News & Commentary

Less than two weeks after Governor Donald Carcieri announced layoffs of four interpreters from the Department of Human Services (DHS), the RI ACLU today revealed that DHS is bound by a consent agreement with the federal government to “schedule interpreters or bilingual staff when necessary” to communicate with clients who have limited English proficiency (LEP), and to have procedures in place “permitting timely and effective telephone communication between LEP persons and DHS staff.”

Twenty-two civil rights and community organizations in Rhode Island today sent a letter to Governor Donald Carcieri, condemning his recent publicized comments that criticized the availability of state-employed language interpreters in the courts and other state agencies to help individuals who have difficulty speaking or comprehending English. The letter claims that the Governor’s statements “feed into the xenophobic atmosphere that permeates the immigration debate in our state and has encouraged a palpable discriminatory attitude towards people of certain ethnicities and races.”

The ACLU of Rhode Island today filed an open records lawsuit against the R.I. State Police for refusing to release to the ACLU a copy of a five-minute videotape of a controversial traffic stop of a van with fourteen Guatemalans that took place on I-95 this summer, and for also failing to turn over copies of the agency’s policies governing traffic enforcement procedures.

More than a dozen local community and civil rights organizations today sharply criticized the recent response of R.I. State Police to allegations that the police engaged in racial profiling and improperly detained and transported to immigration officials fourteen people, all Guatemalans, who were stopped in a van on July 11th after the driver failed to use a turn signal. The groups said the incident demonstrated the urgent need for passage of legislation restricting local police from enforcing federal immigration law.

The ACLU of Rhode Island has filed a lawsuit against the state Division of Motor Vehicles, charging the agency with a complete failure to comply with an important state law designed to ensure open and responsive government. That law is the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), which requires state agencies to provide advance public notice and seek public comment before they adopt rules and regulations governing their activities.

The ACLU of Rhode Island has called on local hospitals to reject anticipated earmarked federal funding for immigrant health care that could have a serious and negative health impact on undocumented immigrants in the state.

The ACLU of Rhode Island has filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division against the state for failing to provide appropriate language interpreter services in criminal court proceedings to Limited English Proficient [LEP] persons. While crediting the Rhode Island judiciary and legislature for taking an important step this year by appropriating funds for the hiring of six Spanish-speaking court interpreters, the complaint alleges that LEP criminal defendants continue to lack the services that federal law requires.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today entered an appearance in federal court on behalf of Sirak Gebremichael, an Ethiopian immigrant who has been imprisoned for three years by the federal immigration service (“BICE”) solely because he overstayed his visa. The ACLU called Gebremichael’s case the latest example of the federal government’s “low regard” for the rights of immigrants.

The ACLU of Rhode Island and over 20 civil rights and community organizations joined today in the release of a report sharply critical of Governor Donald Carcieri’s civil rights record in his first six months in office. The 16-page report, “Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs in the Governor’s Office,” focuses on five major issues the Governor has dealt with during his term. The report calls his response to them “cause for considerable alarm,” and says they demonstrate “a pattern of ignoring the people with something to say about discrimination when an issue directly affecting them” arises. The report, prepared by the ACLU and two civil rights organizations, concludes with a series of twenty recommendations for the Governor to implement to address the concerns outlined in the report.