Court Cases

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has filed a Freedom of Information Act request in federal court regarding the detention and deportation proceedings of Sereyrath "One" Van, a longtime lawful permanent resident who resided in Philadelphia prior to his detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Mr. Van was born in Thailand in 1980 after his family fled the Cambodian genocide. He was admitted to the United States as a refugee at the age of four, and is now a Green Card holder. After a 2018 arrest, ICE began removal proceedings against Mr. Van. In 2021, an immigration judge ordered that Mr. Van be deported to Thailand, or if not possible, to Cambodia – a country that Mr. Van has never set foot in. At the time, ICE was unable to remove Mr. Van. They re-detained him briefly in 2023 but released him again, this time under ICE supervision. For months, Mr. Van complied with his order of supervision, which included regular check-ins at an ICE field office. In August 2024, ICE detained Mr. Van at his ICE check-in and brought him to Moshannon Valley Processing Center. The Freedom of Information Act request filed on behalf of Mr. Van seeks all records regarding ICE’s detention and planned deportation of Mr. Van, including any correspondence between embassy officials and ICE. This is particularly important because Mr. Van faces removal to a country where he has never set foot and his removal order, which ICE provided to him and which ICE has to provide to embassies to seek travel documents, had been visibly modified. Having an understanding of the representations ICE has made in seeking travel documents for him—including whether the altered removal order was used to seek travel documents under false pretenses—and ICE’s policies and practices on seeking travel documents is critical in protecting Mr. Van’s rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the National Immigration Litigation Alliance have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania seeking the production of records regarding allegations of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County. The Moshannon facility has been subject to a number of allegations of abuse and an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties since opening as an immigration detention center in 2021, operated by the private prison corporation GEO Group. Moshannon Valley is the largest ICE detention center in the Northeast. ICE’s failure to release these records is a violation of the Freedom of Information Act. This lawsuit asks the United States District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania to compel ICE to release these records.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania has joined an amicus brief with media and free-speech organizations in Salaam v. Trump, a defamation case filed against then-candidate Donald Trump regarding comments he made about the Central Park Five during a Presidential-campaign debate in Philadelphia.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit against the Souderton Area School District regarding the district's ban of two parents and one former student from school property as retaliation for criticisms leveled at a school board member who posted lewd comments about VP Kamala Harris online.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has filed a federal complaint on behalf of the widow of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainee who died while incarcerated at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in December of 2023. Frankline Okpu was a Cameroonian citizen who won immigration relief under the Convention Against Torture in October of 2023. ICE refused to release Mr. Okpu as the agency appealed this decision. In December of 2023, ICE officials found Mr. Okpu unresponsive in his solitary confinement cell. In ICE’s Detainee Death Report – the only public disclosure of the details of Mr. Okpu’s death – ICE claims that Mr. Okpu died as a result of MDMA (or ecstasy) toxicity. In May 2024, the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a Freedom of Information Act request on behalf of Mr. Okpu’s widow to obtain Mr. Okpu’s detention file, medical records, autopsy report, and any witness statements and documented investigations into Mr. Okpu’s death. ICE’s failure to release these records is a violation of the Freedom of Information Act. This lawsuit asks the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to compel ICE to release the records to Mr. Okpu’s family.

ACLU-PA sued the Philadelphia Board of Elections on behalf of two registered voters whose timely mail ballots submitted in the September 17 special election for state representative were rejected because they failed to handwrite a date on the outer return envelope.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Luzerne County voters and an advocacy organization, In This Together NEPA, over the county’s removal of mail ballot drop boxes just weeks ahead of the 2024 general election.

On September 25, 2024, 10 organizations filed a suit in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, asking the court to stop enforcement of the commonwealth’s requirement that voters include a handwritten date on the return envelope of their mail ballot packets.

On September 18, 2024, the Republican National Committee filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court asking the court to use its "King's Bench" authority to stop counties from implementing "notice-and-cure" policies. Notice-and-cure refers to the practice of counties alerting mail voters that there are errors with their mail ballot return packets that could lead to their ballots being disqualified and directing the voters on how to correct their mistakes so that they can submit a ballot that will be counted. On September 20, 2024, the plaintiffs in Genser and Matis v. Butler County Board of Elections and Center for Coalfield Justice et al. v. Washington County Board of Elections filed a motion to intervene in the case. Represented by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, ACLU Voting Rights Project, Public Interest Law Center, and the law firm Dechert LLP, the intervenors argue that the RNC's position would adversely impact their cases and, consequently, thousands of voters. On October 5, 20204, the court declined to hear the RNC's case.