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Access in-depth resources and analysis published by the ACLU regarding our most pressing civil liberties issues.

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Spring 2024 Impact Report

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Spring 2024 Impact Report

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Research & Analysis

License to Abuse: How ICE’s 287(g) Program Empowers Racist Sheriffs

This ACLU research report, License to Abuse: How ICE’s 287(g) Program Empowers Racist Sheriffs and Civil Rights Violations, examines the records of sheriff offices and other law enforcement agencies that participate in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) 287(g) program. This comprehensive review revealed that racial profiling, poor jail conditions and other civil rights violations are widespread among the 142 state and local law enforcement agencies ICE describes as participants in the 287(g) program as of April 2022. With strong recommendations for federal, state and local governments, this report investigates the unjust impacts of the 287(g) program and ways for the government to remedy the harm.

Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights
A man stands next to a boy outside of an ICE detention center and holds sign calling for end to 287g agreements.
Annual Report

ACLU 2021 Annual Report

The ACLU’s 2021 annual report shares how the organization fought back against this year’s barrage of state legislation aimed at suppressing the vote, banning abortion, restricting transgender rights, and more. The report celebrates major victories, including the ACLU’s Supreme Court win protecting the free speech rights of 50 million public school students, and reflects on key moments throughout the organization’s history, such as Tinker v. Des Moines—the landmark student speech case that set the precedent for this year’s win. There are also inspiring stories of families within the ACLU community who are empowering the next generation of activists.

To download a more print-friendly spreads layout, click here.

Celebratory animation of people using bullhorns and holding up posters at a rally
Research & Analysis

Report: Behind Closed Doors: Abuse & Retaliation Against Hunger Strikers in U.S. Immigration Detention

Behind Closed Doors: Abuse & Retaliation Against Hunger Strikers in U.S. Immigration Detention, a new research report from ACLU and PHR (Physicians for Human Rights), provides an in-depth, nationwide examination of what happens to people who engage in hunger strikes while detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Findings are based on an assessment of over 10,000 documents obtained through FOIAs, a review of ICE current policies, and interviews of formerly detained people who engaged in hunger strikes. The report covers during both Obama and Trump administrations and identifies over 1,000 hunger strikers across 24 states. It concludes with actionable recommendations for federal and state governments and medical professionals.

[Executive Summary in Spanish]

Issue Areas: Criminal Law Reform, Prisoners' Rights
Research & Analysis

Reckless Lawmaking: How Debt-Based Driver's License Suspension Laws Impose Harm and Waste Resources

This ACLU research report, “Reckless Lawmaking: How Debt-Based Driver’s License Suspension Laws Impose Harm and Waste Resources,” documents the pervasive practice of using driver’s license suspension as a consequence for unpaid fines and fees.

Through policy analysis and individual interviews with those who had their license suspended, this report provides an in-depth examination of this common practice of debt-based suspensions and demonstrates how court ordered monetary obligations, or “fines and fees,” are inextricably linked to over-policing, criminalization, and mass incarceration. It provides detailed recommendations for policymakers and DMVs, calls for lawmakers to more accurately consider the value of continuing to fund government services through predatory fines and fees in light of the consequent harm, and proposes concrete policy reforms for states and municipalities.

Issue Areas: Criminal Law Reform
Annual Report

ACLU Annual Report 2020

The ACLU’s 2020 Annual Report provides highlights of the organization’s litigation and advocacy work as it responded rapidly to the COVID-19 pandemic across civil liberties issues, demanded justice for Black lives in the wake of an epidemic of police violence, and fought tirelessly to safeguard access to the ballot in the critical 2020 elections. The report also includes a reflection on the ACLU’s first century as it celebrates its centennial year, alongside a tribute to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who founded the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project in 1972.

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Issue Areas: Civil Liberties
Crowds of people holding BLM sign, with ACLU Annual Report overlaid on the image.

ACLU Magazine

Published twice a year, ACLU Magazine shares updates on the ACLU’s critical litigation and advocacy work across the country and tells the stories of the activists, attorneys, and clients at the heart of each case and campaign. To receive ACLU Magazine by mail, become a monthly donor today.

The front cover of ACLU Magazine's Spring 2024 cover.

