Rogelio is undocumented, living in the US, and originally from Guatemala.
This is the story of how he ended up in immigrant detention during the pandemic.
Rogelio has been in the US since 2013. He spent his first three years in the country working at pizzerias and restaurants; now he works in construction.
“I like to spend time with my family and study English — that’s my hobby.”
Rogelio was detained when his wife was six months pregnant with their first child.
At the Strafford County Department of Corrections in New Hampshire, he was unable to go outside, denied basic medical care, and threatened by ICE staff. concordmonitor.com/Strafford-Coun…
ICE detention conditions have long been horrendous, but Rogelio found that they worsened during the pandemic.
“I wouldn’t wish detention on my worst enemy because it truly is horrible. Some of the officers were very kind, but others just mess with you.” aclu.org/blog/prisoners…
“We saw the news about the virus and started getting worried, because they were still bringing people in off the streets. We got scared when some people inside started having dry coughs. We were in bunk beds, all together, and couldn’t keep distance.” aclu.org/news/immigrant…
While confusion and fear spread alongside the virus, Rogelio also struggled with missing the birth of his first child.
He was finally released when the baby was about two weeks old, but he’ll never get back the opportunity to be present at his child’s birth.
Rogelio is one of the 70,000 people who have been detained during this pandemic.
You can read more about his story and those of the people we profiled here. aclu.org/immigrantstori…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was reintroduced in the Senate today, nearly a month after Sonya Massey, a Black woman, was murdered in her home by a white police officer.
The Senate has neglected to hold a vote on this bill for years despite bipartisan passage in the House.
We’re calling on Congress to strengthen and improve the bill to more comprehensively address police misconduct and brutality, and pass this legislation once and for all.
Qualified immunity prevents victims of police violence from holding officials liable, and protects officers who engage in egregious misconduct.
We need a robust system in place that prevents officers from evading accountability.
The Pentagon continues to send equipment made for the battlefield to police departments across the country, allowing police forces to wreak havoc on our communities.
Federal law must prohibit use of this dangerous technology by law enforcement agencies.
BREAKING: We’re representing the NRA at the Supreme Court in their case against New York’s Department of Financial Services for abusing its regulatory power to violate the NRA’s First Amendment rights.
The government can’t blacklist an advocacy group because of its viewpoint.
We don’t support the NRA's mission or its viewpoints on gun rights, and we don’t agree with their goals, strategies, or tactics.
But we both know that government officials can't punish organizations because they disapprove of their views. nytimes.com/2023/12/09/us/…
If the Supreme Court doesn’t intervene, it will create a dangerous playbook for state regulatory agencies across the country to blacklist or punish any viewpoint-based organizations — from abortion rights groups to environmental groups or even ACLU affiliates.
BREAKING: We're suing Tennessee for their “aggravated prostitution” statute that targets people with HIV with harsh punishment and lifetime sex offender registration.
This law is unconstitutional and disproportionately affects Black and transgender women.
The law elevates engaging in sex work from a misdemeanor to a felony based on someone's HIV status – a protected disability.
People who are convicted must register as violent sex offenders for the rest of their lives, restricting their access to housing, employment, and social services.
Three years ago today, the murder of George Floyd in broad daylight by a Minneapolis police officer sparked the largest protests against police brutality in U.S. history.
George Floyd should still be alive.
George Floyd's murder demonstrated what we've known for too long: The policing institutions in our country are deeply entrenched in racism and violence.
We cannot allow it to continue.
Since June 2020, many cities and states have passed important but modest reforms, strengthening oversight of police departments and banning chokeholds and no-knock warrants.
BREAKING: We’re asking a federal court to block two provisions of an anti-voter law in Georgia that make it harder for people with disabilities to vote.
As it is now, the law makes it a felony for friends, neighbors, or staff who work in shelters or nursing homes to help people receive or return an absentee ballot, even if the person has a disability.
The law also requires counties to move ballot drop boxes indoors and limits their hours.
For people with mobility disabilities, this made turning in their ballot an arduous and painful ordeal — and for some it makes voting inaccessible altogether.
ICWA was passed in 1978 to protect Indigenous children from being removed from their families and communities, at a time when around 90% of Indigenous children were taken and raised outside of their tribes.
The Indian Child Welfare Act legally reaffirms tribal sovereignty, which is the right of tribes to make and be governed by their own laws.
It's embedded in hundreds of treaties, the U.S. Constitution, federal legislation, and Supreme Court decisions going back over 200 years.