Dignity Not Detention - Preserving Human Rights & Restoring Justice

via Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.:

CLINIC, the ACLU IRP and the ACLU of Arizona sponsored the webinar, “SB 1070: Perspectives from the Ground in Arizona” on August 26, 2010.

Speakers included representatives from

• Respect/Respecto
• PUENTE Arizona
• Border Action Network
• National Council of La Raza
• ACLU of Arizona

via the Center for Constitutional Rights:

Rights Groups’ Advocacy Leads to Critical ICE Admissions and Breakthroughs Related to the Flawed Program

In a document dated August 17, 2010, ICE purports to “set the record straight” on the Secure Communities (S-Comm) program. But ICE’s spin cannot alter the reality and, in fact, this new document contains critical admissions and breakthroughs prompted by community advocacy and federal litigation.

• ICE has finally admitted that the majority of persons targeted and deported through S-Comm will never be dangerous criminals.
• ICE has finally announced a procedure for local jurisdictions to request to opt out of the problematic S-Comm program.

Read the rest of the response memorandum here (download PDF).

via Deported Diaspora:

A video showing the family side of deportation. Sign the petition and get more information here.

Jacqueline Esposito is the Director of Policy & Advocacy for the Detention Watch Network

This year the government will detain close to 400,000 men, women and children in prison-like conditions at a cost of more than $1.7 billion to taxpayers, despite the availability of far more cost-effective alternatives.  Under the current immigration system, most immigrants are incarcerated for months or even years in more than 200 local and state jails and prisons.  The remaining individuals are held in corporate- or federally-owned penal institutions.  People held in immigration detention are awaiting a decision on their immigration claims, or are awaiting deportation.   They are not serving criminal sentences.  Despite this fact, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE, the Department of Homeland Security agency which oversees detention and deportation) confines victims of human trafficking, asylum seekers, refugees, pregnant women and the gravely ill to jail cells where they are forced to wear prison uniforms and at times, shackles, have little to no contact with their loved ones, and in far too many cases are subjected to solitary confinement.

Under current law, ICE has the discretion to exercise its own judgment on whether a person should be detained, released, or placed into a more supervised program.  Historically, ICE has not exercised this discretion, resulting in the needless detention of hundreds of thousands of people and costing taxpayers billions of dollars when there are proven alternatives.

Detention Watch Network and Stanford Law School Immigrants’ Rights Clinic today issued a new report calling on the Obama Administration to reduce the unprecedented rate of immigration detention by adopting cost-effective, community-based alternatives known as “ATDs” that rely on collaboration between ICE and local non-governmental organizations.

According to the report, pilot programs in the United States and abroad have demonstrated
that community-based alternatives to detention are cheaper, more effective, and more humane than the current U.S. immigration detention system.  The programs provide for the release of individuals from detention and ensure compliance with immigration procedures through a mixture of traditional caseworker monitoring and referral to
community services.

A key component to the success of ATDs is the involvement of community-based organizations.  Local community-based organizations with strong ties in the immigrant and faith communities have expertise and training in meeting the legal, cultural, and psychological needs of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. They have experience in helping immigrants understand the legal process and can play a critical role in ensuring that participants understand the responsibilities they have to meet regarding their immigration cases.  In instances where an immigrant does not have family ties, the community-based organization can locate shelters and faith-based or community programs willing to house and assist the individual.

The report describes a program in New Jersey where a pastor from the Reformed Church of Highland Park has negotiated with ICE to release church members facing deportation proceedings into his care, in lieu of detention. To date, at least 70 men have been allowed to stay in the community and support their families while they prepare their immigration cases. Not a single one of these men has missed a court appearance.

By contrast, the report illustrates a government-run detention system in crisis.  The truth is that the U.S. government locks up immigrants in remote areas far from their families with little to no access to lawyers (unlike in the criminal justice system, individuals in immigration proceedings have no right to government-appointed counsel), and deports them with minimal due process protections.   Conditions of confinement are often substandard:  detained immigrants are frequently denied necessary medical care, lack proper nutrition, have limited access to functioning telephones, and are often subjected to mistreatment and neglect by guards.  Since 2003, a reported 113 people have died in ICE custody.  The most recent death was an apparent suicide.  According to a report published by the Washington Post, the action or inaction of facility staff may have contributed to at least 30 of those deaths.

