What's Happening in Maine:

Recently, we worked with leaders of Maine's Sudanese community to support their response to several recent incidents involving the Portland Police Department, and the tragic shooting by police of a young Sudanese man.   ACLU of MAINE assisted the Sudanese Community Association in organizing a rally on May 21 expressing their concern about safety in the city's neighborhoods.  The ACLU of MAINE, along with many other civil rights organizations, support the efforts of this community to build a constructive relationship with the police.

One of the key goals of the ACLU of MAINE in the most recent session of the state Legislature was the support of a bill, LD 1357, which would have revised last year's legislation that forced the state government to comply with the federal REAL ID law.  Under REAL ID Maine drivers must now show prove of legal presence in this country before they can get a driver license.  Since the law took effect in November, many legal immigrants and American citizens have faced daunting obstacles as they try to navigate the newly complicated system of driver's license renewal at Maine's Bureau of Motor Vehicles.  LD 1357 received strong support in both houses of the Legislature, where it passed, but it was vetoed by Governor John Baldacci.

What's Happening Nationally:

Founded in 1987, the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project is dedicated to expanding and enforcing the civil liberties and civil rights non-citizens and to combating public and private discrimination against immigrants.

For more than twenty years, the IRP has been at the forefront of almost every major legal struggle on behalf of immigrants' rights through class action lawsuits, law reform litigation, judicial rulings and legal advocacy.