Civil Rights and Legal Aid Organizations Demand California Court Ends Unconstitutional $300 Civil Assessment Fees
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 26, 2021 Media Contact Sam Lew, 415-272-8022, slew@lccrsf.org Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area ***PRESS RELEASE*** Civil Rights and Legal Aid Organizations Demand California Court Ends Unconstitutional $300 Civil Assessment Fees …
Governor’s Fines and Fees Approach in May Revise is Right Idea, Wrong Approach
Governor Newsom’s May Revise has set aside $300 million in much needed funds to alleviate $8.6 billion in uncollected traffic debt. Unfortunately, the current proposal in the May Revise is another traffic amnesty program, the third in less than a decade. While …
Judge Orders Bad Boys Bail Bonds to Stop Collecting on $38 Million from Unlawful Contracts in Class Action Suit
For Immediate Release April 9, 2021 Media Contact Sam Lew, 415-272-8022, slew@lccrsf.org Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the SF Bay Area ***PRESS RELEASE*** Judge Orders Bad Boys Bail Bonds …
New Bill Proposes Decriminalizing Jaywalking In California
SAN FRANCISCO – Jaywalking is arbitrarily enforced throughout California. When it is, tickets are disproportionately given to low-income people of color, and sometimes, these encounters with police turn life-threatening. In an effort to reform this unfair system, Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) has introduced AB 1238, The Freedom To Walk Act, which would decriminalize jaywalking, co-sponsored by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and the California Bike Coalition.
NAACP, Demonstrators Sue City of San Jose for Brutal Police Violence During Protests
SAN JOSE — A class action civil rights lawsuit was filed today against City of San Jose on behalf of the NAACP of San Jose/Silicon Valley, the San Jose Peace and Justice Center, and demonstrators and observers who were brutalized by San Jose Police during the late May 2020 demonstrations in response to the murder of George Floyd. San Jose demonstrators were met by the City of San Jose with brutal and racially targeted repression.
Ninth Circuit Court Rules that ICE Neglected Immigrants in Detention During Pandemic
SAN FRANCISCO – In a key victory for immigrants who won their release from two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in California during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today affirmed a lower court’s finding that the immigrants were likely to succeed in their claim that conditions at the facilities during the pandemic were unconstitutional and did not allow adequate social distancing.
Over 1,300 Homeless Bay Area Residents Claim Compensation Following Caltrans Lawsuit
ALAMEDA COUNTY — Nearly four years to the day after homeless residents sued Caltrans for confiscating and destroying their most valuable assets, a historic total of 1,315 homeless and formerly homeless individuals submitted claims seeking compensation for their losses. The class action lawsuit was brought by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF), the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, and the law firm WilmerHale in 2016.
Court Slams ICE for Handling of COVID at Mesa Verde
BAKERSFIELD — In a blistering federal court decision handed down today on the treatment of people imprisoned at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center that resulted in a horrific outbreak of COVID-19 infections, a federal judge condemned actions by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that showed a “deliberate indifference to the safety of the detainees.”
New Documents Reveal ICE and Private Prison Contractor Exacerbates a COVID Outbreak at Immigration Detention Center
SAN FRANCISCO –Last night, detained immigrants held at the Mesa Verde ICE detention center, in Bakersfield California, filed new documents in support of their request that the U.S. District Court continue to exercise oversight over a facility that suffered a severe COVID outbreak in July and August. By mid-August, more than half of those detained and more than a quarter of the staff became infected with the virus.