NewsGuild-CWA Scores Victory for American Freedom

Last week, a federal district court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-which includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection-from brutalizing journalists, legal observers, and protesters.

Members of The NewsGuild-CWA, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Press Club, three journalists, two individual protesters, and a legal observer, filed suit against DHS for the retaliatory violence DHS inflicted in violation of their constitutional rights to protest, observe, and report on government actions.

In a 45-page opinion, Judge Hernán Vera of the Central District Court of California determined that "under the guise of protecting the public, federal agents have endangered large numbers of peaceful protestors, legal observers, and journalists-as well as the public that relies on them to hold their government accountable." Judge Vera added, "The First Amendment demands better."

"Journalists are the workers who shine a light on our democracy and hold power to account," said NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss. "This order makes clear they have a right to do their jobs safely to bring us the news we deserve without government interference."

Among other actions, the preliminary injunction prohibits DHS agents from:

• Dispersing, threatening, or assaulting the press or legal observers unless they have probable cause to believe an individual has committed a crime unrelated to failing to obey a dispersal order;
• Using chemical, projectile, and auditory weapons against members of the press, legal observers, and protesters who pose no threat of imminent harm to a law enforcement officer or another person;
• Firing tear gas canisters or auditory weapons so as to strike any person, or firing weapons at the head, neck, groin, spine, or other sensitive areas, unless that person poses an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury.

Congratulations to the legal observers, peaceful protestors, and brave NewsGuild-CWA journalists for their courageous fight to protect the freedoms we hold dear.

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