News & Commentary
ACLU-SDIC Testimony – San Diego City Council Considers Whether to Continue Surveillance Use Policies
By Blair Overstreet
Deported Veterans: Banished from Their Own Country
"They raised their right hands and swore to defend the Constitution," Stock told the Los Angeles Times. "They thought that made them citizens."
Other veterans say that they in fact filed their naturalization paperwork while they were in the military, but the federal government lost the paperwork or never responded. Still others say that the military could have helped them naturalize during basic training, but failed to do so. The Pentagon reports that since 2009, about 9,800 men and women have earned their citizenship during basic military training. More than 89,000 people have received citizenship through military service since 9/11.
It is important to note that naturalization after deployment has long been a benefit provided to servicemen. As early as the Civil War, immigrants have played a pivotal role in the U.S. military. One in six troopers in George Custer’s 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn was an Irish immigrant. The promise of U.S. citizenship after military service has been a long-standing practice that provided immigrants with a highly valued avenue to naturalization. The history of military service in America would be significantly different without the inclusion of immigrants and the promise of citizenship that followed.
In recent years, as veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan, they find adjusting to civilian life to be difficult. Many of them struggle with PTSD and substance abuse as they work to regain a sense of the lives they led before suffering the trauma of war.
The ACLU of California is partnering with Deported Veterans Support House, a shelter and resource center for deported veterans based in Tijuana, Mexico, on a project to end the unjust deportati
A Woman With a Disability and PTSD Waited For an Asylum Interview.
Last Thursday, March 17, Nicole Ramos, a U.S. immigration lawyer, escorted her client M. to the San Ysidro Port of Entry. M. is a Mexican transgender woman who has a disability and PTSD seeking asylum in the United States. U.S. law requires an asylum seeker like M. to appear at the port of entry for a credible fear interview and initial processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. Accordingly, M. entered the line for asylum processing at the port.
For the next thirty-four hours, the CBP officers on duty failed to provide M. with any food.
SDACLU's Border Litigation Project Protests CBP's Denial of Food to Asylum Seekers
Today, the ACLU of San Diego’s Border Litigation Project sent a complaint letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, protesting CBP’s denial of food to asylum seekers awaiting credible fear interviews at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
California: ICE and Border Patrol Abuses
Click here for a more detailed brochure about your rights.
# # #
Stay Informed
Sign up to be the first to hear about how to take action.
By completing this form, I agree to receive occasional emails per the terms of the ACLU’s privacy statement.
By completing this form, I agree to receive occasional emails per the terms of the ACLU’s privacy statement.