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The Rhode Island ACLU today filed a federal lawsuit against the R.I. State Police, challenging the legality of the detention and transporting to immigration officials of fourteen people, all Guatemalans, who were stopped in a van on I-95 on July 11th after the driver changed lanes without using a turn signal. The lawsuit, filed by RI ACLU volunteer attorney V. Edward Formisano on behalf of eleven of the individuals, argues that the actions by the state police violated the state’s Racial Profiling Prevention Act, as well as the driver and passengers’ constitutional rights to be free from discrimination and from unreasonable searches and seizures.

The Rhode Island ACLU has filed a federal civil rights complaint against the state’s Department of Human Services for violating a federal law and a consent agreement with the federal government that requires the agency to provide appropriate interpreter services to clients with limited English proficiency (LEP). The 11-page complaint follows both controversial comments recently made by Governor Carcieri denouncing state-funded interpreters for DHS clients, and layoffs of all the agency’s Southeast Asian interpreters.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today filed an “open records” lawsuit against the Providence Police Department, challenging its refusal to turn over any documents relating to police use of video camera surveillance in public places. The suit, filed in R.I. Superior Court by ACLU volunteer attorney Staci Kolb, seeks a court order requiring release of the records, and the imposition of fines and an award of attorneys fees against the Department. The lawsuit comes exactly one week after the ACLU issued a report that documented widespread non-compliance with the state’s Access to Public Records Act by government agencies, and particularly by police departments.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today filed an open records lawsuit against the Central Falls Police Department in order to obtain documents concerning the fatal shooting by police last month of city resident Selvin Garrido, who was killed when police came to his apartment in response to a 911 call. Garrido was shot after allegedly coming at police with a knife in his hand.

At a Department of Business Regulation hearing scheduled for tomorrow, the ACLU of Rhode Island will be raising significant privacy concerns over proposed regulations that would require many employees at Lincoln Park and Newport Grand to provide detailed financial and other information about themselves. National privacy expert Robert Ellis Smith will be testifying on behalf of the ACLU to note, among other things, that the proposed intrusion on the privacy of employees will likely be of little use to the state, but could be a magnet for identity thieves.