It is neither fiscally sustainable nor humane to incarcerate hundreds of thousands of immigrants each year.  The creation of robust alternatives to detention programs that focus on case management through partnerships with community-based organizations will help to reduce the number of individuals in detention and ensure that individuals with strong ties to the community are not needlessly separated from their families and loved ones.

Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a coalition of community, faith-based, immigrant and human rights service and advocacy organizations and concerned individuals working to reform the immigration detention and deportation system so that all who come to our shores receive
fair and humane treatment.

The Immigrants’ Rights Clinic (IRC) at Stanford Law School is committed to protecting the human rights of all non-citizens regardless of immigration status. The Clinic represents individual immigrants in removal (deportation) proceedings and also conducts multi-modal advocacy-including legislative and administrative advocacy, public education, local advocacy, and impact litigation-in partnership with immigrants’ rights organizations like DWN.

Contacts:

• Jacqueline Esposito, Detention Watch Network 202.393.1044x 223; jesposito@detentionwatchnetwork.org
• Jayashri Srikantiah, Stanford Law School Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, 650.724.2442; jsrikantiah@law.stanford.edu

Washington,D.C.–Detention Watch Network and Stanford Law School Immigrants’ Rights Clinic today issued a report calling on the Obama administration to reduce the unprecedented rate of immigration detention by adopting cost-effective,community-based alternatives that have already been implemented internationally and domestically.

According to the report,pilot programs in the United States and abroad have demonstrated that community-based alternatives to detention are cheaper, more effective, and more humane than the current U.S. immigration detention system.  Specifically,the report recommends “alternatives to detention” or ATDs that rely on collaboration between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and local non-governmental organizations. The programs provide for the release of individuals from detention and ensure compliance with immigration procedures through a mixture of traditional caseworker monitoring and referral to community services.

Jacqueline Esposito, policy director at Detention Watch Network, one of the report’s authors, explained, “By ensuring that immigrants can access appropriate case management and necessary resources, such as stable housing, medical care, and legal counsel, ATD programs increase participants’ ability to prepare their immigration cases, which in turn promotes efficiency and fairness in the court process.”

The report explains that ATDs allow for the humane release of individuals who would otherwise be held for months or years in prison-like conditions while their immigration cases are pending–individuals who include survivors of torture, asylum seekers, victims of human trafficking, families with small children, the elderly, the gravely ill, and long-time lawful permanent residents with certain prior convictions.

“Given the proven effectiveness of ATD programs, ICE should only be able to impose physical detention if it can articulate why a person is not suitable for release or an ATD program,” said Jayashri Srikantiah, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Stanford Law School, who co-authored the report.

The report indicates that the current detention regime is riddled with abuses: individuals in detention experience mistreatment and neglect by detention guards; have virtually no ability to access lawyers for help with their immigration cases; wait for months and years in detention because of a clogged and inefficient immigration court system; and face incarceration far away from their families.

Although current law authorizes DHS to release immigrants outright, on bond or parole,  or release them into ATDs, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)–the enforcement agency within DHS–routinely fails to do so. ICE has acknowledged an over-reliance on incarcerating immigrants in jails and prisons.

Yet as the report indicates, the success of community-based ATDs has been repeatedly demonstrated by domestic pilot programs like the Vera Appearance Assistance Project (AAP); established immigration ATD programs in several other countries, including Australia, Canada, and Belgium; and ATD programs that have been used for decades in the criminal justice context.

For a copy of the full report, please visit the Detention Watch Network’s website at www.detentionwatchnetwork.org or the Stanford Law School Immigrants’ Rights Clinic website at www.law.stanford.edu/program/clinics/immigrantsrights/#advocacy_projects.

In addition to its work on this report, the Detention Watch Network has launched a campaign, “Dignity, Not Detention: Preserving Human Rights and Restoring Justice, “to call for an end to detention expansion, the use of cost-saving alternatives, and the restoration of due process in the government’s enforcement of immigration laws. For more information about DWN’s campaign, visit www.dignitynotdetention.org

Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a coalition of community, faith-based, immigrant and human rights service and advocacy organizations and concerned individuals working to reform the immigration detention and deportation system so that all who come to our shores receive fair and humane treatment.

