ACLU

Del Mar/Solana Beach/Encinitas/Carlsbad, Public Policy, San Marcos, Theater, Transportation October 26, 2021

Short Stuff: Stinky flowers, chocolate master, El Super not so super, New Village Arts, SANDAG kids on the rails

Do NOT smell the flowers Morbid curiosity-seekers may be flocking to Encinitas soon, hoping to catch a whiff of a soon-to-bloom Amorphophallus titanum. The so-called “corpse flower,” named for the pungent stench emitted when it blooms, is expected to make an appearance later this month at the San Diego Botanic Garden (SDBG) in North County. This world-famous, ultra-rare specimen has not yet bloomed, but it is…

California, Real Estate, Riverside County, San Diego, Vista October 26, 2021

ACLU Report: California’s War on Unhoused People

Communities target unhoused people with discriminatory tactics exploiting legal loopholes, according to an ACLU report released Tuesday. The plight of people who are unhoused has reached horrific proportions in California, but instead of embarking on a resurgence of affordable housing, communities have instead instituted policies and regulations that target unhoused people by harassing, citing, segregating, banishing, and even imprisoning them, ACLU researchers found. “Until California…

California, Politics July 29, 2021

Vote ‘NO’ on Governor Recall, ACLU says

The executive directors of the ACLU of Northern California, ACLU of Southern California and ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, and the board chair of ACLU California Action issued a joint statement Thursday, July 29 in strong opposition to the gubernatorial recall. This marks the first time in the history of the ACLU in California — which stretches back to 1923 — that the…

Coronavirus, Courts/Law, Police, Police/Fire, Public Policy, San Diego December 21, 2020

ACLU investigating local jail COVID-19 surge

The ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties (ACLUF-SDIC) filed a California Public Records Act request Monday, Dec. 21 seeking information on the alarming surge of COVID-19 cases in San Diego County jails. According to the Sheriff’s Department website, as of Dec. 18, 637 people incarcerated in its jails have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began. “The situation in county jails…

Coronavirus, Immigration May 11, 2020

Otay Mesa Detention Center experiences first detained migrant death from COVID-19

The first confirmed death in an ICE detention center from COVID-19 has been reported at Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. Otay Mesa is run by the private, for-profit contractor, CoreCivic. A 57-year-old person in immigration custody died Wednesday, May 6 from complications related to the coronavirus, authorities said, marking the first reported death from the virus among about 30,000 people in immigration custody….

Coronavirus, Courts/Law, Immigration, The World April 4, 2020

ACLU: Release COVID-19 at-risk detainees (Updated 4/13 — Detainees released.)

Updated Monday, April 13….ACLU clients, Yusuf Ozdemir and Jane Doe, were released the night of Thursday, April 9; and Miguel Angel Benitez and Issis Yoselin Zelaya Sagastume were released the following Friday night. “Our plaintiffs’ release from custody is a victory for them and their families,” said Monika Y. Langarica, immigrants’ rights staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties. “We urge ICE to continue…

Breaking News, Coronavirus, Courts/Law, Health, Health & Fitness, Immigration, News, Police/Fire, Public Policy, San Diego March 11, 2020

ACLU to ICE: Get Coronavirus act together

Today, Wednesday, March 11, the ACLU Foundation of California sent letters to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigration detention center officials urging them to develop a comprehensive emergency plan for the prevention and management of potential Coronavirus (or COVID-19) cases at its detention centers. In the letters, the ACLU asks for written responses from ICE and other detention center officials that explain how they…

Courts/Law, Police, Police/Fire, San Diego March 9, 2020

San Diego police stop black people at a rate 219 percent higher than white people

“They did what human beings looking for freedom, throughout history, have often done. They left.” These are the words of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson in her book, “The Warmth of Other Suns.” The book follows the story of three Black Southerners and their journey escaping racial violence — a sharecropper’s wife who left Mississippi in the 1930s for Chicago, an agricultural worker who left…

Immigration, Media November 29, 2019

Feds sued for targeting journalists at border

When the government tries to circumvent constitutional protections, we must hold it accountable. No journalist should have to fear government interference for having the persistence, courage, and commitment to expose the truth. — ACLUF-SDIC As part of a coordinated effort that undermined the freedom of the press, the U.S. government tracked, detained, and interrogated journalists who were reporting on conditions at the U.S.-Mexico border. Five…

Immigration, Public Policy, The World November 5, 2019

ACLU steps up for stranded asylum seekers

The ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties (ACLUF-SDIC) filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesady against the U.S Department of Homeland Security. The suit demands that people seeking asylum who have been subjected to the Trump administration’s dangerous Remain in Mexico policy – referred to by the government as the “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP) – and who have expressed a fear of being returned to…