News & Commentary

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2005 to 2013: Accomplishments Led or Co-Led by the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties during Keenan’s Tenure

Successfully challenged the City of Escondido’s rental ban ordinance, which required landlords to screen the immigration status of prospective tenants, with the leadership of legal director David Loy in 2006, as well as led adoption of a state law in 2007 to prohibit any other California cities from passing such an ordinance;
Rapid response to mistreatment of immigrants and people of color during the 2007 wildfire recovery, including a report issued ten days after the fires, a state law to limit public employees’ screening for immigration status during a natural disaster, and a guidebook and training on the rights of immigrants during and after a natural disaster;
Successful challenge to inhumane overcrowding conditions and denial of medical care to immigration detainees at the San Diego Correctional Facility, run by the for-profit Corrections Corporation of America;
Challenged in court the government’s warrantless NSA spying and lobbied San Diego federal representatives against extension of the PATRIOT Act and FISA Amendments; conducted extensive public education about these and other abuses of power; unearthed domestic spying emanating from an intelligence “fusion center” at Camp Pendleton, including the use of informants to spy on the annual banquet of the Council on American Islamic Relations;
Published a 75-page report with Mexico’s National Commission of Human Rights on the humanitarian crisis of migrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border, finding that more than 5,000 people have died because of the deadly practices and policies of both governments;
Challenged rampant Border Patrol abuse of power and urged for reform of lethal force policies, especially the fatal shooting of rock throwers;
Under the direction of now associate director Norma Chavez Peterson, led a “get out the vote” campaign to mobilize Escondido's Latino vote in the 2012 Election and then establishing a long-term ACLU satellite office in Escondido staffed by a full-time community organizer to continue to respond to residents’ enduring civil liberties violations;
Helped mobilize a powerful, broad community response against Arizona’s racial profiling law, SB 1070; seconded a San Diego staff member to Arizona to assist its ACLU affiliate develop litigation challenging the law; and helped organize a strong community response to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning three parts of the law but upholding the “show me your papers” provision;
In conjunction with fellow border affiliates, and the generous support of the Price Family Charitable Fund and Central America and Mexico Migration Alliance, launched the Border Litigation Project staffed by two new attorneys in San Diego and Tucson, charged with pursuing legal strategies to combat persistent human right abuses at the U.S.- Mexico border;
Won a historic ruling in a class-action lawsuit in which the federal government is now required to provide legal counsel to mentally ill immigrant detainees;
Led the effort to secure passage of SB 35, dramatically increasing opportunities for voter registration in t

The ACLU Southwest Border affiliates, including the ACLU of California, issued the following joint statement in response to the Senate’s vote to proceed on immigration reform:

SAN DIEGO and PHOENIX – In order to make America’s border agencies more accountable to the laws that protect us all, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today announced the launch of a new Border Litigation Project to investigate, document and litigate civil and human rights cases along the U.S.-Mexico border. The new initiative will allow the ACLU to increase its legal capacity along the Southwest border by hiring two new full-time staff attorneys in San Diego and Tucson.

Last week, The Guardian released an order issued by the FISC that compelled a Verizon subsidiary—Verizon Business Network Services (VBNS)—to hand over, on an "ongoing, daily basis," details for every phone call placed on its network for a prospective three-month period. Collecting those details—"metadata" that reveals who people talk to, for how long, how often, and possibly from where—allows the government to paint an alarmingly detailed picture of Americans' private lives. The FISC order cited Section 215 as its legal basis, yet the breadth of the authority it granted to the government is simply incompatible with the text of the statute.
As an organization that advocates for and litigates to defend the civil liberties of society's most vulnerable, the staff at the ACLU naturally use the phone—a lot—to talk about sensitive and confidential topics with clients, legislators, whistleblowers, and ACLU members. And since the ACLU is a VBNS customer, we were immediately confronted with the harmful impact that such broad surveillance would have on our legal and advocacy work. So we're acting quickly to get into court to challenge the government's abuse of Section 215.

The ACLU's complaint explains that the dragnet surveillance the government is carrying out under Section 215 infringes upon the ACLU's First Amendment rights, including the twin liberties of free expression and free association. The nature of the ACLU's work—in areas like access to reproductive services, racial discrimination, the rights of immigrants, national security, and more—means that many of the people who call the ACLU wish to keep their contact with the organization confidential. Yet if the government is collecting