The Immigrants’ Rights Clinic (IRC) at Stanford Law School is committed to protecting the human rights of all non-citizens regardless of immigration status. The Clinic represents individual immigrants in removal (deportation) proceedings and also conducts multi-modal advocacy-including legislative and administrative advocacy, public education, local advocacy, and impact litigation-in partnership with immigrants’ rights organizations like DWN. Clinic students Stephen Dekovich, Michelle Parris, Michelle Reaves, and Jessica Spradling were instrumental in the drafting of this report.

via GLOBAL MOVMENTS URBAN STRUGGLES WBAI 99.5 FM

Click the black triangle to hear the show. Or download it here.

XENOPHOBIA, IMMIGRATION AND CRISIS

In general, how do Americans respond to a major disaster? At times generous (as following Katrina and Tsunami) and at times unresponsive (as with the current disastrous floods in Pakistan) Americans will continue to face humanitarian emergencies impacting some of the most vulnerable communities. The bad news currently is that post 9/11 backlash against Muslims is stronger than ever, and the emergency relief for Haitians following their massive earthquake is limited and uncertain.

This show looks at the resurgent politics of resentment and how current immigrant programs are struggling to cope.

Hysteria about the “immigrant crisis” manipulated by the right wing media distracts from actual economic and social crisis. With tabloid support, the Tea Party movement effectively taps into resentment to effectively challenge Democrats and progressives in the upcoming elections. To discuss how this xenophobic strategic is affecting the public perception of immigration, Co-Host Adem Carroll speaks with Adele Stan, Washington bureau chief of AlterNet.org and co-editor of the upcoming anthology, “Dangerous Brew: Exposing the Tea Party’s Agenda to Take Over America.”

In the midst of a major right wing smear campaign against long time colleagues, Adem will also address the current attack on the downtown community center, branded the “Ground Zero mosque” by detractors.

In the Second half of our show co-Host Donald Anthonyson of Families for Freedom will speak on the difficult situation of Haitians in the USA, especially how the offer of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is shaping up in the impacted communities. His guest will be Amy Gottlieb Program Director of the Immigrants Rights Program from American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and Francesca Menes, Community Organizer from the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLC) campaigning against Wage Theft and for Equal Treatment for Haitians.

Not only are Immigrants kept in a state of crisis –the whole nation is held hostage to the politics of fear.

via News 21:

“Illegal [sic] immigrants caught in certain areas along the border are now charged with violating federal law and given criminal records before being deported. If they return to the United States and are caught, they can face prison time. Supporters of the program say its expansion will help secure the border. Opponents argue the program is costly and unconstitutional.” Read more here.

A United States lawful permanent resident behind bars: Kealy’s story

“I never thought after my incarceration that I would be subjected to deportation. I was incarcerated for three years [after]I was released from state custody in February 2008 and placed on parole, I was working and taking care of my responsibilities. I [received a parole violation] while regularly reporting to parole due to a false accusation. I spent 14 days on Riker’s Island just for the parole court to conclude that there was no probable cause for this violation.”

January 7, 2009 will forever be the day that Kealy (not his real name) was taken from his family. Kealy has made America his home for twenty-three of his twenty-five years. He knows nothing of his country of origin; it is a land that is foreign to him.

Kealy’s experience illustrates the human cost of the dangerous merger of the federal immigration enforcement system with state criminal justice systems. Kealy was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after being detained in Riker’s Island jail in New York City for an alleged parole violation.

Even though Kealy was found not guilty of the parole violation, he was held at Riker’s Island jail on an immigration detainer issued by ICE and later taken to immigration detention. While Kealy has been in immigration detention, his six-year old son has been taken away from him and placed in foster care. Kealy’s son is now under the care of a child psychiatrist for the trauma of being ripped away from his family.

Please show your support for Kealy and the nearly 400,000 immigrants the Obama Administration will arrest, detain and deport this year.

Join us in endorsing an open letter drafted by the coalition of organizations listed below calling on the Obama administration to address the dangerous merger of the federal immigration enforcement system with state criminal justice systems. Your group’s endorsement is needed by Friday, September 3rd (please no individual sign-ons at this time).

