SPLC Case Update (5-2-2019)
Case Update: Court certifies class action against Trump administration
We’re suing the Trump administration on behalf of immigrant children who languished in detention centers across the country despite having sponsors waiting to provide homes for them. Alongside our partners at the Legal Aid Justice Center and Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox PLLC, we’re asking the court to order the prompt release of children to family members and to stop the administration’s policy of sharing the identities of potential sponsors with immigration enforcement officials. Last week, a federal court certified the lawsuit as a class action.
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SPLC: Trump’s defense of his Charlottesville comments emboldens white nationalists
Even in the wake of the antisemitic attack in California last weekend, President Trump continues to embolden white nationalists. In recent days, he doubled down on his horrendous claim after the deadly Charlottesville rally in 2017 that there were “some very fine people” among the neo-Nazis, Klansmen and other racists marching in the streets chanting white supremacist slogans. Read our response.
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Louisiana, the incarceration capital of the world, is an opportunity for reform
For nearly 20 years, Louisiana was the incarceration capital of the world. Unfortunately, it bears this shameful title again. The state once more has the highest incarceration rate, imprisoning 719 of every 100,000 residents, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Lawmakers passed bipartisan reforms in 2017 to reduce the prison population, save tax dollars and improve public safety. But further action is clearly needed.
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News You Should Know
Northern Va. school systems unite behind transgender student in landmark case (The Washington Post)
Dozens of civil rights groups ask presidential candidates to support letting people in prison vote (Huffington Post)
Brown v. Board of Education decision, 65 years later (Topeka Capital-Journal)
In California, home to many hate groups, officials struggle to spot the next threat (The New York Times)
Lynching memorial adds new monument honoring 1950s victims (Associated Press)
Mississippians at odds over Confederate holiday (Mississippi Public Broadcasting)
Trump tightens asylum rules, will make immigrants pay fees to seek humanitarian refuge (The Washington Post)
‘No one feels safe here’: Life in Alabama’s prisons (The New York Times)