LOS ANGELES - In support of a resolution Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nu�ez (D-Los Angeles) will present today in the state legislature urging Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill that includes a path to legalization, the ACLU of Southern California issues this statement:

The following statement can be attributed to Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California.

For more than three decades the ACLU of Southern California has supported humane immigration law that recognizes the contributions immigrants make to our society by advocating a path to legalization, protecting family unity and ensuring that immigrants are treated fairly in the judicial system.

Hundreds of thousands of people here in Southern California have joined millions more throughout the United States in peaceful protest to urge Congress and the President to adopt comprehensive immigration reform. Efforts to criminalize immigrants contradict the spirit of our Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the principles on which this country was founded.

As Congress continues to evaluate immigration reform proposals, the ACLU of Southern California calls upon elected representatives to:

' Ensure equal protection. Preserve the individual rights and liberties of every person, regardless of immigration status, as guaranteed by our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

' Preserve due process of law for all by ensuring a fair and equitable legalization process through access to courts and meaningful judicial review.

' Reject indefinite detention. Locking up asylum seekers, torture victims and other immigrants who have no just means to fight their cases is inhumane and does not serve to make our country safer.

' Protect the privacy of all workers.

' Maintain a divide between federal immigration enforcement and local law enforcement. When those lines are clearly drawn all communities are safer.

Any fair immigration reform must include a path to legalization. Dehumanizing hard-working families by criminalizing them just for living here is un-American. Without a path to legalization, undocumented immigrants will remain vulnerable to abuse and exploitation because of their status.

As a staunch supporter of individual liberty and equality, the ACLU of Southern California supports a compassionate approach to immigration reform that will not undermine constitutional freedoms. Immigrants continue to contribute to our growing economy as well as the social fabric of the United States and our laws must reflect that.

LOS ANGELES - A year after filing a lawsuit to stop federal policies designed to silence whistleblowers in the Federal Air Marshal Service, the ACLU of Southern California announced an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies that will permit marshals to speak about public safety concerns.

'We are very pleased that the government has agreed to clarify its policy, which was previously so vague that it effectively silenced members of the air marshals,' said Peter Eliasberg, managing attorney for the ACLU/SC. 'It is of vital importance that there be clear rules about employee speech so that air marshals, can when necessary, bring to the attention of the public policies and practices that undermine the safety of our aviation system.'

As a part of the agreement, which was reached late Friday, the government has agreed to send an e-mail within the week to all federal air marshals clarifying its policy on what marshals can say publicly. In particular, the message will clarify the meaning of two policies that Federal Air Marshal Frank Terreri argued were unconstitutionally vague.

The message will also inform marshals that while the personnel policy does prohibit employees from undermining teamwork or public confidence, 'nothing in the (directive) is intended to limit the free public expression of an employees personal opinions about matters of public concern relating to the FAMS - provided the individual complies with all laws and policies safeguarding the unauthorized disclosure of official information.'

In the original lawsuit, filed in April 2005 against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and other security officials, Terreri challenged Federal Air Marshal Service rules that prohibited him from speaking publicly about his job or saying anything to do with the Air Marshal Service, a clear violation of his First Amendment rights.

The government changed its rules governing employee speech in July after the lawsuit was filed, but, like the previous policy, the new policy also contained speech-restrictive provisions. At the end of August 2005, Terreri amended his lawsuit to also challenge the constitutionality of the new policy. In February U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie denied the government's motion to dismiss the case and ruled that it should move forward toward a trial.

'I am grateful for this settlement,' Terreri said. 'Finally the American public will be able to hear an honest account of our federal air marshal program and air marshals interested in improving the public's safety will not have to risk their employment to do so.'

Terreri, who has 16 years of law enforcement experience with an unblemished record, has since been asked to testify in front of Congress about the federal air marshal program. For the past four years he has been a federal air marshal and is also a president of the air marshal division of a professional membership organization that represents more than 24,000 federal agents, including 1,400 air marshals.

The ACLU of Southern California, Professor Allan Ides of Loyola Law School and Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris and Hoffman are representing Terreri.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a historic decision in a case filed by the ACLU/SC and the National Lawyers Guild seeking an end to the criminalization of people for sleeping on the streets when no shelter is available.
The decision in the case, Jones v. City of Los Angeles, was issued today and marks the first time in a decade that a court has struck down an ordinance that criminalizes the lack of shelter.
"Anyone who cares about homelessness and finding positive solutions to this serious issue in our community will be delighted and encouraged by this decision," said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU/SC. "The ACLU has always maintained that police should target serious crime like rape and drug trafficking and not criminalize people for sleeping on the street when there is nowhere else to go."
Citing news articles from The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, including a recent front-page series on homelessness on Skid Row by columnist Steve Lopez, Judge Kim M. Wardlaw writing for the majority opinion ordered the District Court to create a narrow injunction to stop enforcement of a Los Angeles city code that allows police to arrest people for sleeping on the street when there are no available shelter beds.
"The Eighth Amendment prohibits the City from punishing involuntary sitting, lying, or sleeping on public sidewalks that is an unavoidable consequence of being human and homeless without shelter in the City of Los Angeles," Judge Wardlaw wrote.
ACLU/SC Legal Director Mark Rosenbaum, who argued the case in December called the decision "brave."
"This decision is the most significant judicial opinion involving homelessness in the history of the nation," Rosenbaum said. "The decision means in Los Angeles, it is no longer a crime to be homeless. For homeless in our community, 1/5 of whom are veterans and nearly a quarter are children, they can no longer be treated as criminals because of involuntary acts like sleeping and sitting where there are not available shelter beds to take them off the mean streets of the city. My hope is that the city will now treat homelessness as a social problem affecting all of us, not as a crime."
The case, originally filed in February 2003 by the ACLU of Southern California and Carol Sobel for the National Lawyers Guild, sought to end the enforcement of Section 41.18 (d) of Los Angeles city code.
In Los Angeles County at least 88,000 men, women and children - 8,000 to 10,000 in Downtown Los Angeles alone - are without homes. There are beds for less than half of the homeless in our county, there are comprehensive services available to far fewer than half and the county jails are routinely used as a substitution for mental health facilities.