Vanita Gupta
Vanita Gupta is a civil rights lawyer and the Deputy Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where she oversees the ACLU's national criminal and drug law reform advocacy efforts and its docket of criminal justice related lawsuits.[1] Gupta is an Indian-American, but mostly grew up in England and France. She is a graduate of Yale and New York University Law School, graduating from law school in 2001.[2]
[edit] Tulia, TX
Her first and most famous case, working for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), involved 46 African-Americans in Tulia, Texas, who had been convicted by an all-white jury on drug dealing charges.[3] In almost every case, the only evidence was the testimony of an undercover agent, Tom Coleman. Coleman did not use wiretaps, and records showed that he had "filed shoddy reports",[4] and had a previous misdemeanor charge for stealing gasoline from a county pump.[4] Gupta won the release of all of the defendants in 2003, four years after they were jailed, then negotiated a $5 million settlement for those arrested.[3]
[edit] Hutto
In 2007, after becoming a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, Gupta fought to improve the conditions for children and their families in immigration detention.[5] In August 2007, a landmark agreement was reached between ACLU and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, under which the conditions in the T. Don Hutto detention center improved and a number of children from the center were released.[5]
On 6 August 2009, the Department of Homeland Security announced intentions to improve the nation's immigration detention system, including ending family detention at the T. Don Hutto family detention center in Taylor, Texas.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ "Biography of Vanita Gupta, The Huffington Post Blog Contributor". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vanita-gupta. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
- ^ Lynda Richardson (16 April 2003). "PUBLIC LIVES; Young Lawyer, Old Issue: Seeking Social Justice". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/16/nyregion/public-lives-young-lawyer-old-issue-seeking-social-justice.html. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ a b M. Chooki (17 December 2004). "India Abroad Awards, Bhardwaj is ‘India Abroad Person of the Year,’ Gupta gets Special Award". News India-Times.com. http://www.newsindia-times.com/nit/2004/12/17/newsmakers29-top.html. Retrieved 2009-08-07.[dead link]
- ^ a b Jim Yardley (August 29, 2002). "Texas Attorney General Opens An Inquiry Into '99 Drug Sweep". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/29/us/texas-attorney-general-opens-an-inquiry-into-99-drug-sweep.html. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ a b "Landmark Settlement Announced in Federal Lawsuit Challenging Conditions at Immigrant Detention Center in Texas". American Civil Liberties Union. 27 August 2007. http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/detention/31469prs20070827.html. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ Aziz Haniffa (7 August 2009). "Major victory for Indian American lawyer". Washington DC: Rediff. http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/aug/07/major-victory-for-indian-american-attorney.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