ACLU Magazine Spring 2024

This issue of ACLU Magazine covers recent litigation efforts for voting rights, free speech, and racial justice as well as historic electoral victories for reproductive freedom. There are features on the ACLU’s wave of redistricting cases across the South after Allen v. Milligan, the decade-long fight to secure federal protections for pregnant workers, and ongoing advocacy to ensure that advances in artificial intelligence don’t deepen racial inequities in public life. The issue also spotlights the ACLU of Alaska’s “DEcarcerated” art exhibition, border activist Fernie Quiroz, Reynolds v. Sims, and more. ISSN (online): 2640-3579 To download a more print-friendly spreads layout, click here.
The cover of ACLU Magazine Fall 2023 features a close-up of Emahunn Raheem Ali Campbell, a legal fellow at the ACLU Racial Justice Program.

ACLU Magazine Fall 2023

The stories in the Fall 2023 issue of ACLU Magazine cover the ACLU’s work to expand voter access, defend abortion rights, and challenge housing discrimination and racist jury bans. There are feature stories on the next generation of social justice advocates, the ACLU of Louisiana’s Justice Lab, and how the ACLU of Massachusetts and its partners jumped into action when immigrant families were sent to Martha’s Vineyard from Texas as part of a political stunt. The issue also spotlights the ACLU’s Drag Defense Fund, criminal law activist Marq Mitchell, Tinker v. Des Moines, and more. ISSN (online): 2640-3579 To download a more print-friendly spreads layout, click here.
The cover of ACLU Magazine Spring 2023 features an image of a school in the distance and child of color sitting outside alone at a desk facing the school with her back to the viewer.

ACLU Magazine Spring 2023

The spring 2023 issue of ACLU Magazine covers state litigation and advocacy efforts for education equity, trans justice, bail reform, abortion access, and more. There are stories that celebrate major victories, including Michigan’s groundbreaking reproductive freedom ballot measure and Shelby County’s new bail system, and others that detail ongoing fights for students of color in California and transgender people in Iowa. This issue also features a critical Alabama redistricting case, the civil rights legend Leona Tate, a Texas teen who started a banned book club, and a reflection on Loving v. Virginia. ISSN (online): 2640-3579 To download a more print-friendly spreads layout, click here.
The cover of ACLU Magazine featuring filled ballot bags stacked upon another.

ACLU Magazine Fall 2022

In the lead-up to the midterm elections, the Fall 2022 issue of ACLU Magazine highlights a few of the many people in the trenches protecting access to the ballot and fortifying local election infrastructure in the battleground states of Michigan, Ohio, and Georgia. The magazine covers the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe and what it means for abortion access in hostile states. It also includes stories about defending protesters’ rights, the ACLU of Northern California’s efforts to stop sheriffs from secretly transferring immigrants from local jails to ICE, and the fight against a deluge of classroom censorship bills in Oklahoma, Idaho, and beyond. To download a more print-friendly spreads layout, click here.
The cover of ACLU Magazine featuring woman looking off into the distance.

ACLU Magazine Spring 2022

This issue of ACLU Magazine features a cover story on the Texas Abortion Access Network and the future of the fight for reproductive rights. It also includes a feature story on the U.S. highway system’s destruction of Black communities and how the NYCLU’s I-81 Project in Syracuse is a blueprint for repair; an explainer on how the ACLU is advancing transgender justice through gender-affirming care, school sports, and accurate IDs; an update on the ACLU’s redistricting work; a first-person piece by Collette Flanagan, the founder of Mothers Against Police Brutality; and much more. To download a more print-friendly spreads layout, click here.
red cover featuring a drawing of a house and palm trees

ACLU Magazine Fall 2021

The Fall 2021 issue of ACLU Magazine includes feature stories that investigate America’s history of racial covenants and systemic racism, showcase the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties’ work to provide safe haven for asylum seekers, and highlight activists curtailing police surveillance in their neighborhoods. Plus, there are updates on the ACLU’s free speech cheerleader case, D.C. statehood, and the battle against an unprecedented wave of voter suppression bills as well as profiles of ACLU President Deborah N. Archer, actress and singer Peppermint, and Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown. To download a more print friendly spreads layout, click here.

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