Velasco Perea v. Town of Northwood
On November 14, 2018, in the third lawsuit filed by the ACLU of New Hampshire’s new Immigrants’ Rights Project, the ACLU-NH sued the Northwood Police Department after it unlawfully arrested a
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire receives hundreds of requests for assistance each year, but because of limited resources only a small percentage actually become ACLU-NH cases. We are unable to take many cases, even those concerning real injustices. If your complaint is not pursued by our office, it does not mean it is without merit.
In order to request legal assistance, you must fill out an online legal intake form. This form does not give legal advice, and you should not rely on it as legal advice. This form is not an offer by the ACLU to represent you. We cannot promise you that the information you provide will lead to any specific action on the ACLU’s part. You may fill out a secure online legal intake form or you may print out this form and mail it to:
ACLU of New Hampshire Foundation
18 Low Avenue
Concord, New Hampshire 03301
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Please review this information before filing a request. Even if your complaint falls within these guidelines, filing a complaint does not guarantee that the ACLU will provide legal assistance. If you do file a complaint, please expect to wait up to 60 days before receiving a response.
ACLU-NH does not generally accept this kind of case:
- A person has been fired from a job without a good reason or just cause;
- Domestic matters (divorce, child custody, wills, etc.);
- A person is being denied benefits, such as workers' compensation, unemployment benefits, or Social Security;
- Landlord / tenant or neighbor disputes;
- Immigration process matters (other than certain immigration custody and bond matters through New Hampshire Immigrants' Rights Project); and,
- Criminal cases or complaints about a person's attorney in a criminal case. The ACLU considers accepting criminal cases only in limited instances, such as when a person is being prosecuted for engaging in activity protected by the Constitution.
Before accepting a case, ACLU-NH considers the following:
1. Does the case raise a civil liberties or civil rights issue?
Civil liberties include freedom of speech, press, religion, and association; due process; equal protection; and privacy. Civil rights include, for example, voting rights; discrimination based on disability, race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, or national origin; and police reform. Because of the nature of civil liberties claims, the ACLU only rarely takes a case that does not involve the government.
2. How likely is it that a court will reach the civil liberties issue?
Generally, the ACLU takes cases that do not involve complicated disputes of fact, and prefers cases that involve questions of law only. An example of a factual dispute is an employment discrimination case in which the employer claims he fired the employee because of poor job performance and has credible evidence to support that claim, but the employee disputes the evidence and has credible evidence of their own. Because employment claims are usually very fact dependent, it is not often that the ACLU takes this kind of case.
3. The potential impact, including:
- Will the case set a civil liberties precedent?
- Will the case strengthen an existing but ignored precedent?
- What are the prospects of success and the risks of losing?
- How likely is the issue to recur?
- What educational opportunities does the case present?