U.S. Advocacy and Litigation
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Barnes v. Felix: Limiting deadly police force
Supreme Court holds that legality of police use of lethal force must be assessed under totality of circumstances, leaving room for consideration of necessity and proportionality, in line with RFK Human Rights amicus brief.
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New Whistleblower Disclosure and Civil Rights Complaint Reveal Abuse, Sexual Harassment, and Medical Neglect at Florida ICE Facility
Tags Share The whistleblower, a former medical practitioner at the Baker County Detention Center, confirms reports of sexual and racial abuse at the facility. MEDIA CONTACTS: ACLU of Florida Media Office, media@aclufl.org; Government Accountability Project, press@whistleblower.org; RFK Human Rights, communications@rfkhumanrights.org WASHINGTON — Lawyers representing a medical practitioner and a young woman filed a whistleblower disclosure
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Franklin v. New York: Protecting the integrity of bail
Supreme Court justices concur that prosecutors cannot use out-of-court statements without cross-examination, in line with RFKHR amicus brief on use of bail reports at trial.
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Defending Human Rights at Home: VP of US Advocacy and Litigation Anthony Enriquez on the Work Ahead of Us
Tags Share No matter who occupies the presidency, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights will continue to fight to reduce the size, scope, and power of all forms of mass incarceration in American society. We have an unshakable commitment to our grassroots partners and our mission to expose and to end police and prison abuses in
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Behind the Headlines: Human Rights at the Ballot Box
Tags Share Immigration and criminal legal issues have been center stage in the 2024 election cycle, from Former President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on immigrants and plans for mass deportations to Vice President Kamala Harris’s record as a former prosecutor. But the national media’s near-exclusive focus on the presidential election obscures other important votes taking
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Torture of Black people in solitary confinement in North Carolina: report to UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
Receiving Body United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent Report Type Submission on Principles, Provisions and Pathways to Reparatory Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Tags Partners
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North Carolina brutalizes Black people with solitary confinement: report to UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
The United States weaponizes solitary confinement against Afro-descendent people in a wide range of detention settings, from municipal jails to state and federal prisons to immigration detention centers, and even within care settings for foster youth. Afro-descendant people, who are disproportionately harmed by U.S. carceral systems, face devastating mental, physical, and emotional harm from solitary…
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Standing with human rights defenders in rural immigration detention: report to UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders
The majority of immigration detention centers are located in remote and rural areas and 67% of detained people have been held in a rural and isolated location at some point during their custody.
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Federal Oversight Body Opens New Investigation Into Notoriously Abusive Louisiana ICE Detention Center
Tags Share Winnfield, LA, October 30, 2024 – After years of advocacy by immigrant rights groups, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) has opened a new investigation into systemic abuse and inhumane conditions at Winn Correctional Center, a notorious immigration detention facility in Winnfield, Louisiana. The investigation will
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Human Rights Groups File Federal Lawsuit Revealing Disability Discrimination at Louisiana ICE Detention Center
Tags Share Basile, LA, October 23, 2024 – Yesterday, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and the ACLU of Louisiana filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Ermine Nersisian, a 51-year-old disabled woman who is currently detained at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center. An asylum seeker from Russia, Ermine suffers from severe, debilitating osteoarthritis and
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Nersisian v Harper: Fighting disability discrimination in immigration detention
ICE releases 51-year-old woman with severe disabilities after RFKHR lawsuit.
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Behind the Headlines: The Urgency of Decarceration in the Fight for Climate Justice
Tags Share In October, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, just weeks after Hurricane Helene, which killed over 200 people across six states. Scientists believe that the intensity and frequency of severe hurricanes in recent years is in large part due to climate change. In one of the largest and most urgent evacuation efforts in
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