“Revised” Language Policy Remains Functionally the Same, Discrimination Continues Against Spanish-Speaking Employees
  ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico filed charges against Whole Foods Market with the New Mexico Human Rights Bureau for allegedly discriminating against Spanish speaking employees at the Northeast Albuquerque store location. Bryan Baldizan and Lupe Gonzalez, both Spanish speaking employees of Whole Foods, allege that the store’s “English-only” policy is actually in effect a “No Spanish” policy as the policy is only applied to those employees who speak Spanish in the workplace.
“It is illegal for employers to single out Spanish speaking employees for unfair treatment,” said ACLU of New Mexico Executive Director Peter Simonson. “Discriminating against an employee for speaking Spanish, a language that has been widely spoken here for nearly five-hundred years, is an affront to our state’s history, culture and values.”
“I grew up in Northern New Mexico speaking Spanish as my first language with my grandfather, who taught me to always be proud of our language and our heritage,” said Gonzalez. “When my employer tells me I can’t ever use Spanish, they are taking away an important part of who I am as a person. I’ve worked for Whole Foods for 13 years, and have always had occasional workplace conversations in Spanish without any problems. I don’t understand why I’m suddenly being treated differently.”
On May 23, 2013, a prepared foods department supervisor at the Whole Foods Market in Northeast Albuquerque held a team meeting to announce Whole Foods’ “English-Only” policy. Though the policy as written does not single out any particular non-English language, the supervisor only admonished the employees who spoke Spanish to one another at work, not the many other department employees who spoke other languages, including two Tibetan employees and six employees on the sushi team.
 
The charges filed today allege that Whole Foods persists in singling out Spanish to the exclusion of other non-English languages spoken in the workplace. Bryan Baldizan’s affidavit to the commission states:
Because of all of the media attention surrounding this issue, on Friday, June 14, 2013, Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb posted a revised language policy for all Whole Foods stores on his blog. However, the practical effect of the “revised” policy remains the same.  Spanish is the only language that continues to be scrutinized and targeted. We continue to be told that we can only speak Spanish during breaks. However, as mentioned above, our Tibetan colleagues and members of the Sushi team continue to speak their respective language while on the job and without repercussion…
Read Bryan Baldizan’s affidavit to the Human Rights Bureau.
Read Lupe Gonzalez’s affidavit to the Human Rights Bureau.
 

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Albuquerque couple Suzie Corley and Checky Okun talk about their recent blessing ceremony within the Episcopal Church and why they want their relationship to be recognized as a marriage in New Mexico.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HUzbWcB0rA

This video was produced for the Why Marriage Matters New Mexico campaign, an effort by the ACLU of New Mexico and Equality New Mexico to promote greater awareness about why marriage matters to same-sex couples in New Mexico.

The ACLU Southwest Border affiliates, including the ACLU of California, issued the following joint statement in response to the Senate’s vote to proceed on immigration reform:

The Southwest border affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union strongly oppose the provisions in the Senate bill that hyper-militarize U.S.-Mexico border communities without  adequate accountability and oversight of border enforcement resources.  The rhetoric of a military-style “surge” on America’s home soil, akin to U.S. military operations abroad , reflects how misguided and offensive the substance of the border enforcement provisions have become.
As amended, S.744 calls for billions of dollars of wasteful spending on border enforcement at a time when border communities are among the safest in the nation, net migration from Mexico is at or below zero, and apprehension rates are near historic lows. The proposal ignores the unprecedented level of investments already made to secure the border and does not provide basic protections that are necessary to prevent the continuation of human and civil rights violations in the border region, which include rampant racial profiling and systemic excessive use of force.
The current version of the bill would appropriate $46.3 billion or $38 billion more than the funding included in the committee-approved version of bill. It will more than double the size of the U.S. Border Patrol at the Southwest border to more than 38,000 agents in 10 years at a cost of $30 billion, mandate the construction and maintenance of hundreds of miles of border fencing at cost of $8 billion; and require a $3.2 billion high-tech surveillance plan using drones and other surveillance technology in border communities.
When America’s school budgets, safety nets, and other vital programs are being cut, we abhor this massive increase in already bloated border enforcement resources. Just last year alone, $18 billion in U.S. taxpayer’s money was spent in border and immigration enforcement—more than all the principal federal law enforcement agencies combined.
As the immigration reform debate continues, we will work to improve accountability and oversight of immigration enforcement and to ensure that robust civil and human rights protections are in place, including:

• Checks and balances on Customs and Border Protection (CBP) use of force:  Requiring better training, public reporting, and prevention of CBP uses of force to prevent unnecessary injuries and deaths, including meaningful accountability and discipline for improper and unlawful use of force.
• Humane detention:  Establishing short-term custody standards to ensure people in custody receive constitutionally guaranteed access to medical care, due process, and reasonable accommodations.
• Accountability systems:  Improving the management and oversight of border forces and pushing for additional mechanisms for ensuring accountability for agents who abuse their authority. For example, by requiring CBP officials in the field and at ports of entry to wear lapel cameras that record all encounters with agents, protecting civilians from abuse and agents from false claims of abuse.
• Reduce CBP authority to engage in warrantless investigative stops, which currently extends to 100 miles from the border, as well as authority to enter private lands within 25 miles of the border.
• End the senseless and exorbitantly expensive prosecution and jailing of tens of thousands of migrants annually who pose no threat to public safety and could be processed administratively rather than sending them to abusive private prisons.

If the bill passes with this offensive “surge” in military resources and treatment of our border communities and without basic checks and balances, the ACLU stands ready to fight for justice and accountability through all legal means. With offices in Brownsville, Las Cruces, Tucson, and San Diego, a Regional Center for Border Rights, the coordination of a bi-national abuse documentation system, and a new Border Litigation Project—along with the partnership of allies and the backing of a strong ACLU National Office and Immigrants’ Rights Project, we are committed to a long-term struggle to win back equal rights for our border communities.

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