generic nexium uk Articles Tagged ‘Las Cruces’
generic nexium uk Las Cruces to anti-gay protester: “Baby, we were born this way!”
At PRIDE in Las Cruces: RCBR Director Vicki Gaubeca with Rebecca Dakota & Havens Levitt, lead plaintiffs in the ACLU-NM's domestic partner benefits lawsuit.
This weekend Las Cruces celebrated Southern New Mexico Pride, and the ACLU of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights was proud to be in attendance. As the ACLU staff collected signatures for a petition asking New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman to become a cosponsor of the bill that repeals the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,” we noticed that Southern New Mexico Pride had its first anti-gay protester.
Now, we at the ACLU will be the first to defend anyone’s right to free speech–even if we find that speech extremely offensive. This lone protester’s opinion was especially hateful and abhorrent, but he had every right to publicly express that opinion. It has always been the ACLU’s stance that the best response to bad speech is more, better speech. And that is exactly what the good folks down at Southern New Mexico Pride delivered.
Anti-gay Protester at Southern New Mexico PRIDE
Rather than get into a heated, nasty confrontation with the protester, the Pride-goers simply cranked up Lady Ga-Ga’s self-affirming anthem “Born this Way” and drowned out the protester’s hateful remarks. You can watch the video below:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgkZYAO-G_E&feature=youtu.be
This is what America looks like. You have the constitutional right to express hatred and homophobia. But we reserve our constitutional right to drown you out with a celebration of diversity, inclusivity and fairness.
Posted in Freedom Forum | 
Tags: 1st Amendment, Gay Pride, Las Cruces, LGBT Rights, Public Education, Southern New Mexico | 
No Comments »
generic nexium uk No Fly with Me
generic nexium uk ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging Unconstitutional “No Fly List”
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.
generic nexium uk MALDEF, ACLU and Otero County Sheriff’s Department Resolve Civil Rights Suit
Sheriff’s Department Agrees to Revise Operational Procedures Concerning Immigrants
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday April 9, 2008 |
CONTACT: Whitney Potter, ACLU of New Mexico (505) 507-9898 or Laura Rodriguez, MALDEF (310) 956-2425 |
| LAS CRUCES, NM— MALDEF and the ACLU of New Mexico today announced a landmark settlement with the Otero County Sheriff’s Department that addresses what plaintiffs alleged were civil rights violations committed by county deputies during immigration sweeps last September in the southern New Mexico town of Chaparral. Civil rights advocates say the agreement will help restore community trust in local law enforcement and greatly improve the safety of all people living in the County.
The case settled after the Sheriff’s Department agreed to revise Operational Procedures that are intended to ensure that the rights of all Latinos living in the County would be protected and that they would not become the targets of immigration-related investigations and detentions without justification. Otero County also agreed to pay the families who brought the case monetary damages and an amount to cover their attorney’s fees and the costs of the suit. ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson said, “The sheriff’s department worked with us to draft a policy that draws clear boundaries around what are and what are not the responsibilities of local law enforcement officers when they encounter immigrants. It was drafted with one thing in mind: maximizing public safety. This is a smart policy that stands as an example to all other law enforcement agencies around the state.” On behalf of five Latino families, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico alleged in the lawsuit that sheriff’s deputies raided homes in Chaparral without search warrants, interrogated families without evidence of criminal activity, and targeted households on the basis of race and ethnicity. David Urias, MALDEF Staff Attorney and counsel in the case, said, “The agreement by the Sheriffs Department to revise their procedures means that Latinos in Otero County will be protected by local police from crimes, not randomly targeted for immigration enforcement.” # # # The mission of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico is to maintain and advance the cause of civil liberties within the state of New Mexico, with particular emphasis on the freedom of religion, speech, press, association, and assemblage, and the right to vote, due process of law and equal protection of law, and to take any legitimate action in the furtherance and defense of such purposes. These objectives shall be sought wholly without political partisanship. Please visit: www.aclu-nm.org Founded in 1968, MALDEF, the nation’s leading Latino legal organization, promotes and protects the rights of Latinos through litigation, advocacy, community education and outreach, leadership development, and higher education scholarships. For more information on MALDEF, please visit: www.maldef.org. Related Documents:
. . html: Press Release (10-17-07) html: Media Advisory: Oct. 17, 2007 Press Conference html: Press Release (9-14-07)
.
|
|
Posted in News |
Tags: Immigrants' Rights, Las Cruces, Legal Advocacy and Litigation, Police Practices, Racial Justice |
Comments Closed
generic nexium uk ACLU Lawsuit against NMSU Football Coach Settles
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.”
###
Related Documents:
Posted in News |
Tags: 1st Amendment, Las Cruces, Legal Advocacy and Litigation, Religious Freedom |
No Comments »
Loading ...
