吃瓜大本营

In 2013, Michigan passed the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission Act (MIDCA) to ensure that indigent criminal defendants鈥攖hat is, those who cannot afford to pay for counsel themselves鈥攔eceived constitutionally adequate counsel, paid for by the state. This case concerns whether and under what circumstances trial courts can, consistent with MIDCA, order indigent criminal defendants to pay the state back for their attorneys. The ACLU鈥檚 State Supreme Court Initiative, the ACLU of Michigan, and the Michigan State Planning Body filed an amicus brief in the Michigan Supreme Court arguing that MIDCA, properly construed, partially abrogated a different statute authorizing trial courts to assess attorney fees against indigent defendants and explaining that allowing such orders would undermine Michiganders’ right to counsel.

Anybody is susceptible to being stopped, searched, or worse; AI makes new forms of abuse possible

NEW YORK 鈥� The American Civil Liberties Union premiered Wilder Raids, an original short film telling the story of two families whose lives were upended by a violent immigration raid at a horse-racing event in Wilder, Idaho, one year ago today. The film follows the families as they reckon with the lasting trauma of the raid and details the ongoing lawsuit brought by the ACLU, ACLU of Idaho, Cooley LLP, and Stoel Rives LLP seeking accountability. One year ago today, more than 200 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers descended on an otherwise peaceful family event at a horse-racing track in Wilder, Idaho. Law enforcement arrived in armored trucks and a helicopter with flashbang grenades and guns drawn and detained approximately 400 spectators 鈥� including U.S. citizens and children 鈥� for four hours in inhumane conditions before subjecting everyone to suspicionless immigration interrogations. Through interviews with the families and an inside look at the ongoing legal fight, Wilder Raids explores the lasting impact of the raid on those who experienced it and the broader Wilder community. Juana Rodriguez, one of the lead plaintiffs and featured storyteller in the film, is a U.S. citizen who was at the event with her 3-year-old son. After being violently rounded up with hundreds of other families, Rodriguez was placed in zip ties and detained for several hours without food or water. Law enforcement instructed her toddler to hold onto her pocket while Rodriguez remained zip tied and unable to comfort her son. 鈥淚 was like, why? I have my son with me. I have to take care of him. I was scared. If I overreacted, I felt like they were going to hurt me,鈥� Rodriguez said. 鈥淔or the longest time, my son begged me for food. He begged me for water … I wish I could have done more in the moment, but I couldn’t. I think that’s what really gets to me till this day.鈥� The families featured in the film filed a lawsuit last February that argues that federal, state, and local law enforcement used criminal warrants as a pretext for a sweeping immigration dragnet at an event where they knew attendees would be predominantly Latino. The complaint further alleges that the agencies conspired to deprive those detained of their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures and their right to equal protection regardless of ethnicity. The lawsuit invokes federal civil rights laws enacted after the Civil War to protect people from racialized government violence and provides a potential avenue for holding federal actors accountable for constitutional violations. 鈥淒efendants continue to characterize what happened in Wilder as an ordinary warrant execution, but there was nothing routine about the terror they inflicted on hundreds of people trying to spend a Sunday with their families,鈥� said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director on policing at the ACLU. 鈥淭his film makes it impossible to ignore what our clients and their families experienced that day and puts a human face on the reckless violence and cruelty inflicted on the community. One year later, we will not let the government rewrite what happened in Wilder and we will continue fighting to hold those responsible accountable.鈥� 鈥淭he violent raid in Wilder has had significant ripple effects across many communities in Idaho, which can still be felt today, a year later,鈥� said Leo Morales, executive director of the ACLU of Idaho. 鈥淭he film reminds us of how critical it is for every American to rise to the challenge of protecting civil liberties. It also highlights how personal and fragile our rights can be if left unprotected from government action. Families cannot simply shake off and ignore the abuse; it is our collective responsibility to seek justice, take action, and make things whole.鈥� The lawsuit is ongoing as the families await a decision on the defendants鈥� motions to dismiss. On Sept. 8, 2026, plaintiffs filed an opposition brief urging the federal court to allow the lawsuit to proceed. Additional statements from co-counsel are below. Jade Ford, an attorney at Cooley LLP: 鈥淭his film sends a clear message: the Wilder community will not stand idly by in the face of constitutional violations. Every person in this country is entitled to freedom from unlawful seizure and freedom from discriminatory targeting. Those are not hollow promises鈥攖hey are vital constitutional guarantees, and the Wilder community intends to see them enforced.鈥� Wendy Olsen, an attorney at Stoel Rives LLP: 鈥淎ll Idaho families should be able to enjoy community and cultural events without fear that their rights will be violated, that their children will be traumatized or that they will be targeted based on their perceived color or national origin. This film bravely tells that story on behalf of the Wilder community.鈥�

