Archive for the ‘Immigration’ Category

Hearings held over U.S. policy of warrantless border search and seizure of laptops

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Yahoo! Tech reports:

Miffed that, if you return home from travel overseas, U.S. Customs can decide to search, and even seize, all the files on your computer, your camera, and even your cell phone? So is Senator Russ Feingold, who opened Congressional hearings on the matter last week with a scathing indictment on the practice.

In Feingold’s published opening remarks *** he begins by saying that most Americans are probably not even aware that the practice is now commonplace here. In fact, it’s been going on for at least two years; a full seven percent of business travelers now report having electronic equipment seized at the border.

The New York Times has more here.

Posted in Law, War on Terror, Immigration, Fourth Amendment, Criminal Law | No Comments »

ACLU accuses US Government of drugging immigrants

Saturday, June 23rd, 2007

Legal Brief Today reports:

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU/SC) has brought a federal class action lawsuit against the US on behalf of two immigrants who said they were forcibly drugged with sedatives during deportation proceedings, notes a report on the Jurist site.

The ACLU/SC began an investigation into the alleged incidents soon after the allegations were made. In one incident from December 2004, Reverend Raymond Soeoth, a minister from Indonesia, claims that he was held down by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and injected with Haldol, a powerful anti-psychotic, despite refusing the medication. Amadou Diouf, a Senegalese man married to a US citizen, was allegedly injected with an unidentified psychotropic drug while resisting an illegal deportation in 2005. Neither of the men has a history of mental illness, and the ACLU/SC alleges the druggings were merely meant to silence them.

Posted in Civil Rights, Immigration | No Comments »