News & Commentary

The ACLU today announced the release of Lilian Calderon, a Rhode Island mother who was detained last month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Calderon has lived in the United States since she was brought across the border at the age of three, and her sudden detention separated her from her husband and two young children. "Lilian’s detention was inhumane and unlawful," said Adriana Lafaille, staff attorney at ACLU of Massachusetts. "We are pleased that she is back home with her family, and will continue to work to protect Lilian’s rights and to fight against arbitrary detentions like this one." In 2016, Calderon and her husband began a process created by the government that allows individuals in Calderon’s situation to apply for lawful permanent residency. On January 17, she appeared at the Johnston, Rhode Island offices of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) with her husband for an interview designed to confirm their marital relationship – the first step in the process of seeking to become a lawful permanent resident. At the end of the interview, USCIS recognized their marital relationship as legitimate, setting her one step further along the path of seeking her status. Immediately afterward, she was abruptly detained by ICE and taken to a detention facility in Boston. "In this case, the government’s left hand beckoned her forward, and its right hand grabbed her,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. “This is yet another local example of families torn apart and lives disrupted for no legitimate immigration enforcement purpose. We are glad that she is able to return to Rhode Island and her family." The ACLU of Massachusetts – with support from the ACLU of Rhode Island – filed a petition in federal court to seek the immediate release of Calderon. The lawsuit argued that Calderon’s detention was a violation of her constitutional right to due process and federal immigration laws and regulations. "I am so happy to see my husband and children again and to be out of immigration detention, which was a terrible ordeal for our family,” said Calderon upon release. “What the government is doing to my family, and to so many others, is simply wrong."

While expressing “strong reservations” about its effectiveness, a Superior Court judge today upheld the constitutionality of a Providence ordinance that prohibits more than three “college students” from living together in certain areas of the city. The decision comes in a lawsuit filed two years ago by ACLU of RI cooperating attorneys Jeffrey L. Levy and Charles D. Blackman on behalf of the owner and tenants – four Johnson & Wales undergraduate students – of a house in the Elmhurst section of Providence. The City ordinance makes it illegal for more than three “college students” to live together in a non-owner-occupied single family home in certain residential areas.

By: Carol Rose, Executive Director, ACLU of Massachusetts and Steven Brown, Executive Director, ACLU of Rhode Island

BREAKING 2/6/18 11:20AM: Judge bars removal of Calderon outside Massachusetts while the suit is pending.  The judge's order is available here.

ACLU of RI executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement today in response to the grand jury finding that police officers and State troopers acted lawfully in the fatal shooting of Joseph Santos last November:

Here are a few absurd facts about RI criminal justice:

The ACLU of Rhode Island has called upon the East Greenwich Town Council to revisit an “Employee Social Media Policy” it adopted last week. In a letter to the Council, the ACLU raises concerns about the policy’s “breadth and its impact on Town employees’ First Amendment rights.” Excerpts from the ACLU’s letter appear below:

In Rhode Island, being a serial graffiti artist can get you a longer prison sentence than being a serial drunk driver; stealing fruit from a farm can get you a prison sentence five times longer than if you steal the same fruit from a supermarket; a felony drug conviction from your teenage past could prevent you from volunteering at your child’s school 20 years later; and you could face years in jail for advertising your drug store for a week without having a pharmacist available during business hours.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island and the R.I. Disability Law Center (RIDLC) have asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Rhode Island to address local law enforcement agencies’ lack of compliance with federal laws requiring them to provide effective communication with people who are deaf and hard of hearing.