WASHINGTON 鈥� The American Civil Liberties Union today released a new report, 76 Ways Mass Deportation is Breaking Our Democracy, detailing how the Trump administration is using mass deportation as the pretext and mechanism to attack civil liberties and structural democratic safeguards at an unparalleled scale and speed. The report comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests have hit a record high, as the Trump administration has shifted its approach from mass raids to more discrete arrests following widespread outrage. From the deployment of federal agents and military troops for immigration enforcement in U.S. cities, to the mass revocation of visas and other forms of lawful status, and the targeting of immigrants鈥� rights protesters, the Trump administration has repeatedly used immigration policy as a trojan horse for attacks on core pillars of U.S. democracy. Notably, the report categorizes the dizzying array of abuses into three major categories, which often overlap: Attacks on civil rights and liberties, as the Trump administration has used mass deportations as both a pretext and distraction for its assault on myriad constitutional rights 鈥� including the rights to free speech and freedom of assembly and due process 鈥� impacting citizens and noncitizens alike. Attacks on democratic checks and balances, as the administration expands its federal deportation police and executive power, eviscerating due process for immigrants and normalizing ICE鈥檚 violence, while evading and even defying court orders. Attacks on multiracial, pluralistic democracy, as the administration continues to gut existing legal protections and introduce new policies targeting people who are immigrants 鈥� including through visa and entry bans and efforts to end birthright citizenship and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) 鈥� in what appears to be a calculated attempt to change the racial makeup of the U.S. now and into the future. 鈥淔or the past year and a half, the ACLU and advocates have warned that the Trump administration鈥檚 mass deportation agenda pulls straight from an authoritarian playbook 鈥� and now, we鈥檙e seeing the devasting impacts of those policies, with citizens and noncitizens alike paying the price and the state of our democracy in crisis,鈥� said Naureen Shah, director of immigration policy and government affairs at the ACLU. 鈥淭his report is a clarion call to members of Congress to strengthen and repair our pluralistic, multiracial democracy by passing meaningful immigration reforms. That must include creating a broad path to citizenship for immigrants who contribute to our communities and our economy.鈥� Within the report, the ACLU also calls on members of Congress to restore and defend democratic rights and norms through transformative immigration reform, including by creating a broad path to citizenship and modernization of border processing and policies. It also calls on lawmakers to build stronger accountability, transparency and oversight measures to effectively compel the executive branch to uphold civil rights and civil liberties. 鈥淔rom the cancellation of Congressionally mandated protections like TPS to the arrest of noncitizen students for exercising their First Amendment rights, the Trump administration has repeatedly violated bedrock democratic principles under the guise of immigration enforcement,鈥� said Sarah Mehta, deputy director of immigration policy and government affairs at the ACLU. 鈥淎s this administration has shown, no one is safe from its extreme mass deportation agenda. Our elected officials 鈥� and the state of our democracy 鈥� cannot afford to allow this lawlessness to continue. The time to act is now.鈥� This report is the fourth in the ACLU鈥檚 affirmative immigration vision series, in which policy and legal experts explore how the Trump administration鈥檚 immigration agenda has harmed communities nationwide, undermined our democracy, and wreaked havoc on key industries and weakened the American workforce. The series will also outline steps that members of Congress, as well as state and local policymakers, can take to reform the U.S. immigration system and inoculate against future attacks on core rights and safety. You can read the full report here: /publications/76-ways-mass-deportation-is-breaking-our-democracy