As a nation, we are finally starting to acknowledge how racial disparities in the criminal justice system are creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy in the United States. However,Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) increasing reliance upon programs such as 287(g), Secure Communities and the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) to enforce federal immigration laws threatens to undo that progress. These programs have allowed arrests for minor charges, such as driving without a license and petty theft, to be the gateway to deportation, regardless of whether the criminal charge sticks, opening the door for racial profiling.

Please join us in endorsing the open letter. Please distribute this email widely.

Direct Link to Sign-on page: http://bit.ly/9U1J4b

In solidarity,

• All of Us or None
• Border Action Network
• Bill of Rights Defense Committee
• Center for Constitutional Rights
• Center for Media Justice
• Detention Watch Network
• Families for Freedom
• Florida Immigrant Coalition
• Grassroots Leadership
• Immigrant Defense Project
• Immigrant Legal Resource Center
• Justice Strategies
• Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
• National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)
• National Immigration Law Center
• Partnership for Safety and Justice
• Rights Working Group
• Sentencing Project
• VOTE Nola
• Youth Justice Coalition

via PBS’ Need to Know:

PBS Video report finds Secure Communities Hurts Public Safety. Houston, Texas was the first jurisdiction to enroll in Secure Communities. Now this PBS story from the reporters behind DeportationNation.org finds that the program caused distrust between the immigrant community and local police.  Click here to read the print story.

Report by Renee Feltz and Stokely Baksh, who co-produce DeportationNation.org. Their work is supported in part by a Soros Justice Media Fellowship, a program of the Open Society Institute. Thanks to Bryan Parras, Tish Stringer and Duy Linh Tu for technical assistance.

via Rights Working Group:

Sheriff Richard Wiles from El Paso, TX has implemented the Secure Communities program with restrictions on which types of crimes have their fingerprints through the DHS databases. There has been a lot of confusion and misinformation about the way in which the Secure Communities program works, and Sheriff Wiles discusses the process by which he negotiated the exceptions to the program and also how the El Paso Sheriff’s department makes the exceptions work.

via Azadeh N. Shahshahani, National Security/Immigrants’ Rights Project Director for American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia

Just wanted to let you know that this video has been uploaded to the website of the Testify Project, a project of the US Human Rights Network; my understanding is that all these videos (there is apparently expected to be 100 or so) will be aired in Geneva as part of the Universal Periodic Review process in November.

On Saturday July 31st, 2010 in Omaha, NE, several bands including Bright Eyes, Cursive, Desaparecidos (their first live performance since 2002), and Lullaby For The Working Class gathered together to fight for equality by playing a benefit show for the ACLU Nebraska.

All proceeds from the concerts went to the ACLU Nebraska who prepared a law suit against the town of Fremont, Nebraska, the latest in a series of U.S. towns that have decided to take immigration law into their own hands. ACLU Nebraska filed a lawsuit challenging the law which attempts to ban undocumented immigrants from renting, residing or being employed in the Nebraska town.

ACLU Nebraska Executive Director Laurel Marsh says, “If this law goes into effect, it will cause discrimination and racial profiling against Latinos and others who appear to be foreign born, including U.S. citizens. The ACLU Nebraska has no option but to turn to the courts to stop this un-American and unconstitutional ordinance before the law goes into effect. Not only do local ordinances such as this violate federal law, they are also completely out of step with American values of fairness and equality. We will be working with concerned citizens in Fremont who want to stop Arizona-like laws from getting on the books in their city.

Through these efforts, the community groups and The ACLU were able to stop the implementing of this law. Watch this film produced by The Sound Strike, documenting this historic event that challenged the climate of hate created by groups like FAIR (Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform), a group known for its ties to white supremacist groups and idealogies.

“[My] Human Rights have been violated and [I] am very sad, depressed and anxious. [I] consider my dignity was unjustly offended, and my dignity and moral [sic] are very important.”

Raymond (not his real name) is yet another individual who has fallen victim to the inhumane immigration system. Raymond speaks three languages: English, Russian and Spanish, holds a dual degree in economics and chemical engineering; enjoys classical music, designing computer programs, cooking and attending church. Raymond speaks of his desire to return to his wife who is in bad health and suffering extreme financial and emotional hardship as a result of her husband’s detention. Raymond also has two daughters in Cuba who rely on him for financial support.

