December 2024

On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the ACLU of Louisiana, and the Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition hosted a webinar to explain how emergency federal court litigation together with community organizing can be used to defend immigrant communities during the incoming Trump administration.

Behind the Headlines: The Urgency of Decarceration in the Fight for Climate Justice

October 2024

Earlier this month, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida. But a staggering 28,000 incarcerated people in Florida’s mandatory evacuation zones had nowhere to go. Learn more about the urgency of decarceration in the fight for climate justice.

Behind the Headlines: Reparative Justice for Sonya Massey

July 2024

On July 22, Illinois state police released body camera footage of a sheriff’s deputy murdering Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman and mother of two, in the kitchen of her home. The deputy responsible for Sonya’s death had been discharged from the Army for serious misconduct. Sonya’s family is pressing for bans on hiring police officers with a history of misconduct. But the criminal legal system alone cannot restore Sonya’s life. Read more about why reparative justice is needed to begin to redress the terrible wrong that took Sonya from her family.

Turmoil In Texas As Ugly State Vs Federal Government Battle Over Who Controls Immigration Law

April 2024

This week, federal courts extended a pause on enforcement of S.B. 4, a Texas law that allows state police to arrest people they suspect crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without valid immigration status. The law invites serious human rights abuses: it incentivizes racial profiling and harassment by requiring police in the country’s sixth-most diverse state to arrest people they think don’t look sufficiently Texan. Learn more about S.B. 4.

Proposed Rollbacks Of Criminal Legal Reforms Disconnected From Reality

April 2024

In California, the nation’s most populous state, opponents of criminal legal reforms are supporting a ballot initiative that aims to overturn a decade’s worth of previous ballot initiatives that reduced jail time for a number of property and drug crimes. Learn more about the latest pro-prison initiative to gain steam in recent months.

Behind The Headlines: Border Patrol’s Leadership Vacuum Exposes Flawed Migration Management Strategy

March 2024

The United States could invest in fair and efficient solutions to manage large migratory flows, an essentially logistical challenge. Instead, it is misusing the U.S. Border Patrol as a first responder to that challenge. Learn more about Border Patrol’s leadership vacuum threatening to turn a difficult situation into a human rights crisis.

Behind The Headlines: Immigrant Detention in the Blocked Border Security Bill

February 2024

A proposed border bill is stalled for now, but the issue of the border still stands. In our new series, we’re taking a closer look behind the headlines—starting with what this bill gets right and what looks bound to make a bad situation worse. Learn more about how the bill proposed to deal with increasing numbers of arriving asylum seekers.