LOS ANGELES, Calif. – James Gilliam, an award-winning attorney who has extensive experience working pro bono on a wide variety of civil rights, immigration, homelessness and LGBT issues, has been named deputy executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, ACLU/SC Executive Director Ramona Ripston announced today.

“I’m delighted that James has agreed to join the staff of the ACLU of Southern California, deepening his ties to our organization, where he has served as a board member since 2005 and affirmative action officer since 2008,” Ripston said. “We’re well aware of his passion, his dedication and his intellect, and we know those things will continue to serve him and us well in his new role as deputy executive director.”

Gilliam, who begins his new duties today, comes to the ACLU/SC from the law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker LLP, where he served as a litigation associate and associate pro bono coordinator. In the latter role, he worked closely with ACLU/SC attorneys on a successful lawsuit challenging conditions under which immigrants were detained in downtown Los Angeles, and on the legal effort to overturn California’s Proposition 8, among other cases.

"During his time at Paul Hastings, James continually demonstrated his tireless commitment to serving the community through his pro bono work on a variety of civil rights and social issues, and we wish him well as he embarks on the next stage of his career," said Anton Mack, Managing Director--Global Talent for Paul Hastings. "We are proud that James is joining an organization that we have long considered an important pro bono partner for Paul Hastings and we look forward to working with him on future cases."

Gilliam said he’s excited to be working for the ACLU/SC in part because of the wide variety of civil rights and civil liberties issues that the organization pursues through its education, advocacy and litigation efforts. “It’s amazing to see an organization that is not only active but effective in so many areas,” he said. “For example, the ACLU of Southern California got a lot of attention, and rightfully so, for its work on free speech, immigration and homelessness over the last year. But it also took on several key LGBT cases in this region during the same period. One thing I hope to do is to help raise awareness of that and some of the other lesser-known but important work that we do.”

Gilliam has a B.S. in sociology/social welfare policy from Middle Tennessee State University, where he graduated in 2000 as valedictorian of his class. He obtained his J.D. from Loyola Law School in 2003, Order of the Coif, and worked for the Hon. Harry Pregerson of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2007 he became the most junior attorney ever to receive Loyola’s Pro Bono Alumni of the Year Award for his work at Paul Hastings. He is chairman of the Sexual Orientation Bias Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and is on the board of the National LGBT Bar Association. He teaches public interest law, and sexual orientation and the law, at Loyola Law School.

At the ACLU/SC, Gilliam will work under the supervision of Ripston, who has been executive director for 38 years and has built the organization into a multi-faceted nonprofit with nearly 50 employees, including a powerful legal team as well as Field, Development and Communications departments. Gilliam will help manage day-to-day operations and will work on policy with the Field and Legal departments.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Five days after a team of civil rights lawyers filed lawsuits on behalf of two immigrants with mental disabilities who were locked up for years after being judged mentally incompetent to understand the proceedings against them, federal officials announced the two men would be released from custody.

Jose Antonio Franco and Guillermo Gomez Sanchez are being released to their families today from immigration facilities in Santa Ana and San Bernardino. Both men will be placed on electronic monitoring and will be provided with treatment in community health centers.

“I am so happy, and so is my whole family,” said Ruben Franco, Jose Antonio Franco's brother. “We have waited five years for this moment. We can't wait to spend time with my brother. This was such a long struggle that nobody should have to go through. We want to make sure he gets back his life and returns to school.”

On March 26, two affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Counsel in Los Angeles and the Casa Cornelia Law Center in San Diego, filed lawsuits in U.S. Federal District Courts in Southern California charging that in addition to violating the men's due process rights, officials violated federal immigration statutes as well as federal discrimination laws designed to protect people with disabilities.

“We are pleased that the government has agreed to release both of these detainees after years of unwarranted detention, but we remain concerned about the fate of many other detainees who remain „lost - in the immigration prison system due to their mental disabilities,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, director of immigrant rights and national security for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “We hope the government will agree to conduct a prompt review to identify the other detainees with similar mental health issues, and determine through hearings whether release is appropriate for them as well. Justice in such cases should not require that the detainee have the good fortune to be represented by public interest lawyers.”

Talia Inlender, a staff attorney with Public Counsel, who met Mr. Franco through her work running a legal clinic at a local immigration detention center and has been advocating for months to secure his release, said that she's pleased he is being freed. “But it shouldn't have taken a federal lawsuit being filed to get the government to reach this common sense result,” Inlender said.

Mr. Franco, 29, is the son of lawful permanent residents. He suffers from mental retardation severe enough that he doesn't know his own age or birthday, and cannot tell time or dial phone numbers. Mr. Franco was held in various detention facilities around Southern California, including a jail in Santa Ana, since April 2005. He remained in custody despite the fact that a judge closed his immigration case nearly five years ago after finding him mentally incompetent to understand the proceedings against him. The government did not move to reopen his case until three months ago. Mr. Franco was not given a bond hearing to determine whether he presented a danger that would have justify his prolonged detention, or whether his detention was even appropriate in light of his disability.

Guillermo Gomez-Sanchez is a 48-year-old man who has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He was held by immigration officials since December 2005. An immigration judge administratively closed his case for two-and-a-half years after the Department of Homeland Security failed to administer a psychiatric evaluation of him. When the case was reopened in June 2008, a judge ordered Mr. Gomez-Sanchez released on a $5,000 bond. But attorneys for the DHS challenged the bond order, even though Mr. Gomez-Sanchez was found to be neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community.

“Mr. Gomez-Sanchez will finally be back in the care of his family after several long years in detention, much of which he suffered in a legal black hole,” said Sean Riordan, staff attorney for the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties. “While we welcome the government's decision to release Mr. Gomez-Sanchez, he should have been released long ago. It is imperative that the government implement policies to ensure that incompetent individuals like Mr. Gomez-Sanchez are not lost in a system of harsh immigration prisons without due process.”

The exact number of detainees with severe mental disabilities is unclear, but some reports estimate that at least two to five percent of the immigrants detained by immigration authorities nationwide – or 7,000 to 19,000 individuals – might have a serious mental disability. Yet, unlike our nation's criminal justice system, the immigration system has no standard procedures to resolve cases against detainees with mental disabilities who have been ruled incompetent to follow the proceedings against them. The petitions filed today aim to end the haphazard approach that has led to such tragic circumstances for Mr. Franco and Mr. Gomez-Sanchez, and which could undoubtedly lead to other, similar cases.