LOS ANGELES — Please attribute the following statement to Hector Villagra, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, on the election of Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva:
"For decades, the ACLU SoCal has engaged in litigation, policy work, and advocacy with community partners to protect the civil liberties of all people who call Los Angeles home and to hold the L.A. County Sheriff's Department to account.
We look forward to working with Sheriff Villanueva in eradicating deputy violence and deputy gangs, addressing racial profiling, increasing transparency, and strengthening civilian oversight over the department.
We will work with the new sheriff to seek alternatives to incarceration such as diversion for people with mental health needs and substance addictions and improve conditions for all who are incarcerated, including LGBTQ people, women and other vulnerable community members.
We will work to stop the unnecessary construction of any new jails that would separate families from their loved ones and perpetuate our reliance on incarceration.
We will work to end the department's collaboration with ICE, which erodes community trust and makes sheriffs' jobs harder.
And lastly, as always, we will work to ensure that the sheriff and the department are transparent and held accountable to all Angelenos. There is much to be done."
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