Raymond is a Cuban citizen who has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for over six months in a detention center in Texas. The U.S. and Cuba do not have a repatriation agreement. As a result, Raymond cannot be deported to Cuba and faces indefinite detention. Raymond is fighting for his freedom alone. He joins the vast majority of individuals in detention who are not represented by counsel.

Raymond came to the United States seeking political asylum. After he was fired from his job at a petroleum refinery for his political opinions against the Cuban government, Raymond was no longer able to work in Cuba. Since Raymond’s arrival to the United States, he has cooperated fully with immigration authorities, was granted work authorization, held a job, and paid taxes. However, after Raymond pled guilty to an offense for which he received a sentence of probation, he was placed into deportation proceedings. His criminal defense lawyer never advised him of the immigration consequences that would result from the guilty plea. Raymond explains that he “realizes [he] made mistakes in the past but he has learned from them and he was a good productive member of society and that he can continue to be a productive member of society. He has a healthy support network available that will help him succeed outside of detention.”

Raymond has tried to make the best of his experience despite the toll indefinite detention is having on him. He volunteered in the law library, working to help other individuals who do not have lawyers. He also worked as a “pod cleaner” and was responsible for cleaning one of the dorms in the detention facility. His salary for this work was $1 per day – pay he never received. Raymond also describes mistreatment by guards. During a shakedown, detention guards threw his eyeglasses, breaking the lens, and never replaced them. The guards also threw his high blood pressure medication and he was unable to replace the prescription until four days later. Raymond suffers from Myopia and astigmatism –resulting in severe headaches when he is unable to wear his eyeglasses.

After six months of incarceration, Raymond is pleading for his freedom. His story is an example of the U.S. government’s arbitrary and unnecessary use of detention: Raymond does not pose a flight risk, he has a stable residence, a job to return to, and the unconditional support of his wife and family, yet he faces indefinite detention.

[Raymond's story is part of DWN's Story Project]

via Texans United For Families

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 10th, 2010 – Contact: Manisha Vaze, 646-290-5551

Advocates say Obama’s brutal enforcement plans only perpetuate these violations

New York, NY – Families for Freedom (FFF), a New York based immigrant rights organization, applauds the recent decision by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in their finding that US deportation policy is in violation of the human rights of families and children. The IACHR’s decision comes in response to Wayne Smith and Hugo Armendariz et al, v. United States, in which members of Families for Freedom testified and submitted personal narratives in 2007. Families for Freedom members are encouraged to see their voices being recognized in this important decision.

“While I’m hopeful that this decision will help to educate the general public and our representatives in Congress about the need for real immigration reform, it makes me sad to think of the many families and thousands of children whose lives have been destroyed and disregarded in the three years that it has taken them to come to this finding…and the hundreds of thousands whose lives have been destroyed since 1996 when the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) was enacted,” said FFF Board Chair Betsy DeWitt. IIRIRA transformed the immigration system into one focused on mandatory detention and deportation and as a result has left over 100,000 families divided in its wake.  “Currently there is a bill in Congress, the Child Citizen Protection Act, that if passed, would allow judges to determine the best interests of the U.S. citizen child before deciding whether or not to deport that child’s parent. How much longer before our legislators act to stop this madness?” DeWitt continued.  She knows this pain well as a mother of three whose husband, a green card holder, was automatically deported three years ago due to the now desperately broken immigration laws that are the result IIRIRA’s passage.

This decision marks a significant victory, but advocates say that the climate has only worsened. Deportations of noncitizens are at a record high under the Obama Administration, at 350,000 in the last fiscal year. Assistant Secretary of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) John Morton has expressed ICE’s intention to surpass this number to up to 400,000 deportations this year. Further, the Obama Administration intends to implement Secure Communities–a program that would allow local law enforcement agencies to check people’s immigration status at the point of arrest through a database, before any formal criminal prosecution has occurred–around the country by 2013.

“We see fathers and mothers deported every day without the opportunity to have the needs and human rights of their children taken into consideration. But, instead of finding solutions to this situation, the Obama Administration is only continuing to perpetuate unjust policies by increasing mass detention and deportation programs that only serve to destroy our communities and break apart our families,” commented Janis Rosheuvel, Director of Families for Freedom.  “IACHR’s decision is a welcome one that affirms the need to continue pressing forward until immigrant justice is a reality and not just a slogan,” Rosheuvel implored.

