News & Commentary

At 2:00 a.m. this morning, the "Gang of 8" released its attempt at an immigration reform proposal. The bipartisan proposal is 840-plus pages long, took months of negotiation, and it has a long road ahead. While it will take a while for our experts in D.C. to analyze the full content, here is what we do know about immigration reform, and the proposal, so far:

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation. Immigration Immigration was the hot topic this week for policy makers, civil libertarians, activists, and even Mark Zuckerberg.  The latest news indicates that a bipartisan group of senators aims to unveil an immigration bill as soon as Tuesday. In anticipation of an immigration reform bill, thousands gathered at a rally in Washington D.C. on Wednesday and the ACLU of Maine joined the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition for a press conference in Maine as part of a nationwide day of action. As Rachel said in her blog, immigration reform must create a welcoming roadmap to citizenship and protect civil liberties. If you agree, tell your congressional delegation by clicking here.     The Death Penalty in the News 1) The father of an adult with mental illness wrote this opinion piece about using different calculations for punishment of the mentally ill. 2) One of Florida’s longest-serving death row inmates was executed Wednesday. He was sentence in 1981. Read more here. 3) Texas executed an inmate sentenced in 1990. More on that here.   Privacy and the IRS Last year, the ACLU sent a FOIA request to the IRS asking for records regarding whether or not the IRS gets a warrants to read emails, text messages, and other private electronic communication. The documents obtained suggest that the IRS does not have a uniform, nationwide policy of requesting warrants before it reads electronic communication in criminal investigations. Click here for more details.   These documents provide further evidence for the need to update our privacy laws. (For a recent update on potential new privacy laws here in Maine, see yesterday’s blog by Shenna).  

Yesterday we proudly joined the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and thousands of people who came together in Maine, DC and around the nation to call for fair immigration reform. It was incredible to be surrounded by recent immigrants, new citizens, businesspeople and faith leaders who all had their own reasons for being there - from protecting workers rights to the size of Maine's labor force, from the desire to be a contributing member of society to a personal, moral imperative. As lawmakers in D.C. begin to wrap up months of negotiations, an immigration reform bill could be introduced any day. We at the ACLU believe that immigration reform must create a welcoming roadmap to citizenship for aspiring Americans living in and contributing to the United States. Fundamental fairness as guaranteed by the Constitution requires that these individuals be brought within the legal embrace of U.S. citizenship.   If you agree, click here to add your voice to the movement by emailing Maine’s congressional delegation and telling them that immigration reform must protect civil liberties.   Here are the priorities we’d like them to keep in mind:   ·      Immigration reform must not create a national ID system or include measures that harm fundamental privacy rights.   ·      Immigration reform must end state and local intrusions into immigration policy and enforcement, and ban racial profiling at all levels of government.   ·      Immigration reform must address systemic due process problems with immigration detention and deportation.   ·      Immigration reform must transform border enforcement, which has grown wastefully and abusively without regard for genuine public safety.   ·      Immigration reform must address America’s mass incarceration problem, include no new criminal provisions, and end overreliance on criminal prosecutions.   ·      Immigration reform must include the ability of committed and loving people in same-sex relationships to sponsor their spouse or partner in the same way opposite couples have long been able to.   When it comes to immigration reform that protects civil liberties for all, the time is now.   If you agree, click here to take action today.

The ACLU has been at the forefront of the immigrants’ rights movement for 25 years. So, not surprisingly, we have a message for lawmakers as they prepare to debate federal immigration reform. In the wake of yesterday’s announcement by President Obama, we are urging policymakers to endorse and promote a set of priorities that will ensure all people’s civil rights are protected. This means immigration reform must honor and preserve our country's longstanding constitutional promise of equality to all.   I encourage you to read through our complete framework for reform, which lays out the key principles that must be advanced through any legislation. There are components of the proposed Senate plan that we find encouraging, and others that raise serious civil liberties concerns. Here is a brief run-down of the major priorities we’ve identified, with much more detail to be found in our full framework.