Press Releases

ACLU lawyers and advocates are among the nation's leading experts on civil liberties and constitutional freedoms. They are regularly sought out by leading broadcast, print and online media to lend an essential voice to the conversation about some of the most important issues facing the nation.

Please contact the ACLU SoCal Media Line at (213) 977-5252 or e-mail communications@aclusocal.org.

Filter Press

ICE Secretly Bans COVID-19 Testing of Adelanto Detainees

LOS ANGELES — In a shocking discovery, it has been found that although about 1,900 COVID-19 test kits were sent to the immigrant detention center in Adelanto, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials refused to allow the vast majority of them to be used. The refusal to give tests to

August 11, 2020

LA Hotel Workers Union and Allies Demand Sheriff Villanueva Resign

Los Angeles, CA — Hundreds of community members, led by UNITE HERE Local 11, held a car caravan and delivered a letter demanding the immediate resignation of Sheriff Alex Villanueva because of his failure to reform the Los Angeles Sheriff Department. Sheriff Villanueva’s refusal to cooperate with

July 31, 2020

ACLU Sues Pomona Over Refusal to Implement New Police Law

LOS ANGELES — Police officers’ legal authority to kill underwent a key change in California on January 1, when a new law stated that lethal force was justifiable only “when necessary in defense of human life.” But even as officer use of deadly force has become a hugely prominent national issue, many

July 31, 2020

ACLU Letter Criticizes School District for Free Speech Violations

BAKERSFIELD — The American Civil Liberties Union Foundations of Southern and Northern California today sent a letter to the Greenfield Union School District in Bakersfield, expressing deep concern that “the district has created a hostile environment for Black students and staff in its schools by sub

July 29, 2020

Union Pacific Railroad Police Cuts Ties with ICE

LOS ANGELES — The Union Pacific Railroad Police has agreed to break off its shadowy collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that was rooted in racial profiling and other actions causing the harm that the California Values Act was enacted to prevent. The key changes in the

July 27, 2020

Massive Neglect of Black and Brown Students Alleged in San Bernardino in Precedent-Setting Administrative Complaint

LOS ANGELES – At a time when schools and their communities are facing unprecedented challenges—a pandemic, an arduous re-opening process, and elevated calls to address anti-Blackness and structural racism in schools—more than 90,000 high need students in San Bernardino are being cheated out of three

June 30, 2020