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Tag: aclu of dc

  • To prevent DC crime, ACLU report recommends more funding for youth programs – WTOP News

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    D.C. leaders should invest more funding in youth and reentry programs to prevent crime, according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union.

    D.C. leaders should invest more funding in youth and reentry programs in order to help prevent crime, according to a new 24-page report from the American Civil Liberties Union of D.C.

    The report, called “Building Safety Through Resources: A Better Path to Public Safety in D.C.,” described a number of citywide programs that could benefit from increased investment. It also recommended one step that the D.C. Council has already taken.

    The recommendations come over two months after President Donald Trump’s crime emergency in D.C. ended. However, National Guard troops and federal agents remain patrolling city streets.

    The idea, the report said, is to invest heavily in resources and programs known to address crime, instead of using solutions that include boosting law enforcement presence.

    “Everybody wants to live in a safe community, but we also know the safest communities are the ones with the most resources, not the most police,” Alicia Yass, supervising policy council at the ACLU of D.C. said. “To keep communities safe, we need to invest in solutions that are addressing the root cause of public safety issues, and not just investing in policing and punishment, because that’s not going to have the desired effect.”

    D.C. has already taken steps toward launching a local version of the child tax credit, one of the report’s overarching ideas. But it also proposed increasing funding for the city’s child care subsidy program, so more families can benefit from the aid.

    WTOP has contacted Council Chairman Phil Mendelson for comment on the report’s recommendations.

    For one, initiatives such as the D.C. Library Teen Council program, which offers leadership opportunities to young people, are effective, but Yass called it a “small program.”

    “It can only serve so many teens,” Yass said. “What could a program like that do if it had more funding and was able to grow and be bigger?”

    Programs that support reentry could benefit from increased funding too, Yass said.

    The Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop is one of several that helps with mentoring and job training and placement, but Yass said it similarly “cannot serve every person who was returning to the District from reentry.”

    “If it was given more resources and could be expanded, and more people could gain the benefits of those programs, that would better serve our community as a whole,” Yass said.

    A small initiative run through the Office of the Attorney General, Yass said, does restorative justice, allowing young people to “learn from the mistakes they’ve made, rather than to merely be punished.”

    “There are programs in existence that are trying to make things better and not merely punish people,” Yass said. “We want our communities to thrive, and these types of programs are helping that happen.”

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Scott Gelman

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  • ‘Our only crime is dreaming for a better life’: Lawsuit finds unwarranted immigration arrests unlawful – WTOP News

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    The immigrants’ rights organizations behind the class action lawsuit accusing the federal government of engaging in a pattern of illegal arrests in D.C. since the law enforcement surge started in August held a virtual press conference on Friday.

    Flavio was getting ready with his boss one morning in August when officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived and arrested him and two of his co-workers.

    At first, they were taken in handcuffs to an area near the Pentagon, and then to a private home. Eventually, he said, he was transported to an immigration detention center.

    The immigrants’ rights organizations behind the class action lawsuit accusing the federal government of engaging in a pattern of illegal arrests in Washington, D.C. since the law enforcement surge started in August, held a virtual press conference on Friday. 

    Flavio, an alias used for security reasons, spoke through a translator via Zoom from El Salvador. He said he came to the U.S. in 2023.

    “I came looking for an opportunity to work and contribute to the community. I dedicated myself to working in construction, building patios and laying concrete,” Flavio said.

    Several days after ICE officers came, Flavio was on an airplane with 200 other people, all with their hands and feet shackled as they were being deported back to El Salvador. Flavio described their treatment as “humiliating and degrading.”

    He said through the translator that the hardest part was not having the chance to see a lawyer or appear before a judge.

    “All we were doing was working and seeking a better future for our families,” Flavio said. “The only crime we committed was being poor and working hard for our families.”

    Aditi Shah, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of D.C., said Flavio’s story is only one story of the nearly 1,000 immigrants who have been arrested in the District since the beginning of the law enforcement surge on Aug. 11.

    ACLU of D.C. filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Department of Homeland Security, its director and other federal agencies, charging that federal agents are illegally and indiscriminately arresting people in D.C. who are perceived to be Latino.

    “We’re seeking relief on behalf of all people who, since Aug. 11, have been arrested or will be arrested in D.C. pursuant to the government’s unlawful policy and practice of making these warrantless immigration arrests without probable cause,” Shah said.

    According to Yulie Landan, the staff attorney for the National Immigration Project, the current approach to enforcement is having a deep impact on every D.C. resident.

    “It’s creating a sense that anyone can be stopped and interrogated at any moment, and that your race or background or preferred language is sufficient to make that happen,” Landan said.

    CASA, a local organization that advocates for immigrants, also talked about the lawsuit at the news conference.

    “Masked and armed federal agents have flooded the streets of the nation’s capital, indiscriminately arresting without warrants and without probable cause,” said Ama Frimpong, CASA’s legal director. “This racial profiling is unacceptable, and it is illegal.”

    Flavio added that immigrants contribute a great deal to the U.S.

    “We work, we build, and we contribute with honor. I ask for respect for our dignity and our rights,” Flavio said. “Our only crime is dreaming for a better life for ourselves and our families.”

    WTOP’s Abigail Constantino contributed to this report.

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Jimmy Alexander

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