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 Obama’s First Year We Must End Indefinite Detention Another Damning Report on the FBI’s Abuse of Power Systemic Overhaul Needed After Immigrant Deaths Exposed Women Still Waiting for Justice in Their Paychecks Time to Retire Ideological Exclusion Leave a Legacy The Hard Numbers Behind Laptop Searches at the Border
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) believes that it has the right to search documents and electronic devices of any traveler at the border. The policy, issued in 2008 and updated in 2009, allows for everything from your photos of family on your cameraphone to your company's trade secrets on your laptop to be searched. And, CBP can conduct these searches on any traveler—citizens and noncitizens alike—"absent individualized suspicion," meaning no suspicion of wrongdoing is even required. The ACLU feels that this policy violates travelers' First and Fourth Amendment rights. So, we filed a Freedom of Information Act request for records concerning the criteria for carrying out the searches, how many travelers had been subjected to the searches, the number of devices retained and the reasons for their retention. Last week, the ACLU received 863 pages of documents. Here's what we know: – In a span of just nine months, CBP officials searched over 1,500 electronic devices belonging to travelers. – Cell phones were the most commonly searched-and-seized devices between October 2008 and June 2009. – Other types of devices that were searched and detained include digital cameras, thumb drives, hard drives, and DVDs. – Between July 2008 and June 2009, CBP transferred electronic files found on travelers' devices to third-party agencies (often to translate or decrypt what's on the device) almost 300 times. Over half the time, these unknown agencies asserted the right to retain or seize the transferred files. More than 80 percent of the transfers involved the CBP making copies of travelers' files. For those of you who travel across the border frequently, we have a few suggestions for how to keep those trade secrets (and pictures of your family) private. >>Read the documents released by Customs and Border Protection. back to top  Do you know somebody who would be interested in getting news about the ACLU and what we're doing to protect civil liberties? Help us spread the word about ACLU Online — forward this newsletter to a friend. | January 29, 2010
After one year of his presidency, we have reviewed the progress made on civil liberties. Of a set of 145 detailed recommendations the ACLU made to the new president upon his election, the administration has acted on just over one-third of them. Starting with bold executive orders to end torture and close the prison at Guantánamo, and continuing with positive actions in areas like open government and civil rights, the Obama administration has made some significant strides toward restoring civil liberties and the rule of law. The administration's record on the ACLU's highest priority recommendations—those it asked President Obama to take on his first day in office—is uneven. Despite the president's executive order to close the notorious prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, it remains open, detainees remain there indefinitely without charge or trial and the flawed military commission system is still being used. And while the president ordered an end to torture and the Justice Department has initiated a very limited inquiry into detainee abuse, the president has shown little appetite for encouraging a comprehensive torture investigation that would include high level officials from the Bush administration. The Obama administration has also retained its authority to engage in extraordinary renditions. On the ACLU's other top priorities—those it asked President Obama to act on within his first 100 days in office—the administration's record is weak. On issues like spying on Americans, the monitoring of activists, terrorism watchlists, the Real ID Act and DNA databases, the administration has carried out none of the ACLU's recommendations. On the issues of civil rights, open government, freedom of speech and reproductive freedom, the administration has fared much better—as it has acted on roughly half of the ACLU's recommendations. But it is clear after one year that the administration has a lot more work to do, and the ACLU will continue to vigorously fight for and support such action. >>What do you think? Take the State of Civil Liberties Survey. Then, share it with your friends. >>Read the ACLU’s report on the Obama administration’s civil liberties record. back to top
According to news reports last week, a presidential task force has recommended the detention without trial of nearly 50 of the 198 prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay because "they are too difficult to prosecute but too dangerous to release." When we imprison people indefinitely without due process, we violate the most basic tenets of the American justice system, including the presumption of "innocent until proven guilty." Another Damning Report on the FBI’s Abuse of PowerIf there is reliable evidence against a detainee, he should be prosecuted in our federal courts, which are well-equipped to handle sensitive national security evidence while protecting fundamental rights. If no evidence exists for prosecution, detainees should be released or transferred to countries where they won’t be tortured. We must restore the rule of law and reclaim American values. President Obama needs to hear from all Americans who want to see failed Bush administration policies reversed and these injustices brought to an end. >>Take action now: Tell President Obama to end indefinite detention and close Guantánamo. >>Learn more, go to www.aclu.org/indefinitedetention. back to top The Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released another damning report last week on the FBI’s use of National Security Letters (NSLs). Systemic Overhaul Needed After Immigrant Deaths ExposedNSLs allow the FBI to secretly demand sensitive customer information from telephone and internet communications companies, financial institutions and credit agencies—without suspicion or prior judicial approval. The statute was broadly rewritten in the Patriot Act. Anyone who receives an NSL is "gagged," so they can't tell anyone they received one. This violation of the First Amendment enshrined into the Patriot Act has made NSLs the FBI's go-to surveillance tool since 9/11. And they've been abusing this tool repeatedly. The OIG report released last week is the third report of abuse in the last four years that details the bureau’s flagrant and institutionalized abuse of NSLs. The FBI assures us they have this under control. For years, Congress has stood by while report after report has been released. The bureau clearly cannot be trusted to police itself, so it’s time to stand up to the FBI's pick-and-choose approach to the rules. Congress must fulfill its oversight role and ensure that this power is reined in. Congress will soon be voting on reauthorizing three provisions of the Patriot Act, including the NSL provisions. It is time to tell them to rein in the government’s authority to dig through our sensitive information. >>Take action: Tell your members of Congress to reform the Patriot Act. back to top Internal government documents show how top government officials carried out an intentional campaign to try and hide the brutal mistreatment of immigration detainees that has contributed to 107 in-custody deaths since late 2003. Women Still Waiting for Justice in Their PaychecksThe documents were obtained by the ACLU and the New York Times from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In 2007, the ACLU sought information about whether ICE—or any independent monitoring agency—adequately tracks deaths of immigration detainees, who are often housed in county jails around the country alongside criminal detainees or in one of numerous immigration detention facilities managed by private prison companies. In 2008, the ACLU filed a FOIA lawsuit demanding access to any and all documents and information in the government’s possession related to the deaths of detainees at immigration detention centers—the patchwork system of privately-run jails, federal prisons and county facilities the government uses to hold undocumented immigrants while it tries to deport them. Prior to the ACLU's FOIA requests, reports to Congress from the Office of the Inspector General contained only vague and sporadic references to investigations into these deaths. Combined with the Times’ reporting, the ACLU’s FOIA litigation contributed to a number of major concessions by the Obama administration. In August, administration officials announced plans to overhaul the immigration detention system and create “a truly civil detention system.” The Obama administration was also forced in August to reveal 11 additional deaths in immigration detention that the government had not previously made public. But these piecemeal concessions are not enough. The evidence uncovered by the ACLU and the Times underscores the urgent need for overhaul and reform. >>Take action: Tell Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that the time for sweeping, systemic reform of immigration detention is now. >>Learn more about reports of immigrant deaths in U.S. custody. back to top
January 29, 2010 marks the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the first bill signed into law by President Obama. This critical law fixed a 2007 Supreme Court decision that sharply limited workers’ opportunities to challenge wage discrimination—and undermined civil rights law that had been in place for decades. Time to Retire Ideological ExclusionEnactment of this law was a decisive victory for pay equity, and the anniversary of its signing is an important milestone. The Ledbetter Act, however, merely restored the previously-held right to take gender-based pay discrimination issues to court. Unfortunately, the continuing existence of a dramatic gender-based wage gap proves that a mere restoration of rights is not enough to ensure equal pay for all women. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women who work full-time continue to earn an average of 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. The statistics for women of color are even worse. Pay discrimination based on gender became illegal in 1963 with the passage of the Equal Pay Act, but 47 years later, women are still waiting for its promise to be fulfilled. Over time, the Equal Pay Act has been severely eroded through loopholes, court decisions and inadequate remedies. However, there is a bill currently poised for passage in the Senate—the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182)—which would amend the Equal Pay Act and help end women’s long wait for justice in their paychecks. Enacting the Paycheck Fairness Act would lead us toward the day when women no longer have to wait for the equal pay they deserve. >>Take action: Tell your senators to support the Paycheck Fairness Act. >>Watch a video with Lilly Ledbetter talking about the importance of passing this critical legislation. back to top Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has signed orders that effectively end the ideological exclusion of Professors Adam Habib and Tariq Ramadan—two prominent scholars who were denied visas to enter the United States under the Bush administration. In two separate lawsuits, the ACLU represents a handful of American organizations that have invited the scholars to speak to American audiences. The practice of ideological exclusion violates Americans' First Amendment right to hear constitutionally-protected speech by denying foreign scholars, artists, politicians and others entry to the U.S. The orders signed by Secretary Clinton state that, in the future, Professors Habib and Ramadan will not be denied visas on the same grounds that they were denied them in 2006 and 2007. To enter the United States, however, the scholars will need to apply for visas—a process likely to take several weeks. We're hopeful that, given the order from Secretary Clinton herself, their visa applications will be granted post-haste. “The Obama administration should now conduct a broader review of visas denied under the Bush administration, reverse the exclusions of others who were barred because of their political beliefs and retire the practice of ideological exclusion for good,” stated Melissa Goodman, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project and counsel in the Habib and Ramadan cases. >>Learn more about ideological exclusion. back to top Join us on...
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| American Civil Liberties Union 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, New York 10004-2400 Geraldine Engel, Lisa Sock and Shannon Scanlan, Editors
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