Press Releases

Religious belief does not give employers license to fire transgender employees

“Christianity has been so weaponized against the LGBTQ community, but there doesn’t need to be a conflict: you can be transgender and Christian. I am," said ACLU-VA client Ellenor Zinski.
Issue Areas: LGBTQ+ Rights

Georgetown peace scholar detained for speech last year asks appeals court to reaffirm his freedom

"The Trump administration is trying to silence speech it doesn’t agree with by targeting people like Dr. Suri and Mahmoud Khalil, but ideas are not illegal,” said ACLU-VA Senior Staff Attorney Geri Greenspan.

Virginia lawmakers limit the Trump administration’s ability to commandeer Virginia resources for its anti-immigrant agenda

“Virginia resources should go toward keeping Virginians safe, not disappearing them," said ACLU-VA Policy Director Chris Kaiser.
Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights

Today Virginia can begin the process of implementing historic ruling to dismantle Jim Crow era voting restrictions

“The court stood firm on its historic ruling in King v. Youngkin, paving the way for thousands of disproportionately Black Virginians to reclaim voting rights back that should never been stripped in the first place,” said ACLU-VA Senior Supervising Attorney Vishal Agraharkar.
Issue Areas: Voting Rights
Court Cases: King v. Youngkin

Ending 287(g) agreements protects Virginia’s immigrant communities and makes us all safer

“Together, Virginia is speaking with one voice: we will not be coopted into carrying out the Trump administration’s brutal and legally dubious anti-immigrant agenda,” said ACLU-VA Policy Director Chris Kaiser.
Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights

ACLU FOIA litigation reveals ICE actively considering opening six new immigration detention centers

“Abuse and civil rights violations are rampant in these facilities, and the public has a right to know where and how the government intends to expand its use of these deadly facilities," said ACLU-VA Senior Immigrants' Rights Attorney Sophia Gregg.
Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights
Court Cases: ACLU Foundation v. ICE

Federal judge restores thousands of Virginians' voting rights in historic ruling

“Virginia’s government has blatantly broken the law for more than a century by disenfranchising everyone with a felony conviction, disproportionately affecting Black and Brown Virginians,” said ACLU-VA Senior Supervising Attorney Vishal Agraharkar.
Court Cases: King v. Youngkin

Federal judge rules ACLU of Virginia class action lawsuit against VDOC’s use of solitary confinement can go to trial

“VDOC has held hundreds of people in agonizing solitary confinement conditions indefinitely – despite the fact that officials knew they were inflicting suffering and these conditions are unconstitutional,” said ACLU-VA Senior Supervising Attorney Vishal Agraharkar.
Issue Areas: Criminal Legal Reform

VDOC is once again illegally prolonging people’s sentences by refusing to credit their hard work in Virginia prisons

“Just because VDOC doesn’t like the law as it’s written doesn’t mean it can go rogue and make its own,” said ACLU-VA Senior Supervising Attorney Vishal Agraharkar.
Issue Areas: Criminal Legal Reform