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Written by Jeremy Keller & Marisa Ronstadt.
Rap Written by Maya Jupiter
© 2010

Jeremy Keller: Guitar
Maya Jupiter: Emcee
Marisa Ronstadt: Vocals

Dear friends,

We invite organizations and community groups (please, no individual sign-ons at this time) to join us in endorsing an open letter drafted by a coalition of organizations (see below) that calls on the Obama administration to address the dangerous merger of the federal immigration enforcement system with state criminal justice systems.  Your group’s endorsement is needed by Friday, September 3rd.

As a nation, we are finally starting to acknowledge how racial disparities in the criminal justice system are creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy in the United States. However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) increasing reliance upon programs such as 287(g), Secure Communities and the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) to enforce federal immigration laws threatens to undo that progress.  These programs have allowed arrests for minor charges, such as driving without a license and petty theft, to be the gateway to deportation, regardless of whether the criminal charge sticks, opening the door for racial profiling.

Please join us in endorsing the open letter.

We are asking organizations to support this effort. Please distribute this widely.

Click here for a pdf of the letter with footnotes.

Direct Link to Sign-on page: http://bit.ly/9U1J4b

In solidarity,

• All of Us or None
• Border Action Network
• Bill of Rights Defense Committee
• Center for Constitutional Rights
• Center for Media Justice
• Detention Watch Network
• Families for Freedom
• Florida Immigrant Coalition
• Grassroots Leadership
• Immigrant Defense Project
• Immigrant Legal Resource Center
• Justice Strategies
• Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
• National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)
• National Immigration Law Center
• Partnership for Safety and Justice
• Rights Working Group
• Sentencing Project
• VOTE Nola

Central New Jersey Event (Photo via Karina Wilkinson)

Vigil in Taylor, TX (Photo via Bob Liball)

See more photos from Texas on Facebook

Newly Released Analysis Shows One Year After Pledging To Create “Truly Civil” System, Obama Administration Still Has Much Work To Do

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 6, 2010

CONTACT: Will Matthews, (212) 549-2582 or 2666; media(at)aclu.org

WASHINGTON – One year after the Obama administration pledged to create a “truly civil” immigration detention system, the American Civil Liberties Union today said that significant reforms still need to be made in order for that promise to be realized.

While Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has made some progress under the guidance of its newly-established Office for Detention Policy and Planning, major improvements in four vital detention areas – mental disability, health care, sexual abuse and mandatory and prolonged detention – need to be undertaken if ICE is to make good on the stated commitment of John T. Morton, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security for ICE, to address “the vast majority of complaints about ICE’s immigration detention system.”

According to an analysis released today by the ACLU, an over-reliance on mandatory and prolonged detention practices continues to deny detainees the most basic element of due process by incarcerating immigrants who pose no danger or flight risk without making individualized determinations about whether they can be released on bond. The level of medical and mental health care provided to detainees continues to be substandard. Recently exposed incidents of sexual abuse of detainees by ICE contractors illustrate an urgent need for improved ICE oversight. And immigrants with mental disabilities, many without the mental competency to represent themselves, languish in detention for years.

The following can be attributed to Joanne Lin, Legislative Counsel for the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:

“ICE deserves credit for having taken some positive steps in what needs to be an ongoing process to reform our immigration detention system. But there is still a great need for enhanced oversight and accountability. ICE’s model of self-policing has proven, time and time again, to be a failure. In order to establish a truly civil detention system, ICE must promulgate detention regulations and be subject to independent external oversight.”

The following can be attributed to Vanita Gupta, Deputy Legal Director for the ACLU:

“While ICE has made some reforms in its sprawling detention system over the past year, they are insufficient. ICE detainees around the country continue to be subject to poor medical and mental health care, prolonged detention, and sexual abuse and assault. True detention reform requires that ICE address these systemic problems while cutting back on its excessive reliance on detention without due process, particularly of individuals who pose no flight risk or danger to public safety.”

A copy of the ACLU’s analysis is available online here.

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