News & Commentary

To me, the term "debtors' prison" immediately conjures images of 19th century England and of something found in the pages of Charles Dickens novels. However, as a recent special segment by NPR revealed, de facto debtors' prisons – where we imprison people for failure to pay fines – are increasingly common practice throughout the United States today.

Earlier this year, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services proposed to change the eligibility guidelines for the General Assistance program to exclude many non-citizens (including asylum seekers who came to this country fleeing religious and political persecution). Had the rule gone into effect, hundreds of Mainers would have lost their apartments, access to food vouchers, and other basic human necessities that everyone deserves. For more than 150 years, the Constitution has protected non-citizens from discrimination; laws that discriminate on the basis of alienage are said to be "inherently suspect" and they are subject to the very highest level of judicial review. America is a nation of immigrants, and the promise of equal protection under the law has long embraced a guarantee that everyone subject to the law is entitled to the protection of the law, regardless of citizenship status.

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation.

This week, the ACLU of Pennsylvania sent Pennsylvania's Attorney General a letter asking her to enforce the 2010 Healthy Birth for Incarcerated Women Act. The 2010 bill (SB 1074) bans the use of handcuffs, leg shackles, and other physical restraints on pregnant incarcerated individuals who are in the second and third trimesters of their pregnancies. Under the law, shackling is prohibited during prenatal visits, labor and delivery, and the postpartum period, including during transport to and from the hospital. Individuals who pose a serious flight or security risk are excluded from the ban. Since the implementation of the law, jails have been required to file monthly reports with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections detailing their use of restraints on pregnant inmates.

Last Saturday we marked the anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark civil rights case that ruled state-sanctioned public school segregation is unconstitutional. In a friend-of-the-court brief in that case, the ACLU and partnering organizations argued that “segregation and equality cannot co-exist. That which is unequal in fact cannot be equal in law.”

Each year the ACLU of Maine teaches over 100 workshops to students, which gives us plenty of chances to cite both new and old decisions by the Supreme Court. Hypotheticals can be fun, but students routinely tell us that they enjoy hearing about real cases - and why wouldn’t they? Disputes that make it to the Supreme Court are often fascinating, and the big cases involving students tend to be particularly juicy and ripe for debate.

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation.

Student attorneys at the Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic and the Refugee and Human Rights Program at the Maine Law School recently published a guide for immigrant victims of domestic violence. While the guide should not be used as a substitute for legal advice, it does provide invaluable information for individuals whose fear of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may keep them from contacting authorities. The guide is comprehensive. It details different signs of an abusive relationship, lists free community resources available for victims/survivors, and outlines the steps for obtaining a Protection From Abuse (PFA) order. Ideally, obtaining a PFA will not affect a victim's immigration status. The guide also explains for possible immigration options for victims of violence: U-Visas, T-Visas, asylum, and obtaining green cards through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Information provided by an abuser cannot be used against a victim in immigration proceedings. It is important for us all to know that there are laws to protect all victims of domestic violence living in the US, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. 

Today, the Washington Post published an article title Ex-Cons But Still Barred, looking at the city of Chicago’s reconsideration of restrictions on people with criminal records living in public housing.