(2019-06-28). SPLC: Sentencing of James Alex Fields Jr., who killed Heather Heyer at 'Unite the Right,' will not heal victims or their families. splcenter.org James Alex Fields Jr., who was sentenced to life in prison today for murdering a woman who was protesting a white supremacist rally two years ago, is a remorseless killer and a domestic terrorist.
(2019-06-28). Charlottesville Federal Court Sentences James Alex Fields to Life in Prison for 'Unite the Right' Killing. splcenter.org A neo-Nazi sympathizer from Ohio received two consecutive and 27 concurrent life sentences in federal prison for killing a counterprotester and injuring others in the aftermath of 2017's racist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
(2019-06-24). UN Human Rights Head Visits Venezuela, Meets Maduro and Guaido. venezuelanalysis.com Michelle Bachelet commented on access to food and medicine, allegations of political prisoners, and the impact of sanctions, among other issues.
(2019-06-21). Brian Mier on Brazilian Political Scandal. fair.org 
The Brazilian anti-corruption crusade, called Car Wash or Lava Jato, that put popular ex-president Lula da Silva in prison and paved the way for fascist president Jair Bolsanaro—all while being celebrated in the US corporate press—was actually, as critics contended, less interested in corruption than in keeping Lula's Workers Party out of power.