News & Commentary
Unaccompanied Children’s Well-Being Must Come First at Fort Bliss and Across Texas
Emergency steps were needed to remove children from Border Patrols facilities, but the Biden administration must now ensure the humane treatment of all migrant children in Texas.
By Bernardo Rafael Cruz, Shaw Drake
Witnessing the Restoration of Asylum at the Texas Border
By the end of Trump’s term in office, the administration had made it almost impossible for migrants to seek asylum. Almost 70,000 migrants who left their homeland out of fear for their safety were forced to wait outside the U.S. border under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). Another 200,000 people were expelled altogether. These are the signs of a collapsed immigration system, where few are afforded the right to apply for asylum.
By Lorena Soto, Michael Seifert
How Did ICE Deport a Survivor of the Walmart Shooting?
Brian Tashman, Deputy Division Director, ACLU
Immigration a
By Brian Tashman
The Texas Legislature in a Time of Turmoil and Transition
Today marks the opening of the 87th Texas Legislative Session — and it signals enormous opportunity and peril for civil liberties in Texas. With a tense national political climate, a pandemic devastating communities across Texas, and lingering racial unrest since the killing of George Floyd, this session will be one of the most challenging — and most important — we have seen in recent history.
By Matthew Simpson
The Election is Over — Now Let’s Lead Freedom Forward
In the past year, we’ve witnessed so many agonizing examples of the brutal reality of systemic racism. We’ve mourned the loss of more than 270,000 American lives from a deadly pandemic. We’ve seen a dramatic shift in the ideological balance at the U.S. Supreme Court, placing abortion access, LGBTQ equality, and voting rights in peril. And threats to our democracy seem to be mounting.
By Rebecca L. Robertson
When Black Mourners are Threatened with Official Violence
Carl Takei, Former Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU’s Trone Center for Justice and Equality
In early June
By Carl Takei, ACLU National Prison Project
CBP Wants to Destroy Records of Misconduct. We Can’t Let Them.
Shaw Drake, He/Him/His, Staff Attorney and Policy Counsel, Border and Immigrants’ Rights, ACLU of Texas
Customs and B
By Shaw Drake
#ElPasoStrong: One Year Later, Nuestra Comunidad Sigue Luchando
We live in a proud community where English isn’t always the language spoken. Our families, culture, food, and livelihoods are all shaped by our binational culture in El Paso, our relationship to the border and our neighbors in Chihuahua.
By Lorena Soto, Adri Perez, Cynthia Pompa
Fighting for the Right to Survive ICE Detention
Update December 2020: The ACLU of Texas staff is saddened to learn of the recent passing of our client Román Vázquez. Mr. Vázquez was in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention at the Montgomery Processing Center for three months until his release in April 2020. In July, we published the story below in which he detailed the horrific conditions of his detention. We are glad that Mr. Vázquez was able to spend his last months with his family, to whom we send our deepest condolences. We will continue to fight for the release of more detainees from the threat of COVID-19 in immigration detention through our case, Vázquez Barrera et al v. Wolf, to which Mr. Vázquez lent his name as the lead plaintiff.
By Rochelle Garza
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