Today, Advancing Justice-ALC filed a federal lawsuit to challenge a domestic surveillance program called Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) with the ACLU and Bingham McCutchen LLP. The SAR program turns local police departments and even private citizens into the “eyes and ears” of the federal government by encouraging them to report supposedly “suspicious” activities to local fusion centers, which investigate the reports and determine whether to share them with law enforcement agencies around the country.

By Chris Punongbayan, Executive Director  *This article originially appeared on the Huffington Post on June 23, 2014.  Civil rights hero Yuri Kochiyama recently passed away at 93 years old. She came to my college campus in 1995 in Providence, Rhode Island and keynoted our Asian American Pacific Islander History Month celebrations. Having grown up in […]

By Yaman Salahi, National Security & Civil Rights Staff Attorney  Tech companies have had a testy relationship with San Francisco this year on issues ranging from gentrification to public transit. But it still comes as a surprise that Twitter will be lending its downtown offices to San Francisco’s local “fusion center” this Wednesday, May 14, […]

  By Anoop Prasad, Immigrant Rights Staff Attorney I know it sounds unreasonable to say that we should stop all deportations when ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is deporting 400,000 people a year.  Over the past decade, I’ve talked to thousands of people being deported. I have yet to ever walk away thinking that we’re a better […]

  By Anoop Prasad, Immigrant Rights Staff Attorney For ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), they are priority targets – criminal and fugitive aliens.  For Aliti Viriviri, nine years old, they are nana and tata (grandma and grandpa).  As calls grow louder for President Obama to reign in immigration enforcement, the Viriviri family’s experience shows what […]

By Anoop Prasad, Immigrant Rights Staff Attorney, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus Over two decades ago, Mari Matsuda warned Asian-Americans that they were in danger of becoming the “racial bourgeoise” – a weapon to be used against Black and Brown communities.  She urged Asian-Americans to adopt the slogan of “We will not […]

By Yaman Salahi, Staff Attorney, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus In October 2010, someone reported “suspicious ME [Middle Eastern] males buy[ing] several large pallets of water” in Bakersfield to a federally-funded “fusion center.” Intelligence analysts at the fusion center then uploaded the report into a national information-sharing database called eGuardian, where law enforcement agencies around […]

By Ju Hong, member of ASPIRE (Asian Students Promoting Immigrant Rights through Educaton) Janet Napolitano, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, has been nominated for the role of the next president of the University of California system. As a proud undocumented UC Berkeley alumnus, I am appalled by the decision and am strongly against the […]

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) officials announced this week that it has released “several hundred” immigrants from jails across the country in an effort to cut costs in anticipation of sequestration. ICE officials emphasized that those who were released are considered low-risk and “noncriminal” and that they have been “placed on an appropriate, more cost-effective […]

  San Francisco, CA – December, 04, 2012 This afternoon Attorney General Harris issued a bulletin that clarified that ICE hold requests are voluntary in nature and local law enforcement have full discretion to reject submission to them. The announcement comes one day after the reintroduction of the TRUST Act (now AB4). The TRUST Act has received […]

Why voting YES on Measure B’s district elections is good for everyone. By Hyeon-Ju Rho, Executive Director In a county as large and diverse as San Mateo, many voices are unheard in the current at-large system, and it is time to change that by voting YES on Measure B. San Mateo County is one of the […]

By Angela Chan, Senior Staff Attorney, Criminal Justice Reform Program, Asian Law Caucus This November, California voters have an opportunity to reform California’s 18-year-old “three-strikes” law through voting in support of Proposition 36.  Our three strikes law, which is the toughest in the country, allows courts to sentence individuals to 25 years to life in […]