Articles Tagged ‘Las Cruces’

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit on behalf of 10 U.S. citizens and lawful residents who are prohibited from flying to or from the United States or over U.S. airspace because they are on the government’s “No Fly List.” None of the individuals in the lawsuit, including a disabled U.S. Marine Corps veteran stranded in Egypt and a U.S. Army veteran stuck in Colombia, have been told why they are on the list or given a chance to clear their names. One of the clients on the ACLU’s case was born and raised in Las Cruces, NM.

“More and more Americans who have done nothing wrong find themselves unable to fly, and in some cases unable to return to the U.S., without any explanation whatsoever from the government,” said Ben Wizner, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. “A secret list that deprives people of the right to fly and places them into effective exile without any opportunity to object is both un-American and unconstitutional.”

The ACLU of New Mexico joined the national ACLU and its affiliates in Oregon, Southern California, and Northern California in filing the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and the Terrorist Screening Center in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. The plaintiffs on the case are:

• Steven Washburn, a U.S. citizen born and raised in Las Cruces, NM and a U.S. Air Force veteran who was prevented from flying from Europe to the United States or Mexico; he eventually flew to Brazil, from there to Peru, and from there to Mexico, where he was detained and finally escorted across the border by U.S. and Mexican officials;
• Ayman Latif, a U.S. citizen and disabled Marine veteran living in Egypt who has been barred from flying to the United States and, as a result, cannot take a required Veterans’ Administration disability evaluation;
• Raymond Earl Knaeble, a U.S. citizen and U.S. Army veteran who is stuck in Santa Marta, Colombia after being denied boarding on a flight to the United States;
• Samir Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed, Abdullatif Muthanna, Nagib Ali Ghaleb and Saleh A. Omar, three American citizens and a lawful permanent resident of the United States who were prevented from flying home to the U.S. after visiting family members in Yemen;
• Mohamed Sheikh Abdirahman Kariye, a U.S. citizen and resident of Portland, Oregon who was prevented from flying to visit his daughter who is in high school in Dubai;
• Adama Bah, a citizen of Guinea who was granted political asylum in the United States, where she has lived since she was two, who was barred from flying from New York to Chicago for work; and
• Halime Sat, a German citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States who lives in California with her U.S.-citizen husband who was barred from flying from Long Beach, California to Oakland to attend a conference and has since had to cancel plane travel to participate in educational programs and her family reunion in Germany.

According to the ACLU’s legal complaint, thousands of people have been added to the “No Fly List” and barred from commercial air travel without any opportunity to learn about or refute the basis for their inclusion on the list. The result is a vast and growing list of individuals who, on the basis of error or innuendo, have been deemed too dangerous to fly but too harmless to arrest.

“Without a reasonable way for people to challenge their inclusion on the list, there’s no way to keep innocent people off it,” said Nusrat Choudhury, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. “The government’s decision to prevent people from flying without giving them a chance to defend themselves has a huge impact on people’s lives – including their ability to perform their jobs, see their families and, in the case of U.S. citizens, to return home to the United States from abroad.”

“The right to move freely for work and to visit family members should never be denied without due process,” said Peter Simonson, Executive Director of the ACLU of New Mexico. “Because of secret no-fly lists, Las Cruces native and U.S. Air Force veteran Steven Washburn was put through a costly, distressing ordeal and to this day doesn’t know the reason why.”

In addition to Wizner and Choudhury, attorneys on the case are Kevin Díaz and cooperating attorney Steven Wilker with the ACLU of Oregon; Ahilan Arulanantham, Jennie Pasquarella and cooperating attorney Reem Salahi with the ACLU of Southern California; Alan Schlosser and Julia Harumi Mass of the ACLU of Northern California; and Laura Ives of the ACLU of New Mexico.

Sheriff’s Department Agrees to Revise Operational Procedures Concerning Immigrants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 2007

CONTACT: (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003

LAS CRUCES, NM—The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico has settled a lawsuit against New Mexico State University (NMSU) head football coach Hal Mumme on behalf of four Muslim players who claim they were victims of religious discrimination.  The parties have agreed to keep the amount of the settlement confidential for six months.

“We are pleased with the outcome,” said ACLU cooperating attorney Joleen Youngers.  “While we were eager to present our clients’ case to a jury, we would be foolish to turn our backs on a reasonable resolution outside of the courtroom.”

ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson said that the settlement “vindicated the rights of our clients” and that “justice had been restored.”

The settlement brings to a close a lawsuit that was filed on August 28, 2006 and that was set for a jury trial beginning next Monday, June 25, 2007.  Three Muslim football players,  Mu’Ammar Ali and twin brothers Anthony and Vincent Thompson, brought the suit alleging that they were discharged from the Aggie football team because of their religion.  An additional Muslim player, Jacob Wallace, joined the case on January 17, 2007.

The lawsuit claimed that Mumme and the NMSU coaching staff created an environment hostile to Islam by emphasizing Christian prayer and religious beliefs, by making ongoing comments disparaging the Muslim players’ religion, and by demonstrating indifference to the players’ faith-based dietary restrictions.  The suit also alleged that Coach Mumme disciplined Muslim players far more harshly than non-Muslim players who committed serious infractions.

Simonson said, “The circumstances that gave rise to this suit demonstrate the importance of keeping government out of religion.  When one person uses his or her privileged position as a government official to advertise their specific religious views, it diminishes religious freedom for all of us, whether we are Muslim, Christian, or of any other denomination.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2007

CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003, Cell (505) 507 9898

LAS CRUCES, NM—The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico has named Maria Nape as the Director of a new ACLU office, located in the border town of Las Cruces, New Mexico, which will defend civil rights, especially of immigrants, in the border region.  Nape has a law degree and years of experience advocating for the rights of migrant farmworkers.

“I am thrilled to head up such an exciting and timely initiative for the ACLU,” Nape said.  “The intensification of law enforcement on the border and growing reactionary attitudes towards immigrants around the country make the ACLU’s new border rights office a vital effort.  I look forward to learning from other border groups how we can complement their work and help create an effective civil rights presence throughout the border corridor.”

Prior to joining the ACLU, Nape spent five years advocating for the rights of migrant farmworkers as Director of the Migrant Farmworker Project at Legal Services Organization of Indiana and as Executive Director of the Farmworker Coordinating Council of Palm Beach County, Florida.  She received her law degree from Indiana University and most recently served on the faculty of Florida Atlantic University’s School of Public Administration.

“Maria is a tremendous addition to our organization,” said ACLU of New Mexico Executive Director Peter Simonson.  “Her combination of legal experience and familiarity with the plight of immigrants will enable her to effectively lead the ACLU’s efforts in this new endeavor.  We look forward to bolstering the presence of the ACLU in communities all along the border.”

When fully outfitted, the new ACLU office will house a staff of three who, in tandem with the National ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, support the border rights work of ACLU affiliates in Texas, Arizona, and San Diego.  The office is part of a state-wide expansion of the ACLU of New Mexico’s facilities and a National ACLU plan to raise the capacity of ACLU affiliates in the middle part of the country to equal that of affiliates on the wealthier and more populous coasts.

Nape said, “Current reactionary laws against immigrants are not working.  Nowhere is this more true than on the border.  People are searched, deported, and sometimes even assaulted on the presumption that they are immigrants and in this country illegally.  The goal of our border office is to combat these un-American practices and ensure that fairness and the promise of the Bill of Rights extends to everyone in the border region, regardless of their nation of